2019-08-17: To A Ruin Long Forgotten
- Log: To A Ruin Long Forgotten
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Emeralda Kasim, Leon Albus, Elhaym van Houten, Lily Keil, Xantia
- Where: Almaryyt Ruins
- Date: August 17, 2019
- Summary: Following the trail of a sphere's recording, Josie heads, with the Black Wolves, to the ruins known only as Almaryyt. Her goal: an impossible improbable prize.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Almaryyt Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin *>========== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The ruins of Almaryyt -- once, according to the few spheres that mention the city, a large self-contained city in Spira's distant past -- rest a ways out along the southern landmass, a distance east from the Moonflow, and through largely unexplored woods and glens. You know you're on the right path as more and more fragments of Machina (more than likely left undisturbed by the Yevon faithful who have braved these woods out of concern over disturbing such heretical devices) become present the closer you approach to the sea. And then, you see it. Though nature has taken its toll and has done its best to reclaim what parts of the structure protrude above the earth and sea, it's clear that what rests here is neither natural nor just any ordinary ruin. Whatever happened to Almaryyt, it was an event big enough to bury much of the city under rock and wave hundreds and hundreds of years ago -- one particular cause brings itself to mind. As you approach the closest section of wall -- fragmented in places but still holding strong -- a klaxon somewhere in the depths begins to sing. It's fairly impressive that anything at all in here is still functional -- the fact that there's an alarm going off is probably fine, right? But more to the point: if you're going to get in at all here, you're going to have to open up that fragmented wall a little. Or a lot, as the case may be. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMA4Npu2K4 =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Fright, Reckless, Hesitate==================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It had all started with a whisper in a Sphere, an old message -- and an unlikely object -- visible from the ancient recording.
The hard part after that had been getting information out of the locals. It doesn't matter if it's something the people of Spira have to worry about coming into contact with or not -- in the end it's all about the fact that it's a city that was said to heavily rely on the use of Machina, and the belief that such things bring Sin.
A deft hand -- so to speak -- had been needed to work out a potential site without bringing suspicion down upon her...
...but such is the necessary skill of an archaeologist: gaining access even into supposedly cursed places!
It's not the first time for Josie to have to deal with this, and it's likely not the last time, either...
In the end, she knows they're on the right track and that the stories were true the more Machina fragments they find as they push on through the fragmented forest -- past hazards and Fiends alike.
"Even if this ain't it, we'll still find something good. I can feel it in my bones," she proclaims, but minutes before they break past the last of the trees and see it, slumped against the seaside.
Even all these centuries later (at least) it still stands.
"Sure looks old enough," Josie observes after a moment, shielding her eyes against the sunlight.
An alarm somewhere within begins to sing.
"...Seems lively, too. Kind of makes me wonder what you'd find in those ruins under the Moonflow..."
She shrugs, though, and approaches the wall, rapping the back of her hand against a few sections. "Solid... solid... oh, this sounds likely."
Right here are a few cracks, too.
Penelope fidgets on her perch atop Josie's head, eyes squinting closed as the archaeologist draws forth her trusty mattock.
And slams it pick-end first into the side of the wall of the city.
Is this... really proper archaeological practice...?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Almaryyt! Home of adventure! And not much else, given it's been abandoned for so long... but adventure nonetheless. Perhaps it was inevitable that Emeralda wanted to come along.
Emeralda spent some of the walk down through the woods poking at various pieces of half-buried or broken machina with a stick she'd picked up. None of it actually reacted to this, and she had eventually gotten bored enough with the non-response to stop doing it, though not before picking up a loose gear about a half inch across (and missing several teeth to rust and damage) and shoving it in a pocket as a souvenir.
It turns out she should have waited for the souvenir, because pretty soon the *real* city comes into sight.
"Wow!" Emeralda runs ahead, slows down, and ends up running a little ahead again to look at the walls. "I thought when you said it was a ruin that meant it had fallen down! But this hasn't fallen down at all. The buildings are still there!"
Also, there is an alarm going off. She doesn't *think* she set it off, but she tilts her head anyway as if to listen to it before saying, hastily, "I didn't do it. Anyway, if you really want to know what's in the ruins under the Moonflow, why not go look? I'll go! I - wow!"
*That* exclamation is from when Josephine hit the wall with a pick, which Emeralda wasn't expecting. She immediately knows what the goal is, though, and Emeralda joins in cheerfully, pulling out what looks like a slightly banged-up crowbar from behind her back and enthusiastically starting to help lever out pieces.
"You know," she says, after a few moments of this, "I didn't actually look for a door first."
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon Albus, as a general rule, has a policy:
Support the Wolves in their personal endeavors. Some of this is a sense of honor and obligation; they're his friends, they have tread into dangerous places on his behalf, and they have refused to let him go alone into places others might call dark and dangerous. Some of this is practical. Helping them keeps morale up.
He walks a little after Josie, and has his new Al Bhed-made shotgun resting over his shoulder. The Crusader short sword is at his side, still, as he looks at the ruins. His nose wrinkles, for a moment, as he hears the alarm.
"It looks like someone knows we're here," Leon says. "That might be a bother."
He reaches over his back -- and withdraws a tried and true tool from the pack he carries into these places: a short-handled field sledgehammer. He looks sideways at Emeralda, and the smiles.
"You can always make a door," he says. And then, he takes a swing.
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Field Sledge toward his party's challenge, Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly van Houten has a policy not unlike that of Leon's. She also wanted to spend time with Emeralda, and, well, that's happening here. She watches Emeralda more than the others, but Emeralda is both quite durable and seems to not be trying to eat any poisonous frogs, which already puts her in the top ten percent of surface-dwelling children based on Elly's unexamined prejudices about surface-dweller child-rearing.
SOLARIS: Please Enjoy Your Colorful Childbubble
An alarm starts. Elly tenses... but then, she glances over her shoulder.
Forest, for miles.
She relaxes, and looks ahead. She feels the tugging regret that she can't blast the wall with her mind nearly so good, but it is fainter than it was. She advances towards Emeralda...
And hands her a dried apricot.
She has a small bag of them, which she then proffers to Josie, Leon, and all others concerned. There is enough for everyone (probably; it's like three ounces, not a giant sack).
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Inventory Clutter toward her party's challenge, Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Policy or no policy, Lily Keil has an interest in this expedition in particular. ...Though the truth is, if the Wolves are involved so is she, either herself or because Leon already is. They are friends, and... Lately, she's been a little too ready for trouble not to get out when there's the chance.
Old debris cracks against the soles of her boots as the sorceress steps forward, having not bothered to put on the full Spiran disguise she might have once. Dark attire, a sword, and of course her knife--but more to the point she has her satchel, and theoretical medical supplies.
"...It's still intact?" Lily wonders as she hears the alarm. "That's a concern."
She looks at Emeralda in the moment. She's--well, she's helping. "I don't think we're the door type," she admits. Besides, she likes being encouraging.
Lily actually takes the fruit, and takes a bite as the others move forward; at first it seems like she might not help. But that's only at first, because once her hands are free, she winds a strange set o thin chains about her right hand, inscribed with runes, the same she acquired in Vane.
"All right," she says then, and steps up, without hammer or mattock. Instead, she puts a hand up higher on the wall, and...
Ether thrums through the air in a pulse, as darkness ripples across the wall's surface once--and then floods from Lily's hand, seeking to take the cracks of hammer and mattock and blast the whole thing open along them.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Investigative matters aren't Xantia's strong suit, everyone knows that. But once the investigation is concluded and you expect to need brute force for what's coming up next, it's always a good idea to ask her along. She's all too happy to help with that, especially when it's in a group with the other Wolves.
She's thus been in a good mood all the way, eager for the adventure - if not quite as exuberant as Emeralda, but that's a tough act to follow. And once they arrive and it becomes clear that they're going to take the direct approach to get into this place, she grins and cracks her knuckles. Excellent, that's the kind of helping that she does - and enjoys - best.
Closely following in second place is a good fight, so an alarm and the promise of Trouble only improves her mood. "No bother at all!" she cheerfully rebukes Leon and Lily's assessment. "If you want me to handle it, I'll be happy to!" Just as happy as she is turning attention to the weak spot in the wall that was just discovered.
"Okay, so just smash through this, right? I've got just the thing." With that, she slips something over her right fist. It looks to be a fairly simple set of spiked knuckles, but as Xantia turns her right hand towards the others, she points to it with her left, proudly proclaiming, "5 percent strength bonus." It's not breaking the fourth wall if you're just repeating how it was advertised to you.
The actual wall is definitely going down however, Xantia drawing back her arm and letting out a loud yell, turning back and smashing her fist into the stone in one fluid motion. Even if the +5% Str bonus should turn out to be a bogus claim, it's still Xantia punching something at full force. That tends to do pretty alright on its own.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Buster Claw toward her party's challenge, Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin.
==============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin *>========== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The ruins of Almaryyt -- once, according to the few spheres that mention the city, a large self-contained city in Spira's distant past -- rest a ways out along the southern landmass, a distance east from the Moonflow, and through largely unexplored woods and glens. You know you're on the right path as more and more fragments of Machina (more than likely left undisturbed by the Yevon faithful who have braved these woods out of concern over disturbing such heretical devices) become present the closer you approach to the sea. And then, you see it. Though nature has taken its toll and has done its best to reclaim what parts of the structure protrude above the earth and sea, it's clear that what rests here is neither natural nor just any ordinary ruin. Whatever happened to Almaryyt, it was an event big enough to bury much of the city under rock and wave hundreds and hundreds of years ago -- one particular cause brings itself to mind. As you approach the closest section of wall -- fragmented in places but still holding strong -- a klaxon somewhere in the depths begins to sing. It's fairly impressive that anything at all in here is still functional -- the fact that there's an alarm going off is probably fine, right? But more to the point: if you're going to get in at all here, you're going to have to open up that fragmented wall a little. Or a lot, as the case may be. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMA4Npu2K4 =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Fright, Reckless, Hesitate==================
=========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 1 *>========================= ============< Results - Breaking And Entering Is OK If It's A Ruin >============ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Field Sledge 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Reinforced Bar 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Buster Claw 1 Brute Effects: Rally and Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rune Chain 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Inventory Clutter 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Someone or something," Josie says to Leon. "Well, if there is anything down there left to care about it. You know, I should tell you about the time I tripped a trap that had probably been left set for centuries. Of course the builders were all dead and gone! Arrows everywhere -- it was a real bother," she says, briefly on a roll before ultimately sighing and shaking her head.
"Oh yeah?" This, on the matter of what's under the Moonflow. She considers Emeralda for a moment. "...Guess you could, kiddo. Well, maybe let's take you up on it sometime?"
Though perhaps not right at their current time, as they face down the toppled but remarkably well-preserved remnants of the felled city Almaryyt. "Why bother looking?" she remarks to Emeralda on the subject of finding a door, before wrenching the mattock free. "Might as well enter where it's convenient than waste time poking 'round for some stuck portal or another." There is now one (1) hole on the wall... but not big enough to actually pass through.
Except for Emeralda. She might be able to, well, pour through it...?
But that would just put her on one side and the rest of them still out here. Maybe it's for the best that she helps dig out a few of the loosened pieces.
Particularly after Leon has at the door with a sledgehammer. "Hey, not a bad one. What was the make again," she muses, as if trying to place the name.
She then takes a dried apricot when it's offered, and pops it in her mouth, chewing throughfully. From atop her head, Penelope glares balefully at Elly.
...Does she want one too? ......Can pigeons eat apricots?
"Definitely not the door type," she says, through a mouthful of apricot. Then, mercifully, she swallows. "Hey, let's see what you've got, Tiger--"
Ether slams into the door. Cracks visibly spiderweb what's left.
Which is where Xantia enters the picture at last. Josie turns her head, regarding Xantia thoughtfully for a moment or five.
"Yep. Up and at 'em, Sparky," she says, with a wink. And a thumbs-up. "C'mon, if you can't get this one done, I'll have to give up and find a damn door!" And that will take ages...
Xantia's fist hits the wall.
There was a wall here.
It's gone now.
"There! That's how it's done!" the resident archaeologist proclaims.
...Is this really what they learn in university these days, or is it just Josie...?
DG: Leon Albus has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Toréador En Garde! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Almaryyt might not have seen a living being within its walls in hundreds of years, but it has by no means gone uninhabited, if that turn of phrase can be applied here. Fiends have long made parts of the ruins a nest, and freed from intrusion from others, have been permitted to fester. Hooves clatter on the ruined metal of the flooring. There, charging down the section of the ruins you've found yourself in, is an enormous hooved and horned Fiend of bovine form. Known by some as a Juggernaut, it's bearing down on you now. Show it no mercy! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Reckless=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Far be it from me to complain!" Leon says to Xantia. He stands by -- and then he stares, as his crew brings the wall down. He looks sideways at Lily, then nods. It's a nod that says, 'Look, dear, we have such wonderful friends.'
"Quite right," he says to Josephine. Then, he walks through the breach, as he slings his sledge back into the loop for it on his pack. Leon slows, a little, though. The land beyond deserves a look -- the sight of the ancient, ruined city...
...and the slight tremble to the ground. His silver eyes look down; they regard, with passing coolness, the way that a few pebbles shake. Then, the trumpet of a bellowing bovine breaks the air. Leon whirls, as a few stones are shorn from a building, and a huge, bull-like creature charges down the path.
"Good God," he spits out. Then, he presses his fingers to his belt.
A trio of triangles unfold -- and form an energy barrier that the bovine slams into, and rips through. It sends its movement askew, and it smashes into the wall, before ripping backward, and then charging again.
Leon is already firing his shotgun into its flank. Pyreflies, not blood and flesh, fly away from it. "Bring it down, quickly!"
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Raid Funnel toward his party's challenge, Toréador En Garde!.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Well then, after you, Captain," Josie says, making with an overly polite bow in Leon's direction.
Penelope stays in place. She does look none too pleased about being 'dipped' in this manner, though.
"Interesting," Josie says, glancing upwards. The city, for all its streets and buildings, is entirely enclosed by the walls... and above them is a plate of metal. "Haven't seen something like this--"
Hooves clatter on the city streets. Josie turns, hard. "--huh."
And flattens herself against the wall, going for her--
No, not her gun. She goes for her flask of booze first, downing a mouthful of something only loosely catalogued as 'potable' before finally going for the rifle slung over her shoulder.
"Keep it busy and I'll get it right between the eyes!" she shouts back at Leon, as his funnels take the lead.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Toréador En Garde!.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda has never once tried to eat a poisonous frog. At least, not in front of Elly.
She does eat that dried apricot piece, though. "Thanks!" is her response, because she has been (is being) brought up right. Even if 'right' includes occasionally taking a crowbar to an ancient wall. Leon's right: they can always make a door.
Emeralda beams when the wall goes in. It looks like a door has been made! She lets other people in first before stepping in, though she's at pains to crane around so she can see past everybody else despite being the shortest person in the group (except Penelope, who flies).
"... How did that get in here? We didn't open the door wall yet! It cheated!"
Emeralda throws herself against the wall when Leon starts shooting, though she realizes that the thing isn't shooting back at him a moment later. It's a Fiend, it's leaking light and pyreflies, and that means it's okay for her to attack without worrying too much.
Lily and Elly in particular are likely to recognize the sense of building Ether from around Emeralda; Elly because it 'feels' very similar to hers, and Lily because she's already open to it, having taken advantage of her powers to finish destroying the wall.
Using a crystalline stone as a focus, Emeralda lets the power build, build - and then discharge in a sudden upsurge of water from the ground beneath the charging juggernaut, simultaneously chilling its legs and knocking it off-balance from the sudden geyser!
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Large Etherstone toward her party's challenge, Toréador En Garde!.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily looks sideways back at Leon, and nods back pleasantly. 'Don't we?' her expression seems to suggest. Coming ambushes aside, she can certainly appreciate a nice set of friendly destruction. She has little else to say for the moment, falling into the rear guard and looking after the others moving forward. "There might be some records intact, if things are this solid."
She starts to say something else--but she feels the shaking in the room, too, and there? There's the Juggernaut charging. True to the ways of bullfighters throughout time and space, Lily looks forward--and moves. She pulls no weapon, pulls no defensive items, though. She has... a different plan. Particularly as she feels building Ether from Emeralda--she recognizes it quickly, and thinks...
"These things usually cheat," she says."
So, she instead does what comes completely naturally--as the fight goes on, she brings out red-glowing magic, an aura that heals wounds, shields against more--
And keeps a hand ready to throw a worse spell when it gets close again.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Toréador En Garde!.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Of course the wall couldn't stand up to all that punishment combined. If there's one thing Xantia excels at, it's finishing off already weakened surfaces with a solid blow. Casually blowing the dust off her knuckles, the red-haired pugilist beams as she turns towards Josie. "Of course! I'd never force anybody to use a door if they don't have to!"
That might be a joke coming from anyone else, but it's Xantia, so she's 100% serious. Not that it matters much. Knocking down a wall, knocking down a door - either way it's a perfect sensible way to enter places.
The only real complaint she has is when she follows after Leon, casting a forlorn gaze towards the tool of demolition he was using. "Wish I had my hammer..." Which, in turn, makes her think about Filgaia, where she left it. It's a bit of a downer, but then, that's part of the reason why exploring places like this is important right now. You never know: the next ruin they visit might be their ticket home.
Luckily, there's a Fiend waiting for the party, and the promise of a good fight always does wonders for Xantia's mood. "Oooh, that's a big one!" As usual, she has trouble understanding why others aren't looking forward to this encounter quite so much. At least, initially. When the monster crashes into Leon's barrier, she gets an idea of its strength from the force of that impact, prompting a wince. She glances at the knuckles on her hand, shakes her head, and removes them. Then she activates her ARM's red energy blade, and nods. Much better suited for this task. Keep it busy, huh? She can do that.
Rather than run after the beast, Xantia jumps out where she's in easy view, waves her arms, and yells out, "Over here, you big... cow!" She doesn't have any red cloth on hand, but between her weapon, her armor, and her hair, there's plenty of that color involved.
Not that she has any sort of elaborate bullfighting plans. She's not even thinking of taking the bull literally by the horns. She's just trusting in her ability to dodge at the last second and strike back.
Emeralda unexpectedly makes this easier. With the fiend unbalanced by a sudden surge of water, Xantia quickly dashes in to capitalize, somersaulting in the air after leaping up high, to come crashing down blade-first onto the Juggernaut, hoping to catch it off-guard enough to stab it right in the face. When you don't know a thing's weak point, the face is usually a good default.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool ARM Blade toward her party's challenge, Toréador En Garde!.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Is that a lot?" Elly asks as Xantia declares her strength bonus. She sure can't tell.
Well, she has some pragmatic idea now, but what is it boosting? Elly wonders; power output? Weight lifted? Either way, the walls come tumbling down, and the fruit, adequately dispensed, is wrapped up and tucked into her hip pouch again.
Elly then hears the rumble and raises her eyes to see the bull charging towards her. "Well," she says, her other hand going to her hip, "Poop--"
LEAP! She vaults forwards, trying to get over the back of the Fiend, even as she can feel that gathering force around Emeralda. Sometimes she wonders about where that came from - how Emeralda, the way she is, can have that ability - but it has been a wonder in a life of wonders, and right now she has bigger things on her mind.
When the Fiend swerves, Elly finds herself on her feet again. Abruptly and cleanly. This is surprising enough that she blinks twice before snapping around to strike at the flank steak of the great Fiend, corralling it and adding to the rain of devastation falling in upon it!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Three-Section Staff toward her party's challenge, Toréador En Garde!.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Toréador En Garde! *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Almaryyt might not have seen a living being within its walls in hundreds of years, but it has by no means gone uninhabited, if that turn of phrase can be applied here. Fiends have long made parts of the ruins a nest, and freed from intrusion from others, have been permitted to fester. Hooves clatter on the ruined metal of the flooring. There, charging down the section of the ruins you've found yourself in, is an enormous hooved and horned Fiend of bovine form. Known by some as a Juggernaut, it's bearing down on you now. Show it no mercy! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Reckless=========================================
========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 2 *>======================== =======================< Results - Toréador En Garde! >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Raid Funnel 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Large Etherstone 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass ARM Blade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Three-Section Staff 1 Combat Effects: Stalwart and Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)|Overzealous(1)|Reckless(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Emeralda Kasim has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Durability Has Its Limits *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Almaryyt has held up magnificently for a city long destroyed and left for the elements -- the fact that much of its machina have regained operation after centuries is proof perhaps of the ingenuity of its creators. But there are limits. Such as, say, the creak of the ceiling overhead that has begun to -- spontaneously, in a display of bad luck of the highest order -- collapse in on itself just ahead. You won't get hurt if it falls in, but you /will/ have to turn around. Some means to keep it from blocking your path is strongly advised. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Fright=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
The Juggernaut yanks to the side, ready for another charge. Rock flies free; some of it pelts down atop the gathered Wolves, pebbles and a few larger ones to dodge. It charges again, barreling down straight towards Emeralda. Then, however, a massive burst of water explodes from the ground. This throws its head back into the air.
And Xantia catapults high, and lands down onto its head. Her blade drags the head down. Its hind left leg has a massive flash of light, its weight stumbling under Lily's spell -- and then its head slams to the floor under the weight of Xantia's blade. Just as it rises, Elly's staff slams into its side, and smashes it back into place.
Then, finally, the crack-boom of Josie's rifle sends a bullet between the Juggernaut's eyes. It screams -- and then explodes into so many pyreflies.
Leon blinks at the aftermath, then sighs. "Well! I'd say it certainly cheated," he says. "And got what it deserved. Shall we be on our way?"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda's Ether is just a thing. She doesn't think about it any more than she thinks about anything else she can do. The one time someone asked her, she pointed out that as Elly's daughter it made perfect sense for her to have Ether too, which answers absolutely nothing given the unusual matter of her heritage but did successfully confuse the conversation.
"Okay!" Emeralda is surprisingly blase about nearly being stampeded. But, then again, she's had an unusual life. You can never really get *used* to it, but being attacked by Fiends is something that has happened before, and you adapt (or you change careers). She offers Xantia a high-five as she goes, having seen her take the opportunity granted by the geyser.
There is an obvious hallway to head down, and Emeralda - being Emeralda - immediately gravitates toward it.
Which is fine. It's as good a way as any... except for the sudden creaking sound from overhead, accompanied by a single falling brick. Emeralda looks up, startled by the noise with a soft "Uh oh." If that falls in, they'll have to backtrack and find another route, and that just won't do. She didn't even see another way!
(There was one. It may just take some effort to locate.)
But they won't have to do that if it stays up, Emeralda figures, and so she picks up the brick and props it against the wall to help hold it up. But that won't do very much on its own, and so she once again draws on her Ether, using Earth this time - jagged rocks press against the wall, holding it in place and hopefully reinforcing the archway and ceiling.
...Emeralda doesn't know very much about this kind of reinforcement. "Um, um, I think I need some help!!"
DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Durability Has Its Limits.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie just rests the rifle against her shoulder when it's all over with.
"Well, that's done and dusted, eh?" she says with a lopsided grin. Atop her head, an agitated Penelope fusses before settling down. "No one ever said it was an easy job, poking around ruins. Come on. Let's see what we can find..."
And then it's onwards.
Onwards...
...into a part of the city that is not, shall we say, quite so well constructed.
There is a dotted outline where Penelope used to be. Josie is left alone, staring up at the ceiling. "Fengalon's balls--"
But out comes the mattock as she attempts to do what she can do try and wedge the falling ceiling lest they end up having to backtrack to a significant degree.
She only really has the one hand, though.
She shudders under the load.
"A... a little help..." the archaeologist groans, paling.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Durability Has Its Limits.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
There is a small sigh from the Captain of the Black Wolves, as he slides his shotgun into the holster at his hip. Then, he strides forward -- and pauses as he sees the brick fall. He looks up, too, and stares at the wall. He sees the same problem that Emeralda does.
If the ceiling caves in, they will have to find a different way in. He frowns, and then he looks at the Raid Funnels. He makes a motion with his hand.
The fact that the independently flying drones respond to just a thought can be blamed on Zeboim-era technology.
Another barrier of shimmering energy appears over their heads; it is triangle-shaped, and hardly enough to hold up a whole ceiling, though it may help.
"On it, Josie. We may want to hurry," he says. "I think the local architecture is showing some strain."
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Durability Has Its Limits.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Emeralda is, truly, a magical mystery, like the following topics (potentially proposed by Seraphita):
* Did Santa Claus create all of us equal?
* Are chicobos small? Or just far away?
* What the hell is a clock?
But then, perhaps that is life. Elly mops her brow with the back of her wrist and looks at the others, smiling, a little tentatively. She actually laughs a little, seeing the high five, and thus it is that Emeralda passes her. Elly seems on the LITERAL VERGE of saying something to Xantia when she hears something creak upwards.
Elly's head turns and her eyes widen. "Oh no," she says.
She sucks in a deep breath -- and moves to Emeralda's side, half-crouching and saying as she does, "You have to think about the forces. Try to make curves... make the shapes so that when they get pushed down, they get stuck against each other. Here, like -" She pops the little thimble on her left pinky off and presses it in between her right hand's first two fingers. "Like this - do you see? They'll prop each other up, like the poles of a tent. You can do it, you just have to move the shapes a little bit so they're stable--"
Elly tries to reach out. It's a tiny, shivering whisper of Ether but it flickers upwards as if to touch key stones, to illustrate what she's meaning. Externally, of course, this doesn't look like much beyond 'did a little dust fall off that rock for reasons other than the obvious?'
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Inventory Clutter toward her party's challenge, Durability Has Its Limits.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Asking Xantia about the math of her strength bonus is of course futile. "...Well, if it gives me one-twentienth more strength than I usually have, that's probably a lot?" Then again, if she knows 5% of a thing is the same as 1/20th of a thing, maybe she's not as poor at math as one might think.
But that matter is quickly pushed aside in the face of Sudden Bull Fiend. Teamwork pays off however, and the group manages to dispatch it in sort order. Though everyone's contributions were significant, Xantia singles Emeralda out to give a thumbs-up to, smiling brightly. Even though she wasn't looking, she evidently knew where that Ether came from that unbalanced the creature just at the right time. Doesn't seem to have surprised her one bit, either. But then, that's how it usually goes with her. Just taking things in stride - only the results really matter in the end. The high-five that follows soon after is gleefully returned. "Nicely done! We make a good team!"
In good spirits, Xantia readily follows Emeralda into the following hallway. That's when the signs of a collapsing ceiling are made evident, and upon the request for help, she... panics a little bit. What's the best way to hold up a ceiling, without getting stuck under it herself? She looks about frantically for something she can use. Or, maybe there was something a bit further back... "...Wait, I've got it!"
As one might expect, the solution she arrives at is rather unsubtle. She rushes back out to where they just came from, to where she saw a mostly-intact pillar, no longer holding up anything. Donning her spiked knuckles with +5% Str bonus once again, she gives the base a solid whack. Xantia is obviously not the best choice of people to bring if you wanted to keep a site intact as much as possible - but then, we're well past that point by now, aren't we.
Not long after, she comes rushing back into the hallway, carrying a big chunk of the pillar she knocked down. "Hang on! Use this to hold it up!" She does her best to position the pillar in a way that makes sense, but that part she may need a little help with. Her expertise is breaking things, not figuring out how to keep things from breaking any further.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Buster Claw toward her party's challenge, Durability Has Its Limits.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Emeralda's Ether being so natural is even more interesting to Lily, who knows few others who just... do, in that way. ...But she's not just going to pick up her friends' daughter and stare at her until she gives up her secrets that she might not even know herself.
It's kind of fun to use Ether as a team that way, though.
Onwards, though. Lily steps ahead, carefully watching back and forth. The city is... different, here--before--
"Damn," Lily murmurs, watching the trouble the others have, thinking quickly for what she can do. She may have to rely on...
--Elly's advice, helping Emeralda, is another new side of her. She watches it, for a moment, and then steps the rest of the way forward carefully. "Strain is right..."
Xantia--working on holding something up instead of breaking it--of course... breaks it more. But it's still a good idea--
"On it. Xantia--here--"
Lily points out where it is, eyeing the distance, making the calculations--"I'll help anchor it in place." She breathes in, and works the magic through the focus of the chains again--
It's hotter, for an instant, before ice erupts around the pillar, encases the whole thing to lock it in place, to support the rock and barrier and all like concrete.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Rune Chain toward her party's challenge, Durability Has Its Limits.
==============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Durability Has Its Limits *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Almaryyt has held up magnificently for a city long destroyed and left for the elements -- the fact that much of its machina have regained operation after centuries is proof perhaps of the ingenuity of its creators. But there are limits. Such as, say, the creak of the ceiling overhead that has begun to -- spontaneously, in a display of bad luck of the highest order -- collapse in on itself just ahead. You won't get hurt if it falls in, but you /will/ have to turn around. Some means to keep it from blocking your path is strongly advised. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Fright=========================================
=========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 3 *>========================= ====================< Results - Durability Has Its Limits >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Buster Claw 1 Brute Effects: Rally and Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rune Chain 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Inventory Clutter 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Fright(2)|Injure(1)|Reckless(1) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda is better at jagged chunks than curves, but she tries to do as Elly is directing her. "Okay..." She manages interlocking plates, at least - like a jigsaw puzzle - which tend to at least stick together better than just a heap of blocks.
Fortunately, she's not the only person on the job. Josephine's use of her mattock as a wedge at least slows things down for a few critical moments, as does Leon's use of a funnel shield as a momentary platform. Maybe it can't hold up the whole ceiling, but it can provide some critical force redistribution. Force like Xantia's pillar; on its own it wouldn't hold up more than a small area, but with the field and a mattock wedged against it, its effect spreads.
And then there's the ice. The ice freezes the pillar in place, and freezes part of the ceiling to the pillar, spreading across the ceiling. The whole hallway isn't going to remain intact, but a path through it is; it's still creaking ominously, but it doesn't seem like it's about to drop right this instant.
"...I think it's okay," Emeralda says after a few moments, making sure her earth structure is definitely not going anywhere before she steps away from it, dusting her hands off on her skirt.
DG: Xantia has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - You Are Here? *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- In this central-seeming hub strewn with debris, you come across what appears to have been a kiosk of some sort. Approaching it produces a wonder for this age: sketched out in three-dimensional light on the white platform before you, a full or at least reasonably full display of Almaryyt's tunnel-like roads and streets scattered among its many levels. Before it was destroyed, anyway. If you can figure out where, precisely, you are and where you might want to go, you could hypothetically make shorter work of navigating the ruins. =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia's plan pretty much began and ended with 'break a thing and use it to hold up the other thing'. Simple in theory, not so easy in practice. Her clumsy efforts might have caused a whole lot more damage had it not been for Lily's timely assistance. When it's all said and done, stone pillar replaced by ice pillar, she lets out a deep sigh of relief. "Thanks, Lily. You always know what to do." The all-important task of knowing how to fill in any blanks that Xantia can't - sometimes it's all that stands between a clear path and rocks on your head.
Hopefully that'll hold for the way back, otherwise that might end up being a whole new adventure. But that's for later worry. For now, hurrying past the obstacle leads the group into the heart of the ruins. At least there's no shortage of passages to choose from. The question is, where do they all lead? Xantia makes a noise of frustration as she slowly steps towards the center, wondering aloud, "I don't suppose we have a map or anything, right?"
As if in answer, there's a loud hum as something activates directly next to her. Xantia jumps aside, letting out a yelp of surprise, before looking at the source, squinting at... some kind of light show? No... there seems to be a structure to this. Could this layout possibly be...?
"Wait, is this actually a map? Does this thing grant wishes?" Gotta test that one out. "I wish I had some more of that tasty fruit that Elly brought!"
Yeah, she's just begging by proxy. Clever, right?
As for the actual map, though... others may be better able to make sense of it than Xantia would be. She tends to just go places and see what happens, which is probably not the optimal call when there's a map right there. What she will offer is an excerpt from her Hero's Phrasebook relevant to this situation.
"A hero's map is their heart, a hero's compass their sense of justice!"
So, you've got that. You can only go up from here.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Hero's Phrasebook toward her party's challenge, You Are Here?.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie, once the load is off, just sinks against the closest wall and exhales the weightiest of sighs.
"Geez... good thing you kids are all loaded for bear," she remarks, before grinning lopsidedly and getting back on her feet as if all were well once more. "Well, come on, then. Let's not hang around and wait for this to finish falling in, eh?"
And they're off once more, with Xantia taking the lead down this one of Almaryyt's sloping corridors.
"A map? Nope. I'd dare say we're the first ones in here in ages," she says, gesturing towards the still dark halls with her good hand...
...Before the younger woman bumps into something and a light-based model of the city projects itself into the air.
"Huh. You don't see that every day," the archaeologist comments mildly, slipping a hand-rolled cigarette out of her pocket and lighting it with a snap of her fingers. She takes a good long drag.
"...Might be. Heh, not every day you get to visit a ruin with its own damn map," she remarks, gesturing at the apparent map with the lit end of the cigarette.
Though. Does it grant wishes? "Hmm. I wish I had some more money," she says, ever the optimist.
It's one way to find out.
"So, what do you think of this, Sparky?" she says, pointing at a section on the apparent map with her cigarette. "I'd guess we're maybe around... here. So, you see there's this downward section here through a shaft..." She pauses, glancing around the room.
"So maybe we take that door."
Into the middle of this discussion there is a whirring of wings. Penelope alights on the device casting the map.
Penelope begins to investigate the device. Beak-first.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, You Are Here?.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
They can take a new adventure when they come to it! Or that's Emeralda's thinking.
"I don't have a map," Emeralda says, an instant before a map makes itself appear. She looks at it for about five seconds and then says, in a more excited tone, "Actually, now I do!"
Emeralda looks at the map. The map does not do anything but sit there while she walks around the three-dimensional display. Part of the map becomes obscured as Emeralda sticks her fingers in it, which gives her an idea.
"Hey, look, it's a bunny," she says, twisting her fingers just so in a way that is almost, but not quite, natural to look at. Maybe if she was double-jointed. She stops when she realizes people want to look at the map as a map, and even joins in, but...
..."I have no idea where we are. Shouldn't it have an arrow?" And how does Emeralda know that? Maybe she's just guessing wildly.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You Are Here?.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie watches what Emeralda is doing after a moment. Josie has seen many strange things in her life.
Josie still looks away after a moment, a vaguely distressed expression on her face. She takes a long drag from her cigarette. Just when you think you have a handle on how things are...
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I'm glad to see we have a future in construction, if things calm down," Leon remarks, as they hurry along. He stops, though, as they come to the little hub. He stares down at the hub -- and then he looks up, and approaches the hub. He blinks at Xantia.
"Well, I'm no hero, so I'm grateful this map is here," he says with a slight sigh. He steps up next to Josie, and looks over the map for a moment. "That looks right. Ah, but--hmm. I'd like to get a sense of how this works."
Then, he looks at Emeralda's fingers. He pauses.
"...ah, are you all right, Emeralda?" he asks. Because that looks like it should hurt.
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, You Are Here?.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"Yes?" Emeralda responds to/asks Leon. She doesn't seem to understand why she's being asked the question. And her hands look fine now that she's not doing rabbit shadow puppets with them.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
FORWARD! As the pillar is formed and braced, Elly's only fear is a momentary glance at the component of it that is ice. Well, she thinks, we can always add more ice if we have to, or -- or --
"What in the world," Elly says, astonished. She sweeps a hand through her hair, rubbing the back of her neck; as she puts the little thimble back on her left hand, she says, "This is a holographic map. It's like... it's set up so that light crashes against itself in the air, and presents this picture. You can do it with a curved... never mind."
She can show the curved mirror trick later, if they aren't all killed.
"It... should," Elly answers Emeralda, with faint unease. "Maybe we just don't recognize what they used for it, or that system's been damaged over the years."
She slips Penelope a piece of bread crust while looking at Leon. "Oh, she's very flexible."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You Are Here?.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I... I see," Leon says. "Very good. I hadn't fully realized."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly smiles in a way which Leon has probably seen here and there on proud parents. She has no idea she's doing it.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"It's easy to look smart when you wait until the end and build on what someone else does," LIly tells Xantia simply--but she says it a little more warmly than it might sound, not really denying the compliment so much as gentling the implied alternative. ...They do have kind of a future in construction, huh?
Lily steps up, looking to the device ahead thoughtfully--nodding along at Xantia's assertion. "Yeah. It's important," Lily says, "To know how you're travelling, as much as where. What you'll do when you get there. It's a metaphor."
She eyes Emeralda's fingers for a few moments. "Fascinating," she can't help but say. "You can..." Hmm. Oh, right--
"Usually something like this is labelled somewhere," Lily says, looking over the map--and then approaching the device itself. She reaches down and pulls--
A.. knife? Yes. A knife. Her old, familiar knife. And she moves for a panel. "Let's see... maintenance port is probably here, which means..."
She doesn't shut it off, but she sure looks like she's doing something. ...She also switches languages without thinking, "<Side port design... logically the power would flow...>"
She's just talking to herself, though.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Lily's Knife toward her party's challenge, You Are Here?.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - You Are Here? *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- In this central-seeming hub strewn with debris, you come across what appears to have been a kiosk of some sort. Approaching it produces a wonder for this age: sketched out in three-dimensional light on the white platform before you, a full or at least reasonably full display of Almaryyt's tunnel-like roads and streets scattered among its many levels. Before it was destroyed, anyway. If you can figure out where, precisely, you are and where you might want to go, you could hypothetically make shorter work of navigating the ruins. =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 4 *>======================== =========================< Results - You Are Here? >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Hero's Phrasebook 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Lily's Knife 1 Wits Effects: Enlighten and Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Secret(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Alas, no fruit nor money materializes. This is clearly not a wish-granting device. It was worth a shot.
Although, when Emeralda mentions a bunny, Xantia briefly thinks otherwise. She obviously doesn't look at Emeralda's fingers, that wouldn't even make sense, she's looking around the rest of the area. "Really? Where?" She asked for fruit, but if there's rabbits out here, that'd be a good enough fulfillment of her wish for food.
Alas once more, she can find no rabbits. Not before Josephine asks her, of all people, for her opinion on this map. Even Xantia herself wasn't expecting that. She blinks, but she does look at the indicated section, then takes another look around her. "Huh. I.. guess that it's about the same shape?"
She starts when icons suddenly appear on the map. Whatever Lily just did, more details are now visible. One of them is an arrow, right in the room they were just looking at. "Oh hey, Emmy's right! There's an arrow here, so... we are here!"
That still leaves a bunch of other icons, which aren't quite as self-evident. So as for exactly where to go... Xantia looks around, to Leon, to Lily... then to Elly. "Holo...graphic?" That was a bit of an odd reaction. She turns back towards the map, looking at it in a whole new light, so to speak. And suddenly feels a lot more confident in saying, "...I think Josie's right. That door." She indicates the same one Josie pointed to earlier. There's no explanation for it. She doesn't have one, she can only sort of shrug if she gets any further looks or questions.
Though she starts to follow along as the group moves on in the indicated reaction, Xantia soon stops, turning back towards the map, gazing at it for a moment longer. If anyone else paused close enough, they may overhear her murmuring to herself.
"A hologram... Why do I know what that is...?"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - A Great Stone Seal *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- When Almaryyt fell, it collapsed at a thankfully non-severe angle and began its slow slide into the sea. But, it appears, the land itself kept it from plunging into the waves forever. Pierced through by rock pillars -- perhaps disturbed by the event that sunk it to start -- the city-structure of Almaryyt still resists its final descent into the Spiran sea. Nature has not yet completely consumed the ruin. Anything in the bottom-most vaults -- as some of the glyphs appear to suggest, as far removed as the language is from modern-day Spiran script -- should still be there if it hasn't yet crumbled into dust. Or, assuming, there hasn't been a catastrophic rupture somewhere along the line. But let's think positive. But herein lies the problem as you step onto this level -- onto the stone itself: the way down is blocked by one of the same sections of stone that pierces the city and prevents its slide into the sea. You're going to have to break through part of the 'floor' you stand upon to descend into whatever might rest below. This won't be easy. The stone section you stand upon is thick and sturdy. In fact, it might be one of the least easy demolition attempts you've made to date. But you'll have to try. (OOC: The GM for this round should hold on resolving this card until the next one is drawn!) =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Slow============================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly blinks as Lily speaks in that weird voice.
"... I don't know," Elly answers Xantia, gently. "But, I can tell you that it's just light. Holograms are only pictures... they can't harm you. Even if they look frightening, it's all just a show."
They proceed, following the icons, or their memory of same, and soon enough they come to an open area - perhaps a plaza or other gathering place in those ancient days, or a games field, or something. Now, though, it stands out due to the pillars of stone that pierce the city itself.
"Oh...! It's so enormous out here," Elly says. "And... look... do you see? I think I can see where the metal is stretching... the entire weight of the city must be resting on these extrusions. It's like someone used Ether amplifiers to catch the entire city before it could slide any deeper..."
The water rustles, as they move, crossing the strange space, walking at the angled earth and crossing through the chiascurio of stone and ruin, until -
There. The far end of this space, and a place where there is a stone tooth jutting from the earth that is nubby and eroded, and unfortunately, almost completely blocking the way forwards. The open staircase, with the faint suggestion of what might have been a door aeons ago, is visible through a crack approximately two inches wide at its widest gape, and for the most part much less. The crack doesn't smell of rot, or water, but...
Elly looks towards where the stone pillar has been holding and the weight of the city has drawn wall material into a slowly expanded but stable space. She sticks the end of her tri-sectioned staff into that gap, wiggles it around, but finds neither purchase nor obstacle. She walks over and puts a hand on the city wall, tentatively.
"... we have to force our way, don't we?" Elly asks, rhetorically.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Inventory Clutter toward her party's challenge, A Great Stone Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Incredible," Leon says, after Elly's explanation. "The ARMs here... it's nothing like the rest of Lunar. I wonder about this--about what it could mean." He stares at the extrusions, and his nose wrinkles for a moment. He really doesn't have Josie's skill at this. He can only imagine.
He stops, as he looks down at the gap. He glances at Elly, hearing her conclusion. There is a momentary pause from him -- and then he reaches over his shoulder. The short handle of the field sledge is pulled free.
When he lets the head rest on the ground, it is with a loud 'clunk.'
"I'm afraid so, Elly," he says. Then, he swings his hammer back -- and smashes it down into the ground.
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Field Sledge toward his party's challenge, A Great Stone Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda, who is not very good at actually figuring out where they are on the map, crouches down to watch Lily work without getting in the way.
"<Do you need me to get it open?>" she asks in the same language, apparently not realizing that most of the people here can't speak it. But apparently she doesn't, as whatever she's doing makes icons show up on the hologram. "Oh, look!" she says, switching back to a more normal language.
There is an arrow. Emeralda traces a line from it back down the hall they came from and into a wall (well, they did kind of bust in) and then starts tracing lines the other direction, trying to figure out which way they need to go. Since she doesn't know where they are *trying* to go, it's more just to see where she, or at least her tracing finger, ends up.
When people actually decide where to go, Emeralda is happy to follow. She even helps out once by remembering which way the turns go when they come to an intersection. But eventually...
"Wow!" Emeralda has said that before, but she says it again, scooting forward to look at the stone and metal, twisted together. "You're right! It's stuck here, and the floor is stuck with it. I don't think it's going anywhere for a long time."
Well, not on its own. There's a stone block, or chunk - tooth is a good word - and something almost like stairs behind it. Because it *is* stairs. Emeralda might be able to get through that; nobody else can, and she's not going alone.
Emeralda looks at the stone crag as Elly says they have to get past. This might be discouraging to some people. Not to Emeralda! "I can help," Emeralda says, firmly. Some people might think this means she is about to draw on Ether to blow up the block. Some people would be wrong.
Emeralda pulls out her crowbar again and taps the block a few times to find the best spot to work. When she hits one particular place, where the sound is a little different, she knows she's near a gap or pocket. Maybe the rock is cracked on the other side, or thinner here? Either way, she has a target. Emeralda puts her bar away, plants one foot, and rests the other on the block, toes-first.
And then, with a whining noise, her leg from about the knee down starts to rotate.
Emeralda's leg *changes*; her boot flattens in some directions and rounds out in others until it's more of a cone with some grooves on it than anything else. Her leg shifts too, becoming less organically shaped and more cylindrical, at least from the knee down; from the knee up, her leg still looks pretty normal. The colours of her boot carries through; the cone is black, with some red striping, and the cylindrical part is the same brown as Emeralda's skin tone.
So with her lower leg having transformed into a drill, which is now making *quite* a loud whining noise and kicking up a fair amount of stone dust, Emeralda begins to drill a hole in the side of the block so that it's easier to break through.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, A Great Stone Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Mercifully, Penelope doesn't manage to get a beakful of wires or anything.
This time.
Lily speaks what Josie has come to known as the Zeboim tongue. "Uh-- kiddo..." For a moment, Josie gets something else to worry about other than Emeralda.
"Look, if you're gonna take it apart, do it the right way," she says, before handing Lily over a screwdriver.
Or maybe she's just fussing because taking stuff apart is her gig.
But it all comes to a right enough end: "Huh, would you look at that. Guess we're on the right track and all."
Though there is a look, then, at Emeralda. She closed her eyes, sighs. "Am I the only one here who can't speak the language?" she mock-laments.
Before turning a sidelong look Xantia's way.
In silence, she lingers a moment, and when the younger girl passes her by, she claps a hand on her shoulder as if in a moment of sympathy.
Soon, they find out why the city still 'stands'.
Because it isn't. It's being kept from the sea proper by the earth itself. "Huh... and below's the vaults, I wager." She taps her foot, as if thinking this over. "Well. No way but through, right?" She undoes her pack, and begins the process of checking the rock for a likely-seeming point of approach.
"I'm as much at sea as you are, Lion," Josie says, using that nickname again. "Sometimes you get real lucky and find a working Zeboim device. Sometimes you find a really weird Zeboim device. But this?" She shakes her head, gesturing outwards at the room about them. "What the hell was Spira like before Sin? I haven't seen anything quite like this before. And if another one of the tiles is in here..."
They know that there has been contact in the past between both worlds. But, still. What does it mean that it's here? What does this level of technology -- so like and unlike some of what she's gleaned from Zeboim's wreckage -- mean?
What was Spira like?
What is Sin, and why has it caused an end to a more advanced past to such degree that makes even modern Filgaia look advanced by comparison?
"Guess there's only one way we're getting an answer," she says, and she pulls out the mattock and takes a swing at a point that looks more likely.
...And comes to a stop in her efforts once she sees what Emeralda is doing.
"...You know," she says after a moment. "I think I can live with that." And she slowly, stiffly gives Emeralda a thumbs-up.
Penelope, for her part, finds a small piece of broken rock. She picks it up. She drops it again. She picks it up...
Not everything the pigeon does is inherently menacing.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, A Great Stone Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia shakes her head at Josie - she can't understand that language either. Then she silently nods at Elly. She doesn't say anything, because all she could say to Elly in regards to holograms is 'I already know all that, but I didn't know that I knew until just now'. This has happened before, but it's never any less confusing and distressing. It's something she'll have to sort out on her own before talking about it. She acknowledges Josie's gesture with a faint smile, but that's as far as it goes.
Things are more quiet now, Xantia having entirely ceased her chatter, lost in her own thoughts. She does look up when it seems that they've gotten to an apparently important place, but it's only partially registering. The structure of this place may be fascinating to some, most even, but Xantia has other things on her mind.
That is, until Leon notes the advanced tech level involved for Lunar, which draws her immediate attention. "...Could it mean there's a way home here?" Of course her train of thought would immediately lead it there. That's all she needed to get her head back into the game, ready to give this matter her full attention. "Okay, I can handle this!"
Which of course means she's gonna wreck it. Still wearing her knuckle-claw weapon, she drives that fist down in the solid rock. Then she does the same with the other fist - it doesn't matter that that one doesn't have the Str bonus equipment, her bare hands will do. This may take a while, but if it's come down to this, at least it's the kind of task Xantia does best.
Plus, there's help. Emeralda, in particular, catches her attention, and causes her to pause punching for a moment to look at what's going on there. She has drill feet?
"That's so cool," she comments, before catching herself and covering her mouth. She gets it, she finally gets the use of 'cool' in matters that don't have anything to do with temperature! This is a big victory for someone who has a lot of trouble with colloquialisms. And all it took was someone turning their leg into a drill. If only things were always that simple.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Buster Claw toward her party's challenge, A Great Stone Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"<Thanks, but-->" There it goes. Lily doesn't seem to think anything of it for an instant, indeed just continuing, "<But if I had to do anything more complicated, those tools in your hands might be really useful.>" The arrow shows up and--"Hm?" Lily asks Josie. "Oh, it's fine--knife's the only tool you really need." Then, about the arrow, "Just a guess--bureaucracy is bureaucracy, no matter where you go... and someone had to do maintenance on this, back however long ago."
Why? Elly has that one covered. Still.... Lily only has guesses--not enough to add anything, really.
"How much Ether would be necessary to affect the land on this scale?" Lily wonders aloud. ...She wonders, internally--she thinks of reaching out. How far could she go, if she really--
She shakes her head, focusing instead on the path. She remembers the map fairly well, but she's always had a good memory. Here, amidst twisted stone and metal, Lily frowns down at it. "I wonder, too," she says belatedly to Leon. "What it could mean--the connection of the language..." She looks with a helpless shrug Josie's way, about that. Forcing it?
"...That is... incredibly useful," Lily admits of Emeralda's drill kick. "But how? Managing actual rotating with parts would imply.." Pause. She shakes her head.
"Well, regardless. Xantia has a good point, "We won't know if we don't reach the bottom."
Lily rolls her shoulders, and takes a breath, before she steps forward. "...The chain is past its use, now, but..."
She puts out her hands, and closes her eyes. Draw the power into herself--that's how. Those who know magic might feel the way energy shifts to Lily's hands and just... stays there, too long, long enough that it should rightly escape, or explode--
Her eyes snap open, all white, and a terrible beam erupts from her palms, golden-white and hotter than any flame, seeking to outright melt holes in the floor, sustained--
...She doesn't appear to appreciate the irony. She's too focused for that.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Great Stone Seal.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - A Great Stone Seal *>===================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- When Almaryyt fell, it collapsed at a thankfully non-severe angle and began its slow slide into the sea. But, it appears, the land itself kept it from plunging into the waves forever. Pierced through by rock pillars -- perhaps disturbed by the event that sunk it to start -- the city-structure of Almaryyt still resists its final descent into the Spiran sea. Nature has not yet completely consumed the ruin. Anything in the bottom-most vaults -- as some of the glyphs appear to suggest, as far removed as the language is from modern-day Spiran script -- should still be there if it hasn't yet crumbled into dust. Or, assuming, there hasn't been a catastrophic rupture somewhere along the line. But let's think positive. But herein lies the problem as you step onto this level -- onto the stone itself: the way down is blocked by one of the same sections of stone that pierces the city and prevents its slide into the sea. You're going to have to break through part of the 'floor' you stand upon to descend into whatever might rest below. This won't be easy. The stone section you stand upon is thick and sturdy. In fact, it might be one of the least easy demolition attempts you've made to date. But you'll have to try. (OOC: The GM for this round should hold on resolving this card until the next one is drawn!) =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Slow============================================
========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 5 *>======================== =======================< Results - A Great Stone Seal >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Field Sledge 3 Brute Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Reinforced Bar 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Buster Claw 1 Brute Effects: Rally and Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(0)--> 0 Fail Inventory Clutter 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Secret(1)|Slow(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - In Free Fall *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The stone gives way -- to your immediate advantage or not -- but a problem quickly arises. The break doesn't stop just with where you've decided to break through, it spreads outwards like a cruel spider's web. And the whole section shatters. The good news, as you can see it under the lights leading down: the walls held, the vaults below were not breached by water. The bad news: you're still hurtling downwards in a trajectory that will cause some pain one you hit the bottom unless you take steps -- somehow, immediately -- to soften your impact. Good luck. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Injure, Slow===================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I wonder about that too," Elly says. "But..."
She steps aside as Emeralda moves forwards, folding her arms. She has no brute force to add, beyond all her poking and prodding. "If there have been eras on Filgaia that rose and fell, why wouldn't it be the same here? I suppose we would be fortunate that Lunar and Filgaia aren't too far apart. If it had been after the day of collapse, the Althenans would have been like the saviors of Filgaia's people... and if it had been Zeboim..."
Elly trails off.
Leon smashes into the rock. Some chunks flake out, largely of normal quality. Emeralda transmogrifies part of herself into a drill and drives it inwards. Elly flinches a little, stepping back -- Josie brings her mattock into play -- Xantia scrapes more stone, flensing it, making the pillar crack and give way and reveal a sudden surprise, even as Lily makes preparatory holes.
Two surprises, in fact.
The first is that the pillar is hollow! Threadlike rock seems present inside of it. This is not a natural form for what looks to be a mixture of quartz and limestone to take. Hopefully it isn't actually as friable as asbestos. The second is that it cracks -
There are a series of answering cracks as it gives way...
The playing field they crossed seems to slump for a moment, behind them, as weight adjusts and shifts itself. Elly looks back the way they came.
The ground beneath them goes "snap" and gives way like a cheap trap door large enough to catch a Gear.
And the vaults below are still dry...
The vaults far below. How far? Well, maybe this was a playing field, with an ampitheater or something beneath it, because as the stone pillar everyone was clonking at begins to completely disintegrate, the distance TO that floor can be estimated - about one hundred and ten feet, onto... something. It doesn't look like bare stone. What IS it? God only knows. Hopefully it's soft!
Elly stares at the ground for about twenty of those feet, feeling a certain absorbed fascination with the sudden surprise, before she shrieks and fumbles in her pocket. She doesn't bother to attach the Reel Sphere to the stick, instead throwing it like a really cheap substitute for a grappling hook at what remains of the pillar they broke.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Reel Sphere toward her party's challenge, In Free Fall.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon does blink -- and stare for a moment -- when Emeralda makes her leg into a drill. In the end, he just nods along with what Josie says, before he resumes smashing at the stone with his hammer.
He makes a surprised noise when the rock finally cracks away.
The field collapses underneath them. Leon shouts in surprise as he goes falling. He reaches to his pack, with his other hand. With a tug, his climbing rope comres free -- and as they tumble downward, he throws it, and loops it about a jut of stone up above.
He belays his fall with a snap, and then turns to the other Wolves: "Grab on, if you can!"
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, In Free Fall.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Could be," the archaeologist says. "Everything falls apart eventually, huh..."
Her gaze hoods. She stares down at where she's digging, as if something were weighing heavily on her mind.
She picks up a small sliver of stone, and gazes down at it, a strange half-smile on her face.
The rock begins to split. She stands, grabbing her pack, as if to get clear.
But there is no clear.
"Wh--"
Penelope takes flight as the pillar they are perched atop begins to crumble away. She takes her pebble with her.
An attempt to get to stable ground on Josie's part fails when there is no stable ground to be had. "Shit!" Josie shouts, inelegantly, as she begins to fall.
If she can grab the rope, she'll take it. Otherwise, she's going to have to learn how to mitigate a fall and fast.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, In Free Fall.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Honestly, Emeralda understanding the language of Zeboim - given where she was originally found - is probably the least surprising thing of all the weird things she does. She certainly doesn't seem to think much of it.
It's hard for her to talk while drilling stone - not because it takes too much concentration, just because it's loud and she feels the vibration coming through her entire body. She does return the thumbs-up though, when she's not using her hands to balance herself since she is standing on one foot while doing this. She *seems* to be having fun.
Emeralda does hop backwards when Lily fires the beam, because that is one thing she doesn't want any part of sticking her fingers (or feet) into; her foot comes down as more of a pegleg but finishes flattening back into a foot by the time she puts much weight on it. By that point, the pillar is starting to crack, and so -
"Uh oh..."
Emeralda had thought it had a crack or crevice, not that the interior was hollow. She can tell is happening as it happens, but not enough to stop it or even really shout a warning; she shouts a startled, panicked yell instead. And then, as people fall...
...where's Emeralda?
Emeralda is clinging to a chunk of falling rock, having put it between her and the ground in the hopes that it takes the impact and she just bounces off. She is not sure if this is actually helpful or not because the number of times she has fallen by surprise for over a hundred feet is pretty low.
She's really wedged in there, though. The rock might just protect her, if she can handle the jarring impact.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool H&S Badge toward her party's challenge, In Free Fall.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
In hindsight, perhaps it makes sense that first investigating what exactly is below the floor before you start to break it open. Even then, a more well-coordinated effort might have been able to prevent things from completely shattering apart. But the main concern on at least Xantia's mind was breaking through here, no matter what. She definitely wasn't paying attention to general stability, and in fact knows very little about that. It's usually not very relevant when you're just trying to break a thing.
This time, though... Xantia notices things are about to go very wrong just a little late. She can't even manage to exclaim anything, her reflexes kicking in to try and escape what's about to happen - exactly when it actually happens.
There's no time to think about anything. She's falling, and all she picks up in that moment is Leon's voice shouting to 'grab on'. She doesn't even know what she's grabbing onto, but she does her best to maneuver herself so that she can grab on whatever is in Leon's direction. Should that fail... well, she'll be in a pickle then. Is there anything she can do to prevent serious injury? We'll just have to wait and see.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, In Free Fall.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily's questions become concerns. Gravity is one thing. She can deal with gravity. There are ways she could just ignore it--
--No. She doesn't. And similarly her usual methods of handling falls would harm everyone else. Leon's surprised response tells her that much--but she's too far away, to grab hold. "Shit," Lily answers, and looks down. It all has to happen very quickly, after all, and she just used too much magic at once to easily bounce back--
...So instead she thinks of it; a connection. The ancient ruins, the ancient times. What is the answer? She doesn't know. But she knows...
There's a brief pulse of Ether, but it's not quite the same; she remembers, the fire, her fire, but also the ruin ahead. Closing her eyes, she wraps her hand around the strange gimballed necklace she wears, the piece that could be an amulet--
A rippling wave of grayish shadow becomes a bubble all around her, crackling with shadow. In that instant, though she keeps falling at the same speed, she stops looking like she's falling--her hair moves back as it should be, she just stands, as if on solid ground, while hurtling, an obvious and bizarre mismatch.
Down, down, down....
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Impure Pendant toward her party's challenge, In Free Fall.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - In Free Fall *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The stone gives way -- to your immediate advantage or not -- but a problem quickly arises. The break doesn't stop just with where you've decided to break through, it spreads outwards like a cruel spider's web. And the whole section shatters. The good news, as you can see it under the lights leading down: the walls held, the vaults below were not breached by water. The bad news: you're still hurtling downwards in a trajectory that will cause some pain one you hit the bottom unless you take steps -- somehow, immediately -- to soften your impact. Good luck. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Injure, Slow===================================
========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 6 *>======================== ==========================< Results - In Free Fall >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(100)--> 100 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 0 --(100)--> 100 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 0 --(100)--> 100 Fail H&S Badge 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 0 --(100)--> 100 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 0 --(100)--> 100 Fail Impure Pendant 2 Agility Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 0 --(100)--> 100 Pass Reel Sphere 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Injure(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Unclaimed Riches *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Much of Almaryyt has stood the test of time rather well -- perhaps the event that destroyed the city had the dual effect of burying much of it in a way that protected it from the worst of the elements -- and for that matter, looters. For instance, something glitters under a fallen section of wall in the room you're currently in. It's shiny -- you can tell that much. Maybe some jewelry, perhaps a bit of some old coin, or some other thing of minor worth. But you'll have to move the wall segment to get to it. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
we fall
Elly gets a hook - just where Leon did. Her Reel Sphere's line, which is just magical water, splashes against his - she collides against Leon. Others grab for them. Emeralda pivots around, grasping a stone. Lily invokes her magicks. Josie grasps Elly round her powerful, stylish calves. That trio comes to a stop, but --
BUT...
we fall
Emeralda, by a nose, is the first to hit the ground.
we fall
The blow sends a huge ripple into the ground.
we falllll
With a tremendous... PAFF.
Paff is not the usual noise here. Yet it is accurate. The impact of the Emeraldabolide throws up a crater of shocking force, and something rips, ancient and fragile materials eroding. The air is full momentarily of a sharp and synthetic scent, as polymers forged long ago rise up in a thousand glittering little scraps of strange fluff and colors, forlornly gleaming in the light, faded almost to intangibility.
For this was a space where they stored the athletic mats.
Xantia and Lily make their own paffs as they land. A few moments later, the trio of ropemeisters land too. There is silence, as the fog of scraps of ancient matting fades.
Something scuttles.
A two-toothed beaver on the far end of the room flees headlong, abandoning an improvised nest -- chosen no doubt for its security. The animal is no Fiend, and leaves no pyreflies in its wake. The nest had been ground into the door of one of the vaults. And as Lunar turns, and Spira moves slightly, the rays of the sun shift on where the nest lays.
Through the vault door, worked and eroded by the patient business of a beaver over what may well be centuries...
And it strikes... gold.
BGM SHIFT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhYCERJp4s
Elly raises her head slowly. "Ah!" she says. "Ah! Are we alright? Because... I... I don't know if I'm just dizzy, but over there..."
"Over at that door... somehow...!!"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unclaimed Riches. DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Unclaimed Riches. DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unclaimed Riches. DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unclaimed Riches. DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unclaimed Riches. DG: Xantia has used her Tool Buster Claw toward her party's challenge, Unclaimed Riches.
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Unclaimed Riches *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Much of Almaryyt has stood the test of time rather well -- perhaps the event that destroyed the city had the dual effect of burying much of it in a way that protected it from the worst of the elements -- and for that matter, looters. For instance, something glitters under a fallen section of wall in the room you're currently in. It's shiny -- you can tell that much. Maybe some jewelry, perhaps a bit of some old coin, or some other thing of minor worth. But you'll have to move the wall segment to get to it. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
========================<* Almaryyt Ruins - Round 7 *>======================== ========================< Results - Unclaimed Riches >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 100 --(5)--> 105 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 100 --(0)--> 100 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 100 --(0)--> 100 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 100 --(0)--> 100 Pass Buster Claw 1 Brute Effects: Rally and Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 100 --(0)--> 100 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 100 --(5)--> 105 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 90 --(25)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Treasure(1) Effects: Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Josephine Lovelace is too exhausted to continue! DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Almaryyt Ruins!
=============================<* Almaryyt Ruins *>============================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Ten Point Landing *>===================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You land amidst the central section of the vaults with likely minimal effect upon your well-being. Whether it was quick thinking, advanced techniques, special tools, or just plain good luck, you're now in the very bowels of Almaryyt, in what was a secure storage vault in fact. The lights flicker down here. It's likely that there may be saltwater intrusion somewhere which is causing the lines to short circuit, but there's been so far no leakage into these vaults proper -- no puddles, no damp, no signs of corrosion. Which is good, as far as you may be concerned. Whatever's in here should be in good condition. A few of the vaults' doors don't open. Others open to reveal nothing at all. But it's one in particular -- opening with a little soft persuasion -- that makes the trials and tribulations of the day worthwhile: A large stash of ancient Spheres, shining in the flickering light of the vault. And among them, a singular small metal tile covered with Zeboim-era script. It seems the world -- both of them -- is a stranger place than imagined. =Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly gets to her feet to step forwards and immediately trips and belly-flops into a drift of ancient polymer fluff taller than she is. "ugh" she says, buried in soft.
Others, more fortunate, can proceed. There are no beaver babies (beavelets? beavlings? what is the word here) in residence, so demolishing a bunch of sticks with the smell of water dwelling rodents can be done without guilt. The beaver-induced erosive action means the vault can be forced open. Inside, water's proximity is faintly scentable, but it's not CLOSE.
That's why the lights are flickering, but the vaults are fine.
Some of the doors are resistant to tugging, pushing, ancient evil Zeboim magicks, or intermediate-grade explosives. A couple open, empty of everything. One of them, inexplicably, has a Hi-Potion in it.
But then one opens, bearing a bevy of Spheres...
And resting on their shelves, in between two otherwise unremarkable Spheres, a metal tablet, inscribed with the language of Zeboim's time.
A language, in fact... which this group may know better than most!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie slaps into the ancient mat with a heavy thud, then rolls over with a weighty groan.
It could have been worse. Still, when she rises with a wince from where she's landed, she slips the flask from the pocket at her hip and downs the rest of its contents.
Then she sees the beaver.
"I don't think I'm drunk enough yet for this," she comments, gesturing at the creature with her empty flash. Pushing off the pile of mats with her good hand, she grunts and strides towards the beaver nest...
Once the workd is done, it's clear exactly where they are.
"...The vaults," she says, nodding but once.
An inspection follows. There had been a great many things in that video sphere she had found -- had shown to Lily. She sees no trace of them here...
...except for one. Against the odds, it's the one thing she was willing to walk to hell and back for.
"...Heh. How's that for luck?" she says, brandishing the tile with a quiet smile.
"That makes three. C'mon, grab anything else you can carry, kids -- might as well get our money's worth, eh?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
When he heard Josie joke about a tile, Leon assumed it could only be a joke. He wipes at his brow -- and walks into the vault. There is a faint sense of accomplishment; they managed to find the solution to that sphere that Josie found. He looks around for a moment, and then he glances at Josie.
"How odd," he says. "I wonder how it got here. It's a bloody confusing thing, how the worlds are connected."
He walks to the vault, startling to rifle through a few things.
"Hm..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"...Not going to ask what this is," Lily says, as she rises. "Wait, no, this is..."
She pauses. She frowns.
"...I'm going to assume that this is Elly's good karma, or something," she says with a shake of her head, and starts looking around--pausing, as she looks to Josie. "...Huh. It's really the one."
She pauses, and then rifles through the sphere herself, why not? Except--
"Wait--this...?"
...She rifles more. She doesn't answer questions.