2020-01-12: V. Vuong's Lectures in Advanced Geology: The Under Traffic Walking Tour
- Log: V. Vuong's Lectures in Advanced Geology: The Under Traffic Walking Tour
- Cast: Venetia Vuong, Layna Manydays, Seraph Lanval, Cyre H. Lorentz, Fei Fong Wong, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: Under Traffic
- Date: January 12, 2020
- Summary: Venetia hosts another lecture, this time with a decidedly motley crew, centering around the local geology along the Under Traffic. Come for the promise of the egg breakfast, stay for the... wanton semi-drunkenness?
DG: A party led by Venetia Vuong is now entering Under Traffic. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Narrow Fit *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Many of the side pathways leading into the depths of Under Traffic are narrow things. The wider ones are usually guarded by Merian patrols -- which means one must slip through the cracks. In this case, literally: one of the tunnels leading into the paths below is little more than a crack, which will require some careful wriggling, contorting, and fast movement to get through before a patrol spots you... or, perhaps, bandits on the prowl come along. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
It's time for TEACH ME, VENNIE-PIE: VENETIA VUONG'S LECTURES IN ADVANCED GEOLOGY!
Venetia Vuong has put on a lotus-style lace mask for today and is wearing a beat-up piece of jacketing to keep the dust off of her actual dress as she stands near the entranceway to the realm called Under Traffic. She looks dismayed, perhaps, at what has come forth, and after flicking ash off of a yellowish cigarette she had brought with her, asks flatly, "Did all of you come for the breakfast?"
"Well, I'm afraid that I will have to disappoint you, if that is the case," Venetia states, "because this is going to be a walking tour. Here, I brought you some biscuits, but the egg roast and everything is on the FAR end of this walking tour, as is the coffee and everything."
Venetia goes around handing out hard-baked biscuits made from indifferent oats and some honey. They have a weirdly savory taste, as if laden with mushroom.
"Now, then, we're going to be taking this side path, away from," and here Venetia rolls her eyes and makes a weird pumping gesture in the air, "The BRAVE SOLDIERS DEFENDING MERIA BOULE from the gob menace and the possible risk of being exposed to knowledge about handwashing and how babies are made - I'm sorry, do we have any Meria Boulians here, with us? You paid, yes? Well, then, please forgive me, I'm just a little sore over the game the other week."
What game?? Is there sports out there?? Aren't Sports limited to Spira?? HENCE THE NAME, SPIRA JORTS?
"Either way, either way," Venetia says, turning round with a click of her heel, "Let's begin. We're going to take this narrow passageway, so don't be afraid to get a little cozy. Munch your cookies if you like." (The cookies resemble a red circle with some white decorations. The flavor is no different between them.)
"Now, from a certain perspective, there are three types of stone in this world - only three - except that some would hold that there are actually only four. Do any of you know what would be those three, or perhaps four, types...?"
DG: Venetia Vuong has used her Tool Yashichi Ring toward her party's challenge, Narrow Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna finds herself on a geological tour. This isn't really the type of thing she'd usually involve herself with, so it might be a little strange that she's here. But, there's probably a good reason for this, right? Maybe she's been inspired by the spirit of learning.
...Or, maybe, just maybe, she was out drinking with some friends when someone decided it would be a good idea, and for some reason they all agreed.
This possibility becomes exceedingly likely when one considers that she still has a bottle of some variety of alcohol in one of her hands.
On the bright side, though, of all the professorial types she could've ended up with, Venetia certainly isn't the worst - not-so-subtle jabs at Meria Boule aside, but Layna isn't from or has any real investment in Meria Boule so it's not like that bothers her any.
Layna accepts a cookie, and munches on it idly as she considers the answer to Venetia's question. ...She doesn't really know much about rocks. She's most familiar with the sea - the only types of rocks she's concerned about are the big ones that have a tendency to poke holes in your boat if you're not careful. Lessons on proper geological divisions rarely came up on a pirate shop.
...But then again, maybe there is another kind of rock she's interested in.
"...Jewels? They're a type o' stone too, right?" Layna considers, as she carefully tries to slide her way through the crack. It's a bit of a tight fit - she finds herself a little jealous of Lanval and his watery nature, who's probably having a much easier time of it at the moment.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Narrow Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
When you are as deeply attuned now to the very water of Filgaia as Lanval, in theory, the promise of snacks and drink loses some luster when you are on some level feeling and comprehending all of the water at once. All the cool, good, bad, and awful things done with it, and to it. The breadth and scope of all this, in theory, supercedes the need to ever truly seek such an experience.
Seraph Lanval is merely closely adjacent to this level of wordliness and has the unfortunate setback of being an individual. An individual who is feeling just enough of a tinge of capriciousness to decide, yes, even though Fox Company is getting good business out on the open seas and reliably obtain foodstuffs - even delicious foodstuffs - in this ailing world, coming to a lecture about rocks or something for free grub is even better!!
"Ha ha ha!" Lanval laughs in the back. "She doeshn't know thish," he asides to someone, "but thish'll be my shecond breakf--"
Then Venetia delivers bad news, and the portly phantom ceases laughing. "...Oh."
But she brought them some biscuits!
"...Bischuitsh ain't breakfasht?" He seems flabbergasted by this idea, but when one generally doesn't have to be that concerned with material nutrition for the most part, defaulting to the most tasty and indulgent treat-stuff kind of follows.
If only they were beholden to dentists...
At some point or another in Venetia's hand-out tour, assuming he's solid enough to her senses to count, he happily takes it with a slurred 'thanks,' lays down on the bumpy road, opens wide...
...and the now sort of moist biscuit slips out of his grasp and starts flowing down a small creek into the narrow passageway Veneita points out.
Problematic.
Not that has ever stopped him from reclaiming a treat. Historically he has had an infinity second rule.
Venetia starts talking about stones as he chases after the runaway treat. Despite the girth of his manifestation and the strange, uncoordinated way he sways while doing a bad impression of 'mortal walking straight ahead,' his form is much more limber and capable of navigating tighter environs than first appears.
He's a Water Seraph. He doesn't usually think about 'rocks' much other than how water is beholden to take the form of what contains it. Still...
"Uhhhhhh... shtone... metaaaaaaalll..."
Layna considers. "Jewelsh! That'sh three...!" He cheers. Hooray! They are now certified geologists!
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Narrow Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Oh, oh, I know!" Cyre Lorentz, noted floaty-type fellow and probably the last person who would ordinarily be caught dead in the middle of an educational spelunking expedition. What would a man of the sky (notably a different thing than a sky man, a people which Cyre has a distinct distaste for) want to do with a geology lecture, you ask?
Usually... Not... Not anything at all. Well, no-- he does have a minor interest in finding shiny, expensive and salable rocks and various useful reagents for all manner of different things. But this? This is just a bit much--
Cyre trips over a rock, stumbles into a boulder, and then somehow finds himself shoving a cookie into his mouth.
Oh, that answers the question. He's... He's kind of a little drunk.
Or maybe kind of a lot drunk.
"The-- the three types of rocks, right? So that's..." Cyre says, wrapped in his ever-handy parachute. Because he's cold, apparently?? He's stumbling through the narrow passage, heedless of the scratches he might be accumulating as he wiggles through. "That's... Ignitable, Megaman and... Sedentary? No, wait. All rocks are sedentary, 'less they're rollin'. That can't be it. Unnnnnhhhh..."
Beat.
"Jewels!" Cyre chirps! Because that's clearly the single thread tying all these drunkards together. "Thassit! Jewels. We want those, right? Everyone wants those."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Narrow Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is always eager to learn about rocks. More to the point, he probably figured that learning about rocks would be interested to known Battle Archaeologist Josephine Lovelace. Fei doesn't know much about Josie but she probably likes rocks because archaeology involves a lot of looking at rocks, right? Or buildings? And buildings are kind of like rocks. Right? Right. (Right? Right.)
He says, "It's cool," to Venetia as he takes a generous helping of biscuits. "I can eat and walk at the same time, and if I work up an appetite I can eat more eggs."
He blinks a few times obliviously to Venetia's apparent disrespect of the Meria Boule guards which at the very least in Fei's experience, haven't yet arrested him and tortured him a little yet.
"Well," He says, cupping his chin intelligently. "I know that there's the 'Rock' in Rock Paper Scissors... So that's one."
He smiles, teeth gleaming briefly and giving Venetia a thumbsup.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Narrow Fit.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Technically speaking, geology is an important aspect in archaeology: knowing what sort of rock formations you've got, the deposition of strata over the centuries and beyond, the ability to recognize ancient riverbeds (often the linchpin of a settlement for most of Filgaia's history -- until the points when 'riverbed' became more wishful thinking than present, anymore), and more all play vital roles in locating sites and the subsequent excavations.
So it makes sense that an archaeologist would want to, say, 'brush up'.
That would explain why one Josephine Lovelace, alleged archaeologist (lately Drifter and bounty hunter) is attending the breakfast lecture-- er, walking tour.
But it does not explain why she has opted to turn up to this one somewhat soused and with the incriminating vessel in hand.
"A li'l early for sugar, eh?" Josie remarks, taking a swig out of her bottle as she follows along after the rest of them, impressively only weaving sightly as she goes, along the path. "No matter. A little light exercise and then food, seems sure enough. Lemme just finish this here up, and..."
Her ears prick up as Venetia asks a question of the room.
"Sandstone," she says, with all the easy confidence of the mildly drunk. "Fengalon's teeth, there ain't much out and about but sandstone, sandstone, far as the eyes can see. But that's one of 'em, or an example sure enough. What was the term..."
Pause.
"Nah. Jewels aren't rocks. They're crystals." She gestures vaguely, stiffly, with her bad hand. "Totally different. No, the types are... damn, it started with an 'ess'--"
This is where Cyre speaks up.
"Sedimentary! Yeah, that's sandstone, alright. 'N the others are..."
Megaman?
"No, no, it's meta..."
Pause.
"Meta...tron?" She falls silent, grimacing. "...Anyway, the other one's, uh, like pumice." She gestures again. "Fire... stuff."
...At least it can be argued that only sedimentary rock is of highest import to an archaeologist?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Narrow Fit.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Narrow Fit *>========================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Many of the side pathways leading into the depths of Under Traffic are narrow things. The wider ones are usually guarded by Merian patrols -- which means one must slip through the cracks. In this case, literally: one of the tunnels leading into the paths below is little more than a crack, which will require some careful wriggling, contorting, and fast movement to get through before a patrol spots you... or, perhaps, bandits on the prowl come along. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
========================<* Under Traffic - Round 1 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Narrow Fit >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Yashichi Ring 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Venetia Vuong 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Venetia Vuong 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: Venetia Vuong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Injured and Lost Traveler *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, unfortunate travelers end up in the Under Traffic's warrens by mistake. Perhaps they were lost; perhaps they were captured and escaped. You find one slumped, unconscious, against the rock. Head tilted down, hat over their face, they look like they might be dead -- until you see them draw breath. This traveler, it seems, needs medical assistance... and to get out of here. How to best do that -- and make sure they return safely -- is up to you. (Or, alternately, rob them.) =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
"That's a very good thought," Venetia says to Layna. "However, you're mistaking the forest for the trees - or perhaps more accurately, the tree fruit. Which is quite reasonable, as that would be the matter of greatest concern, wouldn't it?"
Cyre contributes. He is close enough to annoy Venetia. "You're almost right," she says. "There are sedimentary - thought to be made by sedimentation from the waters over enormous gulfs of time, which may interest you, Seraph - and then there is metamorphic, transformed by immense heat and pressure into something else."
"But there is also igneous rock," Venetia states. "Now do you know why it is," she says as the passageways through which she slips almost-limpidly begin to widen out, "that we say sometimes three and sometimes four?"
This question is left for the public. "Sandstone is what we would call sedimentary," Venetia explains to Josie as a parenthetical. "It is, obviously, sand, but it's a different grade of sand than you might see in the beaches or in the desert. Eventually that sand either solidifies and forms a precursor to other stones, or is gradually eroded in the sea... there are some places of obsidian sand, or olivine. Olivine doesn't last because it reacts in the sea water, and makes a more basic solution-"
"And speaking of basic solutions," says Venetia's skirt.
Venetia immediately stomps down. There is a horrible snap.
"Heyyyy, so much for that hat!" continues the voice. Venetia swirls out of the way, gazing down with horror.
On the ground - next to what looks like a rock fall that had settled down - is pinned a man. A man who looks like he's been there for a while. He has an empty water skin next to him, a red and white striped coat, and the lean and hungry look of someone who hasn't eaten in several days. "I am SUPER glad to see you all," says
RIANRANLY, SPIRAN MERCHANT
"because I have NOT been having a great time but I don't need anything more than just a TINY bit of help from you good folks, because I am PRETTY darn sure my leg is broken harder than the Aurochs defense this system! Heh, that's just a little local humor. No, I got separated from all of my merchandise and my birdy buddy's still back on Spira," continues Rianranly, "so please, Manydays, and hey, it's Fei! Fei, good buddy! Help me out so I don't DIE IN DISARRAY!"
"Your jacket looks like a peppermint stick," Venetia tells him.
"That's because I'm good to - you know what," Rianranly says with a snap of his fingers, "I'm gonna hold off on that one because I am COMPLETELY at your mercy!"
Venetia seems obscurely pleased by this. "Well," she says, "obviously, we have to dig him out, but be careful with this fall here. I believe these were uncemented infills... very likely they were a ravine of some kind that was formed, either by natural processes or by Meria Boule's sophomoric efforts at public works. Naturally over time the infill settled, and I imagine you were tampering with something load bearing, Mr...?"
"The name's Rianranly," says Rianranly. "And that is... ABSOLUTELY true! Hey! Usually my bird keeps me out of trouble, but like I said: He's on what I'm told they call the Moon, and I'm here on the Blue Star!"
Rianranly's leg isn't actually broken, just pinned and badly bruised. However, he is under a complex series of soil and stones. Venetia gets out a book and begins to remark on which stone is which, and after the third time of this, Rianranly asks, "Not to complain, but - first of all you have a VERY shapely ankle - and second of all, are you all school children?? Is she your school ma'aaaaaah teacher, your teacher who doesn't have ANYTHING negative associated with that role!"
DG: Venetia Vuong has used her Tool Anterior Vuong's Guide to Economic Stone toward her party's challenge, Injured and Lost Traveler.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"...I never knew rocks were so complicated." Layna says blankly. She's not sure she's mentally ready to process this kind of information. But, she does follow along... at least until they're shaken out of the lecture by the sound of a horrible snap, followed by a voice.
A familiar voice.
Layna's eyes are drawn toward the source, and she stares blankly at the man pinned beneath the rocks. It's that guy.
This isn't Layna's first meeting with Rianranly. It isn't even her second, or her third. Fourth?
Fourth sounds probable. It's four times too many, in her opinion.
"Rianranly. Buddy. Pal." Layna hisses through her teeth. "Has anyone ever told you you're a magnet for trouble?"
That's because he is trouble. At least this time he's only asking for a hand...not dying in a cave somewhere, which is something she can begrudgingly offer.
"We were drawn by the promise of snacks." She explains. "And learning about rocks. Now, hold still while we deal with this - and maybe if you can throw in an incentive or two, we might be able ta get this done a lil' faster and with less 'accidents', aye?"
And with that, Layna draws out her telescope. She'll use it to get a good feel for the structure of the rubble keeping him pinned down, so as to hopefully avoid making the situation worse.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, Injured and Lost Traveler.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Weh?? Mega...tron?" Cyre boggles, looking and sounding vaguely like someone who very clearly has no idea what he's getting into. "That's some ominous soundin' rocks... Are those the kind what fall on you on their own when you're not... Not s'pecting it? Uhhhh... No, those were... Autorocks? Octoroks? Hmmnnn..."
Venetia goes on about sandstone for a little bit. Cyre only kind of picks up on part of the lecture. He's really a little more preoccupied with thoughts of octoroks and autorocks and the like. And, as it so happens, on the goings-on of the stuff under his own feet.
Such as, for instance, a wayward Spiran merchant!!
...One who Cyre is absolutely unfamiliar with.
"Hey. HEY!" Cyre squawks, squatting over the man a hair's breadth from dying alone in a cave. "You're... You're a moon man. You get caught up in the weird wrong-warp too? Mannn, what were you doing near that doomwhale? Tryin' to get yourself killed?"
The catman huffs, "So. Thissus all sandstone, right? That means that we should be able to dig it out!" With, apparently, some kind of whirlwind drilling spell that Cyre weaves over one of his arms. Someone might want to stop him before he causes a cave-in...!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Injured and Lost Traveler.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Bit by bit, soggy biscuit disintegrates down the tiny stream. All the while, Venetia patiently shares wisdom about how sedimentary rocks form. "It doesh?" He looks up as the biscuit slips from his grasp again. "Mmmm." A grunt of contemplation as he thinks about 'sedimentation,' like, a lot of small things coming into bodies of water. It brings him back to when Fox Company found that well back where he used to protect.
Lots of memories. Also lots of things stuck to the sides of the well from centuries of disuse. But lots of memories. When it segues into sand, it sort of puts a bit more into perspective. Think of all the learning he could've done if he spent the last few hundred years doing much more other than drinking.
Then this process of learning for someone who technically doesn't have a proper brain is interrupted by the sight of the fast-talkin' (haltingly stuck) merchant of Spira, Rianranly and his situation.
"'m not great at movin' shtone," Lanval remarks as Layna takes a look at the pile of stone and how the weight has settled, because things could get bad quick if they move the wrong one. "'m not great at pushin' that either," he remarks as Venetia lists stone names, "or that."
Beat.
"Not shure if I tried pushin' that though," Lanval thinks as another stone is listed, and yes, he has tried that at some obscure point within the last year but he never thought to really internalize the differences between stones - or acknowledge them much, beyond maybe their color or their size.
He ends up laying down on the ground nearby. He has a dumb pair of novelty beer lens glasses on. There may be a reflection of some once unseen balance complication in their attempt to sort it out! Still, he puts on a stupid smile. "Ahh, don't ya worry, once they get ya out... I'll give yer leg a closhe look." Healing water magics, etc.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Injured and Lost Traveler.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Yeah, sure enough it is. Stuff what's laid down over the ages, yeah?" Josie remarks, smiling lopsidedly. "The other two are... somethin' about heat," she says, after scrunching up her forehead. It's not her specialty and she's had a bit of the hair of the dog, so it's possibly (possibly) understandable why she is drawing a blank here.
(understandable, but perhaps not forgivable)
"Anyway, what's this about a fourth? My," she pauses a moment here, "ol' mentor never said anything about a fourth. Lessen you mean space rocks?"
But here the lecture has its first real interruption.
Josie regards the man (and his horrible jacket) on the ground.
"A Spiran here, eh. Well, if this don't beat all," Josie remarks, patting down her vest pocket for her cigarettes.
This quickly turns into a hopeless, then near-frantic endeavor as she turns up nothing except... a screwdriver. How'd that get in there? "...Don't suppose anyone's got a rollup?" she asks, before downing another mouthful of whatever horrible thing she's drinking.
"Anyway, let's take a look at that leg, I suppose..."
She crouches alongside him, screwdriver held stiffly in her right hand, and the bottle of rotgut in her left.
She offers him the bottle.
"Drink this."
Pause.
"In case we gotta operate," she says, and then winks hugely, gesturing meaningfully with the screwdriver.
Maybe someone like Lanval, or Layna, or Cyre, or Fei (or Venetia?!) should intervene before she's taken seriously.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Lucky Screwdriver toward her party's challenge, Injured and Lost Traveler.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "You know a lot about rocks, Venetia," with no shortage of awe in his voice. If this lady learned as much about paper and scissors, she'd be a truly dangerous RPS opponent... But as it stands, Fei is learning a great deal about rocks right now. Perhaps rocks need not simply be hard objects, but they can have a kind of internal fragility that can slip past an opponent's defenses and strike them BAM right in the face.
His eyes are sparkling with joy. But then there's a man. A merchant man.
"Oh uh. Hey." He waves to Rianranly, though he seems somewhat less enthused to see him than Rianranly is to see him. "Sorry about your leg." Pause ."Are you uh. Going to ask me to carry you or something?"
It's a sidequest and Fei's innermost completionist tells him he must...do...something!
As he thinks about this, Fei also takes a moment to draw the stones. This doesn't help Rianranly at all but it does bring inner peace to Fei's mind.
Once he's worked on this a bit, he starts lifting rocks off this guy. "Sorry had to do that first, are you okay, man?"
He looks to Josie. He blinks a few times. And then Josie mentions having to operate.
"Josie. Please." He says, pointing.
"That screwdriver hasn't been disinfected yet." He says.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Injured and Lost Traveler.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Injured and Lost Traveler *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, unfortunate travelers end up in the Under Traffic's warrens by mistake. Perhaps they were lost; perhaps they were captured and escaped. You find one slumped, unconscious, against the rock. Head tilted down, hat over their face, they look like they might be dead -- until you see them draw breath. This traveler, it seems, needs medical assistance... and to get out of here. How to best do that -- and make sure they return safely -- is up to you. (Or, alternately, rob them.) =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
========================<* Under Traffic - Round 2 *>========================= ===================< Results - Injured and Lost Traveler >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Captain's Telescope 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Anterior Vuong's Guide to Economic 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Lucky Screwdriver 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Venetia Vuong 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Slow(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Venetia Vuong 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: Venetia Vuong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Cliff is Right There *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, things in the Under Traffic make you need to move quickly. Perhaps it is simple haste, to get through faster; perhaps it is a sprint from monsters. Either way, you move a little hastily into the next room -- and find that it is less a "room" than a door that leads to a narrow ledge over a deep chasm. The ledge will need to be moved along, carefully, single file. Except that you could practically walk right through the door (or, worse, run) and step right into the void. Or maybe the people behind you push you into the void. Either way: be careful! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
"Hey hey!" Rianranly says to Layna. "I bet! What's a magnet, exactly? Let me guess - what's a magnet with you!"
Venetia regrets offering to save him. "The big thing that is important to understand about geology as a science," Venetia says, "is that these stones were laid down over aeons and centuries. Consider that the rock layer here - yes, it's mostly sandstone, but consider these patterns. Do you see them here on the wall? How it's dark at the top, then light, then dark at the bottom again? If we were to dig these stones out, we would in time find fossils... and the ones here," Venetia indicates the bottom, "would in many cases be completely different from the ones up here - nearer the top. Probably, at least. There are other factors..."
"I'm pretty sure that goes against the teachings," Rianranly says. "Next you're going to say humans came outta fishes or something!"
Venetia informs Rianranly, "While I can't explain anything at all about your infernal planet, it is thought that humanity arose in an isolated region - possibly destroyed in one of the previous eras - and spread out across the world very quickly, no doubt due to our command of the earliest ARMs, fire and spears."
"Hey, I guess I'll take your word for it, Miss Slippers!" Rianranly says.
Fortunately, Cyre's drilling makes a hole, and Lanval is able to gather his thoughts and gaze upon the stone with the slow, slow yet profound wisdom of Beer - rocks move around - and Josie raises a point. "Aha!" Venetia says. "Not at all, but meteorite bodies are an important thing to consider. No: There are two kinds of igneous rocks. One is formed when magma migrates into another stone formation deep beneath the surface, and its heat transforms that rock - this we call 'intrusive.' And another comes when a volcano releases a vast sheet of magma, such as was present in the Vuongic era approximately seven hundred million years ago - encompassing most of what is now Aquvy -"
PRESENTLY
Rianranly gets to his feet. "Well, thanks, all of you! And I really appreciate the cookie, Miss Vuong - and that emergency shard-diggy-out surgery, Miss Lovelace. I think I can make my way the way YOU all came - no monsters, right?"
"None," Venetia says. "Be sure to give the Boulians that slip of paper."
"Sure thing!" Rianranly says, holding up the sheet of paper that says in pencil charcoal borrowed from Fei's kit, 'I HAVE A HEAD INJURY. PUT ME IN A DUNGEON IMMEDIATELY' (NOTE: Rianranly cannot read Filgaian writing, yet.)
"Bye now," Venetia calls, waggling her fingers.
"That was stupid," Venetia says after Rianranly has moved out of immediate hearing range. "Well, let's proceed. Jimmy followed this route, more or less, so I don't know what the hell happened to that man. Maybe he was some kind of robber scout. If so, I imagine we'll give them hell, won't w"
Venetia had been taking the lead again, holding her book. She had been cut off when she reached the edge of that humidity-slick precipice of crevace. She spreads her arms apart, eyes widening behind the mask as her pale skin erupts in sweat. Don't bump into her! (The yashichi ring's pinwheel begins to spin...)
DG: Venetia Vuong has used her Tool Yashichi Ring toward her party's challenge, The Cliff is Right There.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna stares at Rianranly in a dumbfounded manner. She doesn't say anything in response to that. She doesn't think he's worth it. Instead, she focuses on Venetia's lesson. It helps tune him out. And it's quite informative!
"Agreed." Layna says with a nod toward Venetia, in regards to her conclusion on the Spiran merchant.
They make haste trying to put distance between them and him, and find themselves on the very edge of the cliffside. Layna raises an eyebrow.
"...Well, that sure ain't ideal." She concludes. She draws out the bottle again and takes a swig, because of course more drinking is the best course of action when dealing with situations requiring focus and coordination.
She moves forward carefully and slowly, not wanting to knock anyone off. Normally she'd try and make a wind-powered jump to the other side, but she likes everyone here enough that she would feel kind of bad if the shockwave caused them to lose their balance.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, The Cliff is Right There.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Fire can make rock too, huhhhh," Lanval continues learning as Rianranly is seen to.
GOING FORWARD
Lanval, as a being of water, generally likes to settle where water does. Water tends to settle at the lowest point, because water and gravity have signed an accord together where water will obey gravity and gravity will give water a place to rest.
But then, out of nowhere, the nefarious insurgent faction of water, the dreaded BUBBLE, formed a secret accord with SOME GASSES in order to defy the authority of GRAVITY. This treason would be made manifest before long--
And then Lanval drifts by over the ravine, tossing a soggy and dirt-caked biscuit into his maw while he holds a smo-- bubbling pipe in the other hand. He looks so peaceful in there as his bubble drifts along as bubbles do.
As bubbles are TRAITORS TO THE AGELESS ACCORD OF WATER AND GRAVITY.
His isn't the only bubble - there's others flitting about in case anyone slips, but there is a question - how did he end up going around their route to come out to this deadly ravine?
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, The Cliff is Right There.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei gives Rianranly a big thumbsup as he leaves with the incriminating charcoal message. He has a suspicion that the guard will probably not throw a guy in a dungeon simply because they asked to be thrown in there but, well, at least he'll be well taken care of one way or another.
He continues to be mightily impressed by Venetia's knowledge of rocks. He kind of figures at this point that he'll have to go to Venetia for all future rock related inquiries but the fact of the amtter is, he's kind of starting to lose the thread here. It's getting tough to keep up with the lecture.
He moves quickly but hopefully he doesn't crash into, say, Lanval for example because he might accidentally pop a bubble and scorch his butt! But at the very least he himself seems to be able to avoid the worst of the DEADLY GAS.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Cliff is Right There.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Ehhhh not as weird as where I've seen SOME merchants turn up," Cyre shrugs from within a sizable pile of sandstone dust. "Like, did you know that some of those moblin guys like to kidnap them? Though I guess the one we found was Merian, so... Maybe you're not the biggest fan? I dunno." Clearly Venetia has some kind of SPORTSBALL-RELATED beef with the Bouleans, or maybe she just hasn't yet had the pleasure of visiting Meria Boule's famous Irington bakery!?
"So uhhh who's this Jimmy guy? Some kind of... Thief-type?" Cyre looks over at Captain Manydays, "Is he one of yours? Mmmmn, maybe he's stolen the jewels we're looking for!?" Cyre may be slightly addled from the whole... Still kind of drunk thing. "That scoundrel! We'll keelhaul 'im--"
Venetia stops right in front of a gaping chasm.
Cyre does not.
Cyre bumps right into Venetia.
"Whoop!" Cyre yelps, reflexively summoning a great wind as he feels his footing give way. His parachute inflates, arresting what would almost certainly be a deadly fall...!!!
He's also nice enough to grab for Venetia when he does. Just in case he did knock her in along with him...!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, The Cliff is Right There.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Same with archaeology," Josie remarks, coming up tragically empty in her search for a cigarette. "You won't find Zeboim-like stuff coterminous," which is a misuse of the word, not to mention an unexpected bit of vocabulary from the normally plain-spoken archaeologist, but at least she said it without slurring it too much, "with the Day of Collapse, aye? ...Well, lessen it's stuff dug up and then used, but-- the point remains. It's still the elder," she finishes, only adding, "though all this stuff with leggy fishes and five-eyed bugs is beyond me and mine."
At least there's something of a point gained with regards to the business with meteorites, and Josie takes the moment to look smug. Then!
"Oh, so it's where the... yeah, that kinda thing. Beyond obsidian, it's none of my problem, and even that's stretching it," she says, waving the screwdriver dismissingly.
Fei points out then that it needs to be disinfected first.
"Oh, right. Thanks for that one, Junior."
She proceeds to pour some of the rotgut over it. "There! Good as new."
Well, it's the thought that counts.
She gives him a little smile and a wave as he walks on off.
"How long d'you think he'll last," she says, sotto voce, to the others.
But there is a more pressing issue--
Like the edge of the crevice. "Erk," Josie utters, wheeling back from a near-plunge over the edge. "Long first step? --Whoops," she adds, as Cyre bumps right into Venetia. She has a moment where she then considers her options, pockets the screwdiver, and with the confidence of an acrobat, takes a leap for one of the floating bubbles from Lanval. Waste not, want not.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Cliff is Right There.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Cliff is Right There *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, things in the Under Traffic make you need to move quickly. Perhaps it is simple haste, to get through faster; perhaps it is a sprint from monsters. Either way, you move a little hastily into the next room -- and find that it is less a "room" than a door that leads to a narrow ledge over a deep chasm. The ledge will need to be moved along, carefully, single file. Except that you could practically walk right through the door (or, worse, run) and step right into the void. Or maybe the people behind you push you into the void. Either way: be careful! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
========================<* Under Traffic - Round 3 *>========================= ====================< Results - The Cliff is Right There >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Yashichi Ring 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Venetia Vuong 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Reckless(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Venetia Vuong 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: Venetia Vuong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Underwater Rafting *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A few portions of the Under Traffic have small underwater streams. Such things made this popular as a base of operations for the bandits and Gobs that operate out of Under Traffic. Some of them, though, must be crossed. You find a small wooden pier reaching out into the water, and a few makeshift log rafts -- along with oars. When you and your party gets on the raft, you find that the current is steeper than expected... and it rushes towards a sudden bend that /could/ end in a disastrous crash, unless you find a way to turn the raft quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
The gap isn't that big but Venetia immediately topples forwards only to be
SAVED!
BY THE CAT!
Cyre crosses the bridge, lands, and the others make their way. The path is not that perilous if you can take it step by step, with or without the benefit of the perfect cast. Venetia is slumped on her side, breathing deeply with a hand on her chest. That was pretty harrowing. She leans back against the wall and she focuses on Fei, in particular, because he is in some obscure sense familiar, before focusing comes back to her.
She answers Cyre. "He's another person from my school. I don't think we're looking for jewels, though you might have changed your mind abruptly while we were speaking to that man. I think," she grunts as she gets back up, "that we're getting near to the far end... I think that we must have gone up instead of down, else we'd have gotten our way to the river."
SOON
"He'll survive well enough in their dungeons," Venetia says, as they come to the little nook with several log rafts parked together, one of which has a wooden peg transfixing a note from Jimmy saying: THIS ONE. It's a pretty big raft. Most of the rafts seem kind of indifferently kept.
"Now you may ask, why is there water flowing through this stone? How is that even a thing?" Venetia states. "The answer is that the water builds up and gradually seeks its level through the influence of gravitation, AND - through motion and chemical changes, over huge breadths of time - it can hollow spaces out. Have any of you ever seen a limestone cavern?"
Venetia also picks up a pole and, once everyone is aboard the raft, bonks her way out to start flowing down the dark subterranean river.
"Oh - if any of you have a light you can hang, by the way," says Venetia, probably about eight seconds past when it would've been super easy to do so.
DG: Venetia Vuong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Underwater Rafting.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Things go surprisingly well, considering the current inebriated state of a good portion of the party.
"Nah, I don't know 'im." Layna replies, shaking her head at Cyre's question. Venetia sets the record straight, and then they're able to move on - where they find an underwater stream!
"Aye, now this one I know about." Layna says with a nod. ...She doesn't know anything about the underlying physics of it, of course, but she knows that it happens. "Aye, that I have. I've swam through me fair share, lookin' for lost treasures."
She says this with a confident nod as she picks up an oar and steps aboard the raft along with the others. Rafting might not be one of Layna's best skills, but she's still a fair hand at it - she's at home on the water, in most situations.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Underwater Rafting.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval doesn't end up in the raft, but all the regulars already know that watching Lanval float around in the water - regardless of which way he's facing - isn't a cause for concern. He's facing up as if to better take in Venetia's lectures. For all of his erratic positioning and lounging about, she has herself a captive audience. Some of this he knows, if maybe not by these words and terms - but it's always kind of novel to think that despite being so closely aligned to the very water that he can't cognize every possible facet of it.
Even when Schturdark has those meditative discussions with him, as their Oracle.
He's among the first to hit the rapid bend. It's sort of cartoonish, watching him bonk his big fat head against the wall at the end of the current. He puts on a silly cringing face and everything, sinking under the water for a second before surfacing back up with one open eye.
"Mmm." He thinks. This is water's way. This is the way it's supposed to go. His comprehension starts to drift as it follows the path upstream to where the water trickles in from, all the little tiny things that have gotten in the water--
He looks to the raft coming along.
Oh, yeah. They probably wouldn't appreciate the way water's flowing here. They would do the exact opposite of that, if they still could after the fact.
The water starts abruptly and inexplicably flowing a whole lot slower, attempting to 'catch' the raft so it can make the turn.
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Underwater Rafting.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Of course if Fei was being serious he'd also point out that a screwdriver is probably not nearly precise enough though a head injury could use a drill and--
But really he was just joking around too so he grins at Josie. "Nice," He tells her. He's happy she's here. He's missed some of his friends in the Black Wolves even if she seems way more into her element here than Fei himself is.
"Man, I totally wasn't expecting a pier." He admits. Or a raft for that matter. He clambers on board. "Well I've a torch." He says, drawing one out of a bag and lighting it on fire with his hand.
"Is there history here? Did some army cross this river as part of a sneak attack or something?" He wonders aloud.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Underwater Rafting.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
The deepest irony is that Venetia's living purrachute very nearly also led to a fatal falline! This cat is both savior and destroyer, all decided by the flip of a coin...!
But no, they both survive. Cyre is even polite enough to help her back up! "All good?" He asks, then beams and says, "All good! Oh but uh. If we went up, then why's it that I'm hearin' water flowing..."
Oh.
That's why.
Venetia explains how water springs through rocks. Cyre nods along in agreement. "Well sure. Everyone knows that water beats earth! It's just sense! Or is that... Is that backwards?" Is it only backwards on the moon? But if water beats earth, then what beats fire? Cyre ponders this as he mounts the makeshift log-raft, only... Only for the rapids to begin pulling this way and that! The tug of the water on the wood disturbs Cyre's balance again, but this time he manages to cling to the log instead of a person. This is probably a good trade, all things considered. The only one who could be okay with being knocked off the raft here is already in the water...!
"Uhhhh, we're movin' too fast... Everythin's spinnin' and needs to stop spinnin'--" You can't tell from how dark it is, but Cyre is turning VERY GREEN, and not in his usual 'about to cast a big spell' kind of way. He is casting a spell, but only because he's using his parachute as a sort of sail to arrest their momentum and help navigate the raging rapids.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Underwater Rafting.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The bubble, fortunately, helps with the descent. It's a downright lazy drift down, giving Josie enough time to finish off the last dregs of her bottle (and dispose of it) before they reach the other side.
It's glass, it's probably fine. It's practically stone itself if you think about it the right way!
Soon after they come to the bend. And the pier. "I'd hope so," she remarks to Fei. "Otherwise... we'd have to figure out which one of us floats best!" She laughs, because she's a little drunk.
"Karst," Josie remarks, at Venetia's explanation of the local landscape. "Seen that one once or two. ...And again just now, heh heh," she adds, laughing briefly at her own joke. "Anyway, let's get a move on-like, yeah? I think I could use a wee bit of that breakfast."
She may be regretting turning down the biscuits now.
Sliding onto the raft with the others, she glances up at Venetia from where she sprawls on it. "Oh, aye, d'you need a light?"
She mutters something under her breath and snaps her fingers (with her left hand); a small ball of light lazily begins to float up into the air where it bobs gently.
"And it's lightning," she remarks to Cyre. "Lightning beats water, sure enough."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Underwater Rafting.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Underwater Rafting *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A few portions of the Under Traffic have small underwater streams. Such things made this popular as a base of operations for the bandits and Gobs that operate out of Under Traffic. Some of them, though, must be crossed. You find a small wooden pier reaching out into the water, and a few makeshift log rafts -- along with oars. When you and your party gets on the raft, you find that the current is steeper than expected... and it rushes towards a sudden bend that /could/ end in a disastrous crash, unless you find a way to turn the raft quickly. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Treasure=========================================
========================<* Under Traffic - Round 4 *>========================= =======================< Results - Underwater Rafting >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 6 --(10)--> 16 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 6 --(10)--> 16 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Venetia Vuong 60 --(25)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Venetia Vuong has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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: Venetia Vuong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Gob Rush *>========================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- When you round the next bend, you find an exit that leads into a remote part of Meria Boule -- as the sunlight that pours in looks over a high mountain ledge. Unfortunately, the final chamber is not a simple walk. It is, instead, a Gob warren: four small, roughly-made wooden huts, a floor strewn with bones and filth, and over a dozen Gobs look up as one as you enter. There is shouting and hissing, before the Gobs dive for stolen ARMs and their worse, handcrafted melee weapons. Then, they come rushing at you in waves! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
"I'm almost sad that I didn't go to Spira or Lunar or whatever it's called with you all, because the comparative geological formations would make my fortune," Venetia muses to Layna. "But of course," she continues with irritation at something unseen, "I'd probably be prevented from publishing..."
"I wouldn't be surprised if these were old smuggler tunnels," Venetia muses at Fei's comment. "They might have been made long ago, or expanded from natural spaces. That's a common sign of the TRULY early places - I know what you mean about archeological layers, but I mean from the Bridges and Roads period, if you believe it's not just an artifact of old signs."
"Water wins in the long run," Venetia says to Cyre - "The very long run..."
She seems to be about to say more when suddenly the raft, slowed enough by Lanval's influence to not just SLUICE past at warp six, pops through what looks like it would normally be a landing space. There is a brief vision of a narrow and extremely claustrophobic habitat - or perhaps gobitat would be more accurate. But there is a barrier in place, and the raft bangs off it and keeps floating downstream, even as the gobs look at them, panic visibly, and some of them run for -- some kind of mechanism --
And the group floats forwards into a wider space, completely unharmed, past the lurch of a sudden dip. "Well, that was anticlimatic," Venetia says. Then she looks upwards. "Wait," she says, "is this space... I don't think this is natural rock at all any more. Seraph, er, or Cyre - wait, are you vomiting? Ugh. Dinoginos take us, is this some kind of a..."
The raft floats in a shallow lake. It gets shallower... the water flowing in from above stops... and soon enough they are revealed to be on a huge rusty platform surrounded by the eroded and half-rotted wreckage of several other rafts. Ancient metal gratings stretch outwards, and no doubt that is where the water goes. This place smells ancient, but the natural level of the water must be lower than here. "And they were diverting that river to... flood this space? But," Venetia says as she steps off the becalmed raft, "why would -"
"Goboma warned us about you!" "Yes yes!" comes an echo from high up.
ARM lights flick on with arc brightness.
Venetia whirls around.
BGM INSERT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLCWCPyxByg
The machines come. Almost more suited for Kattelox than Meria Boule, the four subsidiary machines leap and gambol towards the nearly immobile central fortress, which hovers on electromagnetic force as the gobs, having scrambled down into their KILL ZONE, pilot the machine together. There is a sense of rising power...
"<SYSTEM ONLINE,>" the massive - Golem? Gear? What is it, exactly? - declaims as it spreads its combined arms together into a powerful flex. Steam hisses.
Venetia reaches for her hip, scrabbling for a Crest Graph.
ULTIMATE BANDITRON GOB JUSTICE fires a ray of SOMETHING horrible towards her, which leaves a huge scorch mark on the metal. "Gleep!" Venetia says.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Gale Claw toward his party's challenge, Gob Rush.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna raises an eyebrow. It sounds like there's some past grievances, there.
"Just start attachin' yourself to large group of Drifters gatherin' in one place an' it's bound to happen eventually, aye? It's startin' to be a recurrin' thing." Layna replies with a nonchalant wave of her hand.
It's an overall pleasant ride, but part of the way down they end up startling some gobs - and then, Venetia points something out. This isn't natural rock anymore. Something made this.
The water becomes shallower and shallower...and before long, an enemy presents itself.
Layna stares...and then laughs.
"Well, wouldja look at that? That's quite the sight, aye?" She remarks with a grin, then cracks her knuckles. "...Good, I've been itchin' for a fight."
The machine flexes, and she flexes back as a challenge...and then, charges forward. As she moves her right bracer begins to ignite with flames before she leaps at the machine and punches forward, discharging a shockwave of wind and flame that could very well put a hole right through it.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gob Rush.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The raft safely seen across the rapids, Lanval drifts along after them until he is dumped face-down into the rusty muck of-- well what it is is already well-established and let's just leave it as 'he starts face-down in it.'
He knows what he's face-down in all too well. He has to stop and look up to mentally inventory each and every one of them, both eyes fluttering open a lot more than they usually do as if he were suddenly shocked at the idea that he might've accidentally seen any of them to their doom.
Then there's shouting.
"Heyyy, wait," Lanval calls, but it is very unlikely they'll hear him as he rolls onto his back to face up as the ARM light shines. "Ya gotta hear 'bout rocksh...! There'sh breakfasht in it!"
It reminds him of the time where he encountered a bunch of Gobs stomping about in a rapidly collapsing weapon. This one, though, it's not falling apart. It's also firing a ray of SOMETHING that only misses him because he's lying down, and he can feel the intense heat in the air.
"...Did ya shay shomethin' 'bout water winnin' in the long run?" He asks of Venetia as he sits up. He doesn't bear the Gobs any particular ill will - he's seen first-hand the squalor and discontent they typically live in, a consequence of any number of social and environmental factors a dying world tends to present - as he takes his drinking gourd in both hands and has himself a sip. Visually, he is an overweight, long-bearded, barefoot man against a giant ARM miracle of destructive power.
He starts to laugh. It is loud, out of place, carefree, and... well... naturally.
Mirthful. That, and also the scent and feel of water in all of its forms, beautiful and not (...especially not), as Lanval strides forward upright and measured. Almost regal, almost, withdrawing a little shining white glass bottle.
"I beseech thee..." He says, voice booming as he just hurls the tiny bottle into the great big combination construct.
The bottle explodes in a huge shower of sanctified water, and also a dash of glass shrapnel. That looks like way, way more water than a bottle that size should hold.
"Take thy seats and take heed of the lecture of rocks! Ha ha ha!"
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Gob Rush.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Venetia asks the salient question, and Cyre... Cyre has an answer. To his credit, it's not just straight up retching and vomiting into the stream. No, he's made of sterner stuff than that. "It's--*hrk*" Cyre... swallows. Ominously. He's sweating, clammy, shivering and pale, all telltale signs... And yet, he fights on! He holds it in! "I'll be okay. It's just, too much movin' Hrf--"
But before Cyre can either hold his booze or lose it forever to the gentle flow of the underground river, suddenly... Suddenly, there is something.
Something amazing.
Something incredible.
Something... Something... Marketable...!
It's like a switch is flipped. You can practically see the Gella signs light up in Cyre's eyes. "That's--" he shoots up with a start, his pallor giving way to a blazing emerald aura. "That's SUPER COOL! Hey!" He's rising! Higher, higher, on a trail of hurricane-force winds. "Hey, you guys in there! I think we might be able to come to an agreement. But first we need to deal with this whole 'trying to kill us' thing." Brighter and brighter Cyre glows, rising like a glimmering viridian star. That light blazes, gathers and resolves, condensing from countless motes into the form of a great totemic beast. Cyre sees that they must battle a gear, and takes on a shape capable of doing so-- he makes of himself a shintai of his tiger-god. A shintiger, if you will.
For a brief, beautiful moment, it's almost as if the party is about to be party to some kind of awesome super robot vs kaijuu battle.
And then the Cyre-turned-wind-tiger abruptly remembers his motion sickness, grabs hold of Gob Justice by the shoulders, and retches right in its face.
...
The good news is that, in this form, said retching mostly produces only pure elemental power and some kind of cone-shaped tornado blast, rather than... Too much grossness.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "Lunar is the planet, Spira is an...island chain?" He frowns. "Well 'planet', it's really more of a moon hench...Lunar." He doesn't really go too far into it though because there are some Lunarians who will totally complain about how while you're on the moon it's the planet and all and he'd rather avoid that possibility though maybe it's too late now.
Regardless, off the raft! Sort of. There's a platform and such. nd they're being shouted at by ...
Ugh. Gobs.
FLASHBACK
Yeah okay Fei has been kidnapped by Gobs once thanks to Id dumping his body in the desert once entirely to troll him and it was really terrible and he's still worried that Lily remembers it okay? They stole his RPS badge too! It was hard getting it back!!
NOW
"The fuck." Fei says as this display happens.
He kind of wishes that maybe he did try the 'see who sinks better' challenge right now. "Okay. Uh." He rubs at his neck with a hand. What should he do?
'Take thy seats and take heed of the lecture of rocks! Ha ha ha!'
Fei's eyes widen. "Great idea Lanval!"
He promptly jumps in and starts hitting things with his fists a lot, sometimes with literal rocks. It's a very handson approach to the lecture but Fei is determinedd to be a great teaching assistant.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Gob Rush. DG: Venetia Vuong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gob Rush.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Smuggler tunnels, eh?" Josie remarks, from where she sprawls on the raft. "Seems the like. If it ain't stuff like this, it's tucked into a caravan, right where the lawmen don't tend to check unless they've got a bug up their ass about something," she adds, talking perhaps a little more freely on such matters. She swings herself up into a seated position as the raft wobbles a touch (a little bit of the tide, even here?) and absently pats at her pants pockets. "...Fengalon's balls, not even here? I really screwed myself over," she mutters, retrieving instead...
Her flask. Hasn't she had enough?
Apparently not.
"Want a hit, Junior?" she remarks to Fei, jiggling the chilly flask in the air right in front of his face. "Or any of you lot? Might as well get a few last licks i--"
And then things seem to go a little strangely.
"Huh."
The archaeologist shifts into a crouch. "I smell metal," she remarks, her voice low. "Hold tight, this might be about to get a little poorly."
And indeed, they do.
Josie is a woman who has seen a good many very strange things in her life. To date, a set of Gob-piloted... Gears? in a subterranean cavern: not so much.
She pulls a face that is approximately :|
Which is also the point when she takes a drink from her flask, hands it off to whoever is willing (or close enough) and then goes for her gun, bolting across the platform in the moment after. Specifically, the rifle!
(It has some (limited) anti-Gear functionality)
After which she takes (the best she can find all considering) cover and opens fire.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Gob Rush.
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Gob Rush *>========================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- When you round the next bend, you find an exit that leads into a remote part of Meria Boule -- as the sunlight that pours in looks over a high mountain ledge. Unfortunately, the final chamber is not a simple walk. It is, instead, a Gob warren: four small, roughly-made wooden huts, a floor strewn with bones and filth, and over a dozen Gobs look up as one as you enter. There is shouting and hissing, before the Gobs dive for stolen ARMs and their worse, handcrafted melee weapons. Then, they come rushing at you in waves! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
========================<* Under Traffic - Round 5 *>========================= ============================< Results - Gob Rush >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 16 --(10)--> 26 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 6 --(10)--> 16 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 6 --(10)--> 16 Pass Gale Claw 3 Combat Effects: Sacrifice and Embolde ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 6 --(10)--> 16 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 16 --(20)--> 36 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 6 --(10)--> 16 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Venetia Vuong 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Venetia Vuong has successfully explored Under Traffic!
=============================<* Under Traffic *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Knight's Emblem *>=================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The tunnels and warrens of Under Traffic have been explored and expanded on for generations. In centuries past, Meria Boule used Under Traffic to invade the fragmented principalities of Damzen and bring them under the control of the crown. Many knights entered the tunnels, exploring to find new ways to move Merian armies... and many met grisly ends in these tunnels. As you are about to leave, you find a soul that did not escape. The skeleton you find has been picked clean, and the armor on it has gone to rust. Its sword crumbles a little more to be touched. However, the silvery emblem on the armor is pristine -- ensorcelled to never tarnish. The descendants of this brave knight may be interested -- or perhaps you would like a memento. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia has aggro, because she talked shit to Goboma, and Goboma remembers that. He remembers it damn well. He was very specific: if you see some snotty witch in a dress wearing a mask, that person is your enemy and also full of money. Goboma lied about the money part, but Goboma is not a good person.
This means Venetia does a lot of running.
MEANWHILE - GOB JUSTICE is tested. The rushing super-punch from Layna staggers the thing - a hole is not punched, but the thing topples backwards, shedding one leg and landing on its back with a horrible shrieking and grinding sound and a dislodged gobpilot. The thing puts itself back together - which is itself terrifying - but it felt that. And then it shoots a rocket at Venetia, who does not help Goboma's case when she shoots jewel shards at it.
The arena grumbles a little -- before the blessing of Lanval smashes outwards, ensorcelating a gob in the left arm, who sits down and declares, "I can see the Gobians! I need to rethink my entire life strategob!"
Cyre throws up on the central cockpit. "ggggggggggggggggggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" says the pilot. This is actually ongoing throughout most of the rest of the action, even though what came out was merely grody burp rather than, y ou know, actual ralph.
Fei's punchdown rush dislodges that already injured leg unit, followed up with a shot from Josie, which dislodges the entire thing and sends it flying with a bang crash snap whiz bang BOOM.
"RETREAT!"
Gob Justice's rockets fire in an enormous cloud of colored smoke. When it vanishes, there is a single gob remaining in the arena, who visibly panics and then flees back the way it came.
"... Well," Venetia says. "That wasn't on the tour. I suppose that Jimmy is going to have to explain himself."
AT THE BUFFET SPOT
Jimmy is sitting in a folding chair. There's a big chaffing dish of Egg Roast (which is basically a gigantic scramble with fluffy texture and integrated ground sausage and boiled roots with some side sauces for decoration) and a tureen of coffee. Jimmy is on cup of coffee #3 and is wondering if he can leave long enough to pee behind that tree over there without the risk of the party emerging from the crevasse he EXPECTED THEM to take.
DEEPER IN THE BOWELS OF THE MINE, AN HOUR AGO
A gob collects the 'USE THIS ONE' note that Jimmy left on a passageway - one that was well before Rianranly's trapped self - and takes it down to the landing. The gob passes Rianranly, ignoring Rianranly's pleas for help, because this gob is also not a good person.
PRESENTLY
The group moves through an ancient sewerage access space - or rather, reach a zone with a ladder upwards (carved from stone - visibly solid) - and with a single knight laying there, caked in rust. The skeleton is eroded and partially calcified by the repeated flooding, and the armor is almost and completely rusty... except for that chest emblem, which is a little hard to make out -- perhaps from detailing points that weren't enchanted -- but which remain.
"..." Venetia gazes at this, and then clasps her hand in a moment of prayer.
Afterwards, she adds, "I smell coffee. We must be close."