2019-03-28: Waylaid At Besaid
- Log: 2019-03-28: Waylaid At Besaid
- Cast: Marivel Armitage, Isolde, Talise Gianfair, Precis F. Neumann, Jacqueline Barber, Ratatoskr
- Where: Besaid Village
- Date: March 28th, 2019
- Summary: Marivel Arm-- er, Marie Valiera, someone with a vested interest in mastering the local environs, would like to take a number of trusted and/or noteworthy Drifters to go explore a sleepy village on the once-mythical continent of Spira. As it turns out, at least one agent of Filgaia's latest threat managed to make the jump here. Meanwhile, a sad man continues to chase an undying dream. (His own. Not Marie's. -editor)
================================================<* Besaid *>================================================
Besaid is a small tropical island at the southernmost point of the Spiran archipelago, almost as far south as one can get and still be part of Spira. The island features a large beach and seaport, a small village surrounded by forests and waterfalls, and a temple of Yevon. Its relative isolation from the outside world has resulted in a pastoral, almost idyllic life for its few inhabitants; if not for the few Summoners traveling to pray to the Fayth, Besaid would see almost no visitors at all.
It is also home to the lowly Aurochs, a blitzball team of which the less said is better.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxJE6SSX-aw
DG: A party led by Marivel Armitage is now entering Besaid Trails. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Besaid Trails *>==============================
====<* CHALLENGE - Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked *>=====
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
As you arrive to the entrance of the trails, you come across Guba, a
40's-something man wearing the open yellow vest and wading pants of a
Blitzer. Guba is a rare individual indeed: the aspiring Blitzball player
who, in the last twenty years, has never managed to make it onto the Besaid
Aurochs.
"Hey, catch!"
Now, Guba attempts to waylay strangers by pitching a Blitzball at them. He
has been rejected for throwing the ball so hard that it bowls people over.
Can you catch it and send it back at him, before he distracts you further
from entering the trails and being on your way?
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel or as she goes by to some people here 'Marie Valeria' can't pay as well as she could on Filgaia but she has put up a job requesting the aid of Drifters to 'assist in the exploration of the Besaid Trails'. Presumably, that is why you're here because it pays money! How did Marivel get money? Doing some odd jobs of her own. It's not a job that pays well but she is from the Valeria Household so once she (or you) make it back to Filgaia, well.
Naturally she didn't accept any application from Ratotoskr because she believes he has joined Odessa but this may not stop him from being here anyway.
Nevertheless, Marie Valeria, for the uninitiated, is a shrouded woman wearing a black mage cap and heavy robes and gloves that cover most of her skin except a small portion of her face. She has red eyes and is, well, not tall but some adults are short. That's life.
Marie Valeria greets those who show up, "Greetings, this is an exploratory venture but we'll see what we find. The trail is just up ahead and--"
A ball slams into her head and she falls over, defeated. Like many secret masters, sometimes being incredibly dumb is the best way to get the jump on them.
Unfortunately Guba catches the ball on the rebound and starts to throw it again. "Your turn!" He shouts.
Marivel lays on the ground, defeated.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
The woman called ISOLDE had come to travel with Marie Valeria, not least because she feels she should probably not just be in Luca hustling children at dice all day, lest the heat come down. She has adapted to this new situation quite well, although she has yet to change her garb for more localized appearances.
"It's good to be working with you again, Marie," Isolde tells her.
POOMP!
Isolde seems briefly consternated at the abrupt demise of Marie.
Her head turns towards the man shouting.
She reaches for her sword and NOPE
Isolde sprawls in the dust, though THIS time the ball is a high pop fly into the air.
DG: Isolde has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise went shopping not long after arriving. Her armour got stowed. Her new outfit is better suited for Spira.
More than that, she's in a place of wonder right now. She's smiling broadly as she continues along behind Marivel, taking in all that she sees with visible enthusiasm. The battle with Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus is almost academic to her.
Lunar is her home. And Spira is a place of legend and miracles to her.
The legend is interrupted when Marivel gets thunked in the head with a ball.
"Welp," Talise says, tilting her head and giving Guba a look. She moves to check on Marivel quickly.
Until a ball comes ripping towards her. Talise straightens up--
There is a loud *THUNK* of a ball hitting something solid.
"Welp," Talise says again as Isolde goes down. The tall woman watches as the ball sails up into the air.
She reaches up and snags it as it descends, then tosses it casually before casting it back to Guba underhand. "Try that again," she invites. "I want to see if I can catch it."
He probably does. The blitzball comes sailing towards her and--
*THUNK*
The ball again hits something solid. This time, though, it's not a head. It hits Talise in the abs.
She doesn't actually budge. She just catches the rebound, snaps her arms back and gives the ball a sidearm toss back to Guba.
"Catch, bud."
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked.
<Pose Tracker> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis has never actually been on anything resembling a vacation before and Besaid was perhaps the closest thing to it. The change in climate was pretty brutal which had the normally tights and long-sleeves wearing mechanic go for the short-sleeves and skirt look instead. But even still this island heat was something else! And especially so when still lugging around a large green backpack on her shoulders.
However, Precis also didn't really have any vacation money to throw around so she did leap at the chance to make some dosh on the side by joining this "Marie Valeria" on her noble scouting quest. After all, what's the worst that could happen on a relatively peaceful island like this?
SUDDENLY SPORTS that's what!
This sudden imposition to participate in local athletics is the true bane of all introverts like Precis. And in response, she topples over onto the ground to duck for cover while letting her green backpack stick up behind her like a turtle shell. A turtle shell that sudden sprouts metallic arms thanks to some quick manipulation by the inventor herself. And so when the overly enthusiastic Blitzball man throws it her way after testing a few of the others, Precis springs to action. Or those arms do as they attempt to hit the Blitzball back, hopefully punching it straight back to sender.
DG: Precis F. Neumann has used her Tool Gigantic Robo-Fist toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
A certain job from one 'Marie Valeria'. Admittedly, Jacqueline had her own interest in exploring the trails of Besaid - the Caravan Kinship needed to secure some supplies for their business, and she thought it might prove fruitful. And, of course, they needed some gil to run the business with, so...it was a good opportunity!
Besides, she's seen her and her traveling companion before in the markets, so she knew they could at least handle themselves.
It's about this time that they're both taken out in quick succession by a flying Blitzball.
Jacqueline yelps and hides behind a pillar of stone.
"Ex-excuse me, sir! Please desist! We're just innocent travelers!" She urges. The response is a heavy impact against the stone pillar, powerful enough to crack stone.
Jacqueline pales a little.
It may very well be up to her other companions to handle this. There, is, however, a shaky thumbs-up thrown over the top of the stone.
"G-good work Talise, Precis!" She says.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
With luck, Ratatoskr is nowhere near this place, busy just doing... whatever it was that cottoned him to Odessa. Then again, Odessa going unchecked is kind of bad news to begin with, with all of the best and brightest of Filgaia's and Lunar's Drifters all stuck in a land unfamiliar to the majority of them.
Eventually, somewhere in this nebulous sequence of comical events as involves a man who cannot move on from a dream he will never fulfill...
"You! Ronso! Over there!" Guba shouts. "Catch!"
Ronso? An acquaintance of this guy named Ronso? A local, then, maybe? There's a silhouette of a tall someone or another with a distinctive horn underneath the obscuring shade of a tree (far too shady for the angle and intensity of the light, a certain photosensitive someone here has a right to call BS on this).
Then there is a WHUMPF and the sound of something... metal? Crashing against a tree and rolling down a hill.
"What's this? What's this!" That youthful, arrogant voice. That weird cadence of asking something and then exclaiming the exact same thing just asked aloud.
"...Such strength...! With a sphere like this, made like that... but with that arm... I have never seen anything like this...!" The voice starts to crack from sheer excitement and glee as the shadow of a horned Ronso(?) appears back up over the hill. There's a glow of yellow from where the eyes should be set from this... Ronso...
"Hyahaha--!" That's a Hyadean. Unless 'Ronso' is the name they call them here, or something, revealing a grinning, crimson-armored horned squirrel-like warrior. The one, the only, and sadly, absolutely one hundred percent present upon Spiran soil...
"Hey," they grin as quicksilver dribbles from their sharp-toothed grin. It's Ratatoskr. "This is a cool weapon. A mace without a chain... it feels like Berserk showed me how he stood against that one from so long ago..." That's, um, praise. Of some kind. "What style is that? What style is that...!"
Beat.
He gently rolls the ball back.
"Do it again! Again! Again again againagainagainagain," he excitedly bounces up and down on his feet, encouraging everything they don't want, but, then again... he is a completely inhuman, alien life form to this world that this simple middle-aged man has never seen before.
This is either an excellent idea for dissuading him, or an excellent way to get everyone beaned upside the head.
DG: Ratatoskr has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked.
========================<* Besaid Trails - Round 1 *>========================= ======< Results - Besaid Man Throws Blitzball at Strangers Unprovoked >======= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Ogre Power Gauntlets 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ratatoskr 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Precis F. Neumann 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Gigantic Robo-Fist 2 Brute Effects: Resilient ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Marivel Armitage 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Resilient(1)|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Marivel Armitage 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.
It turns out not only is that ball throw powerful enough to crack stone, it actually sends a little bit of debris splashing back into Jay. Not a lot, but it's probably an unpleasant sensation.
Talise and Precise are able to plow the ball back to Guba. Talise gets a, "Nice job!!" from the ex(?) blitzballer but when he tosses it at Precis... he actually takes a hit in HIS face because SUDDEN MACHINA from Precis drew his attention and distracted him.
"M..machina! Machina! I've never seen anything quite like it!" He stammers in surprise but his attention is drawn to Ratatoskr.
He blinks a few times.
He says, "What's a Ronso doing all the way out here?" Guba is not very smart. A ball is gradually rolled towards him and he--
--well of course he throws it back just like before! This could last a while if Ratatoskr is inclined to keep at this for a while.
DG: Isolde has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Besaid Trails *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you walk along the trails, making your way through the jungle and the woods, you hear a rumbling from above. Then, a few rocks come crashing down a steep hill. To make matters worse, one clips one of the ancient, rusted metal ruins -- and a chunk of broken, pitted steel /also/ falls free. You have a rock slide coming crashing down on top of you, unless you move fast! =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Isolde gets back up despite being hit in the dome with a blitzball. She adjusts her hair, which takes her much of the activity from the others, although, hearing them, she calls over her shoulder, "Thank you," and then she hooks her hands underneath Marie's armpits, lifts her up high enough that her feet dangle, and sets her down gently.
After a little dusting and some levelling of the hat, she tells her, "There! Better?"
She hears names, meanwhile. Talise and Precis. She'll have to determine who was which.
To the baller, even as he seems to now be in a back and forth with the other figure here. "... Well, that seems to be that." She raises her voice towards the baller: "If you strike me a second time on the way back, you won't strike me a third; savvy?"
After this she hustles her way down the path, which in this case leads downwards, slightly, and more to the point, around a curve and out of blitzin' range. She makes vague, airy 'cmon' gestures to the others, not wanting to call out, perhaps again due to Mr. Blitzball up there.
SOON, AFTER A SWITCHBACK
"Now," Isolde tells Marie and perhaps others, "you may have wondered why I had a whistle with me. I always knew since I was a maiden that I just had to pucker my lips and blow, but that does get to be tiring. And I can tell we're in a bit of a valley, so -" Out comes that carved piece of wood.
Isolde blows into it. *tweet!*
She listens.
Several heartbeats later, she says, "Interesting. I think there's some sort of large piece of metal around here. Like a broken Gear or something..."
Stepping forwards, she makes another 'tweet'. She walks forwards another ten paces, raises the whistle to her lips again -
A rumble.
The stones start tumbling down.
"Oh balls, he must have taken offense because I threatened to kill him if he attacks me again," Isolde muses, even as a large boulder bounces off the trail less than a yard from her. "Well, there isn't much to be done about it other than to survive. Remember, all of you! It's all going to come from -"
Isolde points towards the side of the dip in the ground through which the trail runs. At this point the piece of ancient metal rips free and begins falling. Isolde takes a step back the way she came as part of the metal stabs into the ground directly in front of where she was. She reaches out around shoulder height to feel it. "Ooh, that's a big one."
DG: Isolde has used her Tool Enigmatic Whistle toward her party's challenge, Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise pauses as someone else comes loping up. "Oh, hey, it's you again," she says with a blink at Ratatoskr, though her tone's conversational. "I thought you'd thrown in with Commander Big-Speech. Guess he didn't aim very well when he sent us all here, huh?"
She flicks a hand towards Jay with an easy smile before continuing on, stretching her arms a little. "...I could get used to that game," says the lady built like she could bench the Dragonship Destiny.
A quick switchback ensues!
"I did wonder about the whistle," Talise begins, before cutting off and clearing her throat when Isolde says something else. She smiles politely, half-hiding it behind a hand.
When Isolde calls back, Talise begins to start after her - until things start to rumble. She looks up, opening her mouth slightly. "...Althena's well-oiled codpiece," she says with dull surprise as she realizes that part of the cliff is about to come down on them.
Things plummet. With a hiss, Talise darts forward. "Miss, be careful!" she calls to Isolde, before a rock falls past her to slam into the path right where she was standing a second before. "We can trade puckering tips once we're not getting pounded here!"
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt.
<Pose Tracker> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis's green eyes slightly bulge out in surprise when the hit Blitzball actually smacks Guba in the face. "Oh goodness! I'm so sorry! I didn't...huh? Machina, what's that?" The pony-tailed Precis tilts her head to the side while placing her hands on her hips, her robo-arms mimicking the gesture somewhat. But she too shares in Guba's curiosity when it comes to whatever a Ronso is. She looks left, right, up, and down until the excited Ratatoskr steps forward figuratively to at least show what Guba was looking at.
Stare-stare. "Oh hi!" Precis belatedly greets Rata with a toothy grin before then turning to wave at the familiar form of Jay (or what she can see of her from behind those rocks). Pleasantries given, Precis returns her attention to the task at hand. She is quick to display just how serious she is by lowering her welding glasses over her eyes and then skating forward with the assistance of the wheels on the sides of her boots. This allows her to half-walk, half-roll along until Isolde stops to start give a warning some sort. "Huh? What's up?" Precis asks as she rolls up to Isolde's side. What's up is suddenly starting to come down. "Uh oh! This is seriously not good!" And then bad turns to worse as the falling rocks knock a piece of the ruins free to upgrade the danger into a rock slide. "Run-run-run-ruuuuuun!" helpfully suggests a slightly panicked Precis as she puts her wheeled boots to real work now.
She runs a few paces before letting her momentum carry her forward with her wheels accelerating her further. This allows the not-so-quick mechanic to at least make a go at it even if outrunning rock slides is not precisely her forte here.
DG: Precis F. Neumann has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline doesn't emerge from behind the stone pillar until she's absolutely sure it's safe. As she does so, though, she spots...Ratatoskr. Jacqueline frowns, just slightly. Well...at least this time his only interest was in getting hit in the face.
"Here, I have some potions if anyone needs them after that..." Jacqueline says, passing out some bottles of green liquid - they'll help fight off fatigue, which will prove helpful. She also returns Precis's wave with one of her own - she hadn't expected to end up on the same job as her, but it's always nice to see one of her friends in action!
Talise, too, gets a return wave - it'd been a little while since they had last worked together, so it was good to see her, too.
She brushes some of the debris off of her - some of which pelted her in the head, which she deals with by applying some of the potion to it as a salve - before following along behind the others. Thankfully, Guba seems to have bigger issues to focus on. But, they do, too.
As they proceed forward, Isolde comments on something big. ...Which soon comes falling toward them!!
"Running now!" Jacqueline agrees, breaking into a run alongside the others. Unfortunately, stamina isn't one of her strong points...she'll have to try to keep up.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
A game of catch ensues. Based on the sound of Ratatoskr's gleeful cackling and aggressive posturing, it is not going very well for him. Guba may have simply been born in the wrong part of creation, for what is basically a toy is hurling around a heavier, stronger, more limber creature of almost immortal living metal. He may have been too rough to ever make it as a Blitzball player, but what a warrior he would be on the battlefield of Filgaia...!
WHUMPF
Ratatoskr collapses down with the rest of them from further on back, just in time to catch up with a number of them conversationally. Bruises and cuts knit and heal before their very eyes - the benefits of Hyadean regeneration.
"You too? You too!" He sounds excited by this. Actually, it's weird, he's so far removed from the thing that entranced him so that he ought to be sad and angry that he isn't caught in the thick of a great huge battle between so many Filgaian powers at once.
"...Can you believe it? Can you believe it... I don't even know where we are..." His voice quiets as things start to fall upon them. "But they know me? They've given me a name already... Ronso...! Nowhere did anyone ever say we were here... this is great...!" His excitement builds, giddy with nerding out as the need comes to run. He takes something in his hand, a glowing complex crystal-tech thing or another that removes him from sight with a colorful warping of light and just hurls him in some unspecified direction that may or may not be ideal.
"The warrior at the front... there must be more like him... I can't wait to meet them," he says from wherever.
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Teleporter Fragment toward his party's challenge, Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel is lifted up into the air. She is not heavy. She is set back firmly on the floor. She stands there for a moment. "Yes." She says, picking up her hat and placing it back on her head. "Thank you." A little bit of smoke drifts away from her body, almost imperceptible.
She has lost her train of thought as bludgeons to the face tend to do. She reaches into her robes and draws out a long vial filled with some red liquid. She pops it open and drinks the strange beverage(?) that is (probably blood) ((is blood)) down her throat. She seems to feel better afterwards and the little indent along her face anishes in short order.
"Honestly, I wasn't thinking about much except for the fact that an agent of Odessa was being defeated by a yokel throwing a ball at him."
Well he is a FLYING squirrel after all and everybody knows that blitzballs do extra crit damage against flying enemies. It's just how it is!
She has a bad feeling, though, about Ratatoskr considering that guy a warrior but honestly after a quick glance at the rest of the party, maybe murdering Ratatoskr here would not sit well with a fair chunk of them.
Besides, it's not really HER job to be dealing with Odessa. It was a favor for Irving and Irving isn't here.
"But," She says to Isolde a moment later. "It is an interesting story though for the moment--" She glances up. "You might want to--"
TWEET.
Marivel freezes.
TWEET.
"It's giant boulders, Isolde! Get running!"
Marivel strangely does NOT abuse the teleport spell. For once.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt.
========================<* Besaid Trails - Round 2 *>========================= ==================< Results - Rocks Fall, People Get Hurt >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ratatoskr 0 --(2)--> 2 Pass Teleporter Fragment 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 10 --(7)--> 17 Fail Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 0 --(2)--> 2 Pass Enigmatic Whistle 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Precis F. Neumann 0 --(7)--> 7 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Marivel Armitage 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Marivel Armitage has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"Oh, I know it," Isolde tells Talise. She then calls towards the other person, who is bursting into a run, "Don't be too hasty--"
Jay offers her a potion. Opening it, she takes a sniff, seems to judge it good, and downs it even as Jay hastens forwards as well. Several of the stones that had fallen bounce off the opposite side of the path and ricochet, causing everyone problems.
"Hm," she says to Marie. "Thank you for your consideration..."
Ratatoskr, of course, cheats by using Blink, though he does not proceed to shoot up an orphanage like some Mavericks do. Isolde stays where she is as the stones rebound, then in some cases re-rebound, and then settle down...
*tweet*
She wends her way around them, moving forwards and giving hands up if people need them. "Thank you terribly much for the beverage," she says to Jay. "Do you want the bottle back?"
Genially, she says, "Sometimes you don't have to hurry."
DG: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
==================================================<* Besaid Trails *>=================================================== ==============================================<* CHALLENGE - Water Flan *>============================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- The trail ahead is blocked by globs of a cerulean goop, which rises up slowly from the ground. When you get closer, there is a flash of light -- and then balls of water are magically /hurled/ straight at you! A Water Flan is dangerous, not the least of which because of its resistance to all but sorcerous magic -- which can make defeating one take a long time. =Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr doesn't seem to reappear where anyone can see him, which is a net positive in most circumstances. He is known to be persistent and insistent in participating in violence of pretty much all sorts, for its own sake. The road ahead is treacherous from the recent collapse, but at least uneventful. Nothing else shifts, nothing ele collapses, it's just a bit more of a climb and a walk.
It's also a bit more damp. Muddy. It hasn't rained lately, has it? Then, there's an answer as suddenly a large pile of cerulean goop flies towards the group and splatters shortly after an airy explosive sound. Following where it's all come from...
...oh, great.
"Hyahaha--!" There's Ratatoskr, who is probably responsible in some form or another because he currently has a leg stuck inside a blue-hued blob monster - a Flan, in these parts - his natural Hyadean regeneration keeping pace with its attempts to corrode and consume nutrients it really can't out of him.
He flexes his knee and fires off another compressed air shotgun from his knee joint. This counts as elemental damage, and in theory, works to blow off more chunks of the blob that has ensnared him.
This chunk flies towards the group. That makes two that splatter down...
...then burble and rise into more of them. More flashes of light follow as these newly born Flans start flinging water at pretty much everyone and everything.
"This is cool," says a young Hyadean who cannot actually appreciate how much danger this is theoretically putting himself in, "I'm gonna make twenty of them..."
(this would be a terrible idea and should be discouraged, but ideally dealt with)
DG: Ratatoskr has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Water Flan.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise gets donked on the head by a rock. "Ow! Shit," she winces. "That's not the kind of bang I'm after!"
With a little puff, she brushes herself off and squares herself to whatever's next. She moves along the path, rubbing at her head with her left hand. "So much for vacation," she murmurs.
It's only half-joking.
'Hyahaha!'
"Uh-oh," Talise sighs as she hears Ratatoskr before she sees him - stuck in a blob of a sort she's never seen. "Look, I know you want to fight everything," she calls out to Ratatoskr, "but I guarantee you that none of these things have epic names or an awesome legend!"
Unslinging the shotgun from her side, Talise brings it to bear from a distance - and indeed, more Flans begin to pop up, oozing closer to the group and flinging water around. With a gasp, she jukes to the side, then opens fire, her shotgun roaring as she pumps shells into the flan crowd.
And mostly serves to lose her shells. They get sucked up into the blobby creatures like nothing.
Talise clicks her tongue. "That's unfortunate," she says with a huff as she drops the shotgun back onto her belt.
It's replaced quickly. Drawing her sword, she slides a heel back, measures the Flans for a moment, and begins to focus. Arcs of green electricity race down her arms and up her sword.
"Huaat!" she shouts as she slashes Rastaban through the air, hurling a surge of green energy into the Flanmass.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Trench Sweeper Shotgun toward her party's challenge, Water Flan.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The rocks do a number on them. Jacqueline winces, having taken another stone-related injury twice in one day. For someone with a focus on earth Sorcery, this was not a good day for her.
"I-Is everyone alright...?" Jacqueline asks, picking herself up with a wince and brushing herself off. It was a good thing she came dressed for exploration, rather than in her casual clothes. She had more protection like this.
She's a bit sore so she can keep going, but things start to get a little bit more difficult as things start getting strangely damp.
The reason why becomes clear soon enough as Ratatoskr's laugh can be heard, and they soon catch up only to find him attacking a group of Water Flan. And making more of said Water Flans.
Jacqueline sighs, drawing out a book and flipping through the pages. It seems to be a bestiary of some kind, and she eventually settles on the entry for the Flans in front of them.
"Hm...these are Water Flan, apparently. After the desert, I suppose...? Their gelatinous body makes them resistant to all except Sorcery, and their opposing element - in this case, Lightning. They also possess potent Sorceries of their own, but they're color-coded, conveniently, so you know what you're dealing with."
"And fortunately for me," Jacqueline says, flexing the fingers on her right hand. "Lightning is a specialty of mine. Stay clear, everyone!"
She brings her right hand down quickly, invoking a Crest from the gauntlet. Lightning crashes down toward the group of flans, the spell extended to try and hit all of them simultaneously to prevent further splits.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Water Flan.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Isolde sighs as she unsheaths her sword. "My, my," she says, "this is a little bit of a mess, isn't it?" She holds the blade one handed as she steps forwards, head held at a peculiar angle even as a gun fires.
"Interesting... like a water ice? They seem like some of the jellies I've run into in the past," Isolde answers Jay as she then says, "Ah, well," and spins out of the way of a burst of lightning! And she is about to stumble into a water flan, which is already turning around with a mindless leer on its burbly phiz, until -
STAB!
Twist -
Pull -
A lot of Flan... fluid pours out. Isolde turns around to give another stab-twist-pull, explaining as she does, "You want to breach the skin, not just rupture them. Diluted like this, they might just burst asunder entirely!"
The scent of Water Flan innard in the air makes her add, "Am I the only one who's feeling a little hungry?"
DG: Isolde has used her Tool Travelling Sword toward her party's challenge, Water Flan.
<Pose Tracker> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis was proud of her quick thinking despite it being a bit of a gamble. Her rolling-boots should grant her enough speed to outpace this rock slide, she was pushing these prototypes to their limit but when has -that- even been a problem? The youth giggles exuberantly as she declares, "I -am- a genius!"
And then a karmic rock lands directly in her path. Wheel meets rock.
"Aieeeeeeee!" summarily screams Precis as she goes arse over tea-kettle into the air, caterwauling into the oncoming landslide.
A few moments pass before an increasingly louder drilling noise can be heard. And then suddenly a true MACHINA emerges from the rubble with a dirty, rock-battered teenager at its helm. "A minor set back! But I'm alive, totally still alive and in one piece...I think!" She reports to Jaqueline before patting herself down, knocking some pebbles off her clothes in the process. Having escaped the landslide, Precis does have a moment to glance around take stock of the party at large. Wow. There were some real serious looking types in their group with some serious martial prowess by the look of their magic, shotguns, and potions.
It is only then that she turns to scan the obstacle in their way as Raka takes the lead on this one. "Oh? Just a wall? Too easy!" Precis switches a few levers and propels her drilling unit into high gear, aiming the drill arm of her Bobot square at the wall.
But it is actually the wall that strikes first as robo-riding Precis starts getting pelted by flansicles. "Wh-what is all of this? My tech hasn't been waterproofed!" Precis's trajectory goes from going straight into to spiraling dangerously out of control as she looks to now hit this wall not-drill first. Look out y'all because she's now a wrecking ball.
DG: Precis F. Neumann has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Water Flan.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel ends up more battered by the rocks than Isolde does. She looks back towards her completely unharmed f(r)iend. "Isolde." She says. "That's a fair point." She would apologize but honestly who got the worst out of this as is?? Nevertheless, "I hadn't meant to underestimate your talents." Even after all this time, of course, she's not entirely sure what those talnets are. Well, she can jump high. That's one thing. "Tis my blame for failing to foster a curious mind even in the face of blitzballs to the face."
She looks to Jay and gives her a small nod. "I will be well. Especially once we..."
There's a whole slew of Flan here. She lets Ratatoskr make as many as he likes without interrupting him. "Do you have any favorite songs? Tis a bit late this time, but perhaps next time...? Oh--" She looks to Talise. "Or perhaps you have one? To be honest, I wasn't particularly fond of singing at first but I learned to find love for it."
She twirls a batwinged microphone in front of her face and sings, "Even better than a tale of fiction that nobody knows, I will open up a tale I can't give a name!"
A fair number of the slimes stop what they are doing and look right at Marivel. Honestly maybe a bit unexpectedly, Marivel's singing voice is actually very good like she has had plenty and plenty and plenty of practice at it.
"The sky above me holds a future brimming with hope! But what can I call it, trapped by the everyday?"
The flans turn their attention towards...
...Ratatoskr...
"This vision I can't reach is eating away at my soul, Bring me to my knees because it's so far away!"
And they immediately begin a coordinated assault of water globs in his direction!
Marivel lowers her microphone and says, "Oh no....they all turned on Ratatoskr at once...! Who could have anticipated this...???"
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Water Flan.
=============================================<* Besaid Trails - Round 3 *>============================================== ================================================< Results - Water Flan >================================================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 7 --(3)--> 10 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 7 --(3)--> 10 Pass Trench Sweeper Shotgun 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ratatoskr 2 --(3)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 17 --(3)--> 20 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 2 --(3)--> 5 Pass Travelling Sword 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Precis F. Neumann 7 --(3)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------------
DG: The party led by Marivel Armitage 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: Precis F. Neumann has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Besaid Trails *>=============================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - Dingos *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Wild dogs are one of the dangers of Besaid Island. The semi-frequent devastation caused by Sin (and sometimes weather, too) mean that dogs that escape have since bred, and created a vicious local breed known as the Dingo. These hounds are sleek, fast, and typically hostile to people -- which may be a problem, as several of them rush for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The Water Flans do not know who they're going up against, which makes sense on two fronts: a) everyone here is from, shall we say, abroad, and b) they are mindless blob monsters. In the latter case, they are mindless blob monsters who have so far ticked all the right boxes to survive the scrutiny of Charles Darwin.
Precis deals with the terrain with a bit of ingenuity, and this gives everyone a lot more breathing space as she happens upon one of the weaknesses of the flans - they are bound by the terrain. Too steep a drop or a gap in any nearby walls they might slime through, that's a place they're likely to stay stuck in without expending lots of energy. (This does not stop them from flinging more water sorcery, but it lets everyone move a bit more easily).
Isolde applies a bit of scientific knowledge against the traditional resistance of the Flan, and once this technique catches on, Spira will be much less goopy to show for it as one deflates.
"You don't get it? You don't get it!" Ratatoskr yells back to Talise. "No one's ever seen these...! No one's ever fought them... this is epic! This is legend!!"
Jay then says what it is. Ratatoskr's squirrely segmented metal plate tail starts to sag. "Oh... well, that's okay, still going to make twenty of them," he resolves as he sucks in more compressed air through his leg to fire, but the number is rapidly dwindling as Jay applies her Crest Sorcery and Talise releases green electricity through her blade to zap them, which is eye-catching and neat...
...then Marivel asks a question about singing.
"Oh! Yeah! Marching songs! I love those," all too casual and enthusiastic to chat while his leg is still getting all slimed up. He patiently waits to hear Marivel's, and he stops to cross his arms as though non-plussed.
Then the water flans, entranced by her music, 'face' towards Ratatoskr and then...
He gets pelted. He gets splashed. He gets pummeled.
As the Hyadean horned squirrel-like figure continues to stick and sruggle with gleeful, maniacal laughter, this is a great opportunity to move along and let him take a bath to wash out the stupid in his everything.
<Pose Tracker> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis's robo-ride actually reaches a fast enough velocity that the flan-bits that had stuck to her ride now came flying off where they were easy targets for others to mop up for her. She breathes a sigh of relief as she brings her transformed ride to a skidding halt. "We made it!" She actually jumps for joy before landing back in the cockpit of her bobot-drill. "Good job everyone! We survived a rock-slide, those weird goopy things, and even an overly enthusiastic local! Nothing can stop us now!"
Bark-bark!
A rather innocuous noise sounds from somewhere further up the path which draws Precis's curious attention. But then that solo act becomes a chorus of angry bark-barks that quickly escalates to outright howls. And soon enough, a pack of Besaid Dingos emerges from the brush! And unfortunately for our party of intrepid adventures, the Besaid Dingos are not a Blitzball team but actual wild dogs. They quickly attempt to circle around various members of the group while they look for their chance to pounce upon those caught unawares.
Precis once again takes the controls of her bobot and...starts swinging the mechanical arms of her bobot wildly in hopefully menacing fashion. "Shoo, shoo! Bad dogs, go away!" It seems the young inventor is a bit reluctant to use any more force than that even if these dingos do look particularly hungry.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"Ratatoskr, they live here," Talise points out. "People from Spira probably fight these all the time."
Talise sends a big, deep V of a smile Marivel's way. "I have a lot of favourite songs, actually," she says, reaching back to pat the neck of the lute she's had slung there next to her scabbard. "I can sing one if you like. I think I even have a few about Spira, though honestly no one from the mainland has ever been here--"
A dog barks. Talise cuts off, then frowns as the sounds multiply and intensify. It's not just a pack of dogs ahead - it's actual wild dogs.
As Precis begins to flail about with her big ol' robot arms, Talise steps in, sword in hand, moving to intercept a couple of the dingos before they can close in on the wild swinger. "Careful," she calls to Precis.
The huge half-Beastwoman lashes out with a couple of deft sword strokes. She's swinging with Rastaban's flat, aiming less to kill than to swat away aggressive dogs. She'll even jab one with her boot if it becomes necessary. "G'wan, git!" she barks. "Git!"
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dingos.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline breathes a sigh of relief as Precis emerges in one piece, with her enthusiasm thankfully still intact.
At the mention of waterproofing, Jacqueline sends her a look.
"Ah...when we get back home, remind me to show you a few of the mixtures I've been working on...I have a few that might help you out there." Jacqueline offers.
"Something like that. I think you have the general idea." Jacqueline agrees with a nod toward Isolde.
Working together, they manage to rapidly decrease the number of Flans present...up until Marivel's song causes them to rise up solely against Ratatoskr. Jacqueline still considers this a victory.
"Yes, good work, everyone! ...I didn't realise your Bobots were so useful in combat, too, Precis!" Jacqueline praises.Unfortunately, before they can get too far, their presence is met with a chorus of angry barking in the form of wild dingos. She can appreciate Precis's reluctance to use too much force. She reaches for her book...then pauses.
"These are...honestly, I don't even need the Codex for this. Hold on." Jacqueline reaches into her bags drawing, rather than a book, a bottle of foul-looking liquid. She'll travel in a circle around the party, sprinkling the liquid on the ground.
It's a brand of monster repellant that she always keeps on her, comprising of ingredients that most monsters or beasts find repugnant and prefer to stay away from. It should hopefully help ward them off, or at least give them a little more breathing room - especially combined with the slightly more forceful methods of Talise and the other physically-strong members of the party.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Dingos.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"I certainly haven't," Isolde says quietly, at Ratatoskr's yelling.
As they get ruptured, Isolde straightens up and flicks off slime from her blade. A stray Flan globs her in the chest, which makes her frown, but doesn't seem to be deeply disturbing to her. She flicks her sword again and sheaths it, and breathes out.
"What lovely singing! - Who were you asking at the end, though?" she asks Marivel, even as her attention moves towards Precis. Then she hears barking. The barking doesn't sound friendly. She rests a hand on her blade again, and then -
She frowns.
"Well damn," she breathes out. "I can't just stab them, can I? These are probably someone's overly enthusiastic strays - though they seem to be a rather large breed. What a shame, considering what I have learned in my style. Tsk." Isolde shakes her head, making the ringlets bobble a little.
Then - something gurgles - "May I borrow that when it's empty? Thank you, miss - I'm Isolde, by the way, forgive me if we've met before -"
Isolde raises the bottle above her head. She draws her sword...
And bangs annoyingly on it! BANG BANG KLANK KLANK TONK BONK
DG: Isolde has used her Tool Travelling Sword toward her party's challenge, Dingos.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Ah, is that so? The Goddess seems to not care for singing anymore, and from your words it seems you are from her domain? Dancing too, by the sounds of it." Marivel slides the microphone back into her sleeve. "Does she make exceptions for beastmen or are you resisting her edict? Tis surely a brave choice if you are the latter."
She smiles pleasantly at Jay, not saying much at first but then she does glance over to Precis and give her a smile too before looking back to Jay.
"Precis, then, is her name? To be honest, I haven't seen many engineers as evidently brilliant as her and yet be so young. Ah, not that I mean to degrade her due to her youth, but you understand. Tis a study that takes time and she is leaps and bounds beyond what I could do at her age. Humanity is full of surprises, day after day."
She looks to Isolde. "Nobody. 'Twas a rhetorical and..."
She turns. She looks at the dogs. The... DINGOS.
Marivel's eyes soften and she crouches to one knee. "I believe..." She whispers. "That you are, in your hearts, still good boys and good girls."
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dingos.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Things seem to calm down, at least a bit. Dingoes are a threat, sure, they come in packs and once they sink their fangs into you from multiple angles, that can be it... but it is at least a far cry from having to deal with water sorcery-flinging slimes that kept reproducing in number because someone thought it was a good idea to blow off viable amounts of muck at a time for this very purpose. Everything should go swimmingly among the experienced explorers among them, for the Dingo tactics aren't a far cry from other wild dogs any number of them might have faced previously.
There should be no surprises that complicate matters any--
--and then, all of a sudden Ratatoskr drops in, sopping wet, a flying knee attack intercepting a leaping Dingo as he touches down in a three-point stance with a bigger grin while water drips off the edge of his horn. His segmented metal plates seem droopy and heavy from how comprehensively soaked in magical blob monster water he is, like it might have made him so soaking wet that it could encumber him from any of his crazy rapid movements.
"That was great." He says as he rises up, crossing his arms as the solid yellow of his eyes bears down on everyone. "So now--"
He starts to step forward, but then his digitigrade foot dips into the circular spill of repellant and he retracts it in a hurry. If he's a random encounter, then it stands to reason it might even work on him. (Science!)
DG: Ratatoskr has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Dingos. DG: Precis F. Neumann has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dingos.
=========================<* Besaid Trails - Round 4 *>========================== ==============================< Results - Dingos >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 10 --(3)--> 13 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 10 --(3)--> 13 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 5 --(3)--> 8 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 20 --(3)--> 23 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isolde 5 --(3)--> 8 Pass Travelling Sword 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Precis F. Neumann 10 --(13)--> 23 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Marivel Armitage 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Marivel Armitage 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> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis flails around mightily, but the constant activity only serves to tire her out as well as draw the attention of more her dingos her way. One particularly frisky dingo jumps up to take a bit out of Precis, but Talise's expert swordswomanship turns the dingo's bark into a bork as it gets bwapped on the nose by the blunt side of the sword which causes it to run off. The fearsome countenance of the half-beastwoman is enough that the remaining dingos search for easier targets than her.
Jay's repellant helps thin the pack. A few of the braver dingos nip at that before shaking their muzzles and retreating in the utmost dismay. It seems their sensitive snouts were affected effectively by this potent potion. Isolde's bottle sword rattling furthers sends some of the back running for the hills as loud noises were also not good in the land of bark-barks and bork-borks. It seems that this duo does great things in helping deter the dastardly dingo threat or what remains of it after Talise's show of force.
Only a few remain and Marivel makes a charisma roll against wild dogs. The result? A success! And in particular, one blonde and white dingo with only half tail approaches her with its snub tail wagging back and forth happily. They are a good boy or girl, they really are! The dingo then rolls onto its stomach to provide Marivel with a rare belly-rup of opportunity before it too runs off to join the rest of its pack.
Finally, Ratatoskr takes down the last of Dingo reserves with a well-placed flying knee. The last of the dingo that still want to fight see this dingo go flying and they all tuck tail and whimper off. There were easier meals than this one! And that goes for the party at large as the wild dogs leave just as readily as they appeared, leaving the party a moment's respite before whatever challenge is next.
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Besaid Trails *>================================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Clearing a Rockslide *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- The trails that cut through Besaid Island border on the mountainous. In parts, they rise above the treeline of the jungles. Because of this, rock slides are not uncommon. Here, you find one such event: the trail has been blocked by a huge pile of rocks, which slid down from the cliff face above. It would take no small amount of time to double back and find a different way, too... =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
With the dogs run off, Talise takes a moment to catch her breath. But she crinkles her nose when Marivel starts shoving tough questions out there. Still, she smiles aftr a second. "...Yep. Total heretic," she admits a bit flippantly.
Then she shakes her head. "Actually the truth is that the Goddess's prohibition on music is pretty recent. For thousands of years music has been important to her. And so long as the spirits of Lunar are singing - and to be clear, I Know This For A Fact - I figure it's fine if I do too, and if Althena wants to set me on fire then we'll hash it out then."
With that little jaunt through sacrilege taken care of, Talise takes a moment to sheath her sword, limber up a little and move along the cliff. The trails slashing along the island shore grow rapidly more rough and thick with trees, hillocks of rubble rising through the heavy treeline. Soon the path ends in a large pile of tumbled boulders, cutting off the route through thick jungle to one side and a sheer cliff on the other.
With a look back at Isolde, Talise clears her throat. "Oh, by the way. My name's Tal. Maybe it's a late introduction, but you know what? Sometimes that's just how things roll."
Turning, Talise grabs one of the boulders. Her gauntlets flicker subtly, but for the most part, they're just there for grip - and with a grunt of effort and a deep growl in the back of her throat, she pulls the huge rock out of the slide and hefts it over her head, before throwing it into the treeline.
The rock hits the forest floor, tumbles for awhile and hits a tree trunk with a thud.
"What do you know," Talise says. "Sometimes things roll like that, too."
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Ogre Power Gauntlets toward her party's challenge, Clearing a Rockslide.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Ah, I'm Jacqueline Barber...it's alright, I don't believe we were ever introduced." Jacqueline replies, handing the bottle over to Isolde...who uses it to make a big ruckus.
Well, it works, so Jacqueline isn't going to complain!
Marivel praises Precis, and Jacqueline smiles. Of course, that mention of 'humanity' doesn't go unnoticed, but she also doesn't comment on it.
"She's very clever, yes!" She agrees.
She looks toward Talise for a moment as she comments on her singing, but doesn't have anything to add - this was a matter for people from Lunar, after all.
They proceed, at least until they find their path rather thoroughly blocked by boulders. Talise just picks one up and hurls it away.
Jacqueline chuckles a little at her comment.
"Here, let me help out a bit, too." She says. She removes a Crest from her gauntlet, setting it back into the deck at the center before drawing another and setting it in its place. And then she reaches out toward the boulders, and the stones begin to shift as the Crest takes effect.
Several of the boulders begin melt into each other as if being molded like clay, eventually being manipulated over to the side of the road closer to the cliff-face and formed into a makeshift wall with the aim to help protect against future rockslides.
"Hopefully that does the trick..." She murmurs.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, Clearing a Rockslide.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage RUBS THAT BELLY. As the dog rushes off to rejoin the pack, Marivel gives a faint wave to it before standing herself up. She looks to Talise, frowning. "The spirits of Lunar? You mean the Seraphs? Or do you mean Grand Dragon Ruby?" It seems that Marivel has had some experience with the Fiends herself. Which makes sense, really, since she considers herself very fiendish indeed. "I will not allow you to be set on fire for singing." Marivel adds.
She hums a few notes before adding, "Though, if you're interested in singing now, I am very interested in what songs you have under your belt right now." Pause. "I'm going by Marie Valeria at the moment."
You know except for all the people she gave her real name too but 'Marie' isn't very fond of keeping aliases. She just finds it an unfortunate neccessity right now.
There seem to be boulders. Marivel shakes out her robes, revealing two floating orbs with a singular 'eye' and many sharp teeth. The two hover in place for a moment before Marivel gestures forward and has them help with the lifting.
Because honestly 'Moving Rocks' is for the help.
That mention of humanity is plenty vague at least. Regardless, instead of helping herself, Marivel spends this round thinking of those cute dingos.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Clearing a Rockslide.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr splits up with the group again, which ends up being a necessity because of the way Jay spread that Reliable Repellant. This is also because of some level of impromptu youthful 'competition' to try and rush ahead and see if there's any more warriors like the guy who stood guard (read: was a bored, sad, delusional wreck of a man who cannot move on with his life), but as he scampers along a higher route, he overhears the lot of them make niceties and discuss matters of piety and heresy.
At first he thought it was so weird that the humans caught a Metal Beast (read: a certain Seraph) and instead of making it into this amazing war hound it mostly recited weird stories in this sort of formal voice, but also kind of cool, but mostly inexplicable.
Yet here he stands, underneath the shape of a big Blue Star in the sky, and a small part of him regrets not whole-heartedly diving into the scouting reports by someone who otherwise had next to no credibility after their claims about some sort of tiny warrior caste.
He has to ask the obvious question while everyone's busy dealing with the great-great-great-great-grandfather of all obstructing doors.
"So is the Goddess strong?" Ratatoskr asks. "Is she here?" His tail stands on end with anticipation of the idea that maybe there was a lot more to the weird things a few people were saying than he first thought as he slips down from his heightened position and comes before the big old pile of rocks that are rapidly being removed and reshaped and all sorts of things.
He pulls out a weird old busted sword-gun ARM and just plunges it in that mess, flicking a clawed finger at the trigger and watching it discharge (sometimes, this thing is broke) blasting power every so often while his mind runs through all sorts of exciting thoughts and questions that seem to invariably detour, double back, derail, or otherwise just land on 'when can I fight this'
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Derelict Relic toward his party's challenge, Clearing a Rockslide.
<Pose Tracker> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis peers poignantly at the perilous passageway in preparation for presumptive progress. Predilections and alliteration aside, the youthful Machina pilot prepares the Robbie-Drill on the transformed Bobot 1's left arm. She grins a particularly wide grin as she ensures her welding-shades were secured snugly over her green eyes. "That's me! Precis F. Neumann! The #1 Boboticist around!" She says when she just so happens to have overheard some of the talk between Marivel and Jay. Lining up her projected path with the right hand of machina, the teen prepares to put her plan in action. Precis adjusts her aim to select a section of boulders that wasn't already being targeted. "I didn't design them for combat, so I am just as surprised as you." She admits to Jay before pondering, "Improvements definitely can be made, but these equipped drilling tools can still prove handy in situations just like this!"
Once she was zerored in, she pushes both sticks forward to propel her Bobot forward. The blue, gold, and red Bobot 1 trundles along as it attempts to completely plow through the targeted boulder with its drill arm. Hopefully, the already heavily taxed Bobot will continue to do its darndest to fulfill its creator's beck and call!
DG: Precis F. Neumann has used her Tool Robbie Drill! toward her party's challenge, Clearing a Rockslide.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Who knows? Maybe she is. Perhaps you should ask the Guard." Marivel says to Ratatoskr because she's a terrible prankster. "They're out on Kilika Island. They must know where she is."
She is about to comment on Precis being the number on roboticist but she rewinds the conversation in her head and says, "Boboticist."
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"Oh my goodness, how rude of me," Isolde says, turning her attention towards Talise and beaming. "I know it's chaotic and these things are always a bit squiffy. I had my habits made even worse by adventurer's guild job work. Please forgive me, Tal."
Then, forwards!
"Hm," Isolde says as she is exposed to big stone rocks.
She folds her arms.
"Hm..."
She contemplates matters even as Marie quietly deploys her subsidiary drones.
"Hm...."
She answers Ratatoskr. "Are you talking about Althena? Well, I've heard that she made this entire world; and that she is present in many shapes, but is currently in a physical form somewhere, I assume, in the lands far away. - Ah, bobotics..."
"Of course," Isolde considers, "most people don't consider 'creation' to be very strong. It's a shame, really."
Is she going to pick up a rock?
(no)
DG: Isolde has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Clearing a Rockslide.
==========================<* Besaid Trails - Round 5 *>=========================== ========================< Results - Clearing a Rockslide >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 13 --(8)--> 21 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 13 --(0)--> 13 Pass Ogre Power Gauntlets 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Derelict Relic 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 23 --(0)--> 23 Pass Landscaper Crest 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isolde 8 --(8)--> 16 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Precis F. Neumann 23 --(0)--> 23 Pass Robbie Drill! 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Marivel Armitage 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(1)|Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Marivel Armitage 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> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise may technically be the help, but it doesn't even occur to her to think of this as grunt work. She's hardly a stranger to physical exertion. When Jay moves to help her, she smiles, nodding briskly. "Thanks, Jay."
Chucking another boulder, Talise pauses in her work to wipe her forehead for a moment. "No, actually. There are other spirits here. I'm not sure how to explain them," Talise admits with an almost apologetic smile for Mariel. "But I know someone who can hear the more simple spirits that make up nature, and she tells me they all sing. Actually they all sing the same song--"
Then she frowns. "The Guard is here?" she echoes what Marivel says. Then she frowns.
The work goes pretty well, especially with the help of the number one boboticist in all the land. Precis and her Bobot are able to clear out much of the rubble, while Jay and Talise are able to variously shape and hurl more of it. Ratatoskr's approach is much more combative - but he makes a few holes that Precis can exploit.
Marie and Isolde don't even have to dirty their hands. A path is soon made.
Dusting off her hands, a sweating Talise smiles briskly. "Job done!" she says.
"There's a lot to explain about Althena. We'd be here all day," she admits. "So how 'bout this. Let's get drinks and chat about it soon. I mean, since Marie wants a song--"
Kicking a last boulder aside, Talise clears her throat, then begins to sing. It's an upbeat, lightly-paced tune about someone riding a dragon over a beautiful world. Her voice is relaxed and a bit rolling, but flows easily from note to note - she's the kind of singer who likes to put on a show.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Besaid Trails *>==============================
=====<* CHALLENGE - Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife *>======
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Besaid Island's largest Garuda is known as Kagoro-no, a beast of such
immense size that its wingspan is said to be larger than some bridges. The
islanders know well to never go too near Kagoro-no, much less draw its ire.
And yet, here we are.
Guba, the rejected Besaid Auroch, has made his way through the trail. He
bounces a blitzball off the ground -- /pth-wooooong/! -- and then gets ready
to clobber the legendary monster.
This is a bad idea.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Stupify========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Well, it's good that it can handle a multitude of different tasks..." Jacqueline comments, in regards to Precis's surprise. At Talise's thanks Jacqueline sends her a smile.
As soon as the path is clear the group continues forward. There's plenty of time to listen to Talise's song as they move. Jacqueline listens attentively and with interest...but soon Jacqueline holds out a hand.
"Hold on, this place...I think I read about this. We're in the territory of one of Besaid's most dangerous creatures." Jacqueline says. She hunkers down behind a nearby bush, pointing forward.
"...There. See that giant creature?" Jacqueline points out. She points forward to where said Garuda, a massive, flying creature with a massive wingspan, is currently having a nap.
Jacqueline draws out her book, flipping through the pages.
"I looked a few things up before we got here, and this creature is one of the recurring tales..." She explains. As she's talking there's the distinctive sound of a Blitzball being bounced off the ground.
"It's called a Garuda, and they've named this particular one Kagor-" At these words Guba, who had apparently followed him this entire way through, comes charging through, yelling something along the lines of 'Go Aurochs!!'...making a beeline straight for the Garuda. "...Oh no..."
With a look of panic on her face Jacqueline gestures with her left hand. Tendrils of earth pop out of the ground, attempting to grab him and restrain him.
But, she may need a little help holding him back...
I mean, unless you're looking to enable him.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "Yes. I take it they did not care for what happened at Azado." Though, to be honest, neither does Marivel but she's playing it off as just 'a thing' because the last thing she needs is for people to discover she has a metaphorically functioning heart and feelings. "So far they seem to be primarily providing humanitarian aid. As a benevolent goddess would have them, I imagine."
Jay points a giant creature out to her. She blinks a a few times in its direction, then at Guba. And then she says, "Hold on...! Hold on!"
She approaches.
"I have some advice for you, young man, from the wisest writer I know."
She draws out a small book titled 'WISDOM OF THE CRIMSON NOBLES by M. ARMITAGE'
"For many beings, the reality of death seems to be the ultimate cruelty - the 'vampire' that steals the life from so many - and without, it seems, any order or reality. For death visits us all, whether we are young, or old, or healthy, or suffering ...for all of us, beast and beauty, there is a time for the end to come."
"But there are angels of death, appointed by the universe to help us move from one side, to the next...and to avoid staying in between, without moving on, transforming..." For the soul who dies well, who has a good death there is a transformation through the realms that divide the living from the dead. For this to take place, the angels of death do not only come to assist the soul, but they assist with the ones left behind."
"And what comforts those who remain on the earth are rites, ways to say goodbye, honourings and reverence, and memories and mirth. It may be time for you to consider those who have gone from you, or who may go - and know how you would honor them and remember them, and send them on their way."
She raises a finger in to the air. "Consider what will comfort you when you are on your way too - know that it is not morbid to contemplate the ending of this mortal time for you. There is so much beyond that last breath, that last glimpse of light of the sun ..."
Marivel grins a crooked, boogiepop smile. "So the angel of death assures us."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
"I'd heard something about a dangerous creature." Talise frowns, leaning over Jacqueline's shoulder and squinting ahead. "And what do you know - there it is. So that's the Garuda some of the villagers were talking about--"
Talise pauses as she realizes who has somehow made it ahead of them. It's Guba. And she's not nearly close enough to insert her abs into his pitching line. The swordswoman opens her mouth.
Closes it. Reaches for her hip. Pops the cap off something.
Old Man Ettlesbury's Olde-Fashioned Moonshine
Talise tilts her head back and takes a long, much-needed drink.
Then she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and calls out to Guba: "Good luck with that, bud! I always wanted to play for the Aurochs. Too bad they'll have to find a replacement for your dead body."
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Old Man Ettlesbury's Olde-Fashioned Schnapps toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife.
<Pose Tracker> Precis F. Neumann has posed.
Precis actually reaches up and pushes her sun-glasses up onto her forehead. She had to witness what was about to happen with her own eyes. Was Guba, Mr. Sports Ball from earlier, really going to challenge that mighty creature head on? That was a ludicrous idea that was surely going to get the intrepid blitzballer hurt or worse! But then again....MAYBE he was on to something. Was attacking a mystical beast like this head-on actually the best course of action? It seemed like a stupid idea to Precis, but there was only one way that the young inventor could be sure.
Reaching down, the brunette inventor pulls a well-worn notebook from the depths of her bobot. She quickly flips through this book, studying its contents while taking a pen and scribbling down countless new notes based on Guba's probable noble sacrifice. Hmmm. Yes. No. Maybe? YES!!! Inspiration suddenly takes Precis as she pushes her Bobot into high-gear. She exchanges the drill and hammer combo of her Bobot for two normal looking arms instead. Precis now saddles up next to Guba and smiles at him with the brilliance that only the teen genius could muster. "Hey old guy!" She addresses him with. "You ever fly before? Don't worry, I already crunched the numbers and there actually is a statistical probability of you pulling this off." A beat. "I mean, it's an exponentially small chance. -But- it is possible!" Precis then offers Guba the opportunity if he isn't talked down by some of the others, to be swung around, and then thrown to enact the not actually forbidden but non-existent technique, the Linga Fastball Special. This involves her throwing Guba high up into the air so he could attempt his own ultimate blitzball technique on the Garuda with a slightly higher probability of success.
There also is the chance that Precis would actually enact reverse-psychology on Guba, but she was quite serious about giving him his chance to truly shine should he rise to the occasion.
DG: Precis F. Neumann has used her Tool Precis's Precious Notes toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Uh oh, the seed of a bad idea just got planted, and Ratatoskr smiles a bit wider. "Really? Nice. I'm going to go meet her." Oh no. Well, they've... got time. There's something more pressing.
There should be warning signs when Ratatoskr disappears again around the time they have the idea they're about to go into the company of one of the most feared creatures of the region - now, a Garuda, those are nasty creatures. They're already huge. This one... is bigger.
There's the sound of scratching noises, and a moving shadow of a profile that is one hundred percent a Ratatoskr, who climbs up to the very highest point he can find as Guba rushes towards the Garuda.
"He's doing that?" Ratatoskr repeats, as is his habit, like he were reaffirming that he was very good at playing the telephone game by himself. "He's doing that!"
He almost never stops grinning. He's so excited he almost slips off the slick, narrow branch-perch he's found just getting a hand on one of the few surviving intact Hyadean data pad things after the Photosphere has met an untimely end. Within them...
Countless old, cobbled together records, some too old to be complete. Or readable. Ratatoskr gently nudges a thumb at an angle most awkward so that his claws don't scratch up the screen. He has to hurry up and get it to an open spot towards the end--
He doesn't have enough time. He taps down the moment as he sees it.
"...So that is what he is...!" He muses aloud as he hears Guba's dramatic battle cry. He marks it down - this piece of history he wants to keep forever. The memory of among the fiercest of combatants he's ever met, wielding a weapon most exotic...
"Besaid Auroch...!" Ratatoskr yells from above. He knows not the depths of what he is implying by calling him this. As far as he knows, he is already one of these so-called Besaid Aurochs. "Show them the strength you showed me... the mace without a chain, never kept at its length... with such strength, you must be one of the very greatest of your order..."
Ratatoskr literally met this man no more than an hour or two ago, and yet, for all the arrogance and youthful impetuousness this obnoxious remnant of a people victim to the World Eater, there is no mocking irony or hollow flattery. This complete stranger to this world...
...may be the first person to ever earnestly believe in the man, and his own capabilities.
Which is foolish. Ratatoskr leans forward as he might yet watch a brewing fight (EDITOR'S NOTE: strike that, 'insert fine example of the circle of life at play'). The very moment it may look like that Garuda will rush in for the killing blow...
There is a loud, liquid-y 'thwip' of a liquid metal patagium across his limbs as he glides down in front of the thing, plants his feet, and just bodily hurls himself against a creature that Yevon summoners would typically fall upon an Aeon to deal with.
Not to strike it down. He lets those terrible claws and teeth dig in as deep as they might, and they sure will.
Just to hold it there and enable Guba to ineffectually bean it.
All because in his obsessive interest in what he imagines to be seeing in a man who was never, ever anything of worth. (Until... now?)
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Corrupted Records toward his party's challenge, Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"Man?" Isolde asks after the topic of Besaid's Most Dangerous Creatures comes up. Then she tilts her head towards where Jay is pointing.
There are three seconds of pause.
"... Oh!" she says, and this is before Jay begins speaking. Hm, interesting. Of course, then Goober throws a blitzball. Isolde's jaw tightens as she takes a deep breath and lets it out, pressing the palm of her head against her forehead as she says, "What an ignorant man."
"In situations like this," Isolde says, "It's always hard to know exactly what to do, because you are faced with a serious question. This man who hurled a large rubber ball at us, striking me in the head and perhaps killing Marie" (this may be a figure of speech) "is no real friend of ours. And yet are we not his kin, or closer to him than yonder great bird? Ahhh, it's a real pain in my ass!"
She walks forwards, in the middle of the group of others maneuvering in his approximate direction. When people rustle through papers, Isolde reaches into her coat and draws something else out.
Then she thinks better of it. "I would just lose them," she says.
"Fool of a man! If you win with our support, you owe me! I take payment in gil and fine clothing!" Isolde calls to him. Maybe he'll win! Who knows?
DG: Isolde has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife.
========================<* Besaid Trails - Round 6 *>========================= =======< Results - Besaid Man Needlessly Provokes Dangerous Wildlife >======== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 13 --(0)--> 13 Pass Old Man Ettlesbury's Olde-Fashioned 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ratatoskr 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Corrupted Records 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 23 --(0)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 16 --(0)--> 16 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Precis F. Neumann 23 --(0)--> 23 Pass Precis's Precious Notes 4 Wits Effects: None ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Marivel Armitage 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Marivel Armitage has successfully explored Besaid Trails!
=============================<* Besaid Trails *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Lost Crusader's Badge *>==================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Crusaders have long sought to protect Spira from Sin, even when they have earned the ire of the Yevonite Church more than its appreciation. Many a Crusader has met an ignoble end, and you find one such lost soul's body here. A skeleton, lost somewhere in the rubble. But, a tarnished bronze badge is affixed to the corpse's tattered cloth. The badge may be a keepsake; a memento, of earlier times and a will that hasn't changed, despite all Sin has done to this land. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline tries to restrain Guba, but he just barely manages to avoid her grasp. But before he can reach Kagoro-no, Marivel stops him and offers her wisdom.
It's really a lot to take in. He pauses, staring directly at her, but it's clear that he stopped listening to her, like, a paragraph or so ago.
"So, uh, what you're saying is...the angel of death is going to fight the beast with us!!" He says, misunderstanding completely.
Isolde and Talise wisely decide that it's probably best to just stay out of this.
Precis, however, has a different idea. She goes up to him and explains her idea.
"H-hey, I'm not old! I'm only in my 40s! I'm Guba, future star player of the Besaid Aurochs!!" He says, as if trying to psyche himself up. "I hate working with the forbidden machina, but...but...!!"
But, this might be his big chance! And besides, he'd be doing the real work, the machina would just be giving him a little extra momentum!
So, as per Precis's plan, Guba is swung around, then hurled high, high up, where he raises his Blitzball victoriously, and...!
This is the point where Kangoro-no would snatch him out of the air like a dog snapping up a delicious treat...but the giant Garuda finds itself restrained by Ratatoskr!
This gives Guba the opportunity he needs to wind up, and...!
"Behold, the majesty of the Guba Shot!!" He shouts, hurling the ball majestically down at him. A lens flare* shines off the ball, and flames* surround it as it descends at super-sonic speeds*, decisively cracking Kangoro-no's skull in twain*!!
(*Note - this only happens in Guba's head.)
In reality, the Blitzball bounces harmlessly off of Kangoro-no's head. The Garuda sends Guba an insulted look, followed shortly after by a similar toward Ratatoskr and Precis for enabling him. But even so the Garuda lifts off and starts flying away as Guba lands nearby heroically(read - gracelessly and just barely avoiding landing flat on his face).
"Yeah! They gotta let me into the Aurochs after this!! You two are the best!" Guba cheers toward Ratatoskr and Precis, running off back to Besaid. But as he does, something has been uncovered in the wake of Kangoro-no's flight.
The remains of a Crusdar from an older time, the tarnished bronze badge still affixed proudly to their tattered cloth.
Jacqueline looks upon it quietly, her emotions mixed.
"We should...probably let the village know about this. They may want to give them a proper burial." She decides.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise sighs, folding her arms. Poor Guba, not realizing that most pro athletes retire by 40.
Who knows. Maybe things are different in Spira, she muses.
They are different. Guba gets swung - and then Ratatoskr does his thing. Talise just plants her hands on her hips and watches the entire circus unfold before her with arched eyebrows. She looks towards Isolde, opens her mouth to say something, and then remembers that, no, Isolde likely didn't see that.
"Spira is an odd place," she decides with a shrug.
But something more grim has been uncovered. Starting forward, Talise kneels by the remains of whomever this was. Her earlier relaxed casuality gives way to a quiet sadness, and she folds her hands, bowing her head deeply. "...Poor person," she murmurs. "I wonder if they came up here to battle Sin. But...."
When Jay voices her idea, Talise nods gravely. "...Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We should do this person that respect."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel looks at Guba.
"..."
She snaps the book closed in irritation, and promptly vanishes in a cloud of bats.
Either she figures that Jay and the rest can figure out what to do with the body or she's just too offended by Guba to bother.
A bag of money (complete with a $ on it) remains for our stalwart adventurers to claim and share amongst themselves.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr does not get to see this amazing shot that he believes Guba has taken, because Kangoro-no is huge, he is punching way above his weight, and sharp talons are digging deep into his flesh and leaving quicksilver stains. It is a grisly sight, but those who stood against Mother have had experience seeing (and fighting) Hyadeans in battle.
The Fiend takes off with Ratatoskr in their clutches, but for how much pressure clamps down on him, he is not halted nor inconvenienced by the sensation of pain. That youthful sneer does not shrink from his face as he grasps one of the legs and begins to fight out of their hold just as Kangoro-no begins to leave line of sight. Energy builds at the tip of his ARM horn as he is to engage in pitched combat, his tail swaying to help his balance in his life-or-death wrestle with a giant bird.
He has a split second to look back and watch the 'triumphant' Guba runs off to sing his feat to the people of his village.
"...I got to see that." Technically, no, he didn't, but the imagery of this discovered 'Besaid Auroch' warrior driving off this great beast with but a single strike is undying. Kicking a leg up against the back of the leg currently gripping him, the monstrous Auroch screeches as it is compelled to release them.
With the help of the liquid metal patagium, he glides off.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Marivel vanishes.
Isolde looks to where she was standing. She turns her head to look in a seemingly arbitrary direction, into the underbrush. She smiles.
Then she takes things out of her coat pockets. The package that contains her dice and the gambler's cup. A money pouch. A hankerchief. A spare set of clean small clothes. All of these things are stuffed into her breeches pockets, as she hums to herself. Eventually she reaches a certain critical point and she takes the coat, whose sleeves had been removed several days ago, off.
She steps forwards towards where Jay is. She spreads the coat out, without a word.
Then she tilts her head.
"Was that noise the shouting man dying?" Isolde asks, regarding the general direction where Ratatoskr had gone. "I hope not, but if I heard that correctly, he chose to fight that giant bird."
"Either way, we should bear this thither: if nothing else, they'll know how they prefer to bury the dead."