2019-05-24: Always Carry a Backup Pie
- Log: Always Carry a Backup Pie
- Cast: Ashley Winchester, Clarissa Arwin, Seraph Clarine, Seraph Nimue, Elhaym van Houten, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Thunder Plains
- Date: May 24, 2019
- Summary: Seeking out information about Odessa's plans, ARMS(accompanied by a pair of unaffiliated friends) sets out for the Thunder Plains to see what they can uncover. While they come no closer to their goal, they do learn the greatest lesson of all...and, in one case, acquire a terrifying power.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>============================= The Thunder Plains, occasionally known as the Gandof Thunder Plains, are an open, barren landscape connecting Guadosalam to the Macalania region. It is an area that is constantly - yes, /constantly/ - bombarded by lightning and thunder. Crossing the plains was all but impossible due to the never-ending storm, until an Al Bhed named Bilghen set up several towering lightning rods to draw the storms' fury and provide travelers with a (comparatively) safe road. He was in the process of setting up the final tower when he was struck by lightning and killed, something which lesser minds would regard as irony, but which the faithful know is poetic justice for a blasphemer against Yevon. I mean, they'll still /use/ the road. Because Yevon wants them to. Clearly.
DG: A party led by Ashley Winchester is now entering Thunder Plains. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Everstorm *>========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The far borders of Guadosalam eventually give way to the barren rock of the
Thunder Plains. Here, the storm holds sway: respect it, fear it, but never
underestimate it.
In the short distance one of the lightning rod towers receives a strike; the
dark heavens are briefly illuminated.
Following the towers provides the safer -- though by no means risk-free --
route through this land, but not all the towers are completely functional
anymore. Some are more reliable than others, but while hearsay and rumor may
suggest this or that path, they're no replacement for evaluating a route for
oneself. Which way will you head?
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
The Thunder Plains. Why anyone would want to actually try to explore this blasted, nigh-on alien landscape. It's closer to what Ashley had imagined the surface of the moon to look like than anywhere else he's seen thus far.
The obvious exception being, of course, the fact that there's a permanent lightning storm roiling over the area at all times, with frequent bursts of brilliant energy lancing between land and sky every other blink of the eye. Ashley has no idea what might be causing such a phenomenon, but he's pretty sure it's probably way over his head, so he's not going to be worrying about it so much!
Instead, he's going to be worrying about what he can deal with. Like how he's flipped his bayonet upside down from its usual orientation on his back. It's probably not wise to have a giant metal blade sticking up into a roiling storm, you know?
Common sense stuff.
Like dealing with the jagged moonscape that stands between them and DISCOVERY.
Them, yes. ARMS is investigating a whole host of different places to try and track down some particularly suspicious Odessa activity, and since they were in the Lightning Plains anyway, it stands to reason that they should probably start there. It'd be embarassing as all get out if they combed the entirety of Spira only to find out that Odessa was camped right next to where they'd started.
"Careful guys, this looks pretty rough," Ashley says as he scales over a particularly dangerous-looking crag, trying to push towards the next flat plateau... And yet another big ol' stone spike sticking out of the ground. "...Really rough. I didn't think lightning could do this much damage to a place," Ashley dares, as a bolt streaks dangerously close to singing the top of his head before suddenly diverting and crashing into a nearby lightning rod tower with a spray of sparks.
"...Maybe we should stick near the towers, just in case."
DG: Ashley Winchester has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Everstorm.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa's back up and about, once again at 100 percent - though she never gave an impression that she was anything but quietly happy and determined to do what's right.
As the lightning flashes overhead, the young woman sets her hands at her hips, watching the jagged bolts of light dance among the rods. She pushes her tongue into the pocket of her cheek. "It does look pretty dangerous," she concedes - and here she is, facing it without Felius, who must've taken a nap today.
Reaching into the collar of her sleeveless top, she comes out with a weathered notebook. "I think mother encountered something like this once before! Let me check." Deftly she leafs through the book, shuffling her feet a little as she does so, hips idly swaying from side to side as if she's not at all afraid of the lightning. She leafs to a particular page--
how to deal w. lit bolt
a. don't hold your sword up in the air
b. seriously. don't do it
c. seriously don't it doesn't end well trust me
d. TRUST ME
"...Let's try to keep below the level of the lightning rods," Clarissa suggests as she hunkers down and ducks her head, sweeping along after Ashley. She slips the notebook back into her collar.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Melissa's Notebook toward her party's challenge, The Everstorm.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
It wasn't long ago that Clarine had agreed to join ARMS, and now it was time for her first Official Mission! The mission this time - investigate the Thunder Plains for any signs of Odessa activity.
Investigation was something Clarine can do. She had been through the Thunder Plains a few times, and once she had followed a path once, she never forgot it. If anything was out of place, she'd notice it!
...P-probably.
"The power of lightning is...not to be underestimated." Clarine warns. "It may be direct, and provide forewarning, but do not allow yourself to become complacent..."
She speaks as someone who knows a thing or two about lightning, though her specialty happens to be Light.
Speaking of Light, Clarine reaches into her sleeves and draws out a sphere of pure, clear crystal. It begins to emit a bright light and hovers forward, lighting up the path before them.
This should help identify and light up any damage to the terrain that might cause them to trip and fall.
As she does this, her eyes track toward Clarissa with wordless worry. It seemed that she had recovered fully...but she couldn't help but worry!
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Brilliant Sphere toward her party's challenge, The Everstorm.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue is back in the Thunder Plains with Marivel! This lazy method of travel has been quite delightful for her, really, and she's appreciated the chance to... well, 'heal' is a strong word. 'Return to the state she was perfectly comfortable with before she found Sundowner' might be more apt.
As they approach the plains themselves, Nimue pops out of the book, though -- even if she's terrible at investigation.
Really, she just wants to bother people. "Heeeeeyyyyy nerds! What're we doin'!?" she says, as she appears out of goddamn nowhere. She just follows along with Clarine, rather than contributing anything. ... well, no, she does contribute one thing: the sound of chewing very loudly with her mouth open as she shoves more pie than should fit into her mouth into her mouth.
... But where did she get the pie...
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Food toward her party's challenge, The Everstorm.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Don't take lightning lightly," says
ELLY VAN HOUTEN - DRIFTER ABOUT TOWN
Who has joined this party for the sake of supporting them. It's probably ironic that at about this time her old friend Ida is having some trouble, but she would trust that Fei would be able to handle it with only the minimum necessary amount of personal mutilation.
Elly looks up at the stormclouds, which hang down like Hammer's -- anyway: Heavy, black, and pendulous. She hisses breath in through her teeth.
"They say life itself might have started in a shallow pool struck by lightning," Elly says. "But that's just one explanation... a way to answer the objections to many of the others." A lightning bolt crashes, meanwhile! As if to say that God does not approve of that theory!
Elly clutches her weapon (helpfully it is mostly wood) in one hand. She flinches a little at the noise, but only a little.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Everstorm.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
There's a beat as Nimue shoves an ENTIRE PIE into her pie-hole.
Ashley just stares, his face briefly frozen in disbelief before he reaaaches down toward a pack at his hip.
He pats at it.
He pats at it again, panic rising slowly in his expression. "M-my pie...!"
"Hey!!" Ashley accuses! With pointing finger! "That was supposed to be for everyone to share! What's your deal!?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"My thing is..." Nimue pauses, glancing up cutely. Through a mouthful of crumbs, she concludes, "I'm Nimue!"
They seem so cute when they're curled up on your bookshelf...
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel isn't sure why Ashley wants to explore the area either. Marivel did, of course, but she had a purpose to it. She wanted to find a path to Macalania and also phone home and maybe even appreciate the gloomy darkness of the place. But, like, if she was some fragile human person she wouldn't? Well, she supposes, that's what makes humans interesting sometimes. Their willingness to take a walk in a place that's like 90 percent lightning bolts trying to kill you.
Marivel took some note from her last visit and seems to be aiming her approach around that though if Odessa is in the area, well, that'd be good to know. It's certainly the best place for a supervillain to live, so, it's not entirely random.
"But if there are secrets," Marivel tells Ashley. "We can't stay too close...else we would never find them for they would have been found already."
She is quietly glad that Clarissa is not punked anymore but does not bring it up since it doesn't seem like Clarissa wants it mentioned. Instead she focuses on Clarine and asks, "You know, I have to wonder--what are your thoughts on a place like this?" She hates the darkness but she does like light, but this place is seriously both extremes here.
"Oh hey Nimue." She adds afterwards. Yuri at Moonlight will always offer its pages to Nimue. "Wait--where did you get that pie and are you sharing?"
She looks towards Ashley suspiciously, suspecting him to be the source of the pie.
"Oh." She says. They seem so cute when they're curled up on your bookshelf.
..That pie...was for everyone.
She assumes. If not then Nimue did the right thing.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, The Everstorm.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Everstorm *>========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The far borders of Guadosalam eventually give way to the barren rock of the
Thunder Plains. Here, the storm holds sway: respect it, fear it, but never
underestimate it.
In the short distance one of the lightning rod towers receives a strike; the
dark heavens are briefly illuminated.
Following the towers provides the safer -- though by no means risk-free --
route through this land, but not all the towers are completely functional
anymore. Some are more reliable than others, but while hearsay and rumor may
suggest this or that path, they're no replacement for evaluating a route for
oneself. Which way will you head?
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Exhaust========================================
========================<* Thunder Plains - Round 1 *>======================== =========================< Results - The Everstorm >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashley Winchester 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Stolen Food 3 Wits Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Brilliant Sphere 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Melissa's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ashley Winchester 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Reckless(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ashley Winchester 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: Seraph Clarine has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - So Close Yet So Far *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Many of the towers are not in good shape. Some of them don't even function
properly anymore. This creates longer, more dangerous stretches between what
passes as safe areas within the Thunder Plains.
This gap before you now is one such problem area. Of course, if you were to
run the distance between, perhaps the risk might be minimized. What's more,
as the rain eases off into a 'lighter' phase, you can see in the distance
something glinting.
Best to push on ahead, before you lose sight of that, too, once the rain
inevitably picks up again.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Secret=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"Wh-- I-- fhshfhshfhkk--" Ashley's face contorts in ways that it REALLY SHOULDN'T. (And Lord Blazer grew 0.00001 sizes that day). "Ugh. Fine! I'll just have to rely on my backup pie." This is why they keep Ashley around. Pies and backup pies. "Ugh... Marivel, you know her? Is she... always like this?"
Truly though, there is no negotiating with cats.
Fortunately, between the myriad sources of advice and Clarine's helpful little ball of light illuminating the party's path forward, they... actually manage to get through this section of the thunder plains in relatively short order and without being turned into fried chicken. Of course, Marivel does have a point-- they can't just stick to the rods if they hope to find anything meaningful. "Yeah, I know," Ashley answers. "I think Clarissa's right; we should be able to minimize our risk by keeping lower than the towers' heights, but we're going to have to take our chances if we want to make any decent headway."
But for now, as they make their way deeper into the heart of the Thunder Plains, the party is... relatively untouched.
Rain-soaked, maybe, but still.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Suddenly, Nimue appears! Clarine immediately recognizes her voice and whirls in her direction, and upon spotting the Wind Seraph...she lights up, figuratively and literally.
"Nimue...!" Clarine says in a cheery voice, just as Nimue introduces herself. She seems very happy to see her! She also doesn't seem to mind or notice the pie theft.
This is partially because Clarine does not eat, and therefore doesn't really pay attention to human food. This is also partially because it saves her from having to figure out how to politely decline it later. She wins either way!
She also takes a moment to look toward Elly as she speaks. She remembers her from when they were crossing the Highroad before.
"It is good to see you are well..." She says, offering a polite bow of her head.
Marivel asks her a question, and Clarine turns back toward her. She takes a moment to consider it.
"It is...hm. When I am with everyone, I can handle the moments when it grows dark. And when I am not...your gift has been very helpful." Clarine replies. She doesn't have the flashlight out at the moment, but she is wearing Marivel's other gift - the ring with the wolf insignia, that marks her as a member of ARMS.
The towers provide them safety as they move...but the further in they get, more and more of them seem to be in a state of disrepair, and it's harder to remain on an even level with them - looks like they may need to follow Marivel's advice one way or the other.
"This is a problem...allow me to provide some assistance." Clarine states, pausing in her steps. She then draws several somethings from her sleeves - clear prisms that hover in mid-air.
She directs them forward, and up...and, once she sends some light toward them, solid platforms shimmering in every color of the rainbow form, providing some cover from the lightning as they move.
Only some, though, so don't slow down! Especially if you want to catch up to that mysterious glint in the distance.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Prismatic Projector toward her party's challenge, So Close Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa blinks at the resident cake-eater a couple of times, nonplussed - but covers it with a smile. "Oh! Ah... hello, Nimue!"
She takes note of how cheery Clarine is in greeting the other Seraph - a former acquaintance, apparently, or perhaps more. Accepting her arrival with a smile, she adjusts her top a little and continues forward.
"Well, that's the point of adventure, isn't it?" She flashes Marivel a smile. "It's the same as we'd do on Filgaia. All that's different is what we're looking for and why."
The further on they move, the more the towers seem to be in bad shape. Curling a hand at her cheek, Clarissa taps her cheekbone with a gloved fingertip, pondering. "...Yes, I'm not sure these will protect us from the lightning very well at all, really! But...." Trailing off, she squints off into the distance. "...What is that over there?"
Clarissa picks up the pace. The heels of her boots kick up little splashes as she hits a couple of smaller puddles, darting between the ruined lightning rods and fixing her gaze on that distant spark of light.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, So Close Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly's head slumps mid-run. She could have had pie...
But instead someone else had it.
This, truly, is suffering.
She smiles at Clarine, then. "Thank you," she says. "It's been... Well, I don't want to say it's been restful, given everything, but it's been good to be able to take a break without..." DOOMING THE PLANET THROUGH INACTION
And then she looks ahead, blinking. Something's glinting. Elly shades her eyes.
"... Oh, that's just like six sharls up," Elly says. "I can just climb up the tower and grab it."
AND DIE TO LIGHTNING! No, Elly feels obscurely confident she can spot it in time. As they move through the thinner rain, though, she does pause to put her foot on a slightly elevated piece of blasted landscape and re-tighten her sandals' strap. And once they get near enough, indeed, she goes for the big climb.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Traveler Sandals toward her party's challenge, So Close Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Does-- does everyone know this weird pie-thief? Ashley's expression turns ever so slightly more downcast as the realization settles in that this individual might be a more permanent fixture in his immediate future. What an unjust world, this world in which they live...!
While the towers provide a measure of protection, it's clear that the years have not been kind to them. The Everstorm's rage has damaged even these stellar examples of Al-Bhed engineering, and the lightning falls ever more frequently now than it did before. It looks like they're going to be following Marivel's predictions sooner rather than later. Fortunately, Clarine is providing some cover from the storm-- and the rain has, at least, lightened up somewhat. It isn't long until they find what they're looking for.
Treasure...!
At the top of a tower.
Ashley frowns, but he doesn't stop Elly from volunteering herself for the climb. This may be related to the series of heavy knives falling into the palms of his hands, though. "Hold on," he instructs before performing a series of expert throws, embedding the daggers into the cracks in the structure-- and positioning one in particular in a nearby crag, just higher than the tower's peak. Just in case. For insurance. "Alright, you might be able to use those for footholds. Get ready to jump though. I hear you can always smell lightning coming before you actually get struck."
But does Elly know what ozone smells like...?
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Weighted Knives toward his party's challenge, So Close Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"I found it! In a totally normal place!" Nimue says, considering her options. She looks down into her pack, and sees that she's managed to eat about half of the pie at varying points. "There's half in there, uh, feel free to go nuts." She tosses her pack in Ashley's general direction, saying, "Oh, uh, eating food is weird for Seraphs, so, like, you can skip out on giving some to Clarine." Saved from an awkward moment...
Her gaze turns up toward the shiny thing at the top of the tower. Everyone else talks about climbing, or using their tools... Nimue, for her part, has a much simpler plan:
"Later, losers!" she declares, running straight for the tower. She at least *does* use one of Clarine's platforms to line up a second leap, but that may be just out of niceness, given how intensely floaty Nimue's jumps are even at neutral.
Cats gonna cat.
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, So Close Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Considering how Brad saw that insignia the first time (dogs of ARMS), well, maybe Clarine wouldn't treasure that ring if she knew. But Marivel has a different opinion as to what that symbol represents. She IS very much a dog person, after all, even if they are pouty pups like Lucy.
"I know her." Marivel says to Ashley. "She is not a member of ARMS, we are simply assisting her as part of our purview as people who help those in need. Nimue needed a book and, it seems, a pie. A pie you were not protective enough." IS SHE BLAMING HIM FOR THE LOSS OF PIE? "And in return she taught you a valuable lesson about keeping your mind on your pies at all times. Though I am impressed you remembered a backup pie."
All this pie talk is making her hungry, though, as she drinks a quick gulp from one of her vials which the adults recognize as a vial of blood but is clearly just tomato juice to anybody who can't handle an R-rated movie.
"I'm glad it helps! I would've been rather distraught if you never had occassion to use it."
Her eyes glow a bright red as she pushes through to keep a good glimpse on everyone. Or to try to anyway.
Nimue calls her a loser and she shouts, "You love us and that is why you speak harshly at us, you loving creature you!" towards Nimue regardless of whether there's any bearing in fact here or not.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, So Close Yet So Far.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - So Close Yet So Far *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Many of the towers are not in good shape. Some of them don't even function
properly anymore. This creates longer, more dangerous stretches between what
passes as safe areas within the Thunder Plains.
This gap before you now is one such problem area. Of course, if you were to
run the distance between, perhaps the risk might be minimized. What's more,
as the rain eases off into a 'lighter' phase, you can see in the distance
something glinting.
Best to push on ahead, before you lose sight of that, too, once the rain
inevitably picks up again.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Secret=============================================
========================<* Thunder Plains - Round 2 *>======================== ======================< Results - So Close Yet So Far >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Traveler Sandals 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashley Winchester 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Weighted Knives 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Prismatic Projector 1 Agility Effects: Fanfare and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ashley Winchester 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Secret(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ashley Winchester 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: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Travel Agency Breaktime *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It as an oasis in the midst of the endless storm. Here, the savior of all
those who must venture through the Thunder plains...
The noble Travel Agency building.
Not only is it supplied and equipped with actual beds, but the staff and
fellow travelers are knowledgeable about the area and can give suggestions
about which route to take next. It seems there are a number of options to
mull over while you rest up -- it's just a matter of plotting out your best
course.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
DG: Ashley Winchester has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Travel Agency Breaktime.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
It's hard to say, how Clarine would think of it if she knew. But to her, it represented ties to new friends - it's not something that would change so easily.
Clarine returns Elly's comment with a nod. She doesn't know the full details, but she can tell from the way she speaks that Elly must be a very busy person.
"Ah...yes, it's true..." Clarine adds, with a nod as Nimue states that eating human food is weird for Seraphim. "Some of us do, but, um...I never quite took to it..."
Though she has from time to time, for Kamui's sake.
Clarissa is the first one to spot the glint off in the distance. Elly suggests she might be able to climb up, and so Ashley provides some helpful footholds with his knives to make things just a bit easier.
Nimue, meanwhile, uses Clarine's platforms as actual platforms instead of just cover, while Marivel sips a vial of blood - er, tomato juice.
Definitely tomato juice.
In the end, teamwork proves fruitful - Elly is easily able to get close enough to see what that glinting in the distance is!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Oh - thank you," Elly says to Ashley with a smile. She grasps on the knives and climbs up with x-Treme ease, for - why not? Someone who speaks with a voice such as Elly van Houten could easily confront the CHALLENGE OF THE AGGRO CRAG.
She does not stay up long. She squints into the distance, towards that glinting. "Huh... it's..."
She doesn't say what it is right away. She descends - actually leaping clear a yard or two above the ground to land in a three point stance. As she rises upwards, she says, "What I saw in that distance was -"
THUNDER CRASHES DOWN ABOVE THEM, ACCENTUATING EVERY LAST WORD OF ELLY VAN HOUTEN! Her silhouette is outlined in shocking contrast! The noise is like God slapping you on the butt!
As the noise fades, Elly says, "It was a..."
T R A V E L - A G E N C Y
"Welcome to the Thunder Plains outpost of Rin's Travel Agency," says the manager. "Will you take a twelve hour break? We have beds available for a night or by the hour, if you want to take a nap. Otherwise, please enjoy our food court."
The food court is one guy with a grill and another person with an oven. On the other hand: Bonus pies.
Elly gets a cup of tea and a curry bun. Then she stands around, because the true challenge of this moment is an opportunity for...
SIDE CONVERSATIONS.
"How do you make it so the thunder isn't disruptive?" Elly asks the oven person.
The oven person opens their mouth to speak - and thunder crashes, rattling every dish in the place. After this, they shrug.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Travel Agency Breaktime.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
Clarissa doesn't get hit by lightning! This is an achievement, all things considered.
She's not far behind Elly, shadowed against a couple of flashes of lightning and caught in a couple of dramatic silhouette poses in mid-stride. Someone probably makes a bromide out of one of them someday. But soon enough --
"Oh wow, even here," Clarissa gasps at the sight of the agency.
-- FIVE MINUTES LATER... --
"...I guess that's the answer." Clarissa sat down near Elly. She has obtained a lemon poppyseed muffin and a cup of tea, and she's let her hair out of its ponytail. It's thick, it's blonde and it's long, and it fluffs out around her shoulders and down her back.
Clarissa daintily peels the wrapper off the muffin before giving Elly a little smile, small and thoughtful. "I don't think we've ever had the chance to talk, have we? Though I'm sure I've seen you around in a few places - with Mr. Fei, I think, right? Either way, it's nice to meet you. With any luck, we'll find something really cool out here."
That's mostly what Clarissa does while they rest. Low-key small-talk, exchanging of names and a bit of befriending.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Travel Agency Breaktime.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I--" Marivel... Marivel has done a thing. A thing that she probably should not have done.
She has challenged Ashley's pie-love.
His jaw unhinges, then clicks shut. His face turns a powerful shade of crimson. Has his rage been unleashed...!?
"Fine," he says, simply, before descending into /ominous mumbling-- the kind that always, inevitably, gets punctuated by a flash of lightning across the sky. "I'll show you mind-on-pies. I'll show you all...!"
...Later, at the travel agency--
Ashley takes command of the oven in the kitchen. His eyes have a distinctly manic glint to them, one that a keen observer would only be able to describe as... 'dwarfy.'
This bodes... well?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue is beaten to the punch by Elly. Jump too floaty... Oh well. When it comes time to dodge fireballs, it'll be clear what the true power of a floaty jump is!
Speaking of which... actually, nope. No fireballs here! Just the travel agency! Nimue is pretty appreciative of a place to just sit and chill for a few moments, especially one with food. Sadly, she can't really steal food... but she *can* ask for some help with food she already has.
She rummages in her pack for a few moments, eventually withdrawing a suspiciously well preserved chunk of steak from some unspecified creature. "Hey! Hey. Hhheeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy," she says, to the guy at the grill. "Make this warm! But like, comfy warm, where I still know I'm eating meat and not, like, random garbage I found on the street."
Not that this meat is not, potentially, random garbage Nimue found on the street, but the sentiment is clear.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Food toward her party's challenge, Travel Agency Breaktime.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
The Travel Agency...it provides them with some much needed shelter from the storms raging outside. Clarine is thankful for it - it'll give them some time to rest, relax, and consider where to go from here.
For Clarine's part, she has claimed an entire sofa for herself, curled up around the crystal sphere from before. It emits a soft, pleasant light. Absorbing this light doesn't really benefit her, since it's her own energy, but it still provides some comfort.
Unfortunately, there isn't any sunlight for her to take in here.
She's not quite napping entirely, though she's certainly at rest - just watching everyone quietly and soaking it all in contentedly.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Brilliant Sphere toward her party's challenge, Travel Agency Breaktime.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"I have a feeling you're taking what I said in a way I didn't exactly mean," Marivel manages, not having much to say about Fei who is trying to take it easy but instead has ended up in a situation where he's escorting a paralyzed Ida who might be getting worse with every passing moment through an underwater death trap while simultaneously fending off his other personality's increasing level of panic.
Right now Marivel is endeavouring to settle into her old routine. At the travel agency she lies around and complains about Ashley not making pies for her even though loudly and incessantly.
She essentially is coming across as a dead body on the floor that is complaining a lot about a lack of personal pie investment. If Nimue comes near she will reach out to the seraph without getting up because way too lazing around.
So much lazy.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Travel Agency Breaktime.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Travel Agency Breaktime *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It as an oasis in the midst of the endless storm. Here, the savior of all
those who must venture through the Thunder plains...
The noble Travel Agency building.
Not only is it supplied and equipped with actual beds, but the staff and
fellow travelers are knowledgeable about the area and can give suggestions
about which route to take next. It seems there are a number of options to
mull over while you rest up -- it's just a matter of plotting out your best
course.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
========================<* Thunder Plains - Round 3 *>======================== ====================< Results - Travel Agency Breaktime >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashley Winchester 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Stolen Food 3 Wits Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Brilliant Sphere 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ashley Winchester 40 --(30)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1)|Secret(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ashley Winchester has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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: Clarissa Arwin has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Thunder Plains *>===============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - A Qactuar Morph? *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Local legend speaks of High Summoner Gandof, responsible for sealing away
the wily Qactuar in the Thunder Plains. According to the story, there are
stones scattered through the Thunder Plains -- find the stones and you may
find the secret of the Qactuar.
Much less of a legend and story though -- the creature that has bounded out
of the storm towards you.
It looks like a Qactuar (and thus a Cactuar for that matter). But it's not
usual for one of these Fiends to be quite so spiky. Or for that matter, to
have detachable sections of its body which it can hurl -- grenade-like --
for its unfortunate prey. Which then naturally explode. Grenade-like.
This is taking 'One Thousand Needles' to a terrible new level...
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly sips her tea and smiles, face flushing. "Yes," she says. "Fei and I are close. Though... well, his name's a little bit of a funny story." Which Elly does not, it seems, tell today.
"K," says the grill sergeant, as he is meated up by Nimue. It is put... in some kind of machina box? The guy turns a dial. The box hums. Soon, a meat is warm. Stay with us here in this magical moment.
Time passes pleasantly.
Pleasantly... and yet...
And yet there is a pressure, isn't there?
They can rest a little while here.
But they can't rest forever.
As time moves on, and as meat and pies are distributed, Elly lingers near Marivel. To whom she crouches, because Marivel was on a low couch. She offers a hand, and says, "Are you okay?"
F*NAL F*NTASY V**
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
The muffin was delicious. Muffins always are.*
Refreshed and rested, Clarissa stretches her arms above her head, then brings them down to adjust the hem of her top as she continues along. The thunder lulls a little here, the rain slackening, as if they've found a break in the storm. "You know," the girl muses, falling back for a moment to walk with Elly. "Someone back there was telling a story about something called a Qactuar. Apparently a wizard sealed it away with a series of sealing stones--"
A large explosion suddenly erupts in front of Clarissa. With a startled "Yeek!", she throws herself to the side and hits the ground, rolling clear. She looks up with a gasp -
"But we didn't even find any stones!" she protests at the sight of the large thing jogging out through the rocks. It looks an awful lot like a gigantic cactus, except covered in even more spikes than any normal cactus might ever have, saying nothing of the simple open-mouthed face and the fact that it can't seem to bend its knees or elbows anything outside of a 90-degree angle.
Also the fact that it's flinging more spikes at them. They hit a rock and explode, needle by needle. Clarissa jumps away again and whips Strahl Gewehr out of her hip pouch, firing a blue-white ray towards the thing as she sprints for cover.
"Why does a cactus have legs?!" she manages to ask. "Why do the needle explode? Why, what, why?!"
The Qactuar doesn't change expressions but open-mouthed face conveys a silent 'Deal with it.'
* Unless Felius was baking.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Qactuar Morph?.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine listens quietly, enjoying this moment of peace, but inwardly she knows that it can't last forever. She uncurls from her seat and stows the sphere away before standing to her feet.
"I am...ready to move on." She states, following the others outside. As they move, she listens intently as Clarissa begins to explain a story about something called a Cactuar.
This also puts her in the perfect position to watch an explosion of needles rocket out from seemingly nowhere.
"...Ah!" Clarine remarks. She takes note of that spiky form, and those detachable segments. She thinks it over for a moment...
...And then next time anyone looks back to where she was, Clarine has vanished completely!
A short while after, however, a light washes over the party. It envelops them with a protective barrier in the form soft blue glow that should hopefully provide some cushioning from the needles so that not as many of them can find soft, vulnerable flesh.
As for Clarine herself, she is currently hiding behind a rock, practically invisible beneath her light-bending veil and using support-based sorcery from afar. They can't focus the healer if they can't actually see the healer.
...Th-they can't see her here, right...?
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Lightbending Veil toward her party's challenge, A Qactuar Morph?.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
There is indeed a wealth of pies! A plethora of pies. Pies for days. Pies for days. Everyone gets their own pie. Everyone except for Nimue, because she already had one, you see. Each pie is of master craftdwarfship and is emblazoned with cute caricatures of various cute Filgaian critters made out in caramellized sugar. Each one is filled with a delicious local fruit, purchased out of pocket with Ashley's own money.
Yes. Everyone but Nimue gets a pie.
Marivel, though. Marivel gets...
...A half-eaten (by Nimue) piece of pie.
This is the price of her hubris, you see.
And this is the lesson that must be learned: "(Fil)Pie(a) is everyone's responsibility, Marivel Armitage."
WHAT A CRUEL WORLD THIS IS.
(Ashley will probably make her a pie later once he feels guilty enough, because he's still just a gigantic teddie bear)
But! That was then. This is now.
Now, the party has encountered something... Truly terrifying. For a Filgaian, cacti are just a ubiquitous fact of life. They're everywhere! Every wasteland has them, even when no other plants will grow. They might be chollas, they might be towering saguaros, but there are always cacti. But this...
This... is something else.
This is something that would give even a native Filgaian a complex. How terrible would it be to have a phobia toward cacti on Filgaia? It'd be just awful! JUST! AWFUL!
"What is that thing!?" Ashley demands of the injust, merciless world as he loads a canister into his bayonet. Clarissa has explained. Ashley was paying attention! Really! "Did someone kick over a weird stone on our way out here!? Whatever-- don't let the thing stick you! Cactus needles are no joke!"
Ashley returns fire! His ARM roars with manmade thunder as an oversized flare streaks through the air! It's a cactus, right? It's gotta be weak to fire! More and more incendiary rounds follow shortly thereafter. Even if they're not burning the thing, at least the flares are lighting up the battlefield and making it a bit easier to navigate the Thunder Plains' broken terrain.
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Flare Gun toward his party's challenge, A Qactuar Morph?.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"I have been hoisted," Marivel tells Elly. "By my own petard..." She reaches towards Elly and raises a hand--
--pushes it past hers and touches the face with a faint frown. She looks into her eyes.
"I hadn't gotten involved." She whispers. Then she lowers her hand and takes Elly's, pulling herself back up to her feet.
"I'm okay." Marivel says, smiling. "T'was a difficult week, but I have chosen to face such difficult weeks so complaining about it would be crass of me." She dusts herself off. "After all, those who have put their faith in me have better things to do than listen to me bluster about that which cannot be changed, and that which can still yet change for the better. I should tell you, while we have this moment, but I could use your help back at Killika. Likely no battle, just lending an ear and having a kind heart I should think."
She eats Nimue's half eaten pie without complaint. She agreed with a plan to put an apocalyptic demon inside of Ashley, he gave her half a pie. This is a more than fair exchange.
Oh uh. Pretend you didn't hear that bit.
"That ability..." Marivel murmurs. "It's amazing...! I must have it...!"
She draws out what Elly will recognize as a PORTABLE MICROPHONE and flicks it on.
"Hold it right there!" She commands of the cactus before reaching towards the spine covered creature and--
--draining it through her hand. She exhales faintly as she learns....
ONE THOUSAND NEEDLEBOMBS???
Maybe she can name it something less horrible later.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, A Qactuar Morph?.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Thanks!" Nimue just treats a giant chunk of meat like it's a cookie, periodically bringing the whole thing up to her mouth, biting off a piece (which requires effort) and then bringing it back down. She seems pretty content with this as they start to head along. Nimue is ultimately very easy to please.
She is also very easy to *dis*please, as is discovered when the giant cactus-creature appears and starts whipping chunks and spikes at them. "HEY! NO! RUDE! BAD! GRENADES! MY THING! CUT IT OUT!!" she shouts, insistently. At first, it looks like *all* she's going to do is throw a tantrum -- but then Clarine's shield comes up, and Nimue feels emboldened.
When Ashley decides to apply fire, Nimue... thinks that is a very good idea! Fire isn't exactly her forte, though -- but she does, at least, have explosions instead. She reaches somewhere in her flowy outfit, pulls out a bomb of her own, tosses it into the air, snags it with her sling-staff, and hurls it.
That's her contribution!
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Gadgets toward her party's challenge, A Qactuar Morph?.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Really...? Have things gotten worse?" Elly asks Marivel. "I think I'll go back, though, soon. I'm glad you're doing better, at least. Is it easier for you, out here? With the weather?"
"How... How did we not notice it," is what Elly says at first, staring up at the majestic qactaur. And then she says to Clarissa, Clarine, Ashley - "Right!" And she gets out her staff.
But she assembles it first. This is not a monster she is going to be able to oppose with nunchuck operations.
As she fastens the three sections in place she thinks -- of what's before them. For a fleeting moment, which only occurs to her as she runs up to the battle line, she realizes she hadn't thought of 'if only I had Ether to blast it with'.
She takes a deep breath -- and pauses for a moment, mouth open, as Marivel whips out a microphone like she was going into a second-class citizen team bonding -Singalong Fun Zone- establishment, one of the five in Etrenank. Elly's mouth slowly closes then, even as Marivel begins to drain the creature.
And then a bomb of spikes is thrown at them! Elly leaps out of the way. She ducks in and tries to score blows. It doesn't really work out.
The staff gives her reach, but there's so MUCH of the damn thing. Strike! Parry! Leap - and get scraped on the leg - her legs in fact look like they're blood-soaked (though it is largely from a series of scratches) when she lands on a small promontory and sucks in a deep place, raising up her staff and -
AND--
Something seems to rise from her. She feels her skin prickle into gooseflesh. She feels something pass that she doesn't quite expect, a feeling of surprise and delight, like having someone give you a press on the back at the perfect place, like hearing the sweet sound of water pouring into a smooth cup, like smelling fresh-baked cookies from the oven.
Then lightning strikes her.
Normally this would be farcial anticlimax -- except... the lightning did NOT quite strike her... it struck her staff, sensibly enough. And then it did something even more ridiculous; it snakes around the furthest part of the staff, the crackling electrical tension warping like it's candy floss being swirled round. The thunderous BOOM is turned into a lingering tesla-tension crackle and Elly leaps off the little rise.
She swings the ball lightning down like a Gear-sized flail. "Haaah---"
* Learned Anemo Zap!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Three-Section Staff toward her party's challenge, A Qactuar Morph?.
===============================<* Thunder Plains *>===============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - A Qactuar Morph? *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Local legend speaks of High Summoner Gandof, responsible for sealing away
the wily Qactuar in the Thunder Plains. According to the story, there are
stones scattered through the Thunder Plains -- find the stones and you may
find the secret of the Qactuar.
Much less of a legend and story though -- the creature that has bounded out
of the storm towards you.
It looks like a Qactuar (and thus a Cactuar for that matter). But it's not
usual for one of these Fiends to be quite so spiky. Or for that matter, to
have detachable sections of its body which it can hurl -- grenade-like --
for its unfortunate prey. Which then naturally explode. Grenade-like.
This is taking 'One Thousand Needles' to a terrible new level...
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
==========================<* Thunder Plains - Round 4 *>========================== ==========================< Results - A Qactuar Morph? >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Three-Section Staff 1 Combat Effects: Stalwart and Rally ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Flare Gun 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Stolen Gadgets 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Clarine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Lightbending Veil 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clarissa Arwin 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Ashley Winchester 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Overwhelm Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Ashley Winchester 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.
"I don't knooow," Clarissa answers Elly as everything explodes around her.
For all that the Qactuar has surprised them, however, it's going up against several members of a private army, plus an Elly and a Nimue. Clarine's protective light deals with the worst of it. Needles rip through the air but the explosions seem not to do much more than warm - and most are able to elude the needley assault. Indeed, the Qactuar can't seem to actually see Nimue or Clarine. To it, the bomb Nimue chucks seems to come out of nowhere, staggering the giant cactus.
Elly raises her staff - and the lightning strikes it, singing forth in that massive flail. The arc of energy sears across the Qactuar a moment after Clarissa's blasts hit. The power of the Anemo Zap does most of the work, searing and blasting the monster cactus off its feet and sending it soaring. It hits the ground, bounces and skids.
The Qactuar manages to stagger to its feet, but it's hurting. Marivel steps in quickly enough, and the last of its strength begins to wane, replenishing the Crimson Noble.
Ashley finishes the job. His massive flare punches into the Qactuar. It gapes blankly as it's hurled away, well over the rocks and out of sight.
Blinking, Clarissa waits to see if it reappears. When it doesn't, she exhales, lowering her ARM. "...What an odd creature."
DG: Ashley Winchester has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Iron Giant *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the distance you can see it -- sunlight. The end of the storm. And beyond
that, Macalania Forest.
A low bellow stops you in your tracks. From the haze of the storm emerges a
huge armored Fiend bearing a heavy iron sword. An Iron Giant, one of the
more fearsome creatures of the Thunder Plains.
It is intent on your destruction. Do not allow it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Bad Luck==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
The intrepid ARMS (+2) triumph over the ambulatory cactus and, in so doing, one member of the team comes away from the fight significantly more scary than she was going into it.
Thousand needles are bad enough, but when those needles explode...!
"Everyone alright?" Ashley calls, loading a fresh cartridge into his weapon. Somehow, he's pretty sure they haven't seen the last of that Qactuar. They didn't seem to get any item drops from it, after all...! "Nobody too hurt? Alright, let's keep going--"
GAAAAAAAAOOOOOO
A terrible, bone-chilling roar reverberates across the plains. The ground trembles as if in fear. Even the sky seems to shake, stricken by sudden terror. Ashley turns in muted disbelief as one of the lightning rod towers is abruptly upended as something emerges from the swirling stormclouds. It's... huge. At least four men tall, and built as solidly as any Kislevi battler gear. Lightning arcs across the clouds, pouring down into the spike atop its head as it throws its arms out and bellows again...!
GAAAAAAAAOOOOOO
"What in the crackerjacks is a gear doing up here!?" That's not a gear, Ashley. That's just a Fiend. Still, he can't be blamed for making the mistake. The Iron Giant rushes forward, swinging a great blade almost as long as it is tall. Ashley ducks behind a line craggy rocks, firing another set of flares right into the colossus' eyes. It seems unperturbed as its massive sword hews a fresh trench into the landscape where the spiked stones used to be.
Just in time for Ashley to roll under the blade and follow up with a massive shot to the thing's center of mass. "We need to penetrate that thing's armor! Don't panic, we've got this!"
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Flare Gun toward his party's challenge, The Iron Giant.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.
"I'm alright! I don't think it hit me," Clarissa calls back to Ashley.
> clarissa you'd know if it hit you
Before she can say much more, though, something roars, a bone-chilling sound that booms across the plains in a way that has nothing to do with lightning. Slowly, Clarissa turns towards the source of the noise.
The Iron Giant comes lumbering towards them, and Clarissa gasps. "It's a Gear! But how?!" she exclaims, darting back to avoid the shadow of that immense blade. The landscape parts before it, and the young adventurer clambers clear seconds before she's mulched into the furrow the Giant digs out.
Again she whips Strahl Gewehr forward. "Everyone," she calls out by way of encouragement, "don't let it intimidate you just because it's huge! After all, there's six of us and one of it! And besides... I believe in you!"
Her heart is absolutely in those words.
Breaking into a sprint, Clarissa strafes out to one side of the Iron Giant, firing a few long-ranged shots. Strahl Gewehr's beam rakes through the air in crystal blue rays, slicing towards the behemoth monster. But soon Clarissa wheels, bracing her firing hand against her opposite forearm and lining up her shot. She pushes her tongue into the pocket of her cheek, breathing deeply - and she squeezes the trigger. The magical ARM pulses. The beam Clarissa fires is wider and brighter, a powerful blast seemingly calculated to punch through a Gear - but as she fires, she sags visibly, gasping as if she's pouring her very desire into the attack, at the cost of something tangible.
DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Dandelion Sacrifice toward her party's challenge, The Iron Giant.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I-I am unha- ah!!" Just as Clarine calls out in response to Ashley's question and is about to step out from behind the rock, a terrible roar reverberates. Suddenly, the cloak goes right back, and it's back to hiding again.
Fortunately, as before, Clarine isn't the type to leave her companions without any assistance at all.
This time, however, she decides to provide assistance in the form of offensive magic. After a brief incantation, a sphere of light appears above the creature. It hovers there for a moment...and then begins firing rays of searing, sorcerous light down toward the Iron Giant.
While this spell could be used to deal with a number of foes, it was at its most effective when used against a single large one - such as the Iron Giant before them.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Lightbending Veil toward her party's challenge, The Iron Giant.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"It's not a gear, Ash! It's a fiend!" Marivel shouts. "The enraged spirits of the dead who envy the living! I am not sure why this one is a suit of armor and the other is a cactus! I guess it was a very angry cactus, Ash!"
She looks towards Elly and shakes her head, microphone still in hand, "A lot is getting worse," Marivel says. "But I am not asking for your aid in any of that. I fear Dorca may be facing a bully. Tis my hope to solve the matter and form a new bond of friendship that lasts a lifetime."
She pauses as lightning strikes Elly--no, it strikes her staff. Marivel's eyes focus on what Elly is doing and squints as the electrical tension snaes around the staff but she merely ends up flinging it at the monster instead.
"Could you always do that?" Marivel asks. "I see no crests nor symbols, and you are not from this land." She tilts her head. "It appears you are using ether. How fascinating! Tis not often you meet a wild ether talent of such skill outside of Solaris. I would be wary, my friend, about wielding such power. Their reach is far. I would encourage you to get symbological tattoos to obscure the nature of your power. Power such as yours is oft tightly controlled and though the tighter one controls one's grip, the more that slips through--that is of little comfort to the sand betwixt their fingers."
She is always impressed by the power of Clarissa's ARM. ARMS despite being called ARMS doesn't actually use as much ARMs as you might think. Nevertheless, Marivel raises her mic up into the air then slips it back into her pouch.
She winks at Elly before whispering, "Red Power: Thousand Detonations."
Yeah she likes that better. Spines erupt out of Marivel's body towards the giant armor and each one detonates upon impact!
There isn't really any known school for this kind of ability but Marivel doesn't seem to exercise caution herself like a jerk hypocrite.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, The Iron Giant.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Oh yeah!" Nimue says, from behind Clarine's extremely helpful shield. "Totally fine! Great! Super!" As that roar reverberates across the plains, though, Nimue starts humming a very different tune. The tune where she announces, "WOW! SUPER NOT OKAY! NOPE! BAD NOW! HATE THAT! Want Sundowner! This is bullshit! This whole thing is bullshit! These plains are a scam!!"
Clarine uses magic -- not just magic, but big impressive magic -- and Nimue... actually feels a little bile well up in her throat over it. Her arms cross a little, and for a few seconds, it looks like she might just sulk her way through the whole encounter.
After a second, though, she decides to use her feelings more constructively instead. She darts toward the big ol' fiend at high speed, abruptly behind its leg. "Hey~" she says. After a moment, she's hopped up to its waist on the other side, and continues, "He~ey, guess what?" Another hop, and she's at its shoulder. "No, really. Guess."
Then, from atop its head, she says, "I stuck a bomb to you two hops ago!"
She then leaps off and pushes a detonator (where did you get that, Nimue), riding the shockwave away from the Giant.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Gadgets toward her party's challenge, The Iron Giant.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
As she comes down from among the sizzling scent of roast nopalitos, Elly looks towards Marivel, who speaks to her.
Elly is about to interrupt her - but seems to opt not to.
"I - I used to," she does say, but then Marivel speaks to her. As Marivel speaks Elly steps closer. And when she finishes, Elly has gotten close enough to embrace the smaller woman for a moment.
After this, she lets go. "Thank you," she says, "for worrying about me. However... I want to tell you something. Just so that it will not be a surprise. You might know already, but I don't think Riesenlied would advertise, despite..."
Elly takes a deep breath. A light seems to shine, spiritually, for a moment.
"... I know all about that," she says. "I was born in Solaris. For a while, I served in the Gebler forces. But... I left, and I doubt I'll ever go back. Not unless something amazing happens, and, well, I don't... Think that that's terribly likely, is it?" She smiles again, weakly. "I had to try to make up for all the harm I did with this power. I kind of over-did it. But I suppose maybe my doctor is right, and - and -"
Elly looks over her shoulder. Back to Marivel. Back over her shoulder. "O-oh!! Right!!" She leaps to, grasping her staff firmly and staring forwards as Marivel draws on an interior power. Detonations! Gunfire! The power of the greatest magic of all -- high explosives!
'We need to penetrate that thing's armor!'
Elly runs forwards. With her staff, now just slightly scorched. She attacks.
It happened before when I attacked, she thinks. My mind was clear. (clang! tang! k-chang!)
She kicks off the Iron Giant's leg even as its blade swings up as if to go towards her. She hunches forwards. That feeling comes again--
The ground seems to burble, raking shapes reaching out with jagged stony claws to grabble at the Iron Giant's legs and feet. They are clumsy. The giant is heavy. Three of them. Four! Six. All of them miss their mark.
Until with triumph that shape comes in from behind, as if bearing a steel chair. Long-snouted! Beady-eyed! The claws are revealed to be as if for digging - and metal is only stone that's been boiled down, in the end! HIT
* Learned Terra Charge!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Three-Section Staff toward her party's challenge, The Iron Giant.
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Iron Giant *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the distance you can see it -- sunlight. The end of the storm. And beyond
that, Macalania Forest.
A low bellow stops you in your tracks. From the haze of the storm emerges a
huge armored Fiend bearing a heavy iron sword. An Iron Giant, one of the
more fearsome creatures of the Thunder Plains.
It is intent on your destruction. Do not allow it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Bad Luck==========================================
========================<* Thunder Plains - Round 5 *>======================== =========================< Results - The Iron Giant >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Three-Section Staff 1 Combat Effects: Stalwart and Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashley Winchester 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Flare Gun 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Stolen Gadgets 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Lightbending Veil 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clarissa Arwin 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Dandelion Sacrifice 4 Combat Effects: Fanfare and Sacrifice ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ashley Winchester 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ashley Winchester has successfully explored Thunder Plains!
=============================<* Thunder Plains *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Water's Blessing *>======================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
All that's left of the storm is the rain, battering down from above, and
even that lessens the close you get to the light peeking through at the edge
of the storm. In the distance you can even see the edges of Macalania
Forest. Lightning flashes and thunder rolls behind you, but they are of no
further concern.
What may be more of your concern is the good-sized chest left stranded here
by a rock pillar, stamped with the mark of Yevon.
Was it left here purposefully or by accident? It's hard to say. Once opened,
it reveals a weapon possessing a minor enchantment of water, a potent force
in these lands against beings aligned to lightning.
(OOC: Choice-of-weapon is up to the player with the caveat that it would not
be anything considered an ARM.)
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel was not expecting the hug. She thought she would just say her slightly ominous thing and ultimately just end up worrying her a little. It's a nice, warm hug full of human warmth though Elly will feel how cold Marivel is. It is warmth such as this that keeps guiding her to humanity, she supposes. Why she keeps finding reason to stick around. As ancient as she is, as tired as she feels at times--it's moments like these that remind Marivel she still moves forward.
Even more surprising is when Elly explains her own situation. Not many people escape Solaris that she knows of. In truth, Marivel has rarely bothered to pit herself against them. Human problems for humans to deal with. She could not fight in every war, every battle. Generally speaking, Marivel has never been keen on 'Solar' anything.
"That was the first time I've ever been embraced by a Solarian." Marivel says. Then she cracks a grin. "Tis nice. Thank you. And thank you for being honest with me when you owed me nothing."
She is quiet for a moment and then adds, "We can't make up for the harm we have done. Only the harmed can give that forgiveness and they are as ever in their rights to refuse it. But life is pretty much a state of being constantly embarrassed so we need not despair for we can always bring good into this world no matter how blackened our spirit."
"I take comfort in that." Marivel says. "That no matter how unforgiven we may be, even the worst of us may yet, perhaps by accident, manage to do something nice for someone, stumble over some betterment of a tommorow world."
Her grin brightens. "But for those that find bringing Filgaia a better future as their calling, well, they create little 'better futures' every day and the only price of such power is how rare we experience the totality of such brilliant symphonies. The little moments are oft lost in the echo."
As the battle fades, Marivel looks throughout the group. There's Seraph Clarine who lent her light to a being of darkness, Clarissa whose desire is so familiar, Nimue who is just precious, and Ashley who will fulfil even a promise he does not remember making.
It's nostalgic, Marivel thinks, they too remind her of long lost companions.
Long lost, perhaps, but they may yet be found again.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"What, really!?" Ashley seems just completely taken aback by this sudden infusion of exposition, "Remind me to never hurt a cactus! I don't want any of them getting up and chasing me." Fiends don't appear on Filgaia, Ashley! Though things much like fiends do. One thing is for sure though, fiends are not created equal. Iron Giants are no mere fiends, they are menaces of the Thunder Plains, machines of war and incredible power. But--
This one, at least, is no match to the power of a well-oiled special forces group (plus two, unless you count Elly as being a Guest Spook instead).
Ashley's personal contribution to the fight seems somewhat muted at best-- but aside from Nimue dancing around the giant's frame, he's the only one engaging it in melee. In other words, today Ashley is the tank. His flare might not have blinded the creature, but it did distract it, causing the thing to chase after the target that most recently drew its ire. Ashley manages the hate well, ducking around and parrying potentially devastating blows with practiced precision, lining up periodic shots between each strike to keep its attention focused.
This gives the rest of the party an abundance of time to pile on the damage. Elly tears open the blasted landscape, forging grasping claws of stone and soil that cling to the giant and send it tumbling into a deep recess in the earth. The giant roars as it begins to heave itself out-- only for a combination of Clarine's focused sorcery, an improvised (i.e. stolen) explosive device and a veritable rain of tiny needle-shaped bomblets to send it reeling back into its hole. The pit walls don't just arrest its movement, they focus the onpouring tide of heat and light like a crucible. The Giant's steel frame glows red, then orange, then white hot as it begins dripping away like candlewax-- and yet, its hatred is strong. Too strong. It growls again, dragging itself inexorably out of the pit--
Which is approximately when Clarissa's shot connects. A torrent of raw energy- desire for victory made manifest and set aflame to burn as brightly as the sun iself- smashes into the Fiend's weakened, trapped frame. It struggles for a moment more against the two-pronged flood of light consuming it-- before finally disintegrating into a fine mist of ash and speedlines that briefly outline the form of what used to be a mighty, metal Fiend.
...Did they win...?
BGM CHANGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Io0DLo_G90
YOU GET: 1200 AP - 600 GIL - A SUIT OF ARMOR!?
Soon the heat fades away. The rain, having been flash-boiled by the onslaught of heat and light, resumes as if it had never stopped (and it hadn't!). Ashley sags onto his back foot. Two fights like that in a row can tire a guy out, but... They have to keep moving. The storm hasn't abated. "That thing was strong. Good job, everyone. I'm impressed...!"
If Ashley heard about Elly's TRUE IDENTITY, he's not showing it. To be fair, he was kind of busy NOT DYING at the time of the revelation. But...
The plains have one last thing for the party...!
It's a treasure chest! Emblazoned with the Yevonite seal and hidden subtly behind a stone pillar way off in the middle of the plains, far from where any of the lightning rod towers would provide coverage. Who left it there...? Who knows? One thing is for sure, it has a few useful treasures for the members of ARMS who do use ARMS and would rather like to avoid disturbing the local religious authorities too badly...
Water-imbued weapons...!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
If Clarine notices the way Nimue reacts to her spell, she doesn't show it - she's a little too focused at the moment.
As the Iron Giant bursts into pyreflies Clarine pauses for a moment, as if expecting another Fiend to lunge out of the shadows just like the last one.
...But, nothing comes - there's only silence. With a sigh of relief Clarine emerges from behind her rock, removing her cloak and causing it to disappear back into the depths of her sleeves.
"Th-that was...a terrifying creature...is everyone alright...?" Clarine asks, looking over everyone.
Thankfully, everyone...seems unharmed! Physically, anyway. She exhales a sigh of relief.
"Ah, thank goodness..." She murmurs. She wouldn't need to heal anyone today. There might be some surface wounds, but those were best left to heal on their own. Instead, she scans the area for the other Seraph.
"Nimue, Nimue! Good work...!" She calls out.
Her attention is soon drawn to the side, however, as Ashley uncovers...treasure! Clarine does have a slight interest in it, having a fondness for things that shined or sparkled. However, the contents of the chest seem to be primarily weapons, each of them imbued with the power of water...except for one.
From the chest, Clarine draws a clear crystal sphere, much like the ones she carries with her. This one, however, seems to be hollow and half-full of water without any sign of how it was placed within.
"...Oh...!" She murmurs.
It looks like she's claimed this one for herself.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue gets praise -- and that *does* work on her, and really does a fair bit to dissuade her from whatever fell mood she has. "Haha, thanks!!" she calls back, letting the feeling go for now. Once everything seems to be in order, she bops on over to the treasure chest idly, taking a peek inside.
"Wow, this planet has some really suckass weapons," Nimue reflects aloud, as if she is not in fact *from here* and the sort of person who would totally be using a suckass weapon if it weren't for some circumstances. She lets everyone else pick first, and decides she'll take what's left -- after all, any of this is as good as any other to her, for the most part.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly is no longer a spy. At least, in the bad way. She will remember this news of a bully.
But for now she is here. She's completed a mission. Emeralda will be able to eat something other than dirt (she can still eat dirt if she wants but she'll have *options*.) And...
She picks up a rod. It's a folded-over three-section rod that resembles the one she uses. The wood is a sort of slightly springy clear material that seems to bubble gently, but what puzzles Elly in particular is some kind of additional thing bundled together with it.
She unfolds the rod and examines a groove in the top that has a securing metal band. She attaches what looks like a smaller, skinnier rod there, even as she says to Nimue, "I don't think the weapons on Filgaia are anything for us to be proud of."
Elly holds up some kind of metal sphere. She pulls out a tiny thread from it. She seems baffled. Until -
click
latch
snap
Elly undoes the outer latch and flicks it the opposite way from how Fei taught her to snap a three-section staff out.
The Reel Sphere goes whizz!
A sparkling blue fishhook goes flying towards Nimue's hair.
"... I have no idea what this is," says Elly.
("But it's mine now, isn't it?")
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
The fishhook snags in Nimue's hair. She is blissfully unaware of this... *for now*.