2019-10-29: Rudely Rooting Around The Roost
- Log: 2019-10-29: Rudely Rooting Around The Roost
- Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Layna Manydays, Yue Rohay, Ivan, Lydia Seren
- Where: Dragon Roost Island
- Date: October 29, 2019
- Summary: A friendly detour into the Great Sea for the sake of a troubled local postman escalates into something more. Ivan reunites with the Lydia personality for a fun treasure hunt race, Layna looks for fun and plunder, Yue continues to require boat fare, Ethius once again takes a purported abrupt change in circumstances with unwarranted(?) seriousness, and also there's a Cucco who might be planning to destroy them all... or at least just ruin the puzzles. (INSIDE: Someone receives a new Tool. Da na na naaaaa!)
===============================================<* Dragon Roost Island *>================================================ Dragon Roost Island is one of the tallest islands of the whole Great Sea, a towering, active volcano that pierces skyward. Within the mountain's more placid caverns live the Rito people, a race of birdlike beastmen with duckbills for noses and functioning wings. The Rito are a small tribe but a social one, and a number of them proudly serve the people of the Great Sea as delivery people, ferrying messages and small packages from island to island. The island itself is made mostly of barren, scarred rock, but for the pockets of verdant grasses and trees at the shore. Eruptions are rare, but flying Gears have confirmed that the interior is still active. They have also confirmed the island's most mysterious denizen: A tremendous dragon, made not of metal but of flesh and scale, who roosts in the volcano's mouth. Lately, this great dragon, whom the Rito call the Spirit of the Sky, Valoo, seems to be in distress, thrashing about in pain and sending boulders and even splashes of magma out into the Great Sea. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkwhtdCW5rI
DG: A party led by Ethius Hesiod is now entering Dragon Roost Cavern. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===============================================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>================================================
=========================================<* CHALLENGE - Obscured Temple Door *>=========================================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Dragon Roost Cavern incorporates an ancient temple's structure into it. Many
of the entrances are from that temple, though few parts have survived
otherwise. The first hint you find, after entering one of the cave mouths,
is a section of the wall that has worked stone. However, there are huge
blocks covering it -- and you might miss them, with grime and moss covering
some. It will take careful work to determine which blocks can be moved.
...and, it seems, they should be moved. Despite their size, these blocks
prove easy to pull away once they have been identified.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The CaraKin has themselves a brief but colorful episode while out at sea. An odd bird-like Beastman - a delivery worker, by appearances and moments later by testimony without further prompting, had themselves some trouble getting back home and would appreciate passage there. Home to a great large island out in the Great Sea called Dragon Roost Island. It's a bit out of the way from their meticulously planned mercantile route, but it's a valuable opportunity to make friends and new trade routes... and it helps someone in a bind out, in some vague but meaningful fashion.
They're treated to a warm and friendly welcome, any great number of thanks, and part-time work opportunities sorting out letters (the pay is awesome if you are a child with no further responsibilities). They're a social lot - they may already be entertaining other guests that have shown up here, happily passing the time socializing like they want to talk, talk, talk, share, and where their voices cannot easily reach, letters will suffice instead. They are also treated to a much less friendly but technically warmer welcome as the entire island rocks and shudders to the howling rancor of some great creature above which sends some huge hot rocks tumbling into the ocean.
"...Ah, be at ease," paraphrased, it would be explained by one of the Beastmen of appropriate credentials for exposition, "the great Spirit of the Sky who lives within is merely... stretching. Concern yourselves not!"
Ethius turns his head and promptly ignores these words as he overhears incidental chatter about how they have been 'unusually upset' lately. Worried, for their very cavern home. 'What could have changed?' 'Is it our visitors?' 'We have had our fair share of visitors straying ever deeper into the caves...'
Naturally, Ethius doesn't get the hint that maybe it's a bad idea to go in deeper to see for himself, but he sure does - he tries to slip away from current CaraKin company to do one of the things he does best: trespass, right into one of the less well-maintained cave mouth passages leading inside to some unusual... rubble? Cubic rubble. Cubic rubble with all the hallmarks of the passage of time - grime and moss, all set within what was once a temple well-maintained and safeguarded. He's already got the Spectral Lens out, that faint glow of blue light stand-out in these environs. It's the easy way to find him if one looks for him, as he sweeps for hazards and devices in his own usual way.
Should they really be down here? Should they even touch the conspicuously cubic rubble? Rubble never forms so geometrically... right.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
When the CaraKin arrives to Dragon Roost Island, they might find that there's sign of others present, too. There's a large, red, seafaring vessel of Lunarian make. Some might recognize it as the Ruby Empress - the ship owned by the notorious pirate captain Layna Manydays.
Her crew can be found mingling with the people of the island...but, their captain is nowhere to be seen. Nowhere, except, for at the entrance to Dragon Roost Cavern, already eying the stone wall that blocks further entrance.
"...I'm sure it was supposed to be here...did I make a wrong turn...?" She mutters to herself. She studies the wall for a moment, and decides its time to try and solve the problem in the way best suited to her.
And by that, I mean she hauls a fist back and tries to punch the heck out of it.
She does turn to acknowledge the presence of others here, though.
"...Oh, hey there! Looks like I ain't the only one who had this idea." She greets with a brief wave. ...While still punching the wall.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue is ... ... ... lost.
From her last escapade in Damzen, she managed to beg--scrounge for enough money to put herself on another boat which... very pointedly did not take her to Meria and the resulting Meria Boule where the Minder is being taken care of by ARMS and the people living there.
She's ended up on Dragon Roost Island instead.
Which is not the... worst outcome, because--
"Coccoro... so this is your home?"
There is a possibly familiar Veruni woman with far too much hair (seriously, she's about 5'5" and has 7'5" of voluminous chestnut brown hair that she spends too much time taking care of which seems to always artfully pool itself around her).
She has enormous shackles binding her arms and elbows together and...
...
A cucco on her head.
coo
"... mm. I see. So you are concerned too? I hear the concerned chatter whispered in the winds."
coo
"You are so wise, Coccoro."
She looks towards Ethius as he and Layna arrive, and there's a tip of her hand as she nods her head. "Oh. Hello again, you two. I seem to have gotten lost, but my fine feathered friend here is concerned about something--"
*bonk* *bonk*
Coccoro is bopping a block all by herself.
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan is along with the Caravan Kinship, and finds himself among those tailing Ethius to see what he's up to. In Ivan's case, he has been saddled with the responsibility of Solving the Mysteries of Filgaia, which means no lead should go unexplored, even if it's someone else's.
"What did you find? Is something suspicious about these... rocks?"
Ivan probably has a long way to go before he is going to uncover any long-lost mysteries, considering he can't even solve the mystery of what Ethius is looking for.
He is given pause in his meager investigation efforts by the sight of a somewhat familiar face, in Layna, and a very unusual figure, in the shackled woman with extaordinarily long hair and a cucco on her head. His head tilts as he looks at her with a puzzled, and possibly somewhat rude, expression.
DG: Ivan has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Lydie we should check out that Dragon Roost Cavern you mentioned."
Damn it, Lydia thinks, why'd I open up my big mouth.
And so it came to pass that at one Rachiel Medry's behest, Lydia arrived on her lonesome at Dragon Roost Cavern, not too far sooner than the others, but indeed the moment that Lydia hears an approach of a group that she ducks behind some grime covered blocks.
Unfortunately those wings and the crackling electricity clinging them to her body tend to be rather attention grabbing.
She grimaces upon seeing that familiar Spectral Blue and she stands herself up from behind her hiding.
"Uh. Hey guys."
She looks right at Yue first because of the cucco on her head.
She stares at the cucco on her head.
"Ahh!! That's so cute That's a...what did they say it was called...?"
"A cucco," Lydia murmurs quietly before blinking a few times as Coccoro starts bonking up against a block. "Uh."
She looks at Ivan next and brightens. "Hey Ivan! Want to work together?"
She looks towards one of the blocks and tries to get a good grip on it and start pulling--without even waiting for an answer!
She seems to be in a bit of a better mood upon spotting Ivan.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
===============================================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>================================================
=========================================<* CHALLENGE - Obscured Temple Door *>=========================================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Dragon Roost Cavern incorporates an ancient temple's structure into it. Many
of the entrances are from that temple, though few parts have survived
otherwise. The first hint you find, after entering one of the cave mouths,
is a section of the wall that has worked stone. However, there are huge
blocks covering it -- and you might miss them, with grime and moss covering
some. It will take careful work to determine which blocks can be moved.
...and, it seems, they should be moved. Despite their size, these blocks
prove easy to pull away once they have been identified.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire============================================
==========================================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 1 *>=========================================== ===========================================< Results - Obscured Temple Door >=========================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 0 --(18)--> 18 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(18)--> 18 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ivan 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 0 --(18)--> 18 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yue Rohay 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
One by one, they all follow suit - or just happen to be there. Drifters have this weird thing about coming together in unlikely coincidences and circumstances, and even some years down the line, this tradition holds true even as new lines of dubious flexibility are drawn with every new catastrophe, every new ambition, every new circumstance.
"...The only one who had 'this idea' to investigate the disturbances, then," Ethius asks of Layna as she punches the wall. The wall does shake! Her punches are mighty indeed. Then the entire room shakes again with the Spirit of the Sky's continued irritability.
Ethius sharply turns as he hears a cooing, where he only was turning half as sharp to the rustling of chains that comes with a familiar set of clinks. (These priorities are entirely correct. The coo is frightening.)
"Lost," Ethius mimics that claim, as if he were learning how to have incredulousness in his inflection. "Your... fine feathered friend..."
Coccoro bops a block. It may give Layna the idea to punch this instead, and she will find - they all will - that the blocks move! This is... entirely ordinary fare!! (shocker)
"I am more interested in matters of what I have heard, Mister Ivan. If I am to understand the culture of these people as presented, they are among the most famed and trusted couriers of the regi--"
Lydia appears. Ethius stops talking. (He stops talking at appearance of the wings.) He watches as she touches base with Ivan and decides she wants to 'work together.' Ethius doesn't say anything. (Since he didn't say 'no,' that means Lydia gets to rejoin the party. Hooray!)
Now that they know how the 'basics' of it work - Ethius wouldn't have had to explain it upon the seeming demonstration, they can push and pull the blocks... but there's a small problem. Cuccoro, being a cucco, has already put a block in the wrong place in their demonstration. There is no mechanism in place to tell them the rock is in an incorrect place, so there is a lot of time having fun pushing around rocks to seemingly no end. Well, 'a lot of time' best measured as 'until someone decides otherwise.' It could be a lot! It could be all day.
Whatever that span of time, he stands out of the way of Ivan and Lydia, which is... bizarre, isn't it?
"We have spent enough time here," Ethius remarks as he opts to look for another cavern. That might be a bit trickier - this was the least-watched entry into the caverns he could find on such short notice, but Dragon Roost has many caves in reach of the winding paths surrounding it.
They'll have their adventure.
Will they have their answers?
(The rocks slide back to where they were the moment everyone leaves.)
DG: Yue Rohay has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Live Action Tetris *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The next turn leads you to another ledge outside, with cooler wind and warm sunlight washing over another door like the one you entered from. Like the one you came in through, it has stone blocks over it. However, it has a stack of stone blocks nearly twelve feet high... and only some can be moved out. You need to find which blocks can be moved out -- and which ones you can safely move, so it will fall in a way to reveal the door. And, ideally, not come tumbling down and crush you under them. =Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Tire============================================
===============================================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>================================================ ==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Live Action Tetris *>========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- The next turn leads you to another ledge outside, with cooler wind and warm sunlight washing over another door like the one you entered from. Like the one you came in through, it has stone blocks over it. However, it has a stack of stone blocks nearly twelve feet high... and only some can be moved out. You need to find which blocks can be moved out -- and which ones you can safely move, so it will fall in a way to reveal the door. And, ideally, not come tumbling down and crush you under them. =Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Now, Yue hasn't actually met Lydia nor Ivan has she?
She waves gently towards the two with a tired little smile. "Hello. My name is Yue," she greets them. "A Veruni... if there-- might be a problem there."
She speaks this even as Coccoro, being a cucco, starts striking off objectives on her list and causing havoc on an otherwise pristine block puzzle. How could you, Coccoro! It winds up being a waste of time, but... it's kind of fun too, because it's a classic block puzzle. One has to spend time with the classics in order to appreciate them.
Coccoro seems to have lost track of time and kind of just perches on Yue's head again after a while.
"My feathered friend says the island is disturbed," Yue muses. "Something in the air is restless."
coo
"... ah, yes, my apologies. Her name is Coccoro."
Ethius says they've spent enough time, and Yue is ready to depart too... as they move towards a ledge with sunlight and wind.
AND
The exact same puzzle contraption as before.
"..."
coo
"'One can not simply leave a challenge unfulfilled, no matter how fruitless'? Hm... this is an island of trials, I take it, dear friend," Yue whispers as she starts inspecting some of them. She shakes her head very softly.
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Live Action Tetris.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Ahoy there!" Layna says, with a friendly nod of greeting toward everyone. She might not know that Lydia's supposed to be abducted - she doesn't seem especially surprised to see her, at least.
And so, they work together, though Layna pauses and stares at Yue for a moment when she seems to insinuate that her cucco was talking to her.
"...Well, pleasure meetin' you, Coccoro." She says, tipping her hat in her direction. She's suspicious of it, but she's not going to be rude.
...She knows what happens to people who do rude thing to cuccos, after all. Best to play it safe, just in case.
And when they continue, they find...another block puzzle?? And this one seems more difficult than the last. Layna raises an eyebrow.
"...I guess it is good dungeon design to start you out small before gettin' to the harder version." She concedes with a shrug. "...Hold on a sec."
With that, she removes the telescope from her waist, holding it up to her eye to zoom in on the puzzle from afar and get a closer look. "I'll keep a close eye on it - I'll holler if it looks like you're 'bout to bring the whole stack down."
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, Live Action Tetris.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan's puzzled curiosity at Yue turns to a puzzled fluster as she reveals... she is a Veruni! Ivan recently learned something new about Veruni and their mysterious longevity, which he has been given to understand is a little 'personal' to ask them about. Even though he doesn't know WHY it is 'personal' to ask about, he reddens for no apparent reason at the memory.
"No problem with me," he assures, in case his face is giving a different impression. "How come you're all..." he looks down to the cuffs. "Do you need help with that...?"
But there is also... "Lydia!!" As she offers to work together, he brightens, before sobering a bit.
"We can work together for now. But not if we find anything interesting. Because you know, now we're... treasure hunting..."
...
"Rivals."
This last bit is somehow deadpanned, yet affectionate. Is he... flirting? Does he do that now?
Don't worry, Lydia, he'll protect you from finding any cool treasure for Solaris. Apparently that's the subtext here.
Ethius explains that he was investigating the disturbances, which sounds like it might be more like monster hunting than treasure hunting, but Ivan is okay with that too. And they uncover a passage, no thanks to Ivan!
But then they end up in a new chamber where it seems like they'll have to do the same thing all over again.
"I... is it better to just try moving stuff, or does it make it worse if you mess up...?"
DG: Ivan has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Live Action Tetris.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia glances to Ethius. She saw whwat just happened there. She exhales out a sigh but she supposes she can't really blame him. "Oh uh. Are you one of Kaguya's friends? I'm actually hoping to catch her but ... did you know ... the world is a big place??" She tilts her head briefly and then looks back over to Yue."Disturbed? You speak cucco too?"
She cups her chin thoughtfully before turning to step away.
"Wait! Pet the cucco!"
Lydia doesn't pet the cucco. Instead heading ... out to the next block puzzle.
"..."
She tares at it and sighs faintly, rubbing at her neck with a hand. She isn't sure she likes the idea of having to beat her brain against block puzzles for the rest of the evening. Sure, there are worse fates, but if this is the primary method of getting around they could be here a while!
She hoves up into the air to grab one of the upper blocks and works on pulling it and spiinning it around and letting it drop.
She drops down again and looks to Ivan. "Treasure hunting... Rivals!" She is beaming brightly. "That's right! You better not let me get my hands on anything cool!"
There is a brief quiet hushed whisper conversation between Lydia and Rachiel about this matter but they seem to settle the matter with the understanding that she'll just file a report rather than try to seize the 'cool discovery' for Solaris's behalf. The fact that most of the group is NOT Solaris is a pretty convincing counter argument against poor Rachiel here.
"Are you also a prisoner on a work release program?" She asides to Yue.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Live Action Tetris.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The oddball man moves with a briskness that is not usually like him, as they come across another stack of those blocks. Ethius sizes up the stack standing at about a seven-o-'clock orientation from where one would need to stand to look at it head on from the direction they came.
A fancy way to say he's fanned out to the side, taking out his quarterstaff and pitching the tip into the ground while grabbing hold of it in one hand for balance in case the island shakes again.
He breaks this grip only to do the spell needed to activate the Spectral Lens again, bringing up that eyeglass to the stack... he can make out something in abstract in terms of a connection. Maybe not its nature, or its means of operation, but its location alone does suggest something.
"I believe there is a passage behind this stack," Ethius remarks. "...I cannot ascertain for certain the elevation in which one would have clearance to move themselves inside, but there is something connected to something else within... unless they are buried mechanisms."
That... may or may not help things? That the stack needs to be a certain height, once they figure out how?
"...I admit this conjecture less relevant to our expedition, but for the recent seismic activities... it seems strange this stack would remain upright."
As Lydia runs her mouth in the momentary return to normalcy she has received in these circumstances, his eyes fix upon her as she speaks to the self-identified Veruni a friendly conversational tone, and something... gets confusing.
"...Am I to assume you have kept cordial relations with Kaguya then, Miss Lydia?" He asks, as though this were a bigger thing to ask than why Ivan and Lydia are having a fun youthful competition even after what happened not that long ago! (He must have hit his head again.)
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Live Action Tetris.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Live Action Tetris *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The next turn leads you to another ledge outside, with cooler wind and warm sunlight washing over another door like the one you entered from. Like the one you came in through, it has stone blocks over it. However, it has a stack of stone blocks nearly twelve feet high... and only some can be moved out. You need to find which blocks can be moved out -- and which ones you can safely move, so it will fall in a way to reveal the door. And, ideally, not come tumbling down and crush you under them. =Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Tire============================================
=====================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 2 *>====================== =======================< Results - Live Action Tetris >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 18 --(8)--> 26 Fail Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 18 --(3)--> 21 Pass Captain's Telescope 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ivan 23 --(3)--> 26 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 18 --(3)--> 21 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yue Rohay 23 --(8)--> 31 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Madness|Stupify(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod 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: Lydia Seren has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Climbing the Mountainside *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You have, perhaps once more, found yourself on the side of the mountain, after briefly following a tunnel. The sun is bright and warm here, in the Great Sea, and a breeze blows past. The occasional cry of birds can be heard. This peaceful atmosphere is the backdrop, however, to one of the steepest mountain sides on Filgaia. A cavern up ahead leads deeper into the mountain, but to get there, you will need to jump between narrow ledges -- and inch along others, not even wide enough for a person to stand on. Climbing, leaping, and care will be necessary to ascend upward. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Secret=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue manages to kind of answer Ivan's question about whether she needs help with the shackles and Lydia's question of whether she's a prisoner or on work release at the same time:
"I am a prisoner in solitary confinement... until my cell was teleported along with Coccoro and I to Spira." A pause, as she lulls her head to one side, a cucco feather in her mouth lilting upwards very gently. "I am now trying to make my way to Meria Boule to retrieve my--" A pause. "... Minder. But I seem to keep taking the wrong boats..."
Lydia asks if she knows Kaguya.
"I do," she admits. "She first saw me on television, since she mentioned the death games. But I only met her in Spira myself."
... 'death games'?
While Yue spends time chatting, people do work; Coccoro makes a little wingflap to Layna on her greeting, and she holds the telescope and keeps an eye out for people. Ivan and Lydia work together, determining that they'll be treasure hunting rivals...
"... ah. Do not worry. I am here to assist Coccoro in protecting her home and... I only ask for enough for the next ship's fare to Meria Boule," she reassures the two. A pause, as she looks to Layna. "Though you are captain of a ship yourself, if I recall...?"
Ethius identifies the actual blocks needed and actually knocks the correct block this time now that the Dread Cucco is distracted.
coo!
Coccoro seems pleased. She bids me give you progress.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Oh okay," Lydia tells Yue. "....uhhhh 'death games'?" She brightens. "Oh I have a 'Minder' too."
Lydia starts peering about for a way to ascend that her friends can take as well but is briefly deterred from this course by Ethius asking over Kaguya. She blinks a few times at him before adding, "Uh. Well we don't really see each other all that much but I still think of her fondly, yeah. Not that I'm happy about anything that happened on Spira."
She gances briefly to Ivan before nodding once. "Anyway. I think I see a path up."
She exhales and activates...
THE RADICAL SKATES
And just flat up runs up the wall before flipping off and onto a ledge. Disbanding her skates afterwards, she edges along the side. "Careful! It's pretty thin but I think y'all can probably handle this. If I need to carry someone, just say so!"
She is looking at Yue.
Because Yue is literally wearing handcuffs and that does not make something like this easier.
Though she is a Veruni, Lydia thinks, she might just punch her way up the mountain.
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Radical Skates toward her party's challenge, Climbing the Mountainside.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Lydia is rewarded with a brief grin from Ivan when she plays along with the rivals thing instead of taking it wrong and feeling rejected or anything. He nods with a false air of smugness.
"I'll steal so much treasure out from under you, they'll be like 'Lydia, why did we even capture you, you never get us anything cool, just go home and do your own thing forever!'
It's the latest in a string of useless promises, but he tries not to think about that. He is also unaware that their behavior might seem inexplicable to Ethius.
Yue answers both Ivan and Lydia's questions, managing in an impressive feat to make him more and more confused with each word she speaks. He is going to ask why she doesn't run away (as if he has any place asking such a question of anybody after his own history) when she cuts in with 'death games' and he absolutely repeats that phrase out loud, incredulously, and gets distracted from any other questions he intended to ask.
It also turns out that not helping with the puzzle was the right move on his part, because he doesn't manage to do anything to sabotage the effort.
They exit through the passage onto what seems to almost be a sheer mountain face. Ivan's eyes shine a bit at the relief of such a challenge after all of the block puzzles, and he makes his way up enthusiastically and rather fearlessly by means of balancing along too-narrow pathways, jumping over gaps, and catching and climbing up on handholds, before swinging down his whip in case anyone needs something to climb or hang onto.
"Could you always do that?" he asks Lydia, of her feat of running up the side of the wall.
DG: Ivan has used his Tool Whip toward his party's challenge, Climbing the Mountainside.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"Ah... I got ahead of myself. A Veruni producer called Duogrammaton makes use of me by sending me into life or death gladiatorial battles with monsters, and film the results," Yue ruefully chuckles. "These 'Death Games' apparently make them a lot of money."
She raises her eyebrows. "Oh, you do?" A pause, as she kind of assumes... and looks at Ivan. "Is it him? Apologies if I presume, of course." They seem kind of pleasantly flirty that makes her miss Acacia for a moment.
Then Lydia blasts on ahead with radical skates and she looks uuuuuuup. "... goodness. Hm..."
She rummages through a side pouch and draws out-- no, not a grappling hook or a rope or anything sensical a Drifter would pull out.
She pulls out a wonderful pink polka-dot scrunchie. "Coccoro, if you would?"
coo
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXRhKeHo_5k )
The cucco nabs the scrunchie and... instead of helping her tie her hair up, just flies off up in the direction Lydia is. Yue's face falls.
"Coccoro! When did you become so cheeky!"
The Veruni haplessly leaps from wall-to-wall, ledge-to-ledge, all the while having to whip her head to keep her hair spun lavishly around her and not snagged on her feet or an outcropping or a branch. Ontop of her head is a speech bubble that just has the picture of the scrunchie on it.
DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Cute Scrunchie toward her party's challenge, Climbing the Mountainside.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"...I see," Ethius remarks in that tone of voice where it is uncertain if this is a human being who is expressing acknowledgement out of interest, or out of an accusation - but that tends to be his normal conversational tone. What kind of hell place is Ethius from where everyone talks and acts like that? Maybe there is no place for people like that, ergo he must have spontaneously generated one day because there is no way for people like that to exist as an actual society. (this is a future Armengard science fact)
Lydia speeds off when she sees a path up. "...I see she is in good spirits," he remarks vaguely in Ivan's direction. "If you wish to follow her," as if Ivan had to ask this man for permission when this man almost never asks for permission to do anything he does, "that is your perogative."
He looks over to Yue as she mentions the whole 'death games' thing. Possibilities enter his mind he doesn't voice. Also, there is Coccoro in a place with dangerous footing. This is not a good combination - so he needs an alternative.
As he looks about the mountainside, he gets the harness for the Hot Air Sack tied around a hand and considers his route. He doesn't have as good an ability to ascend or descend when he has the patchy sack floating him along, but he does see - rather curiously - a stretch of the steep mountainside he can needle through. The wind picks up greatly as he drifts in that direction, but there's something about the way the currents move there.
The biggest strength of the Hot Air Sack is in its stability. It is nowhere near as fast or as free-moving as Cyre's parachute. Ethius can maintain present altitude almost effortlessly, in turn. In fact, there's a small cave ahead... a small cave that perhaps only he, of all people, could reach for some reason...
The cavern already thunders with horrid noise as boulders bowl about the other way through to a great tempest of wind that has gathered from just within the cavern. Seemingly impassible! Ethius should turn around and rejoin them for the regular route, but some things... are just too dangerous. A small staircase leads to an immaculately carved and designed chest, unopened. Taking cautious steps up there, Ethius takes a closer look.
A bright green light forms around the cracks as he opens it...
SOUNDTRACK: (you know exactly what it is)
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius shuts the chest hurriedly at the first sign of the light, walking to the back of it and opening it from behind. The green light continues to shine, some unheard music swelling in intensity until he determines it is no danger. His left hand hovers above it as he squints through the light and - something catching his attention...
...retrieves a long, ancient, gnarled length of wood fashioned with noisy bits and bobs, holding it over his head to an unheard fanfare....!
_________________________________________________________
__________Ethius got the_Staff of Audience!______________
__________Slam it on its end, and all shall cease what___
__________they're doing... even moving objects!__________
________________________________@_________________________
_________________________________________________________
__________+act Staff_on an_Agility_challenge to use it!__
__________Be careful... the dungeon will only heed its___
__________call_once per visit!_Make it count!____________
________________________________@________________________
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
...Ethius suddenly loses his footing as one bit of the old masonry around the chest gives out, forcing him to a kneel. The butt of the staff slams into the ground, and the tempest and rolling rocks ahead...
Stop. Some would say it is like they were frozen in time, but that is not the case - it is as though whatever forces govern it have simply given halt entirely, not even allowing the laws of gravity and momentum take back the boulders. An ample (and presumably, for sake of the tutorial for its noted single use, a freebie) demonstration, then - and maybe a path to ascend and rejoin Lydia and whomever else.
Assuming it all doesn't start moving again before he gets out of there.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Climbing the Mountainside.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Death games, huh. Layna raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn't question it. Instead, she offers Yue a grin at that question.
"Aye, that I am. The Ruby Empress, fastest ship on Filgaia or Lunar." She says. ...Whether or not this is actually true is another matter entirely, but she's sure going to claim that title. Let someone else do the legwork of trying to prove her wrong. "Did you see that red ship outside? That's my ship. A real beauty, she is! If you need passage...well, maybe we can come to an agreement, of sorts."
They get past the second puzzle, fortunately, and this time they find themselves needing to go up. There are no blocks to climb up this time - just steep ledges to traverse. A grin spreads across Layna's face. She was practically built for this.
She does pause, though, looking between Lydia and Ivan for a moment with a chuckle.
"...Adorable." She comments to herself. And then, she reaches into her coat, drawing out a bottle.
She takes a deep swig, and then she starts making her way up the mountainside with surprising agility - springing from ledge to ledge in a way that doesn't seem like it should be possible.
There may be wind-based trickery involved.
She does, however, pause just long enough to spot Ethius finding an item of note, whistling appreciatively. Somehow, it seems to suit him.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Climbing the Mountainside.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Climbing the Mountainside *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You have, perhaps once more, found yourself on the side of the mountain, after briefly following a tunnel. The sun is bright and warm here, in the Great Sea, and a breeze blows past. The occasional cry of birds can be heard. This peaceful atmosphere is the backdrop, however, to one of the steepest mountain sides on Filgaia. A cavern up ahead leads deeper into the mountain, but to get there, you will need to jump between narrow ledges -- and inch along others, not even wide enough for a person to stand on. Climbing, leaping, and care will be necessary to ascend upward. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Secret=============================================
=====================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 3 *>====================== ===================< Results - Climbing the Mountainside >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 26 --(3)--> 29 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 21 --(3)--> 24 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ivan 26 --(3)--> 29 Pass Whip 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 21 --(3)--> 24 Pass Radical Skates 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yue Rohay 31 --(3)--> 34 Pass Cute Scrunchie 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Madness|Secret(2)|Slow(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod 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: Ivan has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Bomb Flowers and Boulders *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The next turn takes you into the caldera chamber. The heat is like a
furnace, blasting you in the face the moment that you enter. You stand on a
ledge over the lava chamber, and see that the ledge is blocked by a massive
boulder. Explosives -- and other implements -- may be necessary.
Fortunately, the cavern provides: that strange Filgaian plant, the Bomb
Flower, is in abundance here. These plants feature a shiny... metal... orb
that, when plucked, begins to flash and then explode, are all about.
Of course, one needs good timing to use Bomb Flowers. And if you don't use
them, take care that your own efforts don't set the incendiary plants off
too quickly. Otherwise, far more than the boulder might explode.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Through various means (and one particularly new means) the group has little trouble at all making it up to higher ground! And from there on...who knows! More adventure, perhaps! There is a bit of a swallow of alarm from Lydia when Ethius stumbles, but he stabilizes himself quickly enough.
"Why do you ask?" Lydia asks of Ethius, almost--lets face it--suspiciously.
Lydia hugs Coccoro once she makes her way up and then looks towards Ivan.
"Oh uh. I mean a little bit, but I think this form has different weight distribution than the last one. Lighter, I figure. Doubt it's swimming grade though."
That might explain why the 'wings' aren't exactly attached.
Of course to Ivan's brief amount of smug rivalness, Lydia's cheeks silver powerfully and she awkwardly looks at her hands because that is so goddamn hot-cute. A combination of the two!
"So what is film?" Lydia asks of film.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
It's not like Ivan has any idea how to read Ethius's tone or anything, but it seems like he's being a bit weird(er than average?) about Lydia.
"Why wouldn't I follow her?" he asks, somewhere between Ethius giving him permission and Ivan going ahead and doing it.
Yue elaborates on what death games are. And... it's terrible!
"What!" he sputters, and then finally gets around to the hypocritical, "Why don't you run away?" Running away from terrible situations is what being teleported to Spira is FOR, isn't it?
The group makes their way up the mountain in various ways. Lydia tells him she has different weight distribution. "Wall climbing grade, but still not swimming grade...?" he asks, seeming a bit disspapointed on her behalf. Will swimming forever elude them both??
Ethius is separated for a time, ending up having a mini adventure down below the rest of the group, before opening the way back up to them by means of a very persuasive stick.
"Ah! Ethius, you beat us all to the cool treasure!" Ivan doesn't seem to mind, though. "That's okay! As long as Solaris doesn't get it!"
As everyone assembles and makes their way into the next chamber, they're greeted with a sudden, almost shocking rush of heat, as they enter a room lit by the glow of bubbling magma down below the ledge upon which they stand.
There's no way deeper into the cave from here, unless they want to take a lava bath, although a large boulder--far too heavy to move--is pressed against what looks like it could be another door. And all around them, growing along the cavern walls... a mysterious and (to some) familiar sight: Bomb Flowers!
Ivan gapes. "The Queen.... has siblings!!" he exclaims. Then he looks to the others, and adds, perhaps more usefully: "...The little orbs in these explode, maybe we could use them..." Ivan considers the boulder, and then calls his warhammer into his hands, giving it a series of whacks as he tries to chip a crack into it where they could wedge a bomb flower orb.
DG: Ivan has used his Tool Warhammer toward his party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna doesn't comment on death games, or the running away from of such. She does observe, though, with interest.
It isn't long before they can find the lava chamber, and they can feel the heat long before they get in there.
There are explosives, including a strange...metal plant?? Layna looks it over curiously.
"...Is that plant really made o' metal, or is that just some sort...really hard carapace of some kind?" She questions, folding her arms in front of her. Ivan gets a strange look when he exclaims that the Queen has siblings.
Layna has not yet been acquainted with Queen Anastasia.
"...They explode?" She repeats...and then grins. "That sounds like my kinda flower."
She notes him trying to carve open a spot for a Bomb Flower so she follows suit, drawing her drill from her coat and slotting it over her right bracer. She gets to work, her drill whirring dangerously as she helps make an opening.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Arm-Mounted Drill toward her party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The group reunites, along the paths that they do take to return together - where he is met, at first opportunity, by a question. The man relentlessly pounds people with invasive questions, and something as simple as this - 'why do you ask' - has the brigand-looking, overeducated-sounding Symbologist go quiet like he were the one doing the questioning.
This does not line up. He thinks. I distinctly recall - I would admit in a moment of weakness, being dumbstruck - by the words and attitude displayed by this 'Krelian' towards certain parties present.
I know not, for certain, if there is a governing hierarchy of professed thoughts and ideals within her... but such a surface deviation is strange. His gaze drifts off towards the side - one of the few tells he has. Unless there is strategic value for keeping up appearances...
"...An idle curiosity, Miss Lydia." He says, gaze on Yu-- okay, on the cucco. More cucco than Yue. The cucco is a mortal danger for all involved-- oh no Lydia is hugging the bird, he has to take steps away. "Yes. Yes. Of course, Mister Ivan, yes." He sounds almost distracted, but the statement does serve its purpose in mental inventory. Her eyes are their eyes. Her ears are their ears. Even if the exact importance of the context still eludes... I cannot say it.
Ivan interrupts again as he laughs about the Queen and her siblings and he's not sure if they're doing their amnesia games again, and then he mentions the little orbs. "...Ah." A hand to his forehead.
"They seem well adapted to the heat. I am not certain how one intends to... make them explode." Concussive? Do they throw it? Ethius idly plucks one. "Once you finish preparations, I will place this where nee--"
Hisssss
gloooooooooooooooooooowwwww
Ethius blinks once, looks at the bomb in his hands. "...Is it already activated, Mister Ivan?"
If this man had eight seconds left to live he just wasted three or four of them.
comedy incoming
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue smiles kind of ruefully to Layna in the midst of her climb as she says, "I am not too proud to swab the deck or anything. I am also often employed to fight monsters, even giant-sized ones... even Sin. That one is frankly absurd."
Coccoro gets a scoop and a hug from Lydia! c-coo! It allows for Yue to get back in time and pluck her scrunchie with a heave and a pant. "Coccoro, you trickster!"
She immediately fastens it into a high ponytail, deciding that that's the hairstyle of the day for her. Even with that lift it... only baaarely clears the ground.
But in the meantime, Ethius has lagged behind -- but acquires a curious and powerful staff in the meantime.
Coccoro sings a little jingle for him, as evidenced in the link: Coo-coo-coo-coooo! The fact that Ethius thinks Coccoro is a mortal danger may not be lost on Coccoro.
Ivan asks the incredibly sensible question: Why not run away?
The brown-haired woman sags for a moment as she ruminates on that. "... there are ..." A pause. "... reasons. Someone I cannot leave behind." It's not the most eloquent of responses, Yue admits to herself, but hopefully it'll make sense to Ivan.
But they eventually reach some bomb flowers and Ivan says--
"T-The Queen?" Yue stammers, looking around. Then just stares towards the orbs as he explains how they work. She taps at her chin imperatively for a moment, before looking back towards Ethius and Layna once more.
"I will see if I cannot cause a weakness in the boulder. Pray give me a bit of space to work."
And to work she goes, as she draws one knee down while Coccoro sits atop of the
boulder itself as if overseeing her work.
There's a faint chuckle from
Yue as she looks up
to the bird
and remarks,
"Just like
old times. Then--"
-SLASH!-
--there is a very, very strange
trick of vision and space. For a moment,
it is as if the very screen itself was bisected,
a bright white line splitting the halves from each other.
One unfortunate half starts to slide with a faint groan...
--and reality asserts itself as Yue sets her leg down, high heel gleaming with its remarkable steel-cutting stiletto out.
DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Zantetshoeken toward her party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Do you want to take one back with us?" Lydia asks of Ivan. "We could name it... King Leopold! I have no idea why they named their Bomb Flower Plant Queen Anastasia."
She frowns further at Ethius. "You? Idle curiousity?" She exhales. "Fine. Just let me know if I'm cheesing you off or if you don't want me around."
She offers the cucco back to Yue, wondering why she just hugged a random cucco. Maybe it reminded her off her parents!? Or they'e rubbed off on her more than she thought?!?!?! Either way she seems a little embarrassed by the action, not that she wouldn't do it again. Just you know. A little embarrassed.
Ivan is saying things that make her blush more but she summons up her hammer instead of commenting on them and takes a hefty swing at the boulder as well. She just sort of automatically swings her giant bludgeon at the same things Ivan swings his giant bludgeon at these days.
"Is this maybe too m uch??"
She pauses, "Well I mean I didn't try swimming!"
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Tiebreaker V 2.0 toward her party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
===============================================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>================================================
======================================<* CHALLENGE - Bomb Flowers and Boulders *>=======================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
The next turn takes you into the caldera chamber. The heat is like a
furnace, blasting you in the face the moment that you enter. You stand on a
ledge over the lava chamber, and see that the ledge is blocked by a massive
boulder. Explosives -- and other implements -- may be necessary.
Fortunately, the cavern provides: that strange Filgaian plant, the Bomb
Flower, is in abundance here. These plants feature a shiny... metal... orb
that, when plucked, begins to flash and then explode, are all about.
Of course, one needs good timing to use Bomb Flowers. And if you don't use
them, take care that your own efforts don't set the incendiary plants off
too quickly. Otherwise, far more than the boulder might explode.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Bomb Flowers and Boulders *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The next turn takes you into the caldera chamber. The heat is like a
furnace, blasting you in the face the moment that you enter. You stand on a
ledge over the lava chamber, and see that the ledge is blocked by a massive
boulder. Explosives -- and other implements -- may be necessary.
Fortunately, the cavern provides: that strange Filgaian plant, the Bomb
Flower, is in abundance here. These plants feature a shiny... metal... orb
that, when plucked, begins to flash and then explode, are all about.
Of course, one needs good timing to use Bomb Flowers. And if you don't use
them, take care that your own efforts don't set the incendiary plants off
too quickly. Otherwise, far more than the boulder might explode.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
======================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 4 *>======================= ====================< Results - Bomb Flowers and Boulders >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 29 --(0)--> 29 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 24 --(0)--> 24 Pass Arm-Mounted Drill 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ivan 29 --(0)--> 29 Pass Warhammer 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 24 --(0)--> 24 Pass Tiebreaker V 2.0 4 Brute Effects: Efficient and Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 34 --(0)--> 34 Pass Zantetshoeken 4 Brute Effects: Efficient and Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ethius Hesiod 50 --(30)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Madness|Secret(1)|Slow(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Yue's response about having 'reasons' not to run away makes absolute sense to Ivan, which is why he finds it unacceptable. "Pfft!" he says, angrily, and it is the pfft of someone who is tired of the world coming up with ways to put people in cages without walls.
Ethius's response to being called out for being weird about Lydia is to be... even weirder. Ivan makes a frustrated blowfish sort of face at him about it.
But anyway, there's mountains to climb, flowers to 'splode...
"Just take the orbs, don't hurt the flowers," Ivan warns everyone, as they set to work. "I think they're my nieces, sort of." He makes no attempt to clarify this assertion. Lydia suggests that they name one of them King Leopold and give it to Talia and Katherine. Ivan shakes his head warily, and replies in a quiet voice: "I have no idea either. I have the feeling I would make the wrong guesses about what it all means if I tried to join in..."
Layna asks if the flowers are really metal, or just seem that way.
"I never thought to ask..." Ivan admits. "If it can explode, it can probably be real metal, though." All bets seem to be off once plants start exploding. Layna pitches in to help create a good spot to wedge bomb flowers, carving into the rock with her drill.
Yue too, contributes to weakening the boulder, with a mighty slash of her stilletto that seems to carve into reality itself. And Lydia joins Ivan in bludgeoning away at the rock. Like old times...! How are those already the old times?
Ethius plucks a bomb flower, and precious moments pass before he calls attention to this fact and asks for instructions.
"Whoa! Yes! Throw it! Throw it! No wait, put it in the crack in the wall!!"
It gets RIGHT. DOWN. TO THE FINAL MOMENT, but Ethius manages to get that bomb out of his hand and over to the boulder just in time for the big KABOOM, which rewards them with a satisfying pile of rubble and a makeshift opening to some as-yet-unexplored chamber. And possibly ringing ears.
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>===========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Green Bokoblin Squad *>====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your path up the mountain leads to an area near its summit. Here, you find
something quite disturbing: a wooden fortress that was once rudimentary, but
now has plates of dark iron bolted in to reinforce it. Some of this
resembles the structures built by Ganondorf Dragmire's cronies. However,
some are more advanced -- suggesting that Odessa has aided in the
construction of this base. Exploring the entire thing would be difficult,
especially after the trials of your journey.
You note some of the entrances and the path up here, before you turn to go.
That is when you hear a metal door swing open -- and a shout.
A squad of well-armed Green Bokoblins is behind it. A number are armed with
spears and swords; however, a few have gunsmoke rifles. One carries an
oversized mortar. They shout, then fire the mortar. It explodes with a fiery
blast in your midst... and the battle is on!
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Good enough for me. Though, uh, I don't think you'll quite have to worry about fightin' anythin' on the scale of Sin, aye?" Layna replies with a chuckle.
She pauses for a moment, though, listening as Yue confides to Ivan that there's someone she can't leave behind. Layna nods to herself. She can understand that.
But then, the boulder. Layna watches as Yue slices it - and, very briefly, the fabric of reality itself? No, just a trick of the light - clean in half.
Layna lets out a low whistle of appreciation.
Once the Bomb Flower has exploded a way through, they're free to move on. Following the ledge the boulder was blocking leads them up to an open area near the summit. Here, they see something of interest - a wooden fortress, with plates of dark iron bolted in to reinforce it. It's rudimentary, but it looks like it's received some recent aid.
"...Now, don't that look suspicious." Layna comments. And then, the metal door swings open. It seems the sound of the explosion hadn't gone unnoticed.
Emerging from the fortress is a squad of well-armed Green Bokoblins - some of them carry the more common spears and swords, but there are a few gunsmoke rifles mixed in, as well.
And, perhaps, most dangerously, there's an oversized mortar.
"SCATTER!" Layna shouts as the oversized mortar is fired. She leaps to the side as it flies into their midst, exploding with a fiery blast and kicking up dust as the Bokoblins bearing melee weapons charge into the fray.
"Heh...you really wanna do this, aye?" Layna comments, shaking her head. "You're outta league. If you ask me...you're all washed up!"
It is law that any time one uses their new Black Magic spells in battle for the first time, they have to make a pun about it.
At this gesture, a swirling sphere of water begins to appear in the air above the Green Bokoblins bearing firearms. As it spins it grows bigger, and bigger, until finally, it drops right on top of them with a massive splash.
Even if it doesn't deal with them entirely, it should at least render all of their gunpowder wet and useless.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Ivan's 'pfff' draws a self-effacing chuckle from Yue. "... that's an appropriate reaction," she advises to him before turning back to her track. "You should not approve of the cowardice of disappointing adults."
Lydia suggests taking back one of the bomb flowers. "... people ... raise these as pets?" A pause. "That is surprisingly awe-inspiring, I must say."
Coccoro flutters back after the hug from Lydia, and sits atop Yue's head again. "Coccoro...?"
coo
The metal door swings open, and Layna shouts--
SCATTER!!
So that's what Coccoro's warning is about. Yue throws herself to the floor and rolls as it explodes, and gets ready to strike at the nearest when she realises--
"Oh. Um."
Coccoro is glowing red.
"So is this the disturbance the Rito are talking about?" Yue wonders. "The one Coccoro herself felt bothering her island..." Regardless, uh, she wisely steps out of the way because there's a resident cucco of Dragon Roost Island turning into a bright red meteor towards the Bokoblins and--
She maaaaaaaaaaaad.
DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool An Old Golem Core toward her party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"yeah to be honest I'm kinda guessing at it too." Lydia asides to Ivan. But it's hard for Lydia to dislike a bomb that grows explosives. Lydia is a destructive sort and can appreciate the myriad uses of explosive devices.
"Anyway," She asides to Yue. "Ivan's not my 'minder', Ivan's my uh... Rival/boyfriend/friend/ect." Wait what was that middle one there?? Lydia doesn't go back to it. "My minder talks to me in my head and makes sure I do things Solaris wants instead of being like the third secret ninja or weapon that they forgot about on Filgaia," The number is probably actually higher than that Lydia. Well anyway.
"Her name is Rachiel Medry I guess I can say that." Lydia says thoughtfully. "Say hey Rachiel."
"I'm too embarrassed! What if I don't make a good first impression!"
Lydia grumbles. "She is completely unreliable except pretty much in one aspect, probably."
The group comes upon a group of Green Bokoblins. They are armed with swords and guns and the like, but the big problem is probably the mortar. Still, LYdia figures SOMEONE can probably handle that.
"Okay, Lydie! Just like we practiced!"
Out of Lydia's hand forms a blade which she grips tightly. She swings it back and narrows her eyes at the Green Bokoblins before darting forward and swinging the blade down, channeling Rigdobrite's power to unleash a flash of light as she does so, intending to temporarily blind the Bokoblins and then use that as an opportunity to tear into them with the blade. She doesn't seem to enjoy it, but moves with a focused, grim purpose--like someone dedicated to a particular goal and seeking a particular future for which stabbing these Bokoblins is but one step.
"Is that okay?" She asks the air.
"Geeze, it's like you barely had any formal training..."
"I did barely have formal training!" Lydia complains before adding to Yue. "She's mostly good at the stab stab slice slice."
"...When you say it like that it makes me feel like learning it was an inelegant use of my time..."
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Rachiel Medry Is Doing Her Best toward her party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
'Just let me know if I'm cheesing you off or if you don't want me around,' Lydia says to the odd man, and he has little to say back. The last word on that front seems to be hers, but even before... revelations, in some form, he was always this vaguely hostile presence only occasionally punctuated by spikes of conviction against something or another.
He looks to the back of her as she turns back to hand the cucco back, into those wings, and events kind of tangle but anyway--
POST-NEAR-EXPLODINATING
"Yes, I suppose I should have surmised their means of activation would have necessitated something of this method," a roundabout way of saying 'sorry I almost blew us up :('
Or maybe because it's Ethius, 'sorry I almost blew us up :#'
They come to a fortification, where the make of some mish-mash of construction materials, some of which as he can identify as of being more advanced make that... seems new.
Ethius gestures behind cover and goes for that immediately, as Layna steps up with bravado. Ethius, in turn, moves to get the first Powder Grenade off of his belt, enchanting it, and waiting for a key moment as the goblin-like lackies of the King of Evil prepare to move in. He scatters anew to Layna's call as the mortar is fired because he knows his position is already compromised, and that might be a good call. Just as Layna is starting to chuckle back...
"Smoke cover!" He calls as he throws the satchel overhead...
...Into the swirling sphere of water which catches it and neatly disarms it from doing that poofy-smoky thing it does. Ethius realizes there isn't a soft breath-coughening KABOOM. There is a sound of splashing water. He did not know he was in the company of any water mages.
Ethius has a second Powder Grenade on hand for these instances, but there is a momentary delay as he looks over the cover to the sound of Lydia's blade being formed, as if to more closely watch her technique.
He has eyes on the mortar. He's throwing the cover down in the next few seconds regardless.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
===============================================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>================================================
=========================================<* CHALLENGE - Green Bokoblin Squad *>=========================================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Your path up the mountain leads to an area near its summit. Here, you find
something quite disturbing: a wooden fortress that was once rudimentary, but
now has plates of dark iron bolted in to reinforce it. Some of this
resembles the structures built by Ganondorf Dragmire's cronies. However,
some are more advanced -- suggesting that Odessa has aided in the
construction of this base. Exploring the entire thing would be difficult,
especially after the trials of your journey.
You note some of the entrances and the path up here, before you turn to go.
That is when you hear a metal door swing open -- and a shout.
A squad of well-armed Green Bokoblins is behind it. A number are armed with
spears and swords; however, a few have gunsmoke rifles. One carries an
oversized mortar. They shout, then fire the mortar. It explodes with a fiery
blast in your midst... and the battle is on!
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
"I can't judge, exactly..." Ivan says to Yue, even though his 'pfft' gave every appearance of doing exactly that. It took Ivan twenty-some years to leave his own open cage, and he still worries he might just find another one in spite of himself at the soonest opportunity.
Lydia explains to Yue Ivan's various titles and roles in her life, and he can be seen apprehensively vetting each of them and nodding a beat or so after. He seems especially concerned about 'friend' for some reason, but nods at it, too.
Apparently, Rachel has also decided to start broadcasting beyond Lydia's mind.
"So she finally makes herself known...!" Ivan says, with an accusing hostility in his tone. "It's too late! You already made the worst impression ever!" Ivan, wasn't it you who did that by threatening to melt her face off...? The difference is he wasn't trying to make a good impression, maybe.
Then, they come upon a force of Green Bokoblins (Ivan doesn't really know what those are). Initially, everyone scatters and takes cover to avoid being exploded, and then Lydia... does some fighting! Both the physical kind, and the verbal kind, with her 'minder.'
Ivan spares a bit of his attention for that, but also leaps into the fray, himself, waiting until the splashing of water has died down before barrelling in with fireballs and his own rapid-fire flurry of slashes and stabs.
DG: Ivan has used his Tool Memory toward his party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>===========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Green Bokoblin Squad *>====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your path up the mountain leads to an area near its summit. Here, you find
something quite disturbing: a wooden fortress that was once rudimentary, but
now has plates of dark iron bolted in to reinforce it. Some of this
resembles the structures built by Ganondorf Dragmire's cronies. However,
some are more advanced -- suggesting that Odessa has aided in the
construction of this base. Exploring the entire thing would be difficult,
especially after the trials of your journey.
You note some of the entrances and the path up here, before you turn to go.
That is when you hear a metal door swing open -- and a shout.
A squad of well-armed Green Bokoblins is behind it. A number are armed with
spears and swords; however, a few have gunsmoke rifles. One carries an
oversized mortar. They shout, then fire the mortar. It explodes with a fiery
blast in your midst... and the battle is on!
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
=====================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 5 *>====================== ======================< Results - Green Bokoblin Squad >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 29 --(10)--> 39 Fail Powder Grenade 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 24 --(0)--> 24 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ivan 29 --(0)--> 29 Pass Memory 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 24 --(0)--> 24 Pass Rachiel Medry Is Doing Her Best 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yue Rohay 34 --(0)--> 34 Pass An Old Golem Core 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Madness|Weaken(1)|Wound(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has successfully explored Dragon Roost Cavern!
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>===========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Engraved Volvagia Scale *>===================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
With the Green Bokoblins defeated, you have a chance to look into the first
room of their base: an open area enclosed by a wooden fence, with some
narrower tunnels and ladders leading in deeper. More concerning, though, are
the series of crates and cages where stolen goods and people are kept.
All of the cages, mercifully, are empty. But, you do notice a treasure chest
that has been closed -- and you have a moment before the next patrol comes,
you think.
When you open the chest, you find a scale of a red dragon. The back of it
has engravings in a strange language -- Elw, for those who know it -- and it
is hard to the touch. Treasure in hand, you know it's time to make your way
out!
OOC: You should send a +request in about this.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna glances toward Lydia as another voice comes out of her. Once more, she raises an eyebrow. She has a feeling she missed something.
Fortunately, though, she didn't miss the Bokoblins - her Waterga drops down right on top of the back row, soaking up all of their gunpowder and forcing them to take to the front lines - at least, the ones that weren't dazed by the water spell.
Unfortunately, that is perhaps the worst place to be. Lydia jumps into the fray with grim purpose of precision, blinding the Bokoblins with Rigdobrite's light before tearing into them. Ivan follows soon after, slashing, stabbing, and fireballing.
And then, of course...there's Coccoro. Every knows to fear an angry cucco, particularly one glowing red with rage. Layna wisely elects to stay out of the melee this time, especially when Coccoro drops onto the Bokoblins like some sort of Cucco Meteor.
Throughout all this, the Bokoblin with the mortar is trying quickly to reload it...but, Ethius is upon him. The Bokoblin lets out a screech of fear, drops the mortar, and runs panicked back into the fortress.
The rest of the Bokoblins are soon dealt with, leaving them with a fortress ripe for the raiding. Unfortunately, since one of them got away, it's likely that a patrol will be heading here soon, so they'll have to make it quick.
Layna is perfectly fine with this, strolling into the fortress with a whistle. The first room is an open area enclosed by a wooden fence, with tunnels and ladders leading deeper. Visible nearby are a series of crates and cages - the latter thankfully empty.
And, perhaps most importantly, there's a treasure chest! As a pirate, there's no way she's going to ignore this.
"Don't mind if I do!" She says, kneeling down and prying it open. Inside, there's something quite curious - it's a large, red dragon scale. Even more curious, there's writing on the back. Elw writing, though Layna doesn't know enough to know that.
"...Huh. Neat." She says with a whistle. "What do you lot make of this?" She asks, turning back toward the others and holding out the scale.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue wheezes a little as she wipes some soot off her face and tries to not breathe in smoke, a feat made easier with Layna's water. She also wisely tries to get out of Powder Grenade range. Ivan's own fire-happy tactics is also something to watch out for! These people are so trigger-happy! It's not a bad thing.
"A rival and boyfriend...? That sounds-- almost too familiar," Yue remarks as she glances between Ivan and Lydia, before giving them a more relaxed smile. "You two make a nice couple, though. I will root for you both."
She's kind of assuming Ivan is going to fluster in some regard because maybe his reactions kind of remind her of herself when she was younger and much more easily flustered too.
... funny how she sees herself a lot of young Drifters, really.
But Lydia explains her own minder. "... ... that is indeed a cruel setup they have for you," she admits. "And something I can sympathise with."
But Rachel Medry starts talking and she kind of just... pauses, as Lydia rushes forward and uses the power of the Guardians. She looks at Ivan and feels his anger. Then looks towards Lydia again.
"Uh... it is nice to meet you," Yue sounds just a bit puzzled. "I suppose from your tone you had nothing to do with how she was captured and forced against her will in the first place, but..."
She looks a bit distracted, though, as Layna helps herself to the treasure and looks to the dragon scale. "The scale of some large creature? But..."
She looks to the scale and blinks. "This writing... is Elw." She places a hand to her forehead for a moment, then remarks in turn, "If you give me a moment, I can try to recall and decipher it for you. But no guarantees." ... why would Elw writing be here, of all places?
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius, as per habit, moves right out of sight as a treasure chest captures the imagination and the attention... because he's digging right into the guts of the fortress and the detritus that make up the encampment. Ramshackle, bolted-together scrap and garbage. Only...
A few harmless(?) pieces of plating seem to grab Ethius' attention. If they're ancient ARM relics, their actual usefulness for their originally intended purpose is long, long gone. It's scrap now, and nothing more.
Which means he's pocketing it, of course, hurriedly and even looking over his shoulder in the process like he doesn't want to be caught taking any of it. (No one would, who wants to be pinned as the one who hoards worthless scrap garbage? Come on, now.)
"...This was salvaged, but where from?" He asks loud enough to be heard as he is turning over another worthless piece of metal. Does it really matter? They're rude, crude creatures who seem to exist only as agents of evil - of malice.
'What do you make of this?' Layna asks. Ethius doesn't respond.
Yue talks about a writing on it, with certainty, and Ethius stops scavenging to look over his shoulder and observe the claims in (relative) silence.
A part of him cannot disengage from the truth that one of them slipped away - he has to stand vigil to any further approaches.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
There is a burning flash from that blade again and it cleanses itself of Bokoblin blood in an instant. Lydia looks at them, covers her mouth for a moment with a hand, swallows, and then lets her hand drop again.
"You didn't even give me a chance!" Rachiel complains. "B..but that's okay. I'll be a good shepherd... and be patient..!!"
"Oh that looks like Elw writing." Lydia pipes in. "You should take that to ... uhhh ... Gee I don't know but maybe you do ha ha ha..."
Rachiel is too busy whining at Ivan to notice that Lydia totally does know who to take that scale to and is pretending not to so Solaris doesn't find out.
"Anyway I was sort of expecting more cute dragons or chickens. Maybe this isn't really mom's kind of place after all." She looks to Yue, grinning. "Thanks! It'll be great."
"Oh. No? I'm um. Sure they have their reasons. I can see how it can be tough! So I'm trying to be friendly face? Voice? and--"
Lydia says, "Well don't worry so much. I'll find a way to make it work." Lydia asides to Yue. "And hey, we can be jailbuddies. It'll be great. Anyway uh. Yeah. You guys should go do the thing. I guess..."
She glances to Ivan. "I need to be 'defeated' by some powerful and cool ally of the Kinship here?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
"Lydia, there is nothing important going on that you need to notice," Ivan assures Lydia unconvincingly, as Layna and the others are sorting out the treasure.
Although Ivan said earlier he would claim all of the treasure for himself, that battle seems lost and so he opts for a different tack, and instead tries to guide Lydia along by the hand like he has something more interesting to show her around a bend in the cavern and then attempts a kissassination. A... kisstraction?
Even if this tactic works, it can't possibly work every time, can it...?
... ah, but it sounds like they are discussing some kind of mysteries about it... it has strange writing on it? Damn it, he's supposed to be paying attention to that stuff! How can he fulfill all of his objectives at once!!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Sure, take your time. If we can't figure it out, we can always check with the Rito - I think dragon scales are sacred to them too or somethin', aye?" Layna replies with a nod toward Yue.
She notices Ivan trying to lead Lydia away, but doesn't comment on it - instead looking toward Ethius for a moment as he looks over to them.
"But, uh...I don't think we ought to do it here, aye? I dunno about you, but I'd rather not have to fight off another squad of those guys." Layna decides.
"...Well, in their own base, I mean, aye? Lead 'em to more neutral ground and sure, I'm good for that. But right now..."
Right now, leaving was probably the best idea.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia is guided away by Ivan and--
Her eyes widen!
*HIT!*
Lydia has been kissed suddenly and suddenly Rachiel is pretty much just paying attention to this now. Her body detenses and she closes eyes leaning into it. She embraces Ivan as if afraid he might vanish LIKE AN ASSASSIN if she doesn't. Or maybe SHE would. Either way, it keeps them occupied.
*SIX HIT COMBO! NICE START!*
Lydia looks pretty dizzy afterwards and in no position to stop the others from taking the dragon scale.
Lydia Seren and Rachiel Medry have been defeated!