2020-02-24: Heat And Fire And Bokoblins
- Log: Heat And Fire And Bokoblins
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Rikku, Elhaym van Houten, Jacqueline Barber
- Where: Dragon Roost Island
- Date: February 24, 2020
- Summary: A small group heads to Dragon Roost Cavern to see what might be behind recent Bokoblin-related issues. Citan demonstrates certain talents. Rikku discovers the wonders of photography. Jacqueline practices safety first. Elly engages in someone else's story.
DG: A party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Hmm..."
Rubbing his chin, Citan Uzuki, formerly of Lahan, regards the wall of blocks covering what would otherwise be the cave mouth.
"It does not seem that they have been moved for some time. I wonder, considering recent intrusions, whether there might be an alternate entry...?"
BACKING UP JUST A MOMENT HERE
Most of Citan's time, of late, has been evenly split between attempts to learn more about a route to Shevat (a difficult prospect, as he had confided to Elly: as the both of them well knew, Shevat is unapproachable for much the same reason that their own home country is unapproachable, and blocks incoming communications from the outside (save via their own agents, who must have some means). It's by no means an impossible challenge but it is a formidable one) and obtaining the part he needs to replace in Heimdall.
He's had little success on either of these fronts. At this rate, he's going to have to potentially try to reverse engineer what needs fixing.
So with all that in mind -- and no doubt Elly and Fei's similar lack of success on the matter -- he had suggested taking a short trip elsewhere. A change of scenery and focus can be ideal when one has hit a wall, after all--
And then they'd heard while on the island that the locals had been experiencing problems with the Bokoblins, and encountered others similarly looking into the matter, and...
One thing had become another, but in the end, wasn't this the point of this journey?
SO NOW
"It does look as if it was once a temple. Hmm... perhaps if we approach this from a different angle..."
He takes a step back and retrieves his camera.
There is a flash as he takes a photo. It's said that the camera has the truest eye of all -- perhaps it can make clear what is more difficult to see oneself?
"Hmm..." Citan muses, regarding the photograph.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Strauss Camera toward his party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku has been one busy bee. On Filgaia, 'the Machina World', she's been attempting to learn everything she can about ARMs, Gears, and anything she can get her hands on. She sees this as an opportunity of a lifetime to change Spira. And thus she's been hiring herself out to various Drifter parties.
So one would think she'd be enthusiastically listening to Citan right?
"Could be."
But her attention seems decidedly on an object that she's working with in her hands.
"Uh huh."
Anyone looking closely would see her using some small alchemical tools to put a gem in a potion. Then adding a reagent.
"Oh wow did that really capture an image of what that was pointing out!?"
Well now she's paying attention.
"Amazing! Hey - could you do it again?"
As she flips a vial over at the wall of blocks.
Upon impact it bursts, and the wall turns into a cascade of fiery eruptions.
Six to be precise.
The blocks sizzle in the aftermath of the improvised napalm...
"I think you'd get a way better picture after all that moss burns off."
... the moss continues to sizzle, likely it will continue that way unto blackened soot.
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Al Bhed Toolkit toward her party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
THEN
"We can't exactly put out an advertisement for agents of Shevat," Elly said, in thought. "Well," she continues, "I suppose we could, but we'd be wasting our money. We might get fakers, at best..."
NOW
Elly has a sun hat on to keep herself from getting a burn, but is otherwise in a short-hemmed and comfortable dress. She regards the stones with her arms folded. "The last time I came through this area, Emeralda took care of a lot of this for us," Elly says with a sigh - before she looks towards Rikku, opens her mouth.
Shuts it. Fire happens.
Her lips purse out.
"Well," she says, "maybe... It's good to see you, Rikku. I hope that you've been finding Filgaia comfortable. I know we lost track of each other, a little bit."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Obscured Temple Door.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Indeed, Jacqueline was looking into matters on Dragon Roost Island. The Rito Delivery Crew do a lot to support the Great Sea - delivering packages and messages is a very important task, after all. So, she'd gone to try to do something about the problems they were facing - which is when she ended up running into the others.
Of course she agreed to help - helping is what she does.
And so, she finds herself in front of the wall of blocks that restricts access deeper inside. This isn't her first time here... this wall has given her some bad memories.
"Be careful - if you pull out the wrong ones, you're liable to open up a trapdoor. ...It's a quick way inside, but it's not a pleasant one, so I'd prefer to avoid it." Jacqueline advises. To prove it, she taps her foot on the ground below. Some of the stone sounds a bit more hollow than the rest.
DG: Jacqueline Barber 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Strauss Camera 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Al Bhed Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Citan Uzuki has posed.
EARLIER
Citan had smiled ruefully. "At best pretenders, yes. At worst... perhaps attention from 'them'. We will need to consider other means of approach."
NOW
"Did she?" Citan remarks to Elly, lowering his camera. "I suppose she would have more of a sense of where an instability may lie..." He squints at his photo. "Perhaps here--"
Is what he starts to say, when Rikku remarks on his camera. "Yes, it did. Though I must admit that this is hardly the most up-to-date model that Guild Galad has, these days. I spoke with a young reporter not too long ago on the very subject-- er, excuse me, I am getting sidetracked. Yes, I could take another..." he says, just as she throws the vial at the wall.
"...photo. Ah, yes, I see. Yes, a wiser approach, that."
He does just that, comparing it soon to his other shot.
"If I am not mistaken, these sections of the wall--"
He points, as Jay provides some input on the results of a misstep, "--appear to be able to be moved. Yes, that is good to know, Miss Barber. Perhaps we should move away from the hollow sections while we move the blocks? As a precaution," he adds, before slipping the camera safely away again.
DG: Elhaym van Houten 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> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I don't know if it was a sense, exactly... she can do the..." Elly raises her hands and tries to mime metamorphising like a polymimetic nanocolloid compound. This sort of looks like wiggling her fingers.
"Is there really a trap door," Elly says, somewhat aghast, but it seems that if there really is one, and it might well be so, that it isn't exactly where they're going. The blocks move and present a narrow and rather humid path forwards, which makes Elly observe --
"Is there a water feature? If there's a lot of ambient humidity, then that would explain how all that moss grew, even though this isn't a very wet isl"
PSHH!!!!!
Elly comes up short, preventing the abrupt state of a steam-roasted Elhaym, which would make nobody happy, save perhaps hobs who might finally get to payback for all those hobsteaks that you've probably eaten. Oh, don't lie: We've all done it...
The room is a little boring and nondescript with some light coming in through cracks in the ceiling, half veiled by, yes, more moss. Elly glances at the others. Eyes adapt, and the pattern becomes clear, if gradually; there is a sort of peristaltic flow that seems to walk across the hollowed-out lava chamber, about eighty seconds for the wave to reach the far end and eighty seconds for it to come back. This pressure wave makes gouts of steam - and a big infallen rock from the ceiling makes for a safe spot, but also a complication.
"Be careful," Elly says. "That's not a teakettle spout... You could get badly hurt!"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Fishing Tackle toward her party's challenge, Steam Geyser.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"Elly!" Rikku offers back energetically, "You say that like it's your fault or something! Me and Yunie and the rest of us we've just been really busy exploring Gaia! It's just really nice to see you again."
Then back to Jay, "All of you again!" Even though she's caught Jay before on several runs down into dungeons.
"You're kidding me - why didn't Acacia tell me there were things like this!?"
Rikku complains, "It's not like she was trying to hide Kamui... maybe she didn't think I'd be excited about something like this?"
Rikku spends most of the rest of the time just examining the camera excitedly, not so excitedly that she tries to take it from Citan though, while Jay and Citan work the puzzle. TEAMWORK!
Once inside though she actually does seem to be focused on what's going on.
"Could be... though it feels more humid than outside down here. That's pretty unusual."
Elly provides the answer.
"Whoa!? Are you okay! That was really close."
Rikku examines the roof. Then the floor. And as Elly warns of the danger...
Rikku puts down a small pack and unzips it. Placing her goggles on, and goes through a reverse montage of zipping herself up in a diving suit over her regular clothes, before tapping her boots back on.
To anyone who's been to Spira this get up makes her look more obviously Al Bhed than simply the coincidence of unusual eyes and blonde hair.
"Well - so long as we live through it. Jay and me should have enough healing potions to cover the burns."
... That... that's pretty casual. Like this is a usual occurrence of her just accounting for healing up the hazards.
Trying to judge the timing for herself over the course of ten seconds, she has several small false starts before she finally gets going, trying to hot foot it past the rhythm of geyser blasts.
DG: Rikku has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steam Geyser.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"That's a good call." Jacqueline agrees with a nod as Citan suggests they move away from the hollow sections of floor. Working together they forge their way forward.
It's a lot like what one would expect the inside of a volcanic cavern to be like... including the steam geysers! Jacqueline takes a few careful steps back away from the cracks in the wall.
"...That isn't ideal." She observes with a frown, and then a nod toward Elly and Rikku. "Yeah... I have some ointments for burns - but, it's better if we don't have to use them."
Still, there is something she can do here. Jacqueline takes a look up ahead, studying the patterns of the cracks. With a gesture of her left hand some pillars of stone rise to block off some of the cracks.
"Those won't hold for long - eventually the pressure is going to build up and bust through. But, for now, they should make getting through a little easier." Jacqueline says. And then she makes her way forward, carefully and cautiously.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Steam Geyser.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Citan appears to consider this for a moment.
"...Hmm, yes. I see... I had not thought of it in that sense..."
It can be hard to remember what Emeralda is at times.
But she always has a way of reminding people.
"Acacia..." he echoes, before realization crosses his face. "Oh, so you have also met Miss Saitani. It is a small world at times. ...I suppose she merely thought it common enough. Cameras are not unknown, though they are expensive and somewhat difficult to obtain."
No doubt, it took several years for a man living on the salary of a simple country doctor to be able to purchase such a device...
"Elly--!"
Fortunately, she (narrowly) avoids getting broiled by the jet. "That was rather too close. ...It is good that you and Miss Barber are well-equipped," he says, and given his occupation as a doctor, they should be fine in the case of an accident, "But, we should take care and move quickly through here. It would be better to avoid injury if at all possible."
There is a pause as he surveys the room. "The floor is likely unstable. See--"
He points, at another jet, from a different location.
"--there is no consistent place from where the steam issues. It must be coming forth from the cracks in the rock. Now, let us hurry!"
He moves, making his way across the room with all good haste.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Martial Arts Shoes toward his 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 2 *>====================== ==========================< Results - Steam Geyser >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Martial Arts Shoes 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 8 --(10)--> 18 Pass Fishing Tackle 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2)|Stupify(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"... Is it really that easy?" Elly asks Rikku regarding her robust supply of potions.
Jay sensibly enough seals off some of the fissures. This makes one step a relatively easy passage, and Elly even seems to get the idea, making a dramatic and intense gesture and pinching one fissure shut in her own right. The stone runs a little bit like taffy.
"Yeah," Elly answers Jay. "The problem is"
BANG! SHRAPNEL!
"Guh!! Why does that always happen!?" Yelps Elly, hastening forwards. The disrupted passage of the steam fissures does have the effect of ruining much of the timing, but there is also a rip and a THUMP as about two hundred pounds of basalt destructs back on the far side of the room, sending out more fragments and - here is the good news - easing the pressure temporarily... This room will be unpredictable in the future but for this moment, it is weakened!
ON THE FAR END
Elly ties a colorful ribbon on a stalagmite from her fishing tackle kit, and even attaches the emptied-out potion bottle to it with another tiny knot, using the protective thimble on her scarred pinky finger to tie a neat little bow. "There.... if we get lost, at least we'll have this. I don't think gobs would steal something like this, right?"
THREE HOURS FROM NOW
A gob steals it.
DG: Rikku has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Bomb Flowers and Boulders *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The next turn takes you into the caldera chamber. The heat is like a furnace, blasting you in the face the moment that you enter. You stand on a ledge over the lava chamber, and see that the ledge is blocked by a massive boulder. Explosives -- and other implements -- may be necessary. Fortunately, the cavern provides: that strange Filgaian plant, the Bomb Flower, is in abundance here. These plants feature a shiny... metal... orb that, when plucked, begins to flash and then explode, are all about. Of course, one needs good timing to use Bomb Flowers. And if you don't use them, take care that your own efforts don't set the incendiary plants off too quickly. Otherwise, far more than the boulder might explode. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"They're expensive?" Rikku sort of mentally takes stock of her bribe budget in that moment - trying to calculate how much she'd need to set aside to have one.
"Kinda? They're a lot less expensive when you can distill them out of the spare junk people have lying around."
... ... ... Just what exactly is she making these potions out of?
Meanwhile - RIKKU HAS A BAD TIME.
On the opposite end, she takes off her goggles, showing the space where her skin isn't reddened from taking the heat blast as if she just got an abrupt tan.
"That was way worse than Brother's 'Manly Man' Evasion Training."
She says as she gingerly tries to grab a potion. Every moment hurts.
Pause.
"Elly - you might be surprised."
ONE RECOVERY MONTAGE LATER.
Rikku kneels down over a flower. "I wonder what this is? Looks way different than most plants I've seen in this region..."
It's like she's mulling over what properties it has as she grasps the fruit and pulls it out.
And then there's a hissing. Rikku looks at it. Then looks at the group. Then back at the flower.
"Oh - it's a bomb!"
Rikku says, as if pleased and delighted.
A half second later it settles in that she's holding live ordnance.
"Oh. It's a bomb."
-and drop kicks it towards the lava stream. It detonates in mid-air on the way down.
"I'm surprised that the flora on Filgaia has defense mechanisms this... explosive!"
She gawks, looking all starry eyed at the possibility.
"If only I could get some of these back home... it'd revolutionize things!"
Coughing into her hand. She tries to continue and rapidly runs into a boulder blocking the way forward over the lava.
Rikku eyes the boulder. Then looks back at the Bomb Flower. Boulder. Bomb Flowers.
-=-=-
Rikku has used some kind of paste to stick about a dozen grenades to the boulder itself.
"Okay! Just hurl it right into it! I wanna see how big of a BOOM we can get here!"
Apparently she's now really into Filgaian botany.
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Far Too Many Grenades toward her party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
That... did not go very well. It's a good thing they're well-stocked medically, otherwise that could've put an early end to this particular adventure.
Jacqueline is still smarting a little as they continue, and as such, she doesn't notice the bomb flower until a moment too later.
"Hold on, that's-" She starts, reaching out to Rikku. ...And then it's picked. Fortunately, Rikku kicks it away before tragedy strikes.
"Those are called Bomb Flowers... it's a pretty apt name." She explains. "It might be possible - I know a friend of mine has a big one she keeps as a pet, so you can definitely plant and harvest them... as long as you're careful."
...And then, Rikku starts piling up some explosives. Jacqueline reaches into her deck of Crest Graphs and sets one into her left gauntlet before invoking it. The earth around them shifts, forming an impromptu blast shield. ...Just in case.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"... What??" Elly says to Rikku.
ELLY'S INTERIOR IMAGERY
Rikku stuffs a bunch of scrap metal, a loose length of cloth, that old shirt Fei threw out because it could stand up on its own, and a small coffee grinder into a large coffee grinder. She cranks it dutifully, produces a colorful powder, puts it in a paper coffee filter, and pours in boiling water and whiskey to produce...
A potion! That Elly just drank.
IN THE REAL WORLD
Elly blanches for a moment, but regains her even keel. Mostly.
"Well," Elly says, "If you're looking for an explosion -"
"A pet," Elly says to Jay, flatly. Then, "Oh - Talia! Right? Tell me that's Talia. If there's more than that, the surface is doomed." As she says this, Elly reaches into her fishing tackle and brings out a wax-paper tube of something-or-other. She tears it open casually and reveals... gray clay? "This is a compound they make on the Thames," Elly tells her. "You just glob it onto things - you can work it into cracks or make shapes, if you need to do something special - and then you just attach the cap here, with the two prongs... you push in like THIS," click,
"And a little acid gets loose and breaks through some resistance material, which, when it erodes completely, puts a small electrical current through it," Elly says. "It takes about fifteen sec--"
Elly blinks once.
She splats down the plastic explosive and turns to run the hell away from the boulder!!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Undersea Explosive Pack toward her party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Fairly, so, yes, though I suppose with a, ah, less expensive model..." Citan hesitates a moment, as if in thought. "...I would ask Miss Saitani regarding this. As a reporter, she may be able to make the better recommendation for you. I am afraid my camera is on the older side besides, and more delicate..."
Which means that it's a really good thing that he secured it before making a run across the chamber.
"Oh dear... that was poorly done," he remarks -- to himself -- after an attempt to make a run for it goes rather... southernly. Luckily, he's a doctor!
Which means that everything is going to be fine.
SOON:
"My word-- I have heard of these before," the incredibly well-informed doctor remarks, kneeling before one of the plants. "These are bomb..."
There is a hissing sound from over where Rikku is.
"Ah," Citan hazards, glancing down at the bomb in Rikku's hands.
"Miss Rikku... if you would..."
Fortunately, then is when she hucks it across the room.
He fidgets with his glasses. "...As I was saying, these are known as 'bomb flowers'. They are apparently hypothesized to be a result of evolutionary selection pressures in volcanic regions, though as I understand it, studying the lifecycle of the plants is..."
He glances down at the plants.
"...difficult."
He doesn't remark on the matter of a 'pet bomb flower'. He just glances between Elly and Jay then cocks his head slightly to the right.
SOON
"Allow me to assist you with that, Miss Barber. I feel that, ah... I had best leave the ordinance to Elly and Miss Rikku."
With his hammer lent out to whichever of the ladies might need it, he's hung back with the young apothecary.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Perfectly Normal Hammer toward his party's challenge, Bomb Flowers and Boulders.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - Bomb Flowers and Boulders *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The next turn takes you into the caldera chamber. The heat is like a furnace, blasting you in the face the moment that you enter. You stand on a ledge over the lava chamber, and see that the ledge is blocked by a massive boulder. Explosives -- and other implements -- may be necessary. Fortunately, the cavern provides: that strange Filgaian plant, the Bomb Flower, is in abundance here. These plants feature a shiny... metal... orb that, when plucked, begins to flash and then explode, are all about. Of course, one needs good timing to use Bomb Flowers. And if you don't use them, take care that your own efforts don't set the incendiary plants off too quickly. Otherwise, far more than the boulder might explode. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Injure===========================================
=====================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 3 *>====================== ===================< Results - Bomb Flowers and Boulders >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 18 --(0)--> 18 Fail Perfectly Normal Hammer 1 Brute Effects: Stalwart and Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Landscaper Crest 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Far Too Many Grenades 3 Brute Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Undersea Explosive Pack 3 Brute Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Rikku has posed.
Elly's imagination is not particularly wrong. She wouldn't draw the line at turning Fei's old shirt into something useful.
"Hmmmm!" Rikku wipes the sweat off her brow, as Jay says it's possible, and Citan gives her further information on how difficult they are to study. "So it's possible. I'd have to know how shock resistant to accidental detonation they are when they're still attached to the plant... maybe then I could safely transplant them into a pot... or a terrarium."
-=-=-
Back to now.
Jay puts up a blast shield of rock.
"Good thinking Jay - safety first!"
Rikku takes the hammer from Citan. "Thanks! Just what I needed!"
Rikku returns to the Bomb Flower - and perhaps to everyone's horror... she starts tapping its exterior with a hammer. With greater force each time.
"Yep. Yep. Right."
And then she really wails on it.
She holds up a V with her fingers to Citan. "Early shock resistance tests have been pretty successful!"
Is she that reckless? Or simply that confident in her ability to survive a close range explosion? It's hard to say.
Elly attaches more explosives.
"Oh right! It's called a plastique in your language right? I still haven't learned all the non Al Bhed words for explodey things."
The fact she calls them explodey things is probably evidence of that.
Then as Elly says it takes about fifteen seconds...
She picks a bomb flower, humming as she starts timing it to where she surmised Elly started it.
"Two... one..."
Rikku hurls the thing at the boulder. It detonates. Which chains into multiple detonations that roar across the cavern. It's probably touch and go whether the platform beneath the boulder - or the ceiling will survive at all from this...
... but then the boulder topples off.
"Promising. Very very promising. Let's move on!"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Ladders and Fire Gouts *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The next turn leads you outside, where the air is cooler and the sun is bright. However, you are still on a volcano's side. You find the ledge ends with a wooden ladder, leading upward. There is, mysteriously, a scorched black section halfway up the ladder... ...and you soon see why. A gout of flame occasional erupts from a crack in the wall, blasting the rungs of the ladder and whatever might be on it. Ascending will need to happen quickly, to avoid being blasted by fire. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Don't worry - it's Talia." Jacqueline confirms with a chuckle, as Elly comments on people keeping bomb flowers as pets. "I hear it's perfectly safe, as long as you regulate how much light they get."
"Prooobably a good idea." Jacqueline says with a nod of agreement toward Citan. And then, she hunkers down behind the barrier. She's not as curious about what kind of explosion it's going to provoke. But, fortunately, this time, they're safe. ...This time.
Once the dust and debris settles, they're able to move forward. It turns out, that the boulder was blocking a tunnel system that ultimately leads them outside. They're on the edge of the volcano now - they can stare out over the other for quite a distance, and they can look up to see how much further they have to go to reach the top.
"I am... incredibly thankful for this." Jacqueline says with a sigh of relief. The cool breeze is a blessing after wandering about the insides of the volcano. She takes a moment to catch her breath, and then they move forward. It isn't long before the ledge trails off, a wooden ladder leading upward.
"Oh, the Rito must have put this up..." Jacqueline says, her eyes trailing up it. At the sight of the blackened, scorch section halfway through an unamused frown crosses over her face. "...Don't tell me."
As if on cure, a gout of flame bursts from a crack in the wall, consuming part of the ladder.
"...At this point I'm just impressed it hasn't combusted entirely by now." She says, shaking her head in disbelief. "Well, it looks like this is the only way up... Here, I brewed this potion to contribute heat resistance. It's not going to make you fire-proof, but it's better than nothing..."
With that, Jacqueline passes out some bottles that are cold to the touch before she starts climbing her way up.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Ladders and Fire Gouts.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Rikku really has at it with the hammer.
At a distance, Citan's expression doesn't seem to shift even a fraction.
As the closer one to him, Jacqueline will be able to see the way his jaw tightens. His poker-faced demeanor only goes so far...
But the detonation is had (he ducks; he's not stupid) -- and without casualty. Taking his hammer back once he has the opportunity, Citan appears to regard Rikku for a moment...
But says to her nothing.
Instead, they collectively press onwards!
"Yes, it is a relief after the heat in the caves," the doctor has to admit, shaking his head. "Though we are lucky. Compared to the direct heat of an active caldera..."
A way up presents itself, but, as Jacqueline herself notes, there is a problem.
"Ah," Citan remarks, fidgeting with his glasses. "Indeed. ...I suppose a single blackened rung would present no challenge to one of the Rito. However, for us..."
They can't fly. Which means--
"Thank you, Miss Barber. This may help. I am afraid we will need to move quickly, once again."
Or, as in the doctor's case--
After downing the contents of the flask, he backs up a few feet from the ladder, watching as the flame licks forth once more.
Then he runs instead at the wall next to it, kicking off of it and using the momentum to propel himself upwards, reaching for a rung higher above the flames--!
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Martial Arts Shoes toward his party's challenge, Ladders and Fire Gouts.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku returns the hammer.
As Jay mentions the state of the chamber... "The Rito? Oh I think I met one on the Thames." ... and stares at the jets of flames rather non-chalantly. "Tricky."
Rikku downs the bottle of heat resistance. "Brr.. chilly! Thanks Jay. I haven't had to make any in a while since Yunie is usually with me."
Nulblaze rather obviates the need for heat resistance potions.
Rikku doesn't try to follow Citan's example. Instead she simply tries to climb the ladder hurriedly past the rhythm of the gouts of flames.
This probably results in her getting pretty scorched.
Eventually though...
When she catches up to the Good Doctor- "Have you ever considered playing Blitzball? I've only seen moves like that from Fei and Tidus!"
DG: Rikku has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ladders and Fire Gouts.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Well, that's a complex question," Elly tells Rikku regarding the name of the substance.
K-BOMB!
But it's a moot point. The wind stirs and it isn't laden with sulfur and fire, and Elly breathes out with some relief. She straightens up, asking afterwards, "Do you mean the inhabitants or the island residents? I'm not sure who the Rito are, but I may have just managed to completely miss something, when we came here before..."
"Oh!" Elly says, before uncapping the bottle and liquoring up.
"Dr. Uzuki has a lot of talents," Elly tells Rikku. Is that... a ghost of...? No, not really. Elly seems to be improvising something with fishing cords and lead shot, which becomes clear once she hurls it up the length of a ladder - the weight spins round a top rung, which Elly tests. And then she climbs...
But this isn't really a safety rope, nor is it meant to replace the ladder. What it is, is a brace for when she does reach a dangerous rung... and the line seems to be resilient from fiery doom! Why?
"I have no idea why this line's so tough," Elly says. "I heard that the Thames' captain uses it to get food out from between his teeth."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Fishing Tackle toward her party's challenge, Ladders and Fire Gouts.
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Ladders and Fire Gouts *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The next turn leads you outside, where the air is cooler and the sun is bright. However, you are still on a volcano's side. You find the ledge ends with a wooden ladder, leading upward. There is, mysteriously, a scorched black section halfway up the ladder... ...and you soon see why. A gout of flame occasional erupts from a crack in the wall, blasting the rungs of the ladder and whatever might be on it. Ascending will need to happen quickly, to avoid being blasted by fire. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
=====================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 4 *>====================== =====================< Results - Ladders and Fire Gouts >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Martial Arts Shoes 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Fishing Tackle 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"You're welcome!" Jacqueline replies cheerily as thanks are sent her way. She looks toward Elly, then, as she asks her question.
"Are, the Rito are a tribe of winged beastmen that call this island home. They're why I'm here, actually - some of them run a postal service why they fly letters and packages out to other islands, but trouble in the caverns makes things difficult for them sometimes." She explains. And then, Jacqueline turns her attention to the ladder itself, climbing her way slowly and carefully up.
Rikku, meanwhile, scrambles up before the flames can get close to reaching her, while Elly's line will help her cling onto the ladder and wait out the fire while preserving some stamina.
Citan, meanwhile, just parkours his way past the danger zone with no trouble at all. Jacqueline stares, blinking. That's... not exactly what she expected, but it certainly worked wonders! Thankfully, everyone makes it up without getting burned. Jacqueline breathes a sigh of relief.
DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ ===================<* CHALLENGE - All the Pots But One Key *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The tunnel that you enter is one of the side tunnels, connected to the central caldera chamber. While stiflingly hot, there is no danger of falling into lava here. However, you come to a locked door -- and know it is locked because there is a large keyhole in the middle. It seems the ancient ones who designed this place were a little obvious in their architectural choices. The key to this door may be in the room, though. Over twenty ancient clay pots are scattered across the room. One could, of course, carefully search each pot until the key is found. Or, you could get smashing, and try to find it quickly. Up to you. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"The Rito, to be precise. They are a... yes, Miss Barber has the right of it. I understand they are capable of short-term flight under their own power. A damaged rung like this would barely register if those using it most were able to fly," he explains.
Before he takes a most athletic leap for the undamaged section. ...Let's just say that he keeps in shape.
Once over the lip, he turns to Rikku. "Hmm? ...Oh, no, I am afraid I could not. The days when I might have entertained such a thing are well in my past."
...Wait, he once would have given it serious thought...? Just what was his youth like?
But in the chamber beyond here, sadly, it's farewell to the cool breeze: they're close to the caldera and it feels it, the heat perhaps suggesting what it might be like to be a loaf of bread...
"It would be wise if we were to leave here quickly," he remarks. "This heat may become dangerous should we stay in here long."
But the only way forward is that door... which is locked.
There's nothing else here but a scattering of clay pots.
"I wonder... could it be as simple as that? Might the key be hidden somewhere here? Though that leaves us only the pots..."
He shakes his head, the heat growing worse by the second. "No, we do not have the time to search them carefully. I am afraid we only have the one option."
He takes out his hammer and gets to it.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Perfectly Normal Hammer toward his party's challenge, All the Pots But One Key.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Oh," Elly says.
When I heard about the Rito... I felt like a prize winning idiot. I hadn't thought to ask after these kinds of details. What would there be in every island? Would even the smallest place that we thought of as neglected - have a hidden population? Was Filgaia truly "dying"? Or did we just not understand the changes that were going on. Maybe I would learn not to underestimate surface-dwellers... But could the Rito really be thought of as "surface dwellers"?
Elly takes out her other stick of undersea explosives, attaches the cap, and walks towards a pot in the farthest corner. She presses the cap with another click and tosses it in a pot, before backing quickly away, looking thoughtful as she does.
I had to learn faster than I ever thought I would. After all... this was "their" story.
"You really think Fei's a talent on Tidus's level?" Elly asks Rikku, a moment before the bomb goes off.
And I really wish these bombs had more reliable fuses!!!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Undersea Explosive Pack toward her party's challenge, All the Pots But One Key.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku doesn't seem too disappointed at Citan's rejection of the idea of joining a Blitzball team, only cheerily offering. "Well if you change your mind - I know the team captain for the Besaid Aurochs! They won the cup you know!"
Instead just listening in about the Rito. "Imagine... flying through the sky."
Those who roll high on their insight check might realize that Rikku is possibly hiding something in that remark.
Rikku's response to the idea of not searching the clay plots individually results in only one thing.
"YAAAAA-!"
Rikku kicks a clay pot into a cavern wall.
Then another.
This may seem a little reckless since they're searching for a key...
... but she has a good eye for spotting shiny things on the fly.
"I mean it's hard to be on Tidus' level! And I haven't seen Fei swim!"
Rikku kicks another pot.
"But I bet with a little training - he'd be sensational! I mean doesn't he even have a native nickname for his amazing competitive talent? I was told it was - The Dragon-!"
Rikku has very little idea what a dragon is but it sounds very impressive. So impressive this island is named after them.
"-or something like that."
DG: Rikku has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, All the Pots But One Key.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I'm a little envious, myself. Supposedly there might be Crest spells that enable a sort of flight... but, even if that's true, they're probably beyond my level for now." Jacqueline replies, shaking her head.
There's a wistful sigh as they pass back into the hotter sections of the caverns, and they have to say goodbye to the cooler air for now. The heat-resistant potion still helps a bit, but it has its limits. Eventually, they find their way to a chamber sealed with a lock.
"I agree." Jacqueline says with a nod toward Citan, as he suggests they leave quickly. She looks over the pots with a slight frown, then. This kind of rampant destruction didn't come easy to her... so, she doesn't involve herself with it.
Instead, she passes out another round of potions. This time, it's a strengthening brew. They might not need much help smashing some pots, but it supplies energy. With how exhausting the heat can get, it might help them push forward.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, All the Pots But One Key.
===========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>============================ ===================<* CHALLENGE - All the Pots But One Key *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The tunnel that you enter is one of the side tunnels, connected to the central caldera chamber. While stiflingly hot, there is no danger of falling into lava here. However, you come to a locked door -- and know it is locked because there is a large keyhole in the middle. It seems the ancient ones who designed this place were a little obvious in their architectural choices. The key to this door may be in the room, though. Over twenty ancient clay pots are scattered across the room. One could, of course, carefully search each pot until the key is found. Or, you could get smashing, and try to find it quickly. Up to you. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
======================<* Dragon Roost Cavern - Round 5 *>======================= =====================< Results - All the Pots But One Key >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Perfectly Normal Hammer 1 Brute Effects: Stalwart and Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rikku 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Undersea Explosive Pack 3 Brute Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 70 --(15)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Hesitate(1)|Overzealous(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* 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> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"I will keep it in mind, Miss Rikku. Perhaps someday."
If it's any consolation, the amount of dust in here makes it clear that this was by no means no currently-in-use location (such as, say, the Rito's pottery storage room or some such). Perhaps it was abandoned?
"Nothing here," Citan remarks, picking through the pieces of shattered pottery. He picks up a shard, inspecting the faded partial-glaze pattern on the outside, only to drop it. Overhearing the conversation, he remarks, "Hm... how well is Fei able to swim?"
Lahan was land-locked and the only water source of note then a well; he might have known the young man since he turned up in the village and been contact with him since, but he honestly doesn't know, when he thinks about it.
"Thank you, Miss Barber," he remarks, taking the bottle when it's handed over. With the heat in here--
A bomb detonates a row of pots: still nothing.
It's only when one singular pot is kicked that something shining is caught in the light.
"Ah! It seems that we have our key."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Mmm... something like that," Elly answers Rikku a little dubiously. Explosions and detonations reveal, in time, a key, along with two Rupees and some kind of inexplicable little seed that - oh, it rolled away. Probably nothing to worry about.
Elly sips the potion she's offered, and her eyelids push together for a moment as she says, "This... ah. I think the heat's really getting to us... Or at least to me. This felt like I was just... waking up."
The door is opened.
As they go further past that door, there is a long stretch that opens up into an airy pathway, which is refreshing in its own right. "Oh, Doctor," Elly says, "if you can point your camera that way, do you think you could take a picture? I don't want to trouble you, but the view's really beautiful, isn't it?"
There is peace and serenity.
A bullet SPANGs! off a rock near Rikku's foot.
There is cursing in bokoblin.
Elly looks towards the direction of the gunfire. A small cloud of black powder smoke makes it very clear where they are. "... The disguise was amazing," Elly says. "It blended in so well, I wouldn't -"
FLASH! Elly throws herself forwards a moment before a musket ball crosses through where her throat would have been.
Distant bokoblin complaining.
Elly runs forwards. There is no choice, because there's no other cover except for 'ignoble retreat' and also because Elly seems to be trying to build up some sort of etheric effect. As she gets close to the fortress there is a swish-TWHOOM and the gate swings inwards in a burst of plasmic fire, which opens the way and reveals several more of the green bois. Elly puts her hand against the wall, panting for breath.
A bokoblin with a barbed-wire club points towards Jay, points at its horrid little beady eyes, points back. Then the club is raised and the bokoblins sally forth!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Three Stick Nunchucks toward her party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"The heat can do that." Jacqueline comments with a nod toward Elly. They push forward... but, as they do, they're suddenly attacked by bokoblins armed with ARMs, among other things!
With a quick gesture of her left hand, Jacqueline brings up a pillar of earth. It'll make pretty good cover, at least for a time. She ducks behind it, drawing out the Lifeweaver's Codex and flipping quickly through the pages.
"These are Green Bokoblins! They're a bit more coordinated than others you might have run into, and generally carry weapons of some kind... Even a single bokoblin can be a threat, but this looks like a decently-sized squad of them... stick together and don't let them separate us!" Jacqueline advises.
And then, she looks back at the bokoblin that gestured at her.
"Sorry, I prefer to avoid violence, where possible. I'd suggest that you all... cool off." With that, Jacqueline gestures with her right hand. Around that Bokoblin and any others that might draw too close to it the temperature lowers drastically... until, suddenly, ice begins to form around their feet, freezing them in place! It's only a temporary measure, but it might make a difference.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"It is intensely warm in here," Citan remarks. "If we stay in here too much longer, we run the risk of dangerous dehydration. It is no wonder you are feeling strange, Elly."
When the door is finally opened, there comes with it a marked bit of a relief. "Perhaps we are moving further away from the caldera, now," the doctor says, pausing a moment on the pathway.
Elly asks him, then, to take a picture. "Of course. Just one moment, and..."
He lifts the camera, but before he can so much as take that shot--
"What?! That was a-- spread out, now!"
He follows his own medicine, so to speak, hastily attempting to secure the camera as he goes.
Another shot cracks out. Then another. He can see where they are, and he points, for the sake of Jay and Rikku.
Elly has already taken things into her hands more directly than that.
He squints, finally getting the camera put away. "Is that... no, they have a mortar! Elly, be careful! I believe the one with the mortar is towards the left!"
In other words, focus fire there.
Being merely a simply country doctor -- and far from anyone he can affect with his chi -- playing spotter is of course the best that he can do.
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Green Bokoblin Squad.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
"No kidding!" Rikku says to the open air pathway. "Look at that view? It's like you could get lost in it."
She's eager to see what kind of picture Citan is able to take to capture that kind of beauty.
And then a bullet spangs by her feet. Rikku suddenly dives behind a rock outcropping.
"What!? Who would be shooting at us up here?!"
Rikku peeks out, and blink blinks.
"Bokoblins? I saw some of these back on Spira and thought they were fiends!"
It's kind of fascinating to her - now that she knows they're not fiends. The idea of Machina weapons being so ubiquitous on Gaia that monsters have them.
Rikku suddenly fweets on her fingers.
"Time out - time out!"
And waves one of her long ribbons she just took off and tied to a stick as if it was a parley flag.
Before rising out of cover.
In her other hand she holds a bag of jingling coins.
"Look you got us good! Real good! Any chance we can like - work something out?"
She throws the bag down the line towards them.
"I've got more!"
Another bag of coins is tossed, and she approaches a little closer.
"If you stop shooting at us - I could make this your Luck~y~Day!"
If they don't stop shooting at them, then it's easy enough to slip a grenade into the next bag she throws.
If they let her get close enough though then they might find their ARMs mysteriously missing a few parts.
Those parts may be a little necessary for them to continue their suppressing fire.
DG: Rikku has used her Tool Bribe Budget toward her 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 18 --(5)--> 23 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rikku 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Bribe Budget 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 18 --(0)--> 18 Pass Three Stick Nunchucks 1 Combat Effects: Stalwart and Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 85 --(30)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Injure(2)|Overzealous(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 Citan Uzuki has successfully explored Dragon Roost Cavern!
==========================<* Dragon Roost Cavern *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Magical Boomerang *>====================== |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 wooden boomerang, painted blue. Those familiar with magic can see it is enhanced -- and will always return when thrown. Treasure in hand, you know it's time to make your way out! You may use the boomerang for attacks or as a Tool on your next upgrade app! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Citan provides with directions on where the weapon probably is. Elly glances at him and nods once, pressing up against the wall.
During this interval Jay hurls an icey magic forwards. Several bokoblins with spears flash into a fully iced over state; one of them topples forwards and slowly slides down the pathway, its spear providing an anchor point that does not conceal or meaningfully slow its descent. Which goes partway down the path the group took, but also follows a subtle motion in the gravel and... oh dear...
That bokoblin sails off the side.
The others slow down as Rikku seems to be addressing them. They are confused. They don't seem to be the ones with the guns. They skudder-skitter to a halt, looming over Rikku and, frankly, not smelling pretty good. One of them goes over to collect the bag, jingling it back and forth after putting down the club.
The gunner bokoblins emerge, tentatively. They gabble at each other. Seriously, it's a language that nobody knows... how sad. Is it really a language at all? Either way, after demanding a second bag and receiving it, pre-emptively, the bokoblins seem to be content to amble out and... ditch the territory.
(They're going to go around to the other side of the mountain and rebuild the fort, but that's the problem of someone in the future.)
Elly watches this happen. "... Where do you get all that money?" Elly asks Rikku.
SOON
Elly whacks the treasure chest with her three-section staff.
The lid opens...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VRr9NG7RE0
"... a wooden... scraper?" says Elly, who, in fact, has no idea what a boomerang even is.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It's okay! They're fine. Completely fine.
In one way or another, the bokoblins are dealt with, at least for the time being. And inside... treasure! Specifically, a boomerang.
"Ah! That's a boomerang - they're a type of ranged weapon designed to curve back around to where it was thrown. It looks like this one's been sorcerously enhanced to always return to its wielder afterward, guaranteed... This is quite the find!" Jacqueline informs cheerfully.
<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.
Rikku looks at Elly.
"Um. Uusssuaalllyy?"
And holds up a few pouches of Bokoblin rupees.
"I just kinda circulate it."
-=-=-
"Puusanyhk!"
Rikku says proudly to Elly. Then realizes...
"I don't know the word for it that isn't in Al Bhed..."
She says as she taps her fingers together.
"You throw it and-"
She points at Jay, "Jay's got it!"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly stares at the piece of wood.
Jay said it was magical. That made sense... if you put enough Symbology on something... anything could happen. But the way she described it... it wasn't something that required -magic- the way that the AERODs did. It would have worked without any magic at all.
The boomerang does not stare back: it is a boomerang.
"....... like a Blitzball," Elly says, thinking of Guba.