2020-01-23: We Are What We Must
- Log: We Are What We Must
- Cast: Seraph Harmaus, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Dragon Roost Island
- Date: January 23, 2020
- Summary: Gwen, out by Dragon Roost Island, meets a very strange person.
DG: A party led by Seraph Harmaus 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> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
The man whistles to himself on the approach to the cavern, hands buried in the pockets of his longcoat.
Local rumor has it that Bokoblins have moved into the cavern of late, making it far more dangerous for the unwary to wander around here -- and not to mention the inhabitants of the island, the Rito. As a result, there have been a fair number of Drifters coming to the island of late, keen to make a few coin investigating.
...Both from the inhabitants of the island, nervous about the incursion and what it might ultimately bring for them, and whatever treasures can be prized from the Bokoblins' claws.
Perhaps this might explain the presence of the stranger here, to all appearances an extremely unassuming-looking middle-aged man.
The cheerful whistle fades out after a moment as the man crouches before the wall here and regards the blocks inquisitively.
"...It needs moved," he mutters aloud, brushing aside grime and foliage alike as he tries to pick out which of the stones are likely to be able to be moved.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Y'say you need somethin' t'be moved, now?" That's the voice of one Gwen Whitlock, self-proclaimed super courier and currently stranded Drifter, with a sad, hunched down gear parked out of view being the current reason for her current location. If and when she manages to snag the Seraph's attention, Gwen makes a casual salute of greeting. "I promise, I don't bite."
Of course Gwen would promote herself to be the one to not be the danger, as the man in front of her seems, for all intents and purposes, to be a normal-seeming Drifter type, possibly in need of some heavy lifting.
As to what, the courier can't really see, but after staring at the control board of her gear for twenty minutes with the pound of a steadily growing tension headache threatening on one side of her head, she will take anything.
This will be fine. After all, he whistles! A guy can't be too bad if they can whistle.
"Looks like some sorta temple structure in here..."
DG: Gwen Whitlock 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Gwen Whitlock 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> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Ah? Oh, another is here, and it speaks!" the man declares, rising to his feet and turning to face her, regarding her with curious intensity. "We had thought we would be alone yet, but it has come! And with an offer of aid?" The man smiles, his lips spreading wide. "Our thanks." And with that, the man bows.
That pronouncement complete, the man indicates the blocks. "Others put blocks here, but as it can see, difficult to see which can move. A problem. Then, there is the moving of the blocks, and after that, the entrance, yet." He cocks his head, regarding her again.
"Many is better than few. Will it travel with us? Curious, we are, about contents of caverns. Curiouser, the inhabitants. And curiouser still..."
The man's questionable nature aside, the blocks prove to be particularly difficult to locate. By contrast, shifting them is easy, but by then much time has been lost.
The sun is already lower in the sky by the time they're able to go inside.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Even Gwen is taken aback by the curious manner of the strange Drifter's speech. What is that called, again? One of Frea's many books, that detailed- ah, third person speech. Like a member of royalty.
While being one on one on a strange island in a strange land has made Gwen a little more particuliar about which happy-go-lucky mannerisms she cared to deploy in her day-to-day life, if the courier ever dismissed a person due to the way they spoke, she'd be a mighty hypocrite indeed.
Plus, like any good Drifter, she needs to know the answer to this particular problem.
Several hours later, and the answer has been found!
".... Y'gotta be kiddin' me." Gwen shields her eyes as she looks up the mountain. It's led to another problem! "Well, it'll be a nice view. The sun may get to setting about the mid-way point." She pauses, realizing the indirect question the Drifter had asked her. "... Oh, uh, yeah, if it ain't evident by this point, I *will* be accompanying you. Can't leave a Drifter to the mercy of such a place, 'specially with bokogoblins possibly bein' around. Not that we'd be in the right here, if this is what they'd consider their home."
Bokogoblins are strange folk, so similar to the Hobgoblins, but different in their own right.
If Gwen's gear wasn't down for the count, something like this would be easy to traverse! That is, assuming she can even find a spot to park the thing up there.
"Welp, let's get a move on then, shall we?" Gwen begins the arduous climb upwards, her speed slow and careful, ready to reach a hand downwards towards Harmaus, if needed. "I 'spose introductions are in order. I'm Gwen Whitlock, super courier! At least, I am, on Ignas. Still getting a foothold here in this area." Attempting to gauge the distance between one ledge and the one she's on, she continues, "What's your name? N' are you a regular 'round these parts?"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Climbing the Mountainside.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Then we will be at the mercy of the dark," the man remarks, only to chuckle as if Gwen had said something entertaining. "Would like to see the dark, here. Or will the mountain keep it at bay? So many questions!" He heads on into the cavern, stuffing both hands into his pockets.
"So few answers."
The whistling resumes, all the way through the tunnel and out to the other side. He seems nonchalant, in spite of the threat in these parts.
In spite of the creatures and the being that has named himself their master.
"Ah, and here is the sun, again," he remarks, once they work over to the other side of the mountain. His attention rolls over to Gwen. "Ah, so it is. Good! Would be a problem, if we went alone. But one plus one is... or is that one plus two?" A smile curls his lips, but ultimately, he shakes his head. "Ah, nevermind the math of it. We go and we see. But first, we climb!"
From a pocket in his longcoat, the stranger retrieves a small satchet -- something dried -- and after crushing the contents in the palm of one gloved hand, he inhales the aroma.
...Before pocketing it again and conducting a few stretches before--
Leaping on up to one of the footholds, and grabbing for one of the side of the next as if to flip himself up higher, near to as nimble as can be.
"Its name is Gwen? A messenger supreme as its duty. Yes, we see." He bobs his head in a nod. "...We are Harmaus. We are," and the man pauses, continuing almost recklessly to ascend the mount, "from a long ways away."
DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Valerian Root toward his 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 2 *>======================= ====================< Results - Climbing the Mountainside >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 23 --(3)--> 26 Pass Valerian Root 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 23 --(8)--> 31 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Secret(2)|Slow(2)|Stupify(1)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Is that so bad? A night sky, a gorgeous view, a- gaugh!" Gwen stumbles, her foothold crumbling down beneath the weight of one foot. Digging her right hand into the hard rock of the mountainside, Gwen keeps herself from falling down, but only just.
Peering up at the curious man as he vaults up the mountain with ease (with the help of something, Gwen does not judge) the courier pauses, tilting her head.
Maybe.... the man himself is a Bokogoblin! It's not as if Gwen had really encountered one close up.
Maybe... she could befriend him, and thus net a valuable potential clientele?! Bokogoblins would be an excellent market to maybe tap into, with tons of great venues! She could be a symbol of peace and tolerance! She could...
Well, assuming the rumors about Ganondorf being their master are false, anyway. She has certain... limits.
In the end, it is Harmaus who reaches the possible entrance first, the lagging Gwen a persistent but slow weight to this upward climb. But, eventually, she makes it up.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Unlit Sconces *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room that you enter has a large stone door that has slid shut. There are, next to it, a pair of sconces that hold unlit torches in them. A wooden branch, dry, rests on the ground. Those familiar with these sorts of ruins might be able to guess what the trigger for this door to open must be. However, there is no torch inside -- which means that you will need to find a way to ignite the sconces, if you want to open the door. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
His only answer to Gwen's question is to laugh, as if she had said something quite amusing.
Despite his apparent age and unassuming build, he moves quickly, as if spurred on by that herb in which he partook. He ascends, moving past and well ahead of her. Not at any point does he glance back -- not until he reaches the top.
He never reaches a hand back to assist her.
"There," Harmaus says, once she joins him. He points at a stone door, close at hand. "Even these creatures yet light fires to stave off the dark. Does it wonder, ever? Why so many fear the dark and the night?"
He approaches one of the dried out branches and stoops to pick it up, then holds it out before him.
"Light banishes darkness. In light, there is fire; in fire, light. And with fire, darkness is all."
Light shimmers brilliantly about the stick he holds in his hand then, as conjured by magic.
But will it merely set the twig aflame or will it consume it?
DG: Seraph Harmaus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Unlit Sconces.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
".... Definitely a question of note," Gwen says, eyeing the darkness where the entrance once was.
At first, it was easy to think him some manner of bokogoblin, employing some dark magic to change his(?) appearance. But if so, why would he talk about the bokogoblins like he wasn't one? It wouldn't be unusual for someone who is imitating a human to criticize something in order to not draw attention, but this...
Nothing seems to affect him.
Harmaus, the man from a long ways away. The question is, just how long is a 'long ways'?
Putting together his ability to produce magic fire (not something exclusive to one planet versus another, of course), and deciding that the question is innocent enough to ask, Gwen says, "... Am I correct in thinkin' 'a long ways away' is Lunar?"
It would be easy enough to disguise the question if Gwen's hunch is incorrect, something she's already inoculating her for. "Just a stab in the dark." She offers up a self-effacing grin as she strikes up a match, intentionally using it in lieu of her ARM. "No pun intended, of course."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Courier Kit toward her party's challenge, Unlit Sconces.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Unlit Sconces *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next room that you enter has a large stone door that has slid shut. There are, next to it, a pair of sconces that hold unlit torches in them. A wooden branch, dry, rests on the ground. Those familiar with these sorts of ruins might be able to guess what the trigger for this door to open must be. However, there is no torch inside -- which means that you will need to find a way to ignite the sconces, if you want to open the door. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
======================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 3 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Unlit Sconces >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 26 --(0)--> 26 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 31 --(0)--> 31 Pass Courier Kit 1 Wits Effects: Resilient and Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 30 --(30)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1)|Secret(1)|Slow(1) Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Gwen Whitlock 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============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
The branch ignites. The light fades, replaced only by the flame.
"Clever one, it is," Harmaus remarks, inclining his head her way. "We are from Lunar, yes. We had traveled such a long long way to come here. So many interesting things we see and find! Much yet to learn." He lights the sconces, one by one, as if turning a deliberately blind eye to Gwen's match (rude of him).
"...Ah, and now, the flame is set," he declares, as the door opens.
"And now the way is clear," he adds, turning to actually look at Gwen and study her carefully.
"And now our choice is none but to follow. What lies within?"
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
What is clever? Is she the clever one, or was he referring to something else? But then again, this is a man(?) who refers to himself in the third person. A quirk of his language, perhaps?
And if he is from Lunar, then...
"Oh, well, that explains a lot of it, then!'" Gwen says, clapping her hands together. "So, you're from Lunar! Great. I just got back from there. What region? You don't seem t'be the type t'be from Spira. Just a guess, anyway. So, how has your trip here been, then? You seem t'be mixin' in pretty well in regards with clothing. But like I said, it was a wild guess."
The fire is lit, and the darkness is left behind, Gwen and Harmaus emerging into the open air and the few rays of the setting sun.
Beyond, lies another door, obstructed with loose bricks. "Huh, it's not exactly a wall," Gwen says, experimentally pushing at one of the bricks. "More like a pile. If we pull the ones we can reach, if we ain't careful, the whole lot of em'll collapse right down on top of us."
She's not ready to reveal her ARM's abilities just yet with this strange Drifter, even if the prospect of seeing if she can snipe bricks down is a tempting one. "Maybe if we pick some on the side, as opposed to the middle? Hm." Taking off her neckerchief, she uses it as a makeshift sling, and attempts to launch a few rocks at the top. She looks to Harmaus then, seeing just what he may do.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
She asks where he came from on Lunar. His answer is simple:
"North."
Though he does go on to embellish it:
"North and no more. North and all. To Spira we have nevers been."
He chuckles when she says he's fitting in well.
"Yah, well. We are what we must." The sun is just a red disc on the horizon.
Harmaus regards it a moment or three, then bows to it and tips an invisible hat before heading on.
"Another wall blocks us," he observes, as they reach the next barrier before them. "It wonders us... what are those here hiding? What do they keep for themselves?" He shakes his head and strides towards the wall, regarding it critically.
"No matter. They can hides it all they please. We will have it."
DG: Seraph Harmaus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Live Action Tetris. DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Courier Kit toward her 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 4 *>======================= ========================< Results - Live Action Tetris >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 26 --(23)--> 49 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 31 --(23)--> 54 Fail Courier Kit 1 Wits Effects: Resilient and Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Madness|Tire(2) Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Seraph Harmaus has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Steam Geyser *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next chamber you enter, like many of the cave tunnels of Dragon Roost Cavern, is sweltering hot. Being near a caldera does that. However, here you can find cracks on the ground. Periodically, a gout of white steam that is scalding hot blasts out from the cracks. Getting across the room will require timing -- and probably running past some before they can scorch you. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Slow=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The first few throws yield some results, and thus, armed with hubris of partial success, Gwen grows more adventurous, chucking more and more rocks at the wall.
Indeed.
They will definitely have it, and by 'it' it will be the wall, coming down towards them in a slow, threatening fall downwards.
Gwen quickly shifts towards Harmaus, attempting to nudge both herself and him towards the exit of the last room, if to avoid as much damage from the falling debris as possible.
While it could easily be a bid to remain on the Drifter's good side, it *was* Gwen's experimenting that made the wall fall down towards them.
Maybe she's the one who's the potential threat here, Gwen reflects. "Y'okay? That was a close one."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Harmaus receives, perhaps, exactly what he had wanted.
...Assuming that what he had wanted had in fact been the collapse of the wall. Luckily Gwen's timing is a good one; he only gets partially pelted with rubble as she forces the both of them back towards the entryway.
He coughs once the dust settles, and like a cat grooming itself after a mishap, sets about immediately brushing the dust from his body, going so far as to even shake his hair and beard free of the stony powder.
"We are unhurt yet," is his response, eying first her then the wreckage. He absently kicks at a small stone before venturing onwards, apparently also interested in leaving this mishap behind.
It's hot out here. The sun may be a distant light on the horizon, but the heat here is worse than midday in the desert.
"Close, closer," the strange man remarks, his eyes bright as he stares up towards the peak of the mountain. "Closest yet."
Steam vents nearby; the man steps back, for all his strange nature not one given to becoming melted by steam.
"Water is the enemy of fire," he remarks, glancing at Gwen. "But when they combine, they make all the more dangerous the foe." He pauses, before palming another one of those sachets and breathing in its contents.
"We recommend it runs too."
He's off after that, without so much hesitation or how-you-do.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Valerian Root toward his party's challenge, Steam Geyser.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It will be interesting, to see what exactly waits for them on the top of this mountain, all things said.
But first, they'll need to get through this blazing chamber.
"Augh, this is terrible heat." Gwen mops her brow her with neckerchief, turning her head just in time to spot Harmaus flinch away from a shrieking billow of scalding steam. "... No kiddin'. This is, uh... really distressful."
It takes Gwen a moment to again realize that Harmaus means her, as opposed to an unknown third party. "O-oh, right!"
Yelping as she nearly runs into another crack sending a curtain of steam upstairs, Gwen then redoubles her efforts to run ahead, stopping about midway to catch her bearings. "By the way," Gwen starts, pressing her hands on her knees and panting, "I'm a lady, so- for th' sake of clarity, n' because I don't carry this annoyin' weight on my chest just fer kicks..." She straightens, sweat rolling off the curls that are already clamped close to her head. "I 'preciate you usin' 'she'!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steam Geyser.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Steam Geyser *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The next chamber you enter, like many of the cave tunnels of Dragon Roost Cavern, is sweltering hot. Being near a caldera does that. However, here you can find cracks on the ground. Periodically, a gout of white steam that is scalding hot blasts out from the cracks. Getting across the room will require timing -- and probably running past some before they can scorch you. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Slow=============================================
======================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 5 *>======================= ===========================< Results - Steam Geyser >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 49 --(0)--> 49 Pass Valerian Root 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 54 --(5)--> 59 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Madness|Slow(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
If he had been a little bit closer... perhaps Harmaus would have had some unfortunate problems to contend with. As it is, it's close enough for discomfort, but that's it.
"We knows it is female," Harmaus remarks, as he dashes off through the cavern. He doesn't so much as glance back at her. "The matter concerns us not!"
...This guy is an asshole.
This is still not the sort of place that it's good to stay in. Running ahead, he narrowly dodges another jet of steam, time itself seeming to crawl for him a moment as he rounds the bursting jet and then zooms on past it.
For Gwen, though she meets no immediate misadventure, she is forced to pick a different way forward as a vent steams right before her and forces her back. She'll reach the other side of the room some time after he does.
DG: Gwen Whitlock 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Hearing Harmaus's answer as they near the summit, Gwen frowns. "... Well, that's *rude*. Ain't sure what things're like in your neck of the woods, but people won't take kindly to an attitude like that." Gwen wags her finger. "I ain't gonna go 'treat me like a lady', since that's a whole other can o' worms, but I'd like you t'know-"
She stops her lecture cold in its tracks as they get to the summit, instantly shifting her role to scout. ".... there is a settlement up here after all," she says, in a hushed tone. "The iron plates, though. They couldn't have gotten those just from scavenging or by makin' it themselves. That kinda plate ain't somethin' you could do easily without outside help. So... maybe... the rumors were true..."
A rumble of metal thudding the ground sounds behind them, in the form of a door.
"Shoot! They caught us!"
Maybe, if she wasn't so bent on lecturing the strange Drifter eariler, she would have spotted this trap.
Screw this. As much as she didn't want to reveal her cards until she knew Harmaus better, such tactics are better suited for a time when they're *not* outnumbered. Unbuckling the strap over her right palm, Gwen nods to the Seraph. "Harmaus, I'm gonna target the bokoblins with firearms. Use that to your advantage- if we can secure the mortar, we can blast our way out. Unless y'got somethin' you're still lookin' for inside the base?"
Whatever Harmaus's answer is, or if there even is an answer, Gwen begins her plan of action, ducking behind a piece of metal to trade fire with the attacking Hokoblins.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Harmaus' response, as she remonstrates him for his choice of words, is simply to cock his head her way as if he were merely an inquisitive dog and slowly smile.
This guy is totally an asshole.
Though even that expression fades as they reach the lip of the summit.
Where it quickly becomes clear they are not alone up here.
"Steel, not steal," he murmurs, crinkling his forehead. "But from where? It wonders us--"
Metal rumbles low, like thunder.
"Ah, here is our answer," Harmaus replies. He squares his shoulders as the bokoblin horde comes streaming out and slips one hand into his pocket quickly enough that if Gwen blinks she'll miss it. Less missable: the part where he stretches his arms out to either side, apparently empty handed as the horde descends upon him
*jingle jingle* tinkles the tiny metal bell that suddenly dangles from his right hand. The bokoblins may find him -- fleetingly -- to be a somewhat less... attractive target.
On a supernatural level. As if the bell were some sort of ward.
Which is all the opening he needs to draw then with his left hand and open fire with his own weapon of choice: a revolver.
Someone has taken to life on Filgaia really well.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Amulet Bell 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 6 *>======================= =======================< Results - Green Bokoblin Squad >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 49 --(0)--> 49 Pass Amulet Bell 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 59 --(0)--> 59 Pass Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Madness|Slow(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has successfully explored Dragon Roost Cavern!
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Joy Pendant *>========================== |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 beautiful pendant shaped like a butterfly. Joy Pendants are sometimes traded for on Windfall Island, and can be sold for both money and more specialized services. Treasure in hand, you know it's time to make your way out! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen can't help but grin as Harmaus holds up his own weight in battle, taking on the most native of tools to Filigaia: a gun.
The Bokogoblins go down faster that Gwen was accounting for, owing to an overestimation of their weapons' abilities, rather than the bokogoblins' current ability to work the weapons themselves themselves on short notice.
"I suppose with the gate open, it wouldn't be too dangerous to look further. You with me?"
She's already starting inside the outer rooms of the base, finding them mostly bare of anything useful except for...!
A CHEST.
Making a quiet beeline towards it. Gwen opens the chest, and pauses, spotting the butterfly pendant inside. "Huh, it's a lovely pendant, but I wonder what the significance of it is..."
She does look behind her, considering.
If this was what he might have come for (and she's not sure if this is the case), it *is* tempting to perhaps claim it as her own, without considering Harmaus's intent.
But then she would have a butterfly pendant, its twinkle tarnished by the memory of her petty act, regardless of what Harmaus even wanted.
Instead, her brief moment of hesitation over, she opens the chest all the way, stepping aside. "I'll take it, but you were the one who started this adventure. It ain't proper for me t'take if you have an eye for it as much as I do."
The information she's gained? That may be the biggest prize of all, as sour as it tastes.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
With the gentle ringing of a single bell, the Bokoblins pause for a moment.
It's all that Gwen -- or Harmaus -- need. They are but wheat before the thresh, and once felled, all that remains is the base in which they had been dwelling...
"We are," Harmaus replies, a lazy smile on his face. "We are always with. Seeking, finding... always, always with."
With a catlike tread, he ambles after her, his hands back in the pockets of his long jacket, an easy but careful eye on the surroundings they pass as they enter further in--
--where they find a chest.
"What finds it," he says, and Gwen just might find that he is just about looming /over/ her as she pulls the prize from the chest. Reaching down, he palms the butterfly on the end of the chain for a moment, tilting it in the light cast by the few sconces. Then, without fanfare, he lets go of it and permits it to hang.
"It may keep," he declares, punctuating the remark with a shake of the head. "Not what we search for. A pretty, pretty thing, yes, but not what we needs or wants." He turns on his heel, regarding again the stonework, tracing a gloved hand along the wall.
"What builds this place and why? The things outside. Those are more the tantalizing. It keeps its bauble," he reiterates, glancing back over its shoulder. "We seeks the truth."
With that, he appears keen to head out to where they had fought the Bokoblins.
More specifically to investigate the nature of the fallen, more closely.