2019-03-17: Forgive Us Our Trespass
- Log: Forgive Us Our Trespass?
- Cast: Amaterasu, Naelle Sylkirk, Marivel Armitage, Clarissa Arwin, Dash Caskett, Brad Evans, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Northern Veruni Control Zone
- Date: March 17, 2019
- Summary: Amaterasu, Veruni commando, heads to the Memorial Sanctuary in search of the cause behind reported recent disturbances. She quickly encounters some humans (and assorted) similarly attempting access; the situation forces a compromise. Inside, a record of the past is discovered.
DG: A party led by Amaterasu is now entering Memorial Sanctuary. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - I Can't Turn Away Now *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The approach to the Memorial Sanctuary is a difficult one -- not only is the ruin located far away from any settlement, but the road is ill-kept and the lands unfriendly. But finally, there the building stands -- what's left of it that rests above the ground, that is. Time has since buried much of it, but with a little searching, an alcove can be found, and within it, a door. At one point or another, the way into the ruin had been barred by a vault door... probably operated by that console that stands to one side, apparently now inactive. Some other poor schmuck did the heavy lifting, so getting in should be a piece of cake-- Until you cross the threshold, that is. Red lights flash and a klaxon blares, followed by the metal barriers that slam down on either side of you. Seems like the security system's still active. Meanwhile, you've got to get to breaking through the security doors, unless you're interested in sticking around on the threshold for the rest of your life. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
Typically, a soldier such as Amaterasu focuses more towards internal affairs among the Veruni these days. The Moderates, while they have currently gone to ground, cannot be trusted to remain so; should there be any further disturbances of the public peace, she must be prepared to act, and act decisively.
But it is from without rather than within that many of their troubles have arrived of late. First that less-than-satisfactory arrangement with the new-fallen Metal Demons -- little had been gained by Amaterasu's view -- and then there had been the incident at the Lunar Shrine.
And now she hears tell of human movement to the north.
And that there has been a reported intrusion into the Memorial Sanctuary.
Eschewing support she has come alone to investigate. Heels click across stone. Yes, there has certainly been an intrusion... but how recent is this?
She crosses the threshold.
The door does not slam down immediately.
No, there is plenty of time for other people to cross to join the Veruni operative as she inspects the pathway for signs of a disturbance.
AND THEN THE DOORS TO BOTH SIDES SLAM SHUT.
"--tch." Amaterasu whirls about, long blonde hair fluttering around here. "There must have been a trigger for the doors. A security measure. I see." Her eyes close, as if she is considering their trapped situation.
"We will need to force our way through. Come, and make yourselves useful."
Her armor begins to glow with a soft purple-white light. Next, the enormous Veruni woman flexes. Then stoops, to attempt to bodily lift the door leading inwards.
DG: Amaterasu has used her Tool Shielding Module toward her party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
The Veruni operative, after she whirled around to look back towards the door, hears a voice coming from behind her. Nobody was there when she was looking before, but all of a sudden...someone is there. "Hm hm, does a giant such as yourself truly require my aid in knocking down a simple door?"
It is a strangely dressed woman covered in robes and a straw hat with only her red eyes visible from her countless layers of clothing. At least in Elru it makes a little more sense to bundle up than in Ignas. "Well I suppose I can lend a small hand."
She gestures with a hand dand from within her robes, a twin pair of lasers start digging into the door though she is moving at a patient pace here.
"Miss Arwin, Mr. Caskett, it seems we must cooperate with this Veruni operative for the time being. No frowns, she should prove useful!"
Despite the flippant demeanor, of course Marivel is going to have a good feeling about someone with fangs.
"Oh ho," She says to Naelle, "A gearmonkey, are we?" It's a gearcat, Marivel.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
Naelle flexes and pulls out her wrench. "Just stand back! This is what wrenches are best at!"
It is not, actually, what wrenches are best at, however, Naelle is a veritable artist with her wrench.
Meaning that she can do all kinds of unexpected things with it, because she knows how to use it very well, not that she paints with it or sculpts with it.
That's not the right tool for that job. Mind you Naelle does tend to reach for her wrench first regardless...
"Also, I don't know if it's bothering anyone else but that klaxon is really kind of painful? Anyone think they can disable it?"
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Even with mysterious doings afoot in Elru, Clarissa's search as a Digger hasn't stopped - and Marivel (Leviram?) gave her a chance to check out somewhere in her notes that she hadn't had the opportunity to visit.
Well, her search, in a way.
The tools Clarissa and the dark-clad man at her side used to scale the approach to the Sanctuary look much older and more work-worn than Clarissa herself does - she's only eighteen, but her tools show years upon years of dings, chips and weathering. Upon reaching the top, she frowns, a large mattock leaning over her shoulder as she makes her way forward.
"This place looks incredible," she says with a blink and a tilt of her head, smiling.
And then the doors to both sides slam shut.
"Oh no!" Clarissa gasps, jumping a little. Her companion, by contrast, doesn't even flinch. The girl bites her lip and turns towards the door she just came from, then towards the one leading deeper into the ruin. "Something must've detected us coming. That's kind of unfortunate--"
Amaterasu attempts to just muscle the door. Clarissa watches with her mouth open and her eyes a bit wide. "...Whoa."
Felius looks on wordlessly, watching Amaterasu without changing his expression. It's up to Clarissa to move up beside Amaterasu. "I think I can help!" she offers up earnestly. She shoulders the pick and comes out instead with a long crowbar, which she begins to try and wedge into the door. Puffing with effort, she puts her shoulder into trying to help Amaterasu force it open.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Melissa's Digging Kit toward her party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
"Also also, it's cat, thanks," Naelle adds.
DG: Naelle Sylkirk has used her Tool Trusty Wrench toward her party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Another dig, another zenny-- well okay, maybe not zenny. A call for assistance with an operation came across the digging family-group, and it was time for action. This ruin was a good ways out of their wheelhouse. But the flutter's engines seem to be holding up alright, so a stop for potential treasure and finds would be right up the Caskett crew's alley. After making sure the spotting equipment was tuned with Roll, and clearing progress with Barrell, off Dash went.
---
Now.
A young man in two tone armor stood nearby as a massive lady moved to check the ruin. "People here before us...?" he ponders from behind his V-shaped visor, which obsured most of his features, save for a curious frown. A look toward Marivel and Clarissa, his digger associates for the evening. "Should we--"
WHAM.
"Oh... that's not good." The blue figure strolls up to the imposing figure. She seems rather stern. "Help open the door? I brought just the tool for the job!" He pulls from his back, not his favored weapon of choice, but-- is that a massive drill? Yeah, that is exactly what it is.
His left hand retracts into his forarm, and the Drill Arm is slotted into place. "Door should be a piece of cake!" he says, pointing the tool at the door. The high pitched whine of rotation and torque kick up as the tip makes contact with the door.
Sparks fly.
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Drill Arm toward his party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
Brad Evans is not the most subtle person, owing to being tremendous on every axis and largely not a person people bother to mess with. Still, he can be relatively light on his feet, and he steps as lightly as he can as he wanders about the room, considering the room. "Pressure plate?" he mutters to himself. "Laser trap, sonic sensor...guess it doesn't matter. Probably an electronic lock. Doubt there's a control on this side."
He ambles over toward the door, to where the Veruni woman (haven't seen one of those in about eight years...) is attempting to lift the door. "Lemme take a swing," he offers, head tilting, his back-length hair drifting as he cracks his neck, sets his posture, and then rears up one leg to deliver a straight kick to the door.
Which is when the kinetic accumulators on his boots fire, blasting force into the door with enough ferocity to blow the entire armored object inward. Or else cause the entire room to shake as it absorbs the forces.
DG: Brad Evans has used his Tool Kick Boots toward his party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now. Brad Evans Brad Evans is a tremendously tall, dark-skinned man around six foot six, with a powerful, muscular frame. Brad has very long black hair reaching down to his powerful thighs, but the hair at the front of his head is a puff of white, held up by a deep red headband. His eyes are a deep brown, set firm in a chiseled face. Brad mostly dresses for comfort, favoring what amounts to a black compression shirt with only a single shoulder strap, and over that nothing but leather straps attached to a ring on his chest; a harness for heavy ARMs and other equipment. His arms below the biceps have similar wrapping, leaving his shoulders and much of his chest bare, as well as his long, thick neck. On his lower body, he favors jeans and plain workers' boots, but nobody really cares about Brad below his belt because above it is where all the excitement is happening. Out of combat, Brad wears a pair of thick red gauntlets, with no gloves, on each arm; in combat, he replaces the gauntlet on the right arm with a huge mechanical glove ARM, attached to a gauntlet the size of an ice chest. Perhaps most distressing, though, are the two spheres, not quite like jewels and not quite like anything else, stuck into his neck toward the back. The skin around them does not look red but does look irritated, growing in strange and ridged.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
After the whole Sword Dancer battle and no immediate leads beyond that as far as the Trial Knight and Ragnell went, Gwen naturally went back to scouting. Which is why, by the simple creed of 'curiosity', she finds herself trapped with all these strangers.
"..." The courier, having gotten stuck in the middle of things by, naturally, sticking her nose in the wrong spot, tilts her head at the Veruni.
"..." She tilts her head a smidgen more at Marivel's lasers. Ah, Metal Demon, maybe?
"..." Clarissa and the dark-clad man seem to be the normal sort of Diggers Gwen's encountered. So she overlooks them. No, instead, she looks at Dash, and his... ARM? HE HAS AN ARM FOR AN ARM?! Maybe he's *also* a Metal Demon.
"..." And then Brad uses his boots to shake the entire room. ALSO A METAL DEMON, MAYBE.
"..... uh... You guys need... a hand...?" The entirely mundane human Gwen (really!) finally raises her voice from the back of the room, then strolls ahead. "I've been here before. Lemme, uh, see if I can help with this door." Favoring her perfectly unassuming covered right ARM, Gwen tries to help lift up the door, gritting her teeth. "Nghh... but I... slept... since... then!!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, I Can't Turn Away Now.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - I Can't Turn Away Now *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The approach to the Memorial Sanctuary is a difficult one -- not only is the ruin located far away from any settlement, but the road is ill-kept and the lands unfriendly. But finally, there the building stands -- what's left of it that rests above the ground, that is. Time has since buried much of it, but with a little searching, an alcove can be found, and within it, a door. At one point or another, the way into the ruin had been barred by a vault door... probably operated by that console that stands to one side, apparently now inactive. Some other poor schmuck did the heavy lifting, so getting in should be a piece of cake-- Until you cross the threshold, that is. Red lights flash and a klaxon blares, followed by the metal barriers that slam down on either side of you. Seems like the security system's still active. Meanwhile, you've got to get to breaking through the security doors, unless you're interested in sticking around on the threshold for the rest of your life. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
=======================<* Memorial Sanctuary - Round 1 *>======================= ======================< Results - I Can't Turn Away Now >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Shielding Module 1 Brute Effects: Rally and Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clarissa Arwin 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Melissa's Digging Kit 1 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Fanfar -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brad Evans 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Kick Boots 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Effici -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dash Caskett 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Drill Arm 2 Brute Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naelle Sylkirk 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Trusty Wrench 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Amaterasu 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Resilient(1)|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Amaterasu 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. DG: Marivel Armitage has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - It's Not Scyther *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Well, now this room looks promising! Some of the various media shelved and in storage in the walls and cabinets of this chamber looks like it's in good condition -- even if you have no idea how to read it or how you would begin reading it, someone somewhere would probably pay for a pretty piece of ancient glass. Of course, any joy is likely to be short lived -- swinging down from above lurches an oversized menace in the form of a particularly gigantic praying mantis. Those bladed arms look to be pretty sharp. With a chitter of its mandibles, the Gigamantis advances on you and your group, eyes glittering coldly. Oh, and it's also not alone. Are those slimes dropping down to join it? Those are slimes dropping down to join it. Did you interrupt some weird monster party? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
"A giant, am I?"
So says Amaterasu as she coolly regards the robed woman, before her attention flickers to the woman's rather large companion. She arches a blonde eyebrow. "I suppose I may be, when compared to most humans." A pause, wherein she activates her armor. "Nevertheless. If you feel this task beyond you, you may abstain."
The unspoken implication there suggesting that the extremely tall operative will judge anyone who doesn't pull their weight, though...
"If you must," she comments then to Naelle, as the klaxon continues to scream out an opera of noise.
'Lemme take a swing', says the man who just about matches her height, and the operative simply nods, maintaining her ready posture without moving a muscle. Even when he delivers a kick that makes the very foundations of the structure rattle. Which is followed by the far-more-typically-sized human's use of a drill.
The application of a fist. A barrage of laser beams to carve gouges across the door's surface. A well-placed crowbar that makes something deeper inside the door's mechanism go 'crunj' in a satisfying way.
And of course, the wrench. Maybe hitting a door with a wrench might not always be appropriate, but in this case...
Amaterasu remains in her position before the door all the while. And then, the door and mechanism appropriately weakened, she dead-lifts the door. It immediately crumbles into dust from the abuse levyed upon it; the Veruni agent doesn't so much as blink before she steps over the debris as if this were a typical sort of experience for her.
Well, given the Veruni, maybe it is.
"So," she asks, without turning to face them. "Why are you here?"
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Mm." Leviram says. "It seems that it was not beyond us, Miss Veruni. The security systems here can't withstand even one Brad kick so I have to assume this isn't some manner of military installation. Perhaps it is some manner of ancient library or data center."
The shrouded woman nods once to Brad and then to the others adds, "Excellent work. You continue to impress, Miss Arwin. Good start, Mr. Caskett."
A small lobsided grin can be seen picking out from behind the scarf as she advances onward into the next room.
It seem the next area is interesting. Leviram's suggestion may have been spot on because there's various media shelved and in storage along the walls though the means to view them may be beyond most of the drifters here. Lots of slides and other imaging technology is present.
"Ah. it seems you will have the answer to your question sooner rather than later, Miss Veruni. You see, I am a bit of knowledge hound. I have excavated countless books and whatever other forms knowledge has been stored for most of my life. But for all my excavation work, I have been missing a particular item from my collection for quite some time that should shed light on some ancient mysteries that have been bothering me for some time. I suspect we'll find it in this room."
She starts forward when a GIANT MANTIS drops down in front of her alongside several slimes.
Leviram's smile fades. "Please friends, be cautious in this battle. It would not do to damage the records. These may be the only copies that exist in all of Filgaia."
She then reaches into her sleeve, backing up a bit to draw out...
...a bat winged microphone? That's weird.
And then she starts singing. That's even weirder. It seems to be in another language entirely that none present really know but despite not knowing the words...the stranger thing is that Leviram...
...is actually a pretty good singer.
And weirdest yet is that this singing seems to turn the slimes on the Mantis as they switch sides and start slamming their bodies into it.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
With a soft puffing of her cheeks, Clarissa returns her crowbar to the carefully-organized kit hanging off her belt. "Thank you," she offers 'Leviram,' her smile small and grateful. "I'm happy to help."
When Amaterasu steps through the doorway, Clarissa's not far behind her, with Felius continuing to hang silently somewhere off to her left. She tilts her head, briefly taking stock of the incredibly tall woman. "Well, I was asked to come," she admits, "but I've been looking for certain mysteries from ancient Filgaia for a long time. If I'm successful, maybe Filgaia can become a verdant world for everyone again."
If Clarissa realizes Amaterasu isn't human, she doesn't show it. Nor does she exclude Veruni from her calculus. Deliberate?
Possibly. But further explanation is stopped when that giant mantis and those slimes drop in. Clarissa gasps and takes a step back, then scowls, swinging her weapon forward. It's a strangely talonious-looking ARM with a tall, oblong bore.
"No, we don't want to damage anything," she agrees. "We'll be careful!"
She darts to one side, squeezing her trigger. A lance of blue light slashes from the barrel of that odd-looking ARM, but the light doesn't seem to be technological - those with a feeling for magic can sense the light as Clarissa takes a few shots.
The beam won't stop at one enemy. It'll wash over the first one it hits to strike the slimes behind the mantis, too.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
"Indeed. A commendable eye."
A moment passes before Amaterasu provides further input: "This is, allegedly, a repository of the information of our ancestors. Which is, again, why I ask your intentions. If you are merely here to plunder mindlessly what we yet attempt to decipher... then I will intervene. If other reasons bring you here... then I will be the judge of whether they are worthy."
So she is judge, jury, and executioner in one?
"My name is Amaterasu. As you have noted, I am Veruni. I am here to investigate signs of an intrusion. There has been a massing of humans recently to the north, for uncertain reasons." She glances back over her shoulder. "Are you among them?"
They all look the same to her, after over a century.
"A particular book..." Amaterasu's eyes narrow. "I will determine that. You are speaking of my people's precious heritage." In a flash, she draws from her hip a baton-length object. It quickly telescopes outwards, the hissing glowing blade erupting from one end.
But rather than Marivel--
"HA--"
Amaterasu slams Valkyrja upwards to meet the descending insectoid creature.
"Perish!"
DG: Amaterasu has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
The Drill Arm works its magic, and helps split that security door open! Well, along with an assortment of other tools, and one particularly powerful boot from yet another person built like a truck. "Wow, quite a few people pulled to here! Must be quite the ruin!" Dash comments, smiling under that glossy visor.
A look toward Amaterasu. "The lady here put a call out to explore this ruin, so... digging is what I do for a living, I suppose!"
Dash looks more like he would be quite the fighter on a battlefield than anything with his armor and weapons. What was he doing here? "Thanks!" he says toward Marivel with a two-finger salute.
The Drill Arm is disengaged and placed on his back, yet his hand remains missing. He actually starts holding that forearm like one would the stock of a gunsmoke weapon. "I'm sure we could!" he says toward Gwen.
They enter the premises, and within its hallowed halls they come across a room of storage of some kind. Old books and unknown forms of media remain o nthe dusty shelves--
And there is a dancing little monkey in the middle of the room.
"D-Data?!" Exclaims Dash. A look behind, then a look forward back. "H... How did you get in here?!"
It cheeps adorably.
"Dash! Be careful! There are insect enemies ahead! The yare tough, but if you aim for the joints, you can disable them!"
"Did you... just tell me to shoot them in the knees?" Who the heck is Dash talking to?
Data coos and chirps. Aww!
It is all the advice I can give-- EEEEEK!"
The mantis SLAMS down right behind Data. the robo monket's screech translates in all languages. Dash dives to grab him and roll out of the way i nthe process, overextending himself! "Get out of here!" he says, setting the curious little creature down, as Dash takes his advice, taking potshots with golden plasma energy roaring from his left arm at the Mantis' joints.
Data just dances out of the room.
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Helpful Bit of Data toward his party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
Naelle brightens. "Ooh, slimes! Try not to go too hard on them, I could really use their...uh, slime. It makes a really great grease for stuck gears!"
The mantis is not where her attention goes, therefore, and we have a kitty smashing slimes with a wrench as a result. Quite gleefully.
DG: Naelle Sylkirk has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The door lifts, and Gwen strolls on through, interlacing the fingers of each hand behind her. "Why am I here?" Gwen spins on her heels with a giant smile. "I was doin' some snoopin' around and was wonderin' why people were here. So I guess, the same reason as you, Ms. Amaterasu? But I got it, I got it. I'm no thief, really. You can ask Elvis! I accompanied him when we came here last time! But ah, yes, since we're givin' names, the name's Gwen Whitlock, super courier! At least, on Ignas. On Elru, nahsomuch."
She takes another glance at the people gathered here, specifically, their technology.
"Oh, I'm one of those people from the north! Me and my friends were tryin' to locate this person in white armor. Looks like somethin' from a fairy tale book, speaks real eloquent-like-" CRASH
Gwen looks back to see the giant mantis and several slimes drop down from the ceiling, along with... a metal... monkey? And Leviram is singing.
On second thought, maybe Leviram is a Veruni. Veruni can sing, right?
Don't damage the records, several say. Gwen blinks, looks at her gloved ARM, then over at Dash's own left arm. With open amazement.
What if these are the mercenaries she heard about...?
Gwen squints ahead at the mantis, remembering herself, and... goes up to it. Very normal, for a super courier, it seems. From Ignas. They probably have to punch mantises every day to get to work, after all, since that's what Gwen is doing.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
Marivel is here to speak for him, so Brad just kind of lets her talk. She likes talking. He'll speak up if someone needs to be lectured on heros or electronics, or both. Marivel praises him sort of second-hand, so he looks slightly chuffed as he saunters into the next room.
Two things occur. One, huge mantis critters appear, accompanied by slimes. And two, a monkey is here already.
Brad blinks at Data, then over to Dash, who seems to be...talking...to it? "Friend of yours?" he prompts. Some kind of support unit? Maybe the vocalizer translates inside that armor of his? But it doesn't have an earpiece. Mounted to the collar?
He doesn't explain what he's doing here to Amaterasu, because that's why Marivel is here. Instead, he flexes his right hand, in its Mechanical Glove, and in a flurry of flickering particles, an oblong grenade, the sides dimpled like a certain tropical fruit, materializes in his hand. "Down!" Brad thunders, and then pitches the thing, its safety assembly popping apart as it arcs toward the heart of the monster mass, and midair, optimized to hit as much of the monster crowd as possible, it blows apart, a blast that is more of a force blast than a proper explosion ripping into the enemy.
DG: Brad Evans has used his Tool Pineapple toward his party's challenge, It's Not Scyther.
===========================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>=========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - It's Not Scyther *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Well, now this room looks promising! Some of the various media shelved and in storage in the walls and cabinets of this chamber looks like it's in good condition -- even if you have no idea how to read it or how you would begin reading it, someone somewhere would probably pay for a pretty piece of ancient glass. Of course, any joy is likely to be short lived -- swinging down from above lurches an oversized menace in the form of a particularly gigantic praying mantis. Those bladed arms look to be pretty sharp. With a chitter of its mandibles, the Gigamantis advances on you and your group, eyes glittering coldly. Oh, and it's also not alone. Are those slimes dropping down to join it? Those are slimes dropping down to join it. Did you interrupt some weird monster party? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Treasure=========================================
======================<* Memorial Sanctuary - Round 2 *>====================== ========================< Results - It's Not Scyther >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amaterasu 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Brad Evans 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Pineapple 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Helpful Bit of Data 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Liability ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Naelle Sylkirk 3 --(0)--> 3 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Amaterasu 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(1)|Treasure(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Amaterasu 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> Marivel Armitage has posed.
That poor mantis didn't stand a chance you monsters. Honestly Leviram probably didn't even NEED to turn the slimes against their friend. Between Clarissa's energy beam, Amaterasu's incredible power, Dash's ... .... did he just shoot plasma out of his arm? After talking to a monkey? Where was this going? Oh right, between all that and Gwen's fierce punches and Brad's fucking pineapple grenade--
--yeah, it's completely vaporized aside from the chunks that Gwen punched off. The slimes too, unfortunately, but at least Naelle got a lot of that slime over her. And on her wrench so she'll have plenty of supplies for a while.
"If you deem it neccessary, we can work out a deal. I will copy it by hand if I must! Some knowledge is worth hiding away but other knowledge must be shared for all who seek it."
And with the danger dealt with, Leviram has plenty of time (as does anyone else who wants to do some digging without drawing Amaterasu aggro) to investigate. eventually she finds a small locked by keypad container.
"This must be it..." Leviram says, spreading some dust on the keypad. She squints at it and taps a code a few times. Several times it buzzes and flickers red but on the fourth try, it beeps a pleasant green and opens up.
Leviram reaches inside and pulls out a short but thick volume and pulls it out.
On the cover a pale faced woman is staring longingly into the eyes of another taller woman who is faintly blushing but is trying to look away reluctantly. The title, when translated, would read: 'YURI BY MOONLIGHT'.
Leviram spins through the pages of the book and then snaps with her free hand.
"Eureka! This is volume 4!" She shows it to Amaterasu. "This is the very volume I have been missing! You see, I have volumes 1 through 3 and 5 through 8 but this is the volume in which Aiya kisses her true love Akina for the first time!"
Faint blush stickers appear on Leviram's cheeks as she spins around in a circle. "Ahhhhhh, I can't believe this time has finally come! The Veruni rampaging through Elru was worth it for this discovery...! I thought it lost...!"
She lowers the volume down and adds, "Ah. But--" She looks straight at Amaterasu. "It is an important part of your heritage. If you would allow me to make a copy--it will take a week. No two weeks! I must pore over every detai completely so there's no mistakes!--then I can return it to you so you can study its contents yourself."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - You Do Not Belong Here *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There is something spiritually amiss about the Memorial Sanctuary. Consider it the close equivalent of being watched by a presence that isn't happy to have you here, watching and waiting for the first error you make. Within this ill-lit curving corridor the sense only intensifies. Or perhaps, it's just waiting for the right moment. Sections of the walls unfold quite suddenly, as hard-light beams of light dance in a pattern throughout the corridor, creating quite the obstacle to your passage. Getting struck by them is ill-advised. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Oh, you found it already? Great!" Or maybe Leviram *isn't* a Veruni, if she's talking to Amaterasu like that. Gwen nods, not seeing the book, already walking ahead as Leviram explains. Yeah, volume 4, that's the one she was missing, she had volumes 1 through- wait it's a romance book?!
Stopping in a hallway, Gwen then comes to a startling conclusion.
_Everyone's from Aquvy._
Yep, that answers it. It answers *everything*. Weird people come from Aquvy.
Which means she can rest easy!
It's at that exact moment that a laser zaps Gwen's hat right off her head. "... oh..." Was this from the last time she was here or not?
Well, it's not like she'll have the right amount of time to answer that question, because for now, she tries to book it to the other end. "Runrunrunrun!" she shouts, helpfully.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Wow that was close! "Where did he go this time?" the blue bomber groans. "Well, I guess he isn't in danger... A look to his Mega Buster, white trails of steam coming from the barrel. "How does he get in these places?" A slowl headturn turns Dash's gaze to Brad. "Ah, yeah! That's Data. Been around me long as I can remember, and he gets into places I... do not understand."
- OUTSIDE -
A heeled boot hits the dirt nearby the battered entrance to the Memorial Sanctuary. A certain Professor looks toward the door again, annoying sighs escaping him. A large hand cups a rather terrible wound.
"NO. Not today. Nope."
He keeps walking, pretending he saw nothing.
- INSIDE -
"Wait... what?" Did Marivel just say she was here seeking... A good thing his face is covered because it is contorted heavily in confusion right now. Hopefully he still gets some zenny for the family. "A group to the north, huh?" Dash shakes his head. "Nah. Haven't heard of anything." Though maybe he should investigate it. Could be interesting!
The next area has an odd cloying feeling, as though someone were leaning over your shoulder at every moment. "I don't like this hall..." A lance of light blasts out, and hits Gwen's hat off. "Oh no."
Dash begins to book it as the lighting array kicks on, and attempts to dodge and roll out of the way. He is rather deft in what appears to be heavy armor. He seems quite proficient in it. Unusually so!
"Don't end up like the lady's hat!" he says helpfully.
It wasn't very helpful.
DG: Dash Caskett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
The fight breaks out, and Clarissa holds her own. Felius is watching Dash a bit before moving on to glaive a few critters.
By the time it's over, Clarissa's letting out her breath, wiping her forehead with the back of a hand.
"Oh! Well. I'm not going to plunder anything!" Clarissa seems honestly surprised by Amaterasu's question, but she has the good graces to quickly try and make her intentions clear. "I would never want to take away your people's heritage! That'd be terrible. If there's something in there that's like what I'm looking for, of course I'd ask your permission to look at it...."
She tilts her head towards Gwen as the woman stops. The smile Clarissa flashes to her is small and polite.
*zap*
"Oh no!" Clarissa gasps. "Miss, your hat!"
A laser zaps across the room and nearly takes off Clarissa's hat too. "Yeep!" she yelps, flinching out of the way, then gasping and bouncing forward into a hasty roll as another beam threatens to slash through her legs. More lasers crisscross the room, and Clarissa darts after Gwen, jumping and rolling and leaping nimbly as the surprise gives way to practiced survival instincts.
"I'm right behind you!!" Clarissa calls after Gwen.
"I know you can make it!!" she encourages, earnestly.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
Naelle, with catlike dignity, regards the hard light beam situation as though it were beneath her notice.
This lasts for all of two seconds before she seems to shudder, from her head to her toes, tail sticking straight out behind her. Eyes closed, she speaks. "I am okay, I am okay, I am okay, I am in control."
She produces, eyes still tightly shut, a bottle of fizzy liquid with a faded label that hints of EXTREMENESS. Popping the lid off with a clawed thumb, she pours it down her throat and yeets it over her shoulder.
Opening her eyes, finally, Naelle's expression turns to catlike joy. "NYAAAAAA!" she mewls, and *CHASES THE LASERS*
She's dodging them, too, but somehow her playful pounces and catlike careening guide her to the far end of the hall safely.
There, she tightly shuts her eyes and resumes her mantra. "I am in control I am okay I am okay I am okay."
Catlike.
DG: Naelle Sylkirk has used her Tool Energy Drink toward her party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
'The lady here put a call out to explore this ruin'.
Amaterasu's green eyes maintain their narrowed status. Skepticism, suspicion... both run high.
As does her silent apparent judgement of the lot of them. Clarissa, at least, speaks that she would ask permission first, which earns a begruding nod from the professional soldier. And Gwen voices that she was similarly investigating the presence of the mysterious group... or something very like them.
"So these people are not familiar to you either. I see." She strides on ahead with purpose. "I suppose it cannot be helped."
One strike, and the creature and its cohorts are finished.
...One strike coupled with the rest of the (carefully interposed) attacks upon the monstrous insect, that is. Not a single shelf is damaged.
"Hmm. We must find the means to send patrols here more often," she states, tapping the butt of the polearm against the floor. "If the monsters are increasing, it bodes ill for the contents of the archive." Which is when her attention pivots to Marivel.
"What are you doing? Did I not say that this is our heritage that you are..."
A silence rings out. Somewhere, echoing through the grating perhaps, is the sound of a crow.
Amaterasu looks something other than coolly stoic. She looks nonplussed.
"Kaguya was searching for that..." she utters, before shaking her head and reasserting her former demeanor. "...Hmph."
Silence, again.
"So long as the original is returned. If I do not receive it from you then, I will find you and reclaim it."
She... well, may have a particular set of skills?
...With that settled, they press onwards into the ruin.
"Wait," Amaterasu starts, moments before a laser takes out Gwen's hat.
"...Tch. All of the security systems are active. Would that I had clearance and access to the mainframe..."
She stomps a heeled boot on the floor and with a shout of, "Toh!" flips upwards to the ceiling where she... sticks.
And then immediately runs, at speed.
DG: Amaterasu has used her Tool All-Surface Boots toward her party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
SUSPICION INCREASE.
"Of course, agreed agreed." Leviram says and so long as something terrible like being teleported to another planet against her will happens, she will be quite content to return it after she has properly analyzed the contents and made her copy. "This Kaguya you are referring to clearly has excellent taste. You have made a powerful friend this day."
She closes the book and slides it carefully into her robes whereupon it becomes a Key Item.
This is probably not convincing Gwen that people from Aquvy are less weird. Eventually Leviram calms down though she remains in a pretty good mood.
"I will make certain you receive your pay Mr. Caskett, Miss Arwin." This she'll be able to do so long as they aren't in a dangerous area at least. Leviram seems to be in a very good mood. Someone must love romance literature.
She's in such a good mood that she'd walk into a laser had Amaterasu not said 'wait' and warned her.
Leviram calms down considerably at this. "Ahh... yes." She steps back, taking in a deep breath and reaching into her robes and drawing out--
--a tiny robot? No, she's pushing that back in. Ah, there it is.
She pulls out a small juicebox. She snaps the straw off the side and pokes it into the box.
She takes in a nice sip and breathes out a long happy sigh, wiping some 'juice' away from her lips before she squeezes the bag full and finishes it in short order.
And she promptly starts dashing through the cooridor, attempting to duck and weave between the hard light lasers. Best to be extra careful when 'light' is involved.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
"Huh," Brad replies to Dash, looking down at the monkey. "....cute dance," he muses.
Meanwhile they have catastrophized the beasts and taken some time to look around. Brad looks around a bit, and plucks up what looks like a....technical manual? He leafs through it briefly because Marivel has Amaterasu distracted. "Completely bypass the regulator for...what, twenty percent?" he mutters, grimacing. "That's how you get holes in your ship." He tucks the thing away, apparently unimpressed. Leviran is admiring some Very Important Literature, which is a bit outside Brad's field, though he does crane his neck to look when she shows it. "Guess we should remember this place if we ever have to look something up," he muses, apparently ignoring Amaterasu's repeated and strenuous statements that NO FOR REAL YOU NEED PERMISSION TO BE HERE.
He's a soldier on death row, what are they gonna do, kill him? Oh gee what a nightmare to have to confront your mortality.
Soon enough he's following along to the next challenge, and...
Frowns.
"Welp," he grunts, and squats a bit to prep his legs, and then sort of lunges past the lasers in an decidedly awkward manner.
DG: Brad Evans has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, You Do Not Belong Here.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - You Do Not Belong Here *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There is something spiritually amiss about the Memorial Sanctuary. Consider it the close equivalent of being watched by a presence that isn't happy to have you here, watching and waiting for the first error you make. Within this ill-lit curving corridor the sense only intensifies. Or perhaps, it's just waiting for the right moment. Sections of the walls unfold quite suddenly, as hard-light beams of light dance in a pattern throughout the corridor, creating quite the obstacle to your passage. Getting struck by them is ill-advised. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=======================<* Memorial Sanctuary - Round 3 *>======================= ======================< Results - You Do Not Belong Here >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass All-Surface Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clarissa Arwin 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 3 --(5)--> 8 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brad Evans 3 --(5)--> 8 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dash Caskett 3 --(5)--> 8 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naelle Sylkirk 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Energy Drink 2 Agility Effects: Cleanse and Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 3 --(5)--> 8 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Amaterasu 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Amaterasu 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Somehow, they all make it to the end. Naelle manages to get there first with her cat-like grace, chasing the lasers instead of trying to dodge them, which the programming behind the lasers wasn't really accounting for. They also do not account for Amaterasu adhering to the ceiling and moving forward, but this was likely intentional, because what sort of primitive human would have such abilities?
Clarrisa and Dash get an inconsiderate laser beam for their troubles, despite helpfully urging people onwards with their encouragement. Marivel's tomato juice(?) break was one second too long for her to successfully weave through the pattern of lasers, though she does considerably better than Brad and Gwen.
Brad pretty much does as well as Gwen does, probably even less so, since his bulk makes him more of an easy target than Gwen.
Either way, they manage to get through.
".... oh, you know Kaguya?" Gwen asks belatedly at Amaterasu, quickly adjusting the tear on her coat. "She's, uh, really somethin'!"
DG: Clarissa Arwin has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Seems Too Easy Doesn't It? *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Maybe the Memorial Sanctuary was a sort of storage site, once upon a time. It's one way to parse the endless array of tapes and slides and other stranger objects that fill the cabinets and stone shelves of the rooms of this place. Unfortunately, the labeling is cryptic and largely faded into illegibility. That, and you're not even sure what they'd be used with -- without the right machine they're just ancient pieces of strange material. But while the current room you're in is still packed with shelves of the stuff and no way to understand what it means, perhaps it's the sizable crack along the back wall with the tantalizing promise of some sealed-up space behind it that holds more promise. Was something important or valuable hidden away in there? =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Secret==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"I appreciate that!" Clarissa calls to Marivel-as-Leviral as she boosts herself over another laser. She's not all that interested in riches, but she's also gotta eat.
At least until a laser comes right for her. Clarissa's eyes go wide.
There is a dark blur.
"Felius," Clarissa gasps as she's touched down on the other side of the laser grid. The violet-haired man has swept her up and carried her in a long jump to the end, setting her down with care.
"You should remember to take care of yourself too, Clarissa," the young man advises her quietly. Clarissa's cheeks immediately go pink, and she hangs her head a little.
There's more lying in wait. With a little breath, Clarissa squares herself up again and moves on. A door slides open with little objection--
"Oh wow, look at all this!" Clarissa breathes with wonder, moving her free hand up to her cheek at the sight of shelves upon shelves full of tapes, slides and other objects too numerous and sundry to truly name. But she pauses before stepping in, turning back to look up at Amaterasu. "...Is it okay if we go inside? I don't want to intrude on anything that you might object to--"
"Clarissa," Felius says as he points towards the back of the room, taking a step inside. "Look there."
Turning curious eyes across the room, Clarissa squints towards where Felius is pointing - towards a large, prominent crack in the back wall of the room, a bit of curiously-coloured light flickering behind it. "I wonder what's back there," she muses.
Again she pauses, and looks up at Amaterasu once more. "...It's up to you," she offers. "This is your people's heritage."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Leviram is zorched in one shoulder and she hisses in pain before moving on. Her arm literally smolders where it's hit but luckily these lasers aren't THE RAYS OF THE SUN just the normal murder kind. She'll be okay.
Leviram's new treasure aside, she doesn't ONLY like romance literature. She is a dragon for all kinds of knowledge. It's just that, you know, spend a few thousand years looking for a missing piece in your collection and you'll go to absurd lengths to find the rest. It will take more than two or three apocalypses to stop Leviram from appreciating new or thought-to-be-lost media.
Her attention is drawn to the crack in the wall, tilting her head at it for a moment.
"Hm." She says.
She steps backwards and finds a shelf to grab ahold of.
"Brad," She says. "Kick that wall over there."
Look that wall isn't Amaterasu's heritage.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?.
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
"Remember my terms. This is of no great importance," she does pause though, "to our people but I cannot permit its loss."
Kaguya might want to read this one, she thinks. Maybe once she's able to see her again--
And speaking of: "Kaguya? You know Kaguya? Where is she? Is she still on the moon?"
Between Marivel and Gwen's bit of name-dropping, Amaterasu's attention is elsewhere. Brad's terrible awful theft goes utterly unnoticed.
Though at least for Gwen's sanity (somewhat) Amaterasu does explain, in those moments before the trap is sprung: "She is my sister."
This may raise a lot of questions about their family tree, considering the extremely large gap in sizes between sisters...
She runs, as easily as one might traipse across an avenue, along the ceiling, untouched and undeterred by the lasers. One hop and she backflips to land just outside the trapped hallway.
"Hurry up," she tells the group of humans (and assorted others) before turning to walk into the next room. It seems she may not have much patience or compassion, however willing she might be to tolerate (with gritted teeth) their presence here...
"Hm. Another storage room," Amaterasu says, picking up a slide left on a shelf. "We would need the appropriate device to use these. Best leave them as they are."
Which is when Clarissa points out the cracked wall.
Amaterasu's response to the woman's question is to walk over to it and rap a gauntletted hand against the wall. Hollow.
"Plastered over. It could be old or new. Hm... tampering." She nods, just once. "Very well. Until we can bring an extermination team, there is no bringing research into the site. And until we can ascertain the intentions of that group of humans..."
Amaterasu makes, as they say, an executive decision. Purple-white light steams from her armor and she delivers a heeled kick for the wall. There's only one way to find out if this is tampering or not, and she's not given to philosophical debate on such matters.
This... might be Clarissa's ultimate answer...?
DG: Amaterasu has used her Tool Shielding Module toward her party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?. DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Melissa's Digging Kit toward her party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
"There are some jobs," Naelle announces, "that really do require a wrench."
Like making a pipe bomb! Which is what she's settling in to do.
Naelle doesn't carry explosives, because that would be a very bad idea. Naelle doesn't like to explode, she likes making other things explode, and usually she only likes that when it's intentional or very very funny.
Naelle, instead, carries the stuff to *make* explosives. Much more stable, and usually just as good if you're not in a rush.
Finished, the pipe bomb is set in the crack and everyone advised to stand back, typically, just as it blows up.
Naelle hasn't quite got fuses right.
DG: Naelle Sylkirk has used her Tool Trusty Wrench toward her party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Well, at least he hears he will still get paid for finding... a specific kind of book??? Not exactly the line of work he expected, but at least there was adventure still to be had! "A... Veruni, huh?" The term is vaguely familiar to him. Perhaps he heard it someonere, in some tale. Though it doesn't come to him immediately.
In the dodges, a particularly well-aimed light-laser takes a layer of that azure armor off on a bicep, leaving a deep cut. Circuitry and high end mechanisms lay underneath. Perhaps a part of the armor? No blood, though. How thick was that suit? Dash reaches for the spot in pain however upon reaching the other side. He hisses for a moment before righting himself.
"Y-Yeah... hes a funny one. Always does that dance for some reason!" Dash says toward Brad.
The next room serves as some sort of archive, cataloguing... whatever it is that is in here. Items? History? A mix of the two? Some of these items he would love to pick up and look at, but they both look rather brittle, and that large lady would probably shout at him. However, someone points out there is a crack in the far wall.
The Drill Arm is brought out once again and attached to his Mega Buster. "I'll help chisel the path open more once everyone breaks it!" he offers. When his turns is up, he goes to activate the utility tool. "If it is plaster, you may want to hold your breath! The dust will be nasty.
That high pitched noise kicks up again.
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Drill Arm toward his party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
Brad is over in another shelf, bandaging off the burns from the last laser room. When Marivel calls he's finishing tying off a bandage, and he idly picks up one of the odd data storage tabs in the area, turning it over and over in his hands until he can see the connectors. When he rounds the corner he slips it back into a random shelf, like a monster. "Wrong standard," he mutters, sauntering up. He gives the wall a look. "Oh, this," he says. "Really should use blasting for a wall like this. More precision."
Then he rears back and gives it a solid WHAM with those mighty legs, quite possibly putting his foot entirely through the wall.
DG: Brad Evans has used his Tool Kick Boots toward his party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Eeeeeeeee
That's the sound that goes off in Gwen's head, like some sort of siren. A dashing dark-garbed companion, rescuing their charge/companion/sibling/friend/Lover/SPOUSE right in the nick of time! So romantic~ ... if it's the latter two, anyway. If it's the first few, 'so heroic~' would suffuse as well.
"Nice find!" Gwen says, coming up towards Clarrisa and Felius. Like Clarissa, however, Gwen looks to Amaterasu before making any hasty actions. .... Unlike a certain Leviram.
But she's really not paying attention to that specifically, her eyes straying back towards the lagging Dash, and towards the cut on one of his biceps. "Hey, you okay? That looked like it hurt." This, she says, seeing the sparking wires. As if she didn't think to excuse it as merely armor. .... Or, possibly, maybe she's just thinking it cut into flesh beneath.
She doesn't elaborate beyond that, instead having her attention drawn back to Amaterasu. "Oh, well, I haven't... seen Kaguya since we got back from the moon." Gwen's expression grows sympathetic. She remembers what it was like, being on the moon and worrying about Frea. "I'm confident she's okay, though, Ms. Amaterasu."
This, as explosions and kicks and goodness knows what else happens in the background. Whatever's left beyond everyone's assaults, Gwen slaps aside with her perfectly normal right ARM's hand, as if dusting off some plaster. "Well, let's see what we got here~"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Seems Too Easy Doesn't It?.
=============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - Seems Too Easy Doesn't It? *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Maybe the Memorial Sanctuary was a sort of storage site, once upon a time. It's one way to parse the endless array of tapes and slides and other stranger objects that fill the cabinets and stone shelves of the rooms of this place. Unfortunately, the labeling is cryptic and largely faded into illegibility. That, and you're not even sure what they'd be used with -- without the right machine they're just ancient pieces of strange material. But while the current room you're in is still packed with shelves of the stuff and no way to understand what it means, perhaps it's the sizable crack along the back wall with the tantalizing promise of some sealed-up space behind it that holds more promise. Was something important or valuable hidden away in there? =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Secret==========================================
========================<* Memorial Sanctuary - Round 4 *>======================== =====================< Results - Seems Too Easy Doesn't It? >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass Shielding Module 1 Brute Effects: Rally and Resilient ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clarissa Arwin 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Melissa's Digging Kit 1 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Fanfar ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 8 --(15)--> 23 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brad Evans 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Kick Boots 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Effici ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dash Caskett 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Drill Arm 2 Brute Effects: Resilient ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naelle Sylkirk 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Trusty Wrench 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Amaterasu 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(1)|Secret(2) Effects: Resilient(1)|Strengthen(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Amaterasu 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> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa widens her eyes as Leviram directs Brad to get kicking.
For her part, she holds true to her word: She lets Amaterasu make the decision. It's only right, after all.
Fortunately, Amaterasu seems to know what she wants to do. With a firm nod, Clarissa unslings the mattock she'd been using earlier, giving it an experimental heft. "I'll help you," she offers before lining herself up and taking a swing at the crack. A few chunks of masonry crumble away as the pick claws out some of the wall structure.
Brad and Amaterasu give the crack a more blunt treatment - and Brad's heel goes straight through the wall, leaving him hanging there up to the knee. When he pulls his leg back, Amaterasu replaces it. A large chunk of the wall caves in, crumbling around her leg.
It gives them all more cracks to work with. Dash manages to drill away a big chunk of the hole, Gwen coming in to clear out some of the wrest. Naelle sets her explosives off; it's not as massive as it could be, but it clears out a chunk of the rubble.
As the dust begins to settle, Clarissa waves some of it away with a little cough. She steps through the widened-out opening that's been left.
"I wonder what that's supposed to be," she muses as she approaches the source of the light.
It's a lamp of some kind - but one glowing with curious shifting patterns of blue, flowing like sluggish bubbles within a roughly pear-shaped casing. The table it's sitting on is strewn with books. The cover of one of them can be seen.
THE SECRET OF YURI
Clarissa blinks, once, then looks to the right. There is a convenient door set in the wall that opens onto another corridor. "...Well then!"
DG: Brad Evans has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Deep-Seated Grudge *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There are more of those dim light-emitting panels lining the walls and the dome of the arched ceiling of this chamber. This, perhaps, is the first impression one might have of the largely bare room in those seconds before the door you came in through slams shut. Hard-light panels manifest in an array around the lot of you and begin to speak, their words at first unintelligible. Then: ...LINGUISTIC MATCH OBTAINED. ATTENTION: REMAIN IMMOBILE FOR !$-@^^ A distortion crackles through the speakers; the hard-light panels distort heavily. At once, the hateful pressure within the chamber grows in intensity. The panels tint red. PRIORITY OVERRIDE: INTRUDERS DETECT^E!#D. ERROR: 7071TH1A. ERR0R! IN@T^R-U// Static again garbles the announcement. DE$#R-S DET_C-TED. FILGAIA RESTORATION PROJECT C0MPROM1S_D. INIT1ATE HIGHEST-LEVEL DEFENSE PR0TOCOL5. A panel in the ceiling opens up, dropping a massive ancient Golem into the chamber. Its attention fixes on the group; red lights flicker on behind its ocular sensory arrays. ACT1#N: DESTROY ALL I#N^TR_DERS. The panels vanish in a last burst of distorted speech. The Golem comes at you with a mixture of hard-light beam weaponry and brutal direct force. Immediate evasive action is recommended. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Bad Luck=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
"Huh," Brad says, fully deadpan, as the darkened new room is revealed. "The special archives."
He wanders up to the table, riffles through it briefly, apparently decides nothing here is of the remotest interest to him, and raises a hand, "'Leviram', this your thing?" he prompts her, then turns on his heels. "Maybe it's one of a kind...?" he asks himself, unsure what's so interesting about the material; then he's ambling to the next door Clarissa spotted. He glances to her and Dash. "May as well make some progress while they figure out what they're after, yeah?" he offers. He kicks this door open too, but the room doesn't rattle when he does it, so he must not have blown an amplifier charge.
The door opens up into a huge, domed room. Brad takes one look through and then -- throws his arm out. "Nevermind. We're waiting," he says.
ONE COMEDY ROUTINE LATER:
Once all are assembled, Brad murmurs, "Room's too empty. Gotta be Reavers," and steps through. And as soon as they're all through, the door slams shut. Brad's lips flatten down into the face of a man unhappy to be right. The hard-light panels flash up around them, entrapping and warning. Brad brings a hand up to knock on it. "Solid. Hell of an energy matrix," he mutters. "Must be hardcoded, if it's still doing it in this state. Not sure if that's impressive or sloppy.
He's talking over the announcement like an actual jerk, but one of those statements catches his ear. "Filgaia restoration project?" he wonders. "Hey! We have--"
Defense golem. A huge thing, quadrapedal and vaguely ape-like in proportion. Its eyes flash online before it thrashes left and right, screaming, and then its lower jaw unhinges and a horrible light begins charging in its mouth.
"Oh good, native Reaverbots!" Brad grumbles. "Move!" That one's aimed backwards. Brad attempts to dive behind an upturned table. Given his general level of grace he probably is about to get blasted into the nearest wall.
DG: Brad Evans has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"We're waiting?" Clarissa asks Brad's back.
ONE COMEDY ROUTINE LATER...
"Reavers," the blonde girl murmurs with quiet worry, before steeling herself and bringing Strahl Gewehr up in readiness. Clarissa comes around in the middle of the party. "Whatever it is, I know we can get through it."
When the light panels spring to life and that garbled voice begins to speak, Clarissa draws herself up. Something speaks --
'FILGAIA RESTORATION PROJECT'
Clarissa's heart leaps in her chest. "This must be it," she whispers with a surge of excitement. "What mother was looking for--"
A golem suddenly drops down from the ceiling. Clarissa's mouth hangs open in mid-sentence. "...Oh," she finishes, then clears her throat. "Okay then."
Then she turns around and starts running. "Get out of its way!" she yelps, sprinting as fast as she can to try and gain distance between herself and the lumbering, apelike thing. Its mouth cranks open, and Clarissa lunges to try and shield herself behind what probably used to be a filing cabinet.
Felius drops down beside her with a quiet ruffle of coat. Hunkering down, Clarissa reaches up and pulls her hat tightly against her head to try not to show too much above the piece of shelter she's using.
"Felius," she whispers intently. "I wonder if this is related to the Yggdrasill System--"
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
"I see," says Amaterasu as the dust falls, absently shaking out her hand. "Then she must still be there."
Amaterasu's face at this juncture might as well be granite, and about as friendly. "Come on," she just about orders Gwen, before proceeding through the hole in the wall. "Let us see if this is tampering or..."
She does have a commendable poker face when the treasures within the Most Secret Vault are unveiled. Though she does still close her eyes, as if calling upon some higher power for strength.
"...Let us proceed. We cannot comprehend the intentions of the ancestors."
Her heels continue to click upon the floor as she follows, just behind Brad.
And then another door slams shut. A brief, truncated noise of irritation escapes the Veruni soldier's lips. "Now, what is..."
...'Lolithia'? Did she hear that correctly?
"--The system must be damaged," she says suddenly, honing in on the way the announcement crackles and garbles. "It's detecting us as a threat the the facility. Be ready...!"
And how.
"...A Golem... they even left behind a Golem. ...Tch. I have no ch--"
It runs at her, faster than she is prepared to engage with directly, it seems.
Instead of bringing her weapon to bear, she stomps a heeled boot and leaps for the rampaging construct, using it itself as a vault for the ceiling.
And then she can think about the next steps.
DG: Amaterasu has used her Tool All-Surface Boots toward her party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
The walls break away, and what is left is... some hidden books? "Who would hide books? Unless they are forbidden knowledge of some kind!" Dash exclaims.
Oh boy was it forbidden all right.
"Uhhh. Yeah, okay," the azure digger states, a little disgruntled. A bit of his visor fogging up with a bit of a huff. Who hides those kinds of books? Are they ashamed or something? Come ooon.
The room they enter appears to be some kind of programming room. Brad's mention of Reavers gets his attention. "What kind of strange place is this?"
--the screens cut on. "What?"
'LINGUISTIC MATCH OBTAINED' "What, does someone here know this place or something?" A look to the Veruni. "Did you turn that on?" She didn't say a codeword.
The screens go red. They blare a warning. "Uh oh." Down drops a massive Reaverbot! "Ahhh! Look out!" he calls, immediately diving to the side, and aiming the Bega Buster right at it. More lasers fly before he can attack.
They would have to wait for an opening. "Do you know what this thing is?!" he shouts toward Clarissa over the din of weapons fire.
DG: Dash Caskett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
If Amaterasu was comforted, or even *needed* to be comforted, she's not showing it. Her command makes Gwen stand ramrod straight with an 'eep', the courier dutifully following behind.
"Yeah, I don't... remember this at all. I remember there was a room where there was a machine, and there was an illusion of fire on the wall, and something flickering, and then a golem that was attending the library collapsed, and..." Gwen's face falls. "It was really... sad. The Golem dying, that is..."
Gwen seems lost for a moment, stepping through the doorway, though the intelligible screeching of the speakers certainly makes her come right back to reality. "Wh-huh?!"
Her eyes widen. "Filgaia Restoration Project...? Lolithia...?" She clasps her right hand with her left, seeming to be fiddling with some sort of buckle on her right glove-
"Watch out!" Finally it's Gwen's turn to bluntly show what she's capable of, her right hand rising and, with the buckle over the center of her palm off and exposing the metal opening underneath. A bright flash, and a laser comes from the courier's own right hand, attempting to make a decisive cut to show the golem down.
Strategy. Now it's time to: "Oh god it's big, runrunrun!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Leviram looks to Brad, "Mmmm... let's see..." Leviram looks at THE SECRET OF YURI.
"..."
"..."
"...Some girls like girls, it's not a secret." Leviram says, nonplussed herself this time. Plus she'd rather not aggravate Amaterasu any more. It's a fine line when you're a bossy so and so and she has what she came for.
Besides, she can just come by later without being under the watchful eye of the particularly lethal Amaterasu provided she doesn't suddenly get teleported to another planet against her will? And what are the odds of that?!
"Oh? You wish to restore Filgaia?" Leviram says. "It seems I have underestimated you a little. Of course, restoring Filgaia is no easy feat and considering that this message is as garbled as it is, the possibility of this project coming to fruition..." Leviram considers. "Well, it may prove to be a bit tricky."
She pauses for a moment. "Did it just say Lolithia? How fascinating but--ah yes... the golem."
Leviram kind of frowns. "Now hold on, comparing golems to reavers is just cruel to the golems. Golems are the protectors of Filgaia's balance and well I suppose sometimes balance means going ballistic and slaughtering everything in sight?"
She pauses and then adds, "Well we can argue about the past later, today is the time to--"
She ducks, drawing out another 'juice' box that she takes a long sip of before trying to duck about and avoid getting lasered any more.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
"So...what's all this yuri stuff about anyway," Naelle asks casually, taking another bottle of her refreshing and extreme drink out and taking a swig. Then there's a golem. Naelle makes a noise at the sight of the golem.
One might expect such a noise to be a sound of terror, of awe, of the sudden pants-shitting realization that one is about to die. It isn't though.
"eeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Naelle, um. Emits.
"I WANT TO TAKE YOU APART AND EXAMINE YOUR SCHEMATICS!" she tells it, . "I AM GOING TO REVERSE ENGINEER THE HECK OUT OF YOU YOU CUTIE PIE!"
Naelle's...flirting with it?
Okay whatever, she's still trying to not to get hit. So it's probably okay.
She definitely doesn't seem to have caught the mention of Lolithia. Probably too busy being hyper on energy drinks.
DG: Naelle Sylkirk has used her Tool Energy Drink toward her party's challenge, Deep-Seated Grudge.
===========================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Deep-Seated Grudge *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There are more of those dim light-emitting panels lining the walls and the dome of the arched ceiling of this chamber. This, perhaps, is the first impression one might have of the largely bare room in those seconds before the door you came in through slams shut. Hard-light panels manifest in an array around the lot of you and begin to speak, their words at first unintelligible. Then: ...LINGUISTIC MATCH OBTAINED. ATTENTION: REMAIN IMMOBILE FOR !$-@^^ A distortion crackles through the speakers; the hard-light panels distort heavily. At once, the hateful pressure within the chamber grows in intensity. The panels tint red. PRIORITY OVERRIDE: INTRUDERS DETECT^E!#D. ERROR: 7071TH1A. ERR0R! IN@T^R-U// Static again garbles the announcement. DE$#R-S DET_C-TED. FILGAIA RESTORATION PROJECT C0MPROM1S_D. INIT1ATE HIGHEST-LEVEL DEFENSE PR0TOCOL5. A panel in the ceiling opens up, dropping a massive ancient Golem into the chamber. Its attention fixes on the group; red lights flicker on behind its ocular sensory arrays. ACT1#N: DESTROY ALL I#N^TR_DERS. The panels vanish in a last burst of distorted speech. The Golem comes at you with a mixture of hard-light beam weaponry and brutal direct force. Immediate evasive action is recommended. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Bad Luck=========================================
======================<* Memorial Sanctuary - Round 5 *>====================== =======================< Results - Deep-Seated Grudge >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amaterasu 3 --(0)--> 3 Pass All-Surface Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 23 --(0)--> 23 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Brad Evans 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dash Caskett 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Naelle Sylkirk 18 --(0)--> 18 Fail Energy Drink 2 Agility Effects: Cleanse and Efficient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 8 --(0)--> 8 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Amaterasu 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Secret(1)|Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Amaterasu has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Amaterasu has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Dangerous Eyes *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Whether or not you've managed to evade the Golem's initial fury, the fact is that you're still stuck in here with it. It only needs to get lucky once, as the saying goes. And that's just assuming that's the only one of them the wayward security system could throw at you. Its eyes glow again with a brilliant crimson. But a glance around the room reveals a few possible options. Panels -- still shining red -- line the walls; a few of them look as if they might be able to grant someone access to area systems with a little work. Maybe it's possible to shut the security down. Maybe it's possible to distract, redirect, or waylay the Golem. But whatever you're going to do, you need to do it now. Time's running out. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
Brad's amazing fantastic fatroll manages to evade a laser golem's eyes. Others scatter in their own ways, from scrambling up to the ceilings to scampering aside in hopes their armor will protect them. Gwen's mad dash fails to protect her from the thing throwing rocks around. Naelle, meanwhile, it turns to look directly at, and then prodceeds to fire a laser directly into her. So that's....a no? Probably?
Brad slams his back into a nearby wall, breathing heavily. He reaches down to his ARM, about to yank the card tray open when a nearby red light catches his eye.
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
Gwen has gained: +1 understanding of Kaguya!
They evade, largely, the incoming attacks from the rampaging Golem.
However, they're all still stuck inside here with it. The doors remain closed. Either they attempt a potentially Pyrrhic assault on the thing and possibly down it, or...
Amaterasu spots it first, from her perch upside down on the ceiling. "There--" She gestures with Valkyrja, her bladed spear. "That panel! That should give you access to the local security systems! Now, hurry!"
She, it seems, will not be partaking in undoing said security systems. Detatching from the ceiling, she flips backwards from the ceiling to the ground right before the Golem.
In a heartbeat, a faceplace slams down from her headgear. Tapping the butt of her weapon against the floor once, she's off as a rocket to engage the Golem.
Translation: she'll hold it off. It's up to you to try to shut the Golem down remotely. Or override local systems. Or open doors. Or whatever you can figure out how to do with ancient Veruni technology...
DG: Amaterasu has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"I'm not sure!" Clarissa calls out to Dash over the noise of the Golem's firing. "It might be something else completely! But if it can restore Filgaia, then--"
She's interrupted by the fact that she has to run. But soon enough they're clear of the golem, and Clarissa takes a second to catch her breath.
When Amaterasu starts urging them towards the panel, Clarissa blinks, then darts towards the panel in question - but not before she looks back. "Please be careful, miss!" she calls to the towering Veruni. "We'll be waiting for you when you get back, okay?"
Whatever Amaterasu might think of humans, Clarissa can't bring herself to be anything but herself.
The panel ahead waits for them. Clarissa frowns and leans forward, squinting at it. "I wonder if Mother wrote about something like this," she murmurs as she slips a notebook out of her coat. Rumpled pages make up about the first two-thirds of it, and she leafs through them, past reams of pen sketches and scribbled notes and little diagrams of this and that. "No, I know she has. Something about--"
Clarissa nods emphatically as she reaches one page, checking it over quickly, before leafing to the back of the book. The pages there are much neater and the writing is in a different colour of pen, as if written by someone else entirely. "It's similar but not the same, then," she murmurs as she flips back to the more rumpled set of notes. Gingerly, she begins to tap buttons on the panel, checking the notebook before each press.
"...I think these keys open up a power control system," she says. "Usually a panel like this is tied to an electronic brain -- see, there, I think that key indicates power, the one with the funny shape--"
Her heart is racing no matter how much she tries to keep calm. If this really is related to the Yggdrasill System, then her dreams might be about to come true....
DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Clarissa's Notebook toward her party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Leviram finds herself crouching down near Gwen and Brad as they await an opportunity to act. Leviram as always is unhurried almost as if that if she were to be slain in battle she knows she would one day be ressurected not by her own hand but by mortals wishing to pay tribute.
She sips on her juice box as she looks towards Gwen. "You seem frightened." She tells Gwen. Uh of course she's frightened there's a giant robot trying to murder everybody. "Let me give you some advice from my handy book of wise sayings. It was written by a woman I have long looked up to."
She reaches into her pouch and pulls it out, twisting around a bit as she flips through the pages.
Brad can see, for a moment, the title: Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage.
She turns back at this point as she clears her throat.
"We have come to tell you that there is one who sees you as prey, and they see themselves as the hunter. And the more they can persuade you that you wish to play this role, and that it is your fault, the more powerful they will become. This hunter comes forth when one has been groomed to be hurt. There are many examples of abuse and monstrosity in your world, amongst humans. And often it is the one who is most close to you, who will take what is most precious to you."
"Do not become prey. And do not agree to this hunter being invited by you. The victimisation they are visting upon you has not been invited by you, except through circumstance. There is no contract that means this must play out. If you feel this is wrong, speak up, and speak out. Being hunted, being preyed upon, is not something you must take the responsibility for, nor must this play out. You can change the script in the hunter's head. You can change the outcome. you can refuse to become prey. You can play this game quite differently to the script they have handed you."
"In fact, you need not play the part at all."
Leviram snaps the book closed and places it in her bag once more, smiling at Gwen and just Gwen with red stained teeth, and a pair of particularly sharp fangs. Clearly from all the tomato juice.
"Do you understand what M. Armitage is trying to tell you?" Leviram asks.
She points towards the panel that Amaterasu had pointed out.
"We can either become the hunter ourselves..."
She starts running for the panel, drawing out hert Electeel tool and jamming it nice and in there.
"Or we can refuse to become a story of hunters and the hunted!"
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
Naelle got hit by the golem. It upset her. "You ruined my favorite uniform! Now I'm not going to reassemble you when I'm done!"
She pauses, mostly because of the pain, but also because Leviram is sharing wisdom.
"That's pretty good," Naelle says when Leviram finishes, "But MY wisdom comes from the Goddess Althena! And Althena's wisdom, paraphrased by yours truly, is: FUCK YOU, ROBOT!"
...
Naelle.
Naelle no.
This is a wits challenge you can't just--oh she's hitting it with the wrench.
Oh for--
Naelle you can't win that--
Perhaps it would be best to just let her have this moment.
DG: Naelle Sylkirk has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes. DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Lasers. Absolutely everywhere. "I can't get a good shot!" Dash shouts, rolling again across the textured floor. A beam of light carving a neat little gouge there, left red hot. "A panel? I... Hang on!"
The boy stops long enough to tap something under where his ear is. A feminine voice picks up that people nearby can hear through the helmet.
"Roll! We got a situation down here!"
"Whats happening? I hear fighting!"
"There's a rampant Reaverbot-like construct! I need help disabling it! Can you help my search for the right signatures as I use the panel?"
"On it! Be careful, Dash!"
The blue digger takes another tumble, and makes a run for the panel. "Okay, let's see...! I'm no good at this, but maybe with her help I can figure out how to deactivate it, or make it friendly or something!!!"
He begins to listen to the voice in the helmet intercom closely, trying his best to figure out this problem.
This was her forte, not his. "Any of you even seen something like this before, anything?" he asks again. "Any amount of little input could help!"
He looks toward Clarissa. "You could be on to something! Maybe we can re-wire it--"
DG: Dash Caskett has used his Tool Roll Call toward his party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Dangerous Eyes *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Whether or not you've managed to evade the Golem's initial fury, the fact is that you're still stuck in here with it. It only needs to get lucky once, as the saying goes. And that's just assuming that's the only one of them the wayward security system could throw at you. Its eyes glow again with a brilliant crimson. But a glance around the room reveals a few possible options. Panels -- still shining red -- line the walls; a few of them look as if they might be able to grant someone access to area systems with a little work. Maybe it's possible to shut the security down. Maybe it's possible to distract, redirect, or waylay the Golem. But whatever you're going to do, you need to do it now. Time's running out. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"-Mm?" Gwen's gaze travels back towards Leviram, the Crimson Noble having caught her eye. "Oh, me? Well, yeah, it's just been a while since I've been 'round people I didn't know in some way, but I'll be fin-"
Gwen trails off, letting Leviram share her wisdom. "..." That was... remarkably helpful and profound, honestly.
And hits a little too close to home, for reasons Gwen can't necessarily reveal, but the way her eyes grow solemn, as she looks at the red-teethed smile of Leviram, says a lot by itself.
Then, Gwen finally laughs. "OH wait, you mean Ms. Amaterasu? T'be honest, she just reminded me of my auntie."
Wait, there's still a Golem in here!! "Oh, uh, right!" Gwen scrambles to the panel, peering at the crisscrossing circuitry. "Ugh..." It's just like peering into the deeper parts of her ARM- the ones Frea snaps at her if she touches them, anyway. "Just pick a circuit n' I'll zap it myself, okay? It wouldn't be my first time doin' that!"
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
Brad listens to a reading of the illustrious M. Armitage, Esq. Probably. For his part, he's pulling off something that's been looped around his shoulders the whole time.
What he produces is a black box covered in near-black bakelite, with a silver front face face. He removes a few covers, revealing an implausible small screen and a few screen grilles. He plucks something off it - a small silver hand unit. "She sounds like someone who's been hurt," Brad says, quietly.
Real barrel of laughs, Brad Evans.
Then he rolls away from cover, staying low as he approaches another terminal, squats, and runs his hand unit against it, keeping an eye on the screen, eyes running over its findings. "Wires running throughout the structure," he mutters. "Maybe...
He levers up a little higher, tapping away at keys with one hand while he points the hand unit at the wall panel with his other. He tucks the main unit in the crook of his elbow, squinting at its readout. "Extrapolating frequently typed passwords...c'mon, c'mon, I need..."
He frowns at something. "'KnockY0ua1LD?wN'" ... ... "Yeah, sure," he grunts, and starts typing it in.
DG: Brad Evans has used his Tool Quad Scanner toward his party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes. DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dangerous Eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"I meant the giant golem trying to kill us, but I wouldn't put it past aunts either!" Leviram says.
She frowns faintly at Brad's words and does not comment.
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Dangerous Eyes *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Whether or not you've managed to evade the Golem's initial fury, the fact is that you're still stuck in here with it. It only needs to get lucky once, as the saying goes. And that's just assuming that's the only one of them the wayward security system could throw at you. Its eyes glow again with a brilliant crimson. But a glance around the room reveals a few possible options. Panels -- still shining red -- line the walls; a few of them look as if they might be able to grant someone access to area systems with a little work. Maybe it's possible to shut the security down. Maybe it's possible to distract, redirect, or waylay the Golem. But whatever you're going to do, you need to do it now. Time's running out. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
=======================<* Memorial Sanctuary - Round 6 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Dangerous Eyes >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clarissa Arwin 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Clarissa's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 23 --(0)--> 23 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brad Evans 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Quad Scanner 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dash Caskett 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Roll Call 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Naelle Sylkirk 18 --(15)--> 33 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 8 --(15)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Amaterasu 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Amaterasu has successfully explored Memorial Sanctuary!
============================<* Memorial Sanctuary *>============================ =================<* CHALLENGE - A Dark World Looming Behind *>================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- In the end, once the Golem twitches its last and lies still, you're able to pass through the once-sealed doors -- now that the alarm system has calmed -- and enter into a formerly closed-off chamber. What could have been so valuable to seal it so carefully? The answer stands before you in the shape of a projector-like machine. While the shape may be foreign -- with age to some, with purpose to others -- a still-shining screen at one side of the projector mechanism draws the eye and suggests investigation. At a touch, it speaks, at first unintelligible. And then: ...LINGUISTIC MATCH OBTAINED. TRANSLATING: PLAY LAST RECORDING? At a yes, a series of images project against the wall, still brilliant and luminous after so many years. A beautiful land. A thriving land. A land crippled. "Did we invite this upon ourselves?" the narration reads out, against the image of cities that reach for the sky as if to scrape the heavens. "I have often wondered. Perhaps it is pointless after the end. The TF System worked -- we sacrificed our land to stop the demon, but perhaps it was already dying. Perhaps I would be making this last record still." A land in fear. A land burning. A dead land. "I leave this only as one record among many, in the hopes that somebody someday might hear it," the narration continues, against the backdrop of a civilization's graveyard. "I elected to stay on Filgaia. Others have left to seek a new home among the stars, but I could not leave. To restore Filgaia, much is required. This facility is but one step forward." The image against the wall fades to nothing. "No matter what happens to me, I feel I owe even that glimmer of hope to the future. To whoever is able to listen, please, forgive us for what we have done. "...We who have buried our past and forsaken our future." =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.
Amaterasu, with the assistance of Naelle, levels strike after strike against the rampant Golem. Against anything lesser, it's a good bet that she would have torn it limb from limb. And yet, it still moves.
Only through combined effort do the others manage to overpower the security panel, and crack their way through the encryption.
...It's a good thing whatever IT team used to manage this place isn't around anymore to see that particular password.
At once alarms cut out; the Golem slumps to a stop. And most importantly, a door slides open. Inside is a projector.
Once activated, it displays a message.
A very old one, indeed.
"..."
Amaterasu watches in silence for several minutes before turning around.
"...I am not yet finished here. Someone has been in here recently."
She turns away. "Mind yourself as you go, or I will find you." Heels click on the flooring; she departs.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
Naelle seems perplexed. "Nya?" she says after the video plays, tilting her head to one side.
Then she gets her disassemble on on the golem, or at least, tries to.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Danger dealt with, Leviram gestures Brad towards the projector, smiling at him. The red stained teeth are now pearly white. She must have licked them.
She wipes at her eyes a little when she sees the cityscape and then shakes out her hand carelessly. She then reads the narration.
"Faced between destruction of the present and destruction of the future... they chose the future. But by choosing to destroy the future, it is possible they gave this world an opportunity today to save this world."
She looks towards Amaterasu. She is departing.
"As your new mighty friend, I wouldn't forget what you've seen today."
She approaches the projector and places a hand on it, stroking as one might a pet.
"You did not destroy this world, poor soul. Tis not dead yet. Even now, Filgaia is fighting, my lovely dear harsh world..."
She pulls her hand away. "But a fair world. We can save it yet... But it is beyond the capacity of one pair of shoulders. That is what the mortals that crawl on Filgaia's surface must learn lest they squander their inheritance."
She rests a hand on Clarissa's shoulder, smiling at her a crooked, boogiepop smile. But a gentle smile all the same.
"I believe you can make your mother proud, Clarissa."
First time she used her first name.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
With a gentle smile, Clarissa nods to Dash. "I know we can," she encourages quietly. "If we work hard enough, anything's possible."
And boy does she work - and with effort, the encryption is broken, and the door slides open. Clarissa's breath catches in her throat, her open left hand curling at the big ribbon near her collar.
There's no hesitation, though her heart pounds in her chest. Her bootheels ring in her ears as she steps through the door, her stride quickening a little. She doesn't quite push ahead of Amaterasu but she's keeping pace despite the fact that she's substantially shorter and has to take longer and faster strides.
A linguistic match is obtained - and the wall lights up, revealing that play of years. The voice of a civilization long past.
The TF System.
A lump swells in Clarissa's throat as, for just a moment, she closes out the world around her and focuses entirely, like a laser, on this one thing. This message from the past - from a person long since left behind, with this facility. A place meant to restore Filgaia.
When it's all over, the girl slowly lowers her head, her eyes falling towards her boots. An obscure sadness flickers in her face - and yet, it's not disappointment. Merely mournful reflection on a sad, good soul.
"To restore Filgaia," she whispers.
But the project was compromised. It must have failed somehow....
When Leviram moves up beside her, Clarissa lifts her head once more, and the quiet mourning giving way to a simple, straightforward hope that shines behind her eyes as she meets the other woman's. The girl's desire is not the kind of thing that translates into a primal scream or a rampage of furious activity - but only a quiet kindness and a simple, brilliantly pure hope.
"Thank you," she says softly, her hand coming up to rest briefly over the back of Leviram's. "I'm more sure than ever now that Filgaia can be restored to a land of abundance again."
When Amaterasu turns to leave, Clarissa calls after her. "Miss... ...Thank you for allowing us to see this."
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.
They would almost certainly be ecstatic that someone hadn't just used "password" for the 37,000th time.
Well, something worked, anyway. Brad tucks his quadscanner away as they enter the next door.
He quickly reverses that decision, firs to help decode the next terminal, and then holding the hand unit toward the projected narration, capturing it to his quadscanner.
"'Sacrificed our land to stop the demon'?" Brad mutters. "So what, was this around the Day of Collapse? Is there a date record on this thing?"
He futzes with the tiny display, back and forth. "Day of Collapse doesn't make sense," he mutters. It was A DAY, nobody had time ot get their head on straight, let alone handle some kind of massive civilization-scale evacuation. This is a Veruni facility, too. Were they around then? Can't remember, was never relevant. "Gotta look that up," he says, aloud, not speaking the intervening thoughts. "Irving needs to know about this place," he decides.
He slips the quadscanner back around his shoulder and then reaches for another piece of equipment, a strange, palm-sized apparatus built around a shimmering blue crystal. "This is Evans," he says, pacing away to an area with better light. "Kate, Amy, you copy?"
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
The golem finally goes down with handy work from everyone. The controls finally yield their secrets, and deactivate it. "Well, that was... harrowing, to say the least! Good job!" the young man says, giving a thumbs up. His weaponized Buster reverts to a hand with a whir and click.
The next room holds an interesting find. A strange projector offers to show a video.
And what a video it is.
Talks of a people that used some kind of pwoerful system to stop a demon. But at what price? "Sounds dire. Maybe we can learn something from them?" he ponders. A look to Brad. "Maybe it was from a different event? They sounded really prepared, even if it went wrong."
But what could have happened that lined up better than that? Books and history weren't his thing. He would have to let Barrell know.
<Pose Tracker> Naelle Sylkirk has posed.
"This! Stupid! Thing! Isn't! Coming! Apart! NYAAAA!" Naelle informs the group.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
When Gwen looks up, she sees a vista of a beautiful landscape, Her first instinct is to wonder aloud if they had been teleported, but then she remembers the technology that projected the images of fire in that one terrible room.
The TF system. Filgaia Reclaimation. TransFormation?
Frea would be interested in this, even if she wasn't interested in the other things this place revealed the last time Gwen came. Straightening from her crouch, Gwen regards Leviram with a tilted head. "I never really put much thought into how the Veruni fit into everything. But the more I find out, the more I really wonder what's goin' on."
Like with Volsung, and Avril. Johnny Appleseed, and Lolithia.
And a lingering doubt that makes Gwen wonder if she really should look in further.
Naelle's yelling causes Gwen to look back at the cat mechanic. She winces, closing one eye, remembering the golem from the last time she came here. "Gotta treat 'em with respect. There's at least one person out there who'd prefer nothin' else than for them t'be treated that way." She grins. "Well, I better make my way back. Gotta keep scoutin' for a white knight and an old friend. Maybe we'll all meet each other at a later date~" With that, pushing her hands in her pockets, she strolls out, whistling merrily.
And slightly out of tune.