2020-03-03: The Heart of the Whorl

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  • Log: The Heart of the Whorl
  • Cast: White Knight Leo, Kaguya, Day Muirwall, Hilde, Skylr Paer, Pearl
  • Where: The Lifeweaver's Whorl
  • Date: March 03, 2020
  • Summary: Following the discovery of Lunarian plants in Filgaia, the Guard seek a path back to their home. Instead they find a brutal challenge- and a new friend.

DG: A party led by White Knight Leo is now entering The Lifeweaver's Whorl.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Into the Ravine *>========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 For once, you seem to have lucked out. Neither inclement weather nor          
 monstrous legion nor tangled jungle bar your path to your destination. In     
 fact, the stroll through the woods is downright pleasant...!                  
                                                                               
 Except that you soon find yourself standing at the lip of a ravine. Your      
 destination is far below, and a treacherous climb down the cliff face is the  
 shortest path. Your vantage point at least affords you an unmatched view of   
 the facility. Great trees have broken the ring-shaped structure into several  
 pieces and have presented a vast canopy to conceal much of the ruins from     
 curious airship captains. The whole thing is like a many-spoked wheel,        
 recessed most of the way into the canyon below.                               
                                                                               
 Be careful not to slip on your way down. It's quite a fall if you do.         
                                                                               
 ((OOC Note: Welcome to the Lifeweaver's Whorl! The actual dungeon is split    
 up into indoor and outdoor challenges, each of which will be noted in the     
 card itself. Each card will also contain some commentary from someone who     
 has clearly been here before you. Feel free to find his half-eaten journal    
 notes lying nearby, or perhaps recorded on half-broken consoles...))          
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    This is not the first time that the Guard has been stranded on Filgaia, but this might just be the first time it's found a way to return to Lunar under its own power. About two weeks ago, one of Leo's scouts made an odd, promising discovery: the curative flower Goddess' Breath, growing in the wilds of Meria. That region was notorious amongst the locals for being... odd, but surely, it's nothing the Guard can't handle, right?

    That is the logic Leo is operating on, at any rate. The big Beastman takes the lead as the Guards' elites make their way into the depths of the Feywilds.

    "I was expecting something far more sinister," Leo says, his gaze tracking over to the side of the road. On a branch far above, a squirrel peers down at them through a canopy of pine leaves. Further away, the sounds of birdsong carry on the wind. It's positively idyllic.

    The path ahead opens up. Leo stops at the edge of the ravine, a smile spreading from ear to ear as he surveys the vast ruin below. "Remind me to give that woman a promotion," he says. "Onward, Guards! Home is so close that I can just taste it!" Or maybe that's the pollen. The scent of foliage is oddly thick in the air, especially this time of year. Leo doesn't seem to notice, though. He ties one end of a rope ladder around the bole of a sturdy tree, and throws the rest over the edge of the ravine. Solidly anchored, he starts clambering down.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Rope Ladder toward his party's challenge, Into the Ravine.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Huh," Kaguya says. "This is really nice." She wanders through the woods with the rest towards their presumable destination, dressed in a strange green bodysuit covered in buckles and straps and armoring in places of an unknowable metal. The hood is off, for the moment, hanging back at her shoulders, but her voice is muffled by the breathing mask she wears.

She explained that it helps her illness.

"Give that woman a promotion," Kaguya quips, grinning back Leo's way--it shows in her eyes even if her mouth is covered. The scent is certainly thick... and Kaguya looks down at it.

"Fascinating," she says, and then plants another anchor and takes a line down, too.

"That's some facility down there, to say nothing of all this greenery."

DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Into the Ravine.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Returning to Lunar sounds good to Day. He's spent a lot of time alone in the past week or two, and the prospect of getting off this planet has felt more and more appealing in that time.

"I know why," Vess murmurs to Day with a catlike smile.

Day snaps his eyes forward and clears his throat, forcing his attention back to Leo. He's close behind the guard commander, in his full armour. He even brought his helmet, though at the moment he's lifted his faceplate as he moves along, figuring a better view is what he needs right now.

"It does seem less grim than what I might have expected," he muses as he moves up to the ravine edge, looking out towards the ruin far below. "It's quite enormous, isn't it? If there's a way home there, however, we'll find it."

There's no cable that's going to be able to deal with the weight of his armour. Pulling an arm around Vess's waist, Day draws her in for protection, then looks back, eyes briefly finding Skylr.

Then he takes ahold of the fluffy tuft hanging from his skirt armour. The power of the Shiro's Tail helps as he plants a heel on a steep slope and begins to slide down, jumping every now and then with greater agility than a man in full plate has a right to own.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Shiro's Tail toward his party's challenge, Into the Ravine.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

A way home... is it possible? Hilde has to admit, the possibility is intriguing. Being separated from her precious Hyland for so long is worrying. While she is confident it's doing just fine, being unable to check means a lingering concern in the back of her mind.

"Do not lower your guard just yet, Sir Leo. There is no telling what we will face deeper within." Hilde warns. "The tales I hear from the locals can be somewhat chilling."

It would be nice, though, if things ended up pleasant. First things first, though, they need to find a way down. Leo deploys a ladder, but HIlde elects to leave that to those who may not have their own descent methods. She begins to carefully scale her way down the cliff. In one hand, she keeps her Rope Lance at the ready. If she's about to fall, she can either stab it into the side of the ravine or one of the trees on the other side to catch herself - or stabilize herself to catch someone else.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Rope Lance toward her party's challenge, Into the Ravine.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

 Skylr looks down at the ravine, and the fact that they have to go down. Honestly, you're lucky that she made it this far, as the young healer looks mildly concerned. I said mildly. We mean much concerned. She catches Day's look and shrugs a little bit.
 
 Oh, a squirrel... she sighs. Can't she stay up here? No. No one else is going to fuss at Leo down there, she knows it.
 
 So, down his ladder she goes. Whee.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Into the Ravine.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Guardswoman Pearl is, as she so often is, quiet and dour. She has seemed almost unaffected by the knowledge of a potential path back. The pleasantness of the path does nothing to improve her disposition. Her eyes keep flitting around, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She wears her usual gi, because having other sets of clothes seems to be for other people. "I would not get our hopes up until we find what we are looking for."

    As they come to the cliff, Pearl looks down it. It's not quite a sheer drop. "Very well. I will go on ahead."

    And then she just jumps off, because she's a maniac. When she hits speeds that seem too fast, she fires out her grappling hook into the cliff face. Every so often she swings back to the cliff to slide down it a bit. This is, frankly, a bad idea.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wrist-Mounted Grapnel toward her party's challenge, Into the Ravine.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Into the Ravine *>========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 For once, you seem to have lucked out. Neither inclement weather nor          
 monstrous legion nor tangled jungle bar your path to your destination. In     
 fact, the stroll through the woods is downright pleasant...!                  
                                                                               
 Except that you soon find yourself standing at the lip of a ravine. Your      
 destination is far below, and a treacherous climb down the cliff face is the  
 shortest path. Your vantage point at least affords you an unmatched view of   
 the facility. Great trees have broken the ring-shaped structure into several  
 pieces and have presented a vast canopy to conceal much of the ruins from     
 curious airship captains. The whole thing is like a many-spoked wheel,        
 recessed most of the way into the canyon below.                               
                                                                               
 Be careful not to slip on your way down. It's quite a fall if you do.         
                                                                               
 ((OOC Note: Welcome to the Lifeweaver's Whorl! The actual dungeon is split    
 up into indoor and outdoor challenges, each of which will be noted in the     
 card itself. Each card will also contain some commentary from someone who     
 has clearly been here before you. Feel free to find his half-eaten journal    
 notes lying nearby, or perhaps recorded on half-broken consoles...))          
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=====================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl - Round 1 *>=====================
=========================< Results - Into the Ravine >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rope Ladder                         2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Wrist-Mounted Grapnel               3   Agility Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rope Lance                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(5)--> 5                   Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Shiro's Tail                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          0 --(5)--> 5                   Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: White Knight Leo            0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by White Knight Leo 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> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Hilde brings up a very good point. "What? That travelers disappear, never to be found alive again? It could indicate that this ruin is infested with monsters eager to rend the flesh of innocents, but wouldn't the same be true if there were a gate?" Leo holds up a single finger. "And if it is, then is it not our duty to purge these fiends?" Skylr may or may not experience a sensation of creeping dread: the first signs that this is going to go pear-shaped.

    The ravine is strewn with debris, but it isn't very steep. It's a simple enough matter for Day to keep his balance, and for Hilde to find holds to steady herself. Pearl just sort of freestyles it like the goddamn ninja she is, and lands safe at the bottom with nary a scratch to show for it. Kaguya and Skylr run into a bit of bad luck, though: Kaguya's line isn't quite as well-secured as it looks, and ends up coming loose. Skylr just chances on unsteady footing, and ends up taking a tumble. Luckily for her, Leo is there to catch her before things get too bad. (Day or someone else might need to grab Kaguya.)

    Once everyone has reassembled, Leo brushes dirt off his pants. "Onward!"

DG: Day Muirwall has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>===========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - ONE OF US *>============================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Long-term integration of biomass is proving difficult. Suppression of         
 natural defenses leads inevitably to subject death. Synthesis and symbiosis   
 must be encouraged...                                                         
                                                                               
 INDOOR CHALLENGE: You enter a chamber to find... Pods. Luminescent pods full  
 of translucent, orange fluid that glow with a gentle inner light. It'd be     
 almost welcoming, if it weren't for the bizarre chimerical creatures          
 gestating within: unfortunate animals that have begun to take on the          
 properties of plants. They're all sleeping, for now. This is the good news.   
                                                                               
 The bad news is that one of those pods has just sprung from the wall and      
 consumed one of your party. Thin tendrils have begun to ensnare their limbs   
 as fluid rapidly begins filling the tough, fleshy bulb. Get them out! Get     
 them out before it's too late!                                                
                                                                               
 ((OOC Note: Feel free to choose a volunteer in your group to be seized by     
 the pod! If nobody is comfortable with doing so, feel free to instead         
 interpret the card's content as having to fight off a pod in the middle of    
 its attempt to seize a player character.))                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day whirls to set Vess down with care, then bounds over with his arms held out. Kaguya's tumble ends in a pair of armoured limbs as the young knight catches her in midair and spins to bring her momentum to a gradual stop, finally guiding her to the ground. "Are you alright, Lady Alathfar?" he asks quietly.

Leo urges them onward, and Day moves along with him. He pushes his helmet back as he steps into the chamber beyond, and Vess takes it without even being asked. The young knight snaps his head to let his blond hair loose, then draws both his sword and shield as he advances alongside the guard captain.

The wall has been breached near where they landed. Day boosts himself through the open wall, then widens his eyes at what he sees.

Pods. Glowing pods full of orange fluid. They'd be soothing, if not for--

"Sir Day, there are animals in there," Vess whispers with sudden horror, flinching behind the knight.

Day's throat is a little dry as he sets his shoulders. "What is this place?" he asks, voice low as he stares around at the sleeping beasts within the pods, all of them in some state of mutation.

All of them sleep except one. There is a sudden orange surge.

"Skylr!!" Vess screams as tendrils lash out to seize the young cleric, snapping her up like a predatory flycatcher and sucking her into the pod. Still more tendrils grab ahold of Pearl and try to yank her in alongside Skylr, trying to shove two into the same little prison. Almost immediately, orange fluid - like nectar - begins to gush into the pod. It's sticky and cloyingly sweet - but it itches wherever it touches bare skin.

Day immediately grits his teeth and dives at the pod. "Hang on, you two," he calls as he attempts to wedge his sword into the base of the pod, planting his heel against it as he tries to saw a chunk of podflesh loose from the wall. There's focus in his expression, but he looks up now and then to try and make eye contact, as if to assure them both it'll be alright.

Well, to assure Skylr. He's pretty sure Pearl is too nuts to need assurance of anything.

DG: Day Muirwall has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, ONE OF US.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Ah?" Kaguya blinks twice, looks over Day, and then--"Oh! I'm fine," she answers. "Thanks! That fall would've been annoying." As she steps onto the ground, she looks around thoughtfully, before she kneels down to see a console buried among some greenery, on its side. "Long-term integration of biomass..."

Oh. That's the pods. She sees them when she hears the sound, and tilts her head. "Whoa," she says. "Yeah I think there are," she asys to Vess. "This is really--"

Skylr is sucked in. Kaguya frowns. Pearl is sucked towards it town, and Kaguya frowns harder. "Heeey," she says, "Hands off my gals."

The small Veruni stands up, pulls a bomb!!!! The green-glowing lights on it, the ominous hum, it's unmistakable--except that she flicks a switch and then cracks open the case, withdrawing a little green vial from within and approaching the pods. "Hey, Sir Day," Kaguya says. "Make sure not to touch this stuff. It's really bad for you."

She then starts to sprinkle it on the base of the pod.

"Also try not to breathe it in. Or just be near it. Just stay on that side, y'know?" She is at least on the opposite side of the pod from him.

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, ONE OF US.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

Hilde descends with little difficulty. Fortunately, it looks like her Rope Lance did not need to see use - the others took care of the problem situations before they worsened too far. And then they proceed forward into the facility, to be met immediately with a scene of horror.

"What in the Goddess's name...?" Hilde whispers, shaking her head. She doesn't like one bit of what she's seeing here - and it becomes immediately worse when one of the empty pods snatched up Skylr and Pearl.

"Hold on! We're here for you!" Hilde shouts, drawing her sword and immediately joining Day in attempting to free them.

Once they're free and they've all put this chamber behind them, Hilde will offer them both something from her magical food pouch to try and take some of the edge off.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Magical Pouch toward her party's challenge, ONE OF US.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    The room is full of unpleasant things. Animals becoming plants and what not. Pearl regards it with curiousity, but without any particular care. She notices moments too late the tendrils grabbing her, as she is yanked into the pod. She's already trying to drive her clawed gloves into the plant's limbs, but the pod seals around them both, and starts filling. Pearl grimaces.

    There is a big problem for Pearl at the moment. And that problem is witnesses. "Hold your breath, Skylr Paer!" Pearl instructs, as she does the same. She doesn't have the movement to rip and tear in her without catching Skylr in the blows. And her preferred solution is off the table. She drives the toe claws of her boots into the bottom of her pod, and seeing where Day is driving his sword, tries to position claws to match. Leverage from two sides might be enough to help get them free.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wolf Claws toward her party's challenge, ONE OF US.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Leo squeezes through the hole after Day does. It's a bit easier for him, in fact, since he's not the one encased in heavy armor. He glances around the orange-lit gloom, frowning. "Well, I can't say I've seen anything like these back home, but it's not--"

    'Sir Day, there are animals in there.'

    Leo's ears twitch. He whirls to face the nearest pod, and notices the silhouette inside. It looks like... a bear, maybe? It's difficult to tell. The skin at the back of his neck begins to crawl. "Goddess be good," he murmurs. "This isn't right."

    Leo barely has time to blink. His first urge is to draw his blade, but he suppresses it--what if it uses either of its victims as shields?! Instead, the White Knight clenches his fists; golden light flickers between the joints of his gauntlets, igniting within amber crystal decorations. The Beastman grabs hold of one of the tendrils, and pulls with all of his strength. At the same time, the ground around the base of the plant begins to shudder, as if the very earth were taking exception to having this monstrosity rooted within it.

    Kaguya pours something on the plant's base. Leo steps well back, and hopes that it's not explosive.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Earthgrasp Gauntlets toward his party's challenge, ONE OF US.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

 Skylr, as a farm girl at heart and a healer of mind, catches onto the pods much sooner than some, but even her moment of thinking means she's suddenly got plant tendrils on her and she's suddenly sucked in. Venus Fly Traps her foot. Trap Spiders, more like it. Skylr, to her credit, doesn't even scream all that much. She's gotten inured to getting grabbed by enemy people/objects.
 
 ... ... ... that might be worrying.
 
 She holds her breath, though, as ordered, and noticing where Pearl is kicking, she uses her sturdy hiking boots to help with the pressure. Sure, she's got pointy things, but Pearl's here too...

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, ONE OF US.
===========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>===========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - ONE OF US *>============================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
 Long-term integration of biomass is proving difficult. Suppression of         
 natural defenses leads inevitably to subject death. Synthesis and symbiosis   
 must be encouraged...                                                         
                                                                               
 INDOOR CHALLENGE: You enter a chamber to find... Pods. Luminescent pods full  
 of translucent, orange fluid that glow with a gentle inner light. It'd be     
 almost welcoming, if it weren't for the bizarre chimerical creatures          
 gestating within: unfortunate animals that have begun to take on the          
 properties of plants. They're all sleeping, for now. This is the good news.   
                                                                               
 The bad news is that one of those pods has just sprung from the wall and      
 consumed one of your party. Thin tendrils have begun to ensnare their limbs   
 as fluid rapidly begins filling the tough, fleshy bulb. Get them out! Get     
 them out before it's too late!                                                
                                                                               
 ((OOC Note: Feel free to choose a volunteer in your group to be seized by     
 the pod! If nobody is comfortable with doing so, feel free to instead         
 interpret the card's content as having to fight off a pod in the middle of    
 its attempt to seize a player character.))                                    
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
======================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl - Round 2 *>======================
=============================< Results - ONE OF US >==============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Earthgrasp Gauntlets                3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Wolf Claws                          2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Magical Pouch                       1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse              
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          5 --(5)--> 10                  Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: White Knight Leo            20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Madness
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by White Knight Leo 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> Day Muirwall has posed.

The fact that Skylr doesn't even scream sends a stab of pity shooting through Day. Just how much has the poor girl been through to inure her to all of this?

Fortunately, her company in the pod helps. Pearl's boot claws clash against Day's sword through the thick material of the paw, but soon enough, both slice through, carving a rip in the pod. "There! We've got to widen it," Day urges, and Skylr does just that. Her kicks widen out the gash in the pod. Orange goop begins to slime free, puddling across the floor.

Kaguya pours out something green and noxious. At the base of the pod, organic material sizzles and darkens, rapidly necrotizing and beginning to crack and flake. Part of the pod tears loose from the wall. Leo's raw strength tears it the rest of the way. Roots pull out of the wall, wrenched from deep within the structure, as the pod slouches to the floor, torn wide open by all the blades and force and poisons brought to bear on it.

When Hilde scoots over to the pair with food, it's all too refreshing. The orange slime trickles away, the tingling sensation absent without the pod around it.

Day clicks his teeth together as he moves to check Pearl over, then Skylr. "Are you alright?" he asks. "What was that pod trying to do?"

DG: Hilde has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>=========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Tryptophobia *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 ...to ensure adequate cross-genomic data transfer, appropriate vectors are    
 necessary. Perhaps by re-engineering one of the local species of pollinating  
 insects, a relatively safe medium might be created...                         
                                                                               
 INDOOR CHALLENGE: Walls shouldn't look like that. This entire room-- its      
 walls, its floor, its ceiling, they're covered in bulbous, organic growths.   
 Each one, bulging from the concrete and steel like ripe sores, is covered in  
 clusters of black dots... No. They're holes. They're holes that swell and     
 stretch as strange multi-winged insects pull their way out from within to     
 defend their hive from intruders. The whole room begins swarming with         
 crawling, buzzing, stinging bugs who are all uniformly offended at your       
 presence in their domain.                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

Day asks what the pod was trying to do, and Hilde can only frown uncertainly.

"I'm afraid I have no earthly idea..." She says. Make them like the beasts in those other pods? ...Possibly, but that's a possibility she scarcely wants to imagine.

While the first room they entered was awful, the second is only marginally better. It's been twisted, to put it bluntly, covered in organic growths. That would be awful enough on its own, but they soon begin to release strange, multi-winged insects.

This is not just an ordinary room - it's a hive, and its inhabitants seek to defend this room aggressively.

Quickly, Hilde draws out a banner from her belongings. She does not, this time, plant the banner in the ground. Instead, she swishes it through the air, creating a current of wind that disrupts the flight pattern of a group of bugs heading toward her, before drawing her sword and slicing them in two.

"Do not falter! We must push through these monstrous insects - we can overcome this! Do not forget what we came here for!" Hilde shouts encouragement.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Battle Standard toward her party's challenge, Tryptophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya is not especially noisy about how awful it all is; instead, she looks with some interest as the pod starts tearing loose, cracking and flaking and then just being ripped apart. It was a little mean, in one respect, but...

"Can't have them," she tells the pods as a while, shaking her head. "If I don't miss my guess," Kaguya speaks up to Day, "It was trying to merge itself with them--create a symbiotic relationship. I'm not sure what it would've looked like, but I don't think any of us want to stop and find out."

She gathers a little of the poisoned material and then stands up, following into the second room. This... hive. She spots another terminal, as the dots start to swell and stretch. "Cross-genomic data transfer..."

They pop out, and Kaguya grins. "Look at them!" she calls, safe(ish)ly in her armor except for her head, and pulls out a grenade, popping it open without removing the pin and carefully squeezing in some of the liquid from the poisoned organic material, before hurling it into the farthest mass of them. "Ha!"

She has enough for more than one of those, no less.

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Loot Abuse toward her party's challenge, Tryptophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day nods back to Hilde, a bit tense, but right now is not the time for him to entertain what discomfort she may cause him. "This place is entirely unlike anything else I've seen in Filgaia. I can't even describe half of the things here."

Sword and shield in hand, Day moves on alongside the Hyland Knight. Vess hunkers down in his shadow, content to stay clear of the worst of the damage by the simple expedient of accompanying the most heavily-armoured member of the team. But as they enter the room, she lets out a little sick sound and covers her mouth with both hands.

"It's like a sickness," Day hisses as he raises his shield, his face going a little pale.

Things get worse. The hideous buboes begin to spew insects. They buzz towards Day and Vess, and the young woman ducks away with a yelp - but the insects don't seem to notice her. They focus entirely on the armoured knight. A couple of insects zip so close to Vess as to nearly clip her head, so close that it's almost like they go through her - but they pass right by and ping off of Day's backplate.

Whirling, the young knight raises his shield, sweeping it through the air face-first. Bugs splatter against it as he attempts to simply rake several of them out of the air at once. "Damned things!"

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Kite Shield toward his party's challenge, Tryptophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

 They get deposited from the pod, and Skylr remarks, her voice incredibly strained and quiet, "I believe I shall a vegetarian diet from the future. In fact, I may be more of a carnivore now." She takes the food from Hilde and pops all of it into her mouth, looking very much like a chipmunk with her cheeks popped and puffed all out. She chews slowly as they keep moving foprward, at least til they get to a room with...
 
 Bugs. Flying, flying bugs.
 
 She finishes chewing, swallows, and remarks, looking down at the floor for a moment - "As I learned during my time at the Church before the Guard, well... With all insects, they're going to move quick and flit around. Catch them with surprise and use large area attacks if you have them."

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Lessons From Althena toward her party's challenge, Tryptophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    As Pearl comes falling out of the pod, she briefly gasps for air. Orange slime oozes off her. It is going to take some time to clean off. She looks back to Skylr. "Good work. You responded aptly." Wow, a word of compliment? From Pearl? "I should have been more on my guard." She stands up, and flicks the fluid from her hands, and takes the offered food. She eyes it briefly, as if measuring it up for something. "And I am not sure, Guardsmen Muirwall. My main interaction with plantlife is ignoring it." A beat. "A mistake I will not repeat."

    Having finished eating, the group moves on. "I trust Duchess Alathfar's impression. I do not think it would have been healthy for us to remain in there any longer." Any further conversation is cut off by suddenly discovering a hive. The monstrous insects start swarming, and Pearl drops into combat stance. However big they are, however, it's still hard to kung fu fight a Bee. Or Bee-like object. She grasps into her pocket, and pulls free a tiny scroll. One she knows the words off to by heart. "...Embrace your hatred." she whispers under her breath, and slides it away again."

    And then she tears into a wild, reckless frenzy, filling the space around her with rapid slashes and sudden kicks, aiming to tear apart any insect that comes her way.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Mantra of Rage toward her party's challenge, Tryptophobia.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Meanwhile, Pearl gives Skylr a compliment, and Skylr's whole world tips upside down in fear.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Once both Skylr and Pearl are free of the pod, Leo draws his blade. A few violent chops later, and it's lying on the floor in chunks, orange goo dripping into cracks in the metal. The White Knight wipes his sword off on some nearby foliage, and holsters it. Only then does he allow himself to shudder. Kaguya's explanation does not help. The Beastman shudders again. "Go on ahead," Leo says. "I'll rejoin you once I've dealt with these monstrosities."

    The remaining pods prove to be more torpid, and much less problematic.

    "Cross-whatomic?" Leo says, as he steps through the door. One look around this room is enough to set his skin to crawling again, and that's before the bugs even show up. When they do, the White Knight grits his teeth, and presses two fingers to the Crest around his neck. "Who created this wretched hole?!" he demands, of the universe in general. Leo might be indignant, but the White Dragon's power is as sure and reliable as it always is. A wash of pearlescent power surges from the White Dragon Crest, enveloping the others in a field of protective light. With the barrier in place, Leo takes point again, his blade sweeping nimbly through the air.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool White Dragon Crest toward his party's challenge, Tryptophobia.
=========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>=========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Tryptophobia *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 ...to ensure adequate cross-genomic data transfer, appropriate vectors are    
 necessary. Perhaps by re-engineering one of the local species of pollinating  
 insects, a relatively safe medium might be created...                         
                                                                               
 INDOOR CHALLENGE: Walls shouldn't look like that. This entire room-- its      
 walls, its floor, its ceiling, they're covered in bulbous, organic growths.   
 Each one, bulging from the concrete and steel like ripe sores, is covered in  
 clusters of black dots... No. They're holes. They're holes that swell and     
 stretch as strange multi-winged insects pull their way out from within to     
 defend their hive from intruders. The whole room begins swarming with         
 crawling, buzzing, stinging bugs who are all uniformly offended at your       
 presence in their domain.                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
====================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl - Round 3 *>====================
==========================< Results - Tryptophobia >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
White Dragon Crest                  2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Mantra of Rage                      2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Battle Standard                     1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              5 --(10)--> 15                 Pass
Loot Abuse                          2   Combat  Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Kite Shield                         1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          10 --(15)--> 25                Fail
Lessons From Althena                2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: White Knight Leo            40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by White Knight Leo 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> Hilde has posed.

Hilde also doesn't know what a 'cross-genomic data transfer' is. But what she - and the rest of her fellow members of the Guard - does know is how to take care of bugs. They're bigger than the average bug, but that works against them here - it's a lot easier to punch a bug the size of your head.

There are lot of them there, though, so it'll take a while. Fortunately, while Skylr might not be able to take care of any of the bugs herself, her information does prove beneficial in dealing with the problem - and soon enough, they've managed to deal with the lot of them - whether it be by sword, kicks, or just blowing them the heck up.

Hilde waits for a moment to ensure that no more are coming before allowing herself to relax slightly.

"...Is everyone alright?" She asks.

DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Helicopter Seeds *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 ...down an unintended evolutionary pathway. Propagation was never a           
 priority, but may have applications in establishing defensive perimeters.     
 Caution must be taken to avoid dangerous cross-contamination...               
                                                                               
 OUTDOOR CHALLENGE: Years of neglect and the rampant proliferation of          
 vegetation has caused entire sections of the facility to separate from one    
 another. While they're often linked by rivers of huge, thorny vines,          
 navigating such hazards means exposure to razor-sharp barbs and whatever      
 toxins that might be covering them. Growing near this one, however, are       
 enormous seedpods with propeller-like growths sprouting from one end. You     
 might be able to hitch a ride on them to bridge the gap, but mind stray       
 gusts and try to avoid getting too dizzy on your way down...!                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Plants can be very dangerous. It's just usually poison or barbs or hidden roots instead of trying to eat you." But--Who created it? "I don't know," Kaguya says, "But it wasn't anybody modern. This isn't the kind of thing I do, and it's way beyond most Blue Star technology."

"It means this person was trying to change the characteristics of living things. I don't know why, though." She does remember to explain that, at least.

As they finish with the bugs, Kaguya looks around. "Yeah, looks like we're all intact. ...Hey, the path leads outside..."

Onward they go. Kaguya reaches down after a while and picks up some half-eaten notes. "...Down an unintended evolutionary pathway. Propagation..." She tilts her head. "Ha. Establishing defensive perimeters. But what kind of cross contamination do they worry about?"

She looks up, then, and a whole section of the facility is blocked by razor-sharp barbs, toxins... except that there are seedpods with growths. "...Hey. These could be useful," Kaguya points out, reaching towards one of the seed pods--and as she takes it off, it starts spinning. "We can go over the vines with these!"

...She might end up getting motion sick. But, worth it.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Helicopter Seeds.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day squints at Kaguya for a second, having no idea what any of those words mean save in the broadest possible sense. Then a flicker of horror flashes across his face. "...So it wanted to combine them?!"

Day is trying to visualize what Skylr Pearl would look like if she was also a plant. He is not sure he even can make his mind conceive of such a thing.

Hanging behind the group, Vess wraps her arms around Day's helmet, looking from face to face with worry. But she follows nevertheless, keeping a little closer to Day the further they go. The knight draws towards the front, moving up to Kaguya's right and narrowing his eyes as he looks down the corridor. "I don't know, but we're probably going to be contaminated if we step on any of those barbs. I can see the poison on them."

Kaguya, however, has a plan. Day blinks a couple of times. "...How will that work."

"Like this!" Vess is suddenly cheery as she hops up and grabs ahold of one of the seed pods.

It begins to slowly spin, with Vess trailing beneath it. "Wheeeeeee!" she calls out, having far too much fun for a lone civilian as her pod whirls her through the air as if she weighed next to nothing.

Day looks after the girl a bit sourly. "Easy for you when you're wearing fabric," he mutters as he grabs the next pod.

The pod he's riding on hangs visibly in the air. Day's armour is not light. He grimaces, clutching the pod and really hoping the Shiro Tail lets him move through this fast.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Shiro's Tail toward his party's challenge, Helicopter Seeds.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

They find themselves outside again, but unfortunately for them, the way forward is barred by a river of huge, thorny vines.

"...I do not particularly like the looks of those. I would advise finding another way across." Hilde muses with a frown, before glancing toward Kaguya as she discovers something interesting. "...Oh, how curious... Will they support our weight, I wonder...?"

Fortunately, it looks like they will - if with some effort for the members of their party that carry heavier equipment, Hilde among them.

It starts sagging a little only half-way through, and it becomes clear she won't make it all the way... but, fortunately, she has an idea. There are a few others flying through the air, currently without passengers... so, she takes her Rope Lance, lines it up, and hurls it upward at the next seedpod. It lands and Hilde lets go, looking to use the momentum to swing her way across the rest of the way!

...And if she doesn't quite make it, well, at least she's wearing heavy armor.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Rope Lance toward her party's challenge, Helicopter Seeds.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    It turns out slashing wildly sometimes works. Hooray! The insects defeated, the group follows along. Honestly, Pearl is only half listening to the scientific stuff, that's well outside her wheelhouse. She also sort of stares blankly at Day as he goes off trying to imagine something too horrible to concieve. "...Very well."

    Pearl looks at the plant pods, that are now carrying people away. This seems... far too whimsical for her liking. "This is the only path forward, then?" It's a question, but she doesn't really expect an answer. She reaches out for a pod of her own, and sighs. It starts to haul her into the air, and she looks back at any still remaining. "We had best catch up."

    There's still the currents to deal with, however.It could be very easy to get swept off path. And that's where grappling hooks come in. Latching to walls, floors, and maybe other people's pods to steer. She might even try and pull in someone going too far off path. Or dropping. Dropping is bad too.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wrist-Mounted Grapnel toward her party's challenge, Helicopter Seeds.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Leo hurries out of the room after Kaguya. All those holes everywhere were getting to him. "I could understand if whomever it was wished to feed the hungry, or to restore this dying husk of a star. But those things, back there?" He's not really expecting an answer. He had to get it out of his system, anyway.

    Then, Kaguya makes another, less viscerally unsettling discovery. Leo arches a brow. "A man-sized whirligig?" he says, watching as Kaguya grabs one. Curiosity dawns on his face as the Veruni scientist takes off, helicoptering across the thorny obstacle. "The Goddess works in mysterious ways," he decides. He grabs a second pod, lifts it above his head, and allows the breeze to carry him.

    Leo's pod doesn't encounter the same problems as Hilde and Day's, but he soon discovers a different one: namely, whirling around in circles is a really good way to get motion-sick. Leo lets go of the pod with one hand, pulls a length of rope free, and throws it into the distance--it hooks around a tree branch, and pulls taut. With the line secure, Leo closes his eyes and gently guides the pod to its destination.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Rope Ladder toward his party's challenge, Helicopter Seeds.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

 Skylr looks at Kaguya, the pods, and then everyone else.
 
 "Hasn't anyone heard of keeping their feet on the ground?" The cleric mutters, but nevertheless, she makes a hefty jump, and grabs a bigger pod. She's heavier than she looks, and she picks it up, holds it up, and-
 
 W..whee?

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Helicopter Seeds.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Helicopter Seeds *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 ...down an unintended evolutionary pathway. Propagation was never a           
 priority, but may have applications in establishing defensive perimeters.     
 Caution must be taken to avoid dangerous cross-contamination...               
                                                                               
 OUTDOOR CHALLENGE: Years of neglect and the rampant proliferation of          
 vegetation has caused entire sections of the facility to separate from one    
 another. While they're often linked by rivers of huge, thorny vines,          
 navigating such hazards means exposure to razor-sharp barbs and whatever      
 toxins that might be covering them. Growing near this one, however, are       
 enormous seedpods with propeller-like growths sprouting from one end. You     
 might be able to hitch a ride on them to bridge the gap, but mind stray       
 gusts and try to avoid getting too dizzy on your way down...!                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
=====================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl - Round 4 *>=====================
=========================< Results - Helicopter Seeds >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    10 --(3)--> 13                 Pass
Rope Ladder                         2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               10 --(3)--> 13                 Pass
Wrist-Mounted Grapnel               3   Agility Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               10 --(3)--> 13                 Pass
Rope Lance                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              15 --(3)--> 18                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        10 --(3)--> 13                 Pass
Shiro's Tail                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          25 --(8)--> 33                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: White Knight Leo            60 --(20)--> 80                Pass
Conditions: Fright(1)|Tire(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by White Knight Leo 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> Kaguya has posed.

"Yep!" Kaguya answers about combinations. And to Leo, "It's possible that they had a good reason. When you start messing with the characteristics of living things, you can get a horror show really fast. Where do you think the vines I used in Luca came from?" But how will it work? Yes, Kaguya just goes right on ahead, and somehow, somehow it works out fine as she flies over the vines and down, down--

She lets go farther off the ground than would be wise for most and rolls up to a 'tada!' pose. "Vess has the right idea," Kaguya grins.

Vess, indeed, also does great, and apparently loves doing it. Day's armor is... very, very heavy, and one could easily wonder how on earth this plant's amount of lift can actually support a man in plate. The answer is shut up, he has a Shiro tail.

...This does not so much answer for how Hilde and Leo, likewise heavy and armed, make it through. It might've been safer to find another way across, but that's not where it is. However...

The answer for Hilde turns out to be flawless use of her rope lance. For Pearl, she makes a more direct path than any of them thanks to guiding all the way through with her grappling hooks. And Leo...

Leo's secure line means that he can gently float to his destination without spinning and whirling around. He is a cat who does not have to get wet.

Skylr does not get to keep her feet on the ground. Her landing is not especially graceful. But there are plenty of people available to catch her and ensure she doesn't fall into anything, thanks to the power of teamwork.

DG: Pearl has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Benediction of Archgenesis *>==================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 ...all that I can do. And yet, the truth I have been running from for so      
 long is so painfully obvious. Even if I find my answer, someday, who will     
 bring it to those who need it most? I will die here, so far from home... or   
 else I will be bound to this place, never to see them again. When it is       
 done, will I even remember what I did all this for?                           
                                                                               
 INDOOR CHALLENGE: You've finally drawn near to the heart of this place. The   
 vines creeping across the facility walls pulse with light and energy, and     
 grow so thick that it's impossible to tell that you're in an artificial       
 structure at all. Whatever is going on in here, whatever treasures might be   
 hidden here, they're very close by.                                           
                                                                               
 The problem is, you're not the only ones who realize it.                      
                                                                               
 The corridor suddenly shudders as a cascade of roots and vines erupt from     
 the walls to bar your path. Saplings shoot up from the floor, expand into     
 fully grown tree trunks, and then rapidly die and petrify to bar your way.    
 The life-force filling this place surges to keep you at bay. Whatever lies    
 in wait knows that you are coming, and it's doing all that it can to stop     
 you.                                                                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    After safe-ish landings all round, the path leads forward, into a tunnel. A tunnel gleaming with light. Advancing forward reveals the source of the light- The vines on the walls. "Odd." Pearl says, as she walks forward. She feels something crinkle under her feet. She looks down, pulling a torn page from the grasps of plants. It's old, and worn and-

    Pearl has just thrown it over her shoulder. There'll be time for someone else to salvage, thankfully. "We must be nearing the center by now." She says, before stopping. She looks up. The tunnel creaks, and starts to grown. "Move!" She yells, as plants come flyinf in from all directions. Small trees burst up from the ground, and grow rapidly into full grown trees.

    And in moments they die, and then petrify, creating a wall. And then the process starts to repeat, faster and faster. "Are the plants trying to keep us out?" She asks aloud, before taking back to the wall. She starts tearing and ripping with her claws, trying not to lose ground. It's not an easy battle.

    "I will not be bested by a dead plant!" She yells, anger seeping into her voice.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wolf Claws toward her party's challenge, Benediction of Archgenesis.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day lands with a clank of armour, wobbling a bit and letting out a groan. "Remind me never to ride a spinning seed pod again."

It takes him a little bit to steady himself again, and he continues on after Pearl. He and Vess fall in not far from Skylr. The woman in the glasses falls back to offer up a quiet smile for the healer. "I actually like the ground a little better... but isn't it nice to take flight every once in awhile? Even if it's just metaphorical most of the time? Flights of fancy, flights of mirth...."

"Flights of wondering who built this place and why," Day muses as he peers after Pearl. "Some of these plants are types you'd find in Lunar. I recognize some of them. There's a stand of seraph's breath not far from here. They used to grow in Muirwall Forest...." He trails off as something occurs to him.

A creaking sound.

And trees. Trees beginning to sprout everywhere.

"Gah!" Day exclaims as a huge trunk shoots across the space in front of him, another behind. He tries to wrestle the branch to the side, but more foliage sprouts up and hardens around him like a cage. "Gh-- Vess!" he shouts over the creak and noise of the encounter.

"I'm okay!" an alarmed Vess shouts, voice peaking a bit. She's managing to worm her way through the worst of the branches, somehow. They don't seem to focus on her specifically.

"Get clear of this. Don't get trapped here," Day shouts to her before trying to wedge his shoulder under a heavy branch, straining as he tries to fight his way through the mess. "Ghhh...!"

DG: Day Muirwall has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Benediction of Archgenesis.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

Hilde lands safely on the other side! She does have to take a second to stabilize herself, however, after which she reclaims her Rope Lance. And, it looks like everyone else made it across, too, which means they can proceed forward.

...But, as they do, the plants themselves rise to block their path, rapidly petrifying themselves to form a wall as hard as any stone.

She glances over toward Day, then, as he considers some of the plants here.

"...Then, might it be possible...?" She murmurs. Might this have some manner of connection back to Lunar? ...Regardless of whether it does or not, to find out they'll have to find a way past this wall.

Hilde elects to do things the hard way, tearing her way through with sheer brute force. And when they're all done, she'll provide everyone with a fresh meal from her pouch. They'll likely need it, to face whatever awaits them...

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Magical Pouch toward her party's challenge, Benediction of Archgenesis.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

 "Miss Vess..." Skylr says with some dignity... "I'm like my sheep, I like being down on the ground. Water sucks, I'm heavy, and air sucks because of that exact sort of similar nature." She scratches the back of her neck. "So I stay down here, where my floof and I are all comfortable."
 
 "Anyways..." She looks around as trees start blooming. She kinda wants to live here.
 
 However, she's not very... *useful* in this situation, as she casually walks up to a tree and starts kicking it.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Benediction of Archgenesis.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Old, worn. Kaguya catches the page as Pearl tosses it over, reading it quickly. "The truth...." Kaguya reads it over twice, thoughtful. "Yeah some are definitely familiar," Kaguya answers Day absently, before she considers it. "Those who 'need it most'," she recites. Then she grows serious.

"Yeah it seems like--" Bwoosh. Plants, growing and growing and growing and, "Whoa," Kaguya says. "This is incredible. The accelerated growth--not only have they altered the plants, but the soil must be extraordinary to support this much--"

Kaguya steps back, and hmms. It wants to keep them out... They want to move forward. Kaguya looks at the obstacle with a calculating eye, and reaches into her bag to pull another bomb. She doesn't take this one apart, though. Instead she looks to the others. "I hate to tell you, but... This guy didn't think he was making it home, 'so far away.' He mentioned either dying before the trip, or being bound to this place never able to see those he left behind."

"...Seems like he had a reason after all." Kaguya rears back her throwing arm, and arms the bomb. She hurls it forward, up into the cluster of petrified trees. "Shields up, knights!"

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, Benediction of Archgenesis.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Day isn't the only one who needs a moment after that dizzying ride. "At least those creations weren't trying to kill us," Leo says, once the world has stopped spinning around him.

    A note. Leo isn't close enough to grab it as Pearl casts it aside, but Kaguya does it for him. He can't make out what's on it, but she'll tell him, right? "Precisely," he says, as Day notes the presence of Lunarian flora. "Clearly someone brought those plants to Filgaia! Which means--"

    CRUNCH

Gnarled trunks tear out of the ground, growing into a wall of wood before Leo's very eyes. "Oh no you don't!" he cries, clenching his hands again. "You won't defeat us so easily!" There has to be a way back in this place. There has to. Mauri needs him, to say nothing of the rest of the Guard, the ones who haven't been scattered across this decrepit world. Leo steps forwards, presses both hands to the barrier, and focuses his will. Petrified wood--just Earth-aspected enough to count, for the purposes of Leo's sorcery--starts to buckle. When Kaguya comes to her conclusion, though, Leo's concentration falters for a key second. A branch shoots past his ear, forcing him to whip his head back. "What?!" Leo cries. "Impossible--then where did these--but how?!"

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Day isn't the only one who needs a moment after that dizzying ride. "At least those creations weren't trying to kill us," Leo says, once the world has stopped spinning around him.

    A note. Leo isn't close enough to grab it as Pearl casts it aside, but Kaguya does it for him. He can't make out what's on it, but she'll tell him, right? "Precisely," he says, as Day notes the presence of Lunarian flora. "Clearly someone brought those plants to Filgaia! Which means--"

    CRUNCH


    Gnarled trunks tear out of the ground, growing into a wall of wood before Leo's very eyes. "Oh no you don't!" he cries, clenching his hands again. "You won't defeat us so easily!" There has to be a way back in this place. There has to. Mauri needs him, to say nothing of the rest of the Guard, the ones who haven't been scattered across this decrepit world. Leo steps forwards, presses both hands to the barrier, and focuses his will. Petrified wood--just Earth-aspected enough to count, for the purposes of Leo's sorcery--starts to buckle. When Kaguya comes to her conclusion, though, Leo's concentration falters for a key second. A branch shoots past his ear, forcing him to whip his head back. "What?!" Leo cries. "Impossible--then where did these--but how?!"

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Earthgrasp Gauntlets toward his party's challenge, Benediction of Archgenesis.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Benediction of Archgenesis *>==================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 ...all that I can do. And yet, the truth I have been running from for so      
 long is so painfully obvious. Even if I find my answer, someday, who will     
 bring it to those who need it most? I will die here, so far from home... or   
 else I will be bound to this place, never to see them again. When it is       
 done, will I even remember what I did all this for?                           
                                                                               
 INDOOR CHALLENGE: You've finally drawn near to the heart of this place. The   
 vines creeping across the facility walls pulse with light and energy, and     
 grow so thick that it's impossible to tell that you're in an artificial       
 structure at all. Whatever is going on in here, whatever treasures might be   
 hidden here, they're very close by.                                           
                                                                               
 The problem is, you're not the only ones who realize it.                      
                                                                               
 The corridor suddenly shudders as a cascade of roots and vines erupt from     
 the walls to bar your path. Saplings shoot up from the floor, expand into     
 fully grown tree trunks, and then rapidly die and petrify to bar your way.    
 The life-force filling this place surges to keep you at bay. Whatever lies    
 in wait knows that you are coming, and it's doing all that it can to stop     
 you.                                                                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
=====================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl - Round 5 *>=====================
====================< Results - Benediction of Archgenesis >====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    13 --(0)--> 13                 Pass
Earthgrasp Gauntlets                3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               13 --(5)--> 18                 Fail
Wolf Claws                          2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               13 --(0)--> 13                 Pass
Magical Pouch                       1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              18 --(0)--> 18                 Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        13 --(0)--> 13                 Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          33 --(5)--> 38                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: White Knight Leo            80 --(0)--> 80                 Pass
Conditions: Overwhelm|Tire(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by White Knight Leo has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    The waves of plant growth surge forward, and Altena's Guard and special guest star Kaguya (is she still a guard here?) rush to meet it. Day is able to force his way through the green growth, as Vess manages to make her way through with agility. As plants try to seal him in, Day is able to break through with sheer strength.

    Hilde provides sating food to those she can, as she pushes past the plants even as they push back at her. It's not an easy feat, but she manages regardless.

    Leo brings his powerful gauntlets to bear against the wall of death, fighting trees with the might of the earth itself. He warps the plants, as much as he can, to fight them back.

Pearl and Skylr finds themselves in similar predicaments. Trying to focus on the threat in front of you means you can sometimes forget the threat everywhere else. Dead plants have surrounded the two Guardswomen, and in moments they could be entombed forever.

    Fortunately, Kaguya brought a bomb. The explosion shatters the plants that Leo was holding at bay. This creates a path- if a temporary one- for all the Guard to get clear to what lies ahead.

    As they move, Pearl has a chance to react to Kaguya's discovery. All she has to respond with is an angry 'Hm.'

DG: White Knight Leo has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Galem the Guardian *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 ...Gazer and Project Mispolm in particular have been very useful references.  
 The ancients of this land must have been scientists beyond compare. I can     
 only hope that my own work can meet the standards they set...                 
                                                                               
 FINAL CHALLENGE: As you pull yourselves out of the tangle of obstacles, you   
 find yourselves in a sunlit grove at the foot of a truly spectacular tree.    
 Colorful flora blooms brilliantly, tended to by a small army of busily        
 swarming insects. The air is fresh and crisp, full of the heady scent of      
 aromatic nectar. Just as you think you have a moment to rest, something       
 abruptly changes. A shadow grows across the ground as the pollinating swarms  
 scatter. Something falls out of the sky! It looks like a massive bush with a  
 single eye. The thing emits a noise that can only be described as an alarm    
 siren as its leafy shell comes apart into a dozen smaller, floating           
 eyeball-shrubs. The core, now revealed to be an enormous seed or nut, begins  
 firing bolts of brilliant energy from its eye and commanding thorny growths   
 to burst from the ground underneath your feet, even as its subordinate        
 drones launch their own beam attacks and menace with stinging tendril-vines!  
                                                                               
 Your goal is within sight, but you're going to have to overcome this final    
 guardian to claim it!                                                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    A dozen different floral scents wash down the corridor, mingling into a sweet, heady perfume. Leo's ears twitch as he hears the sounds of buzzing, reminded of the hive they encountered earlier. "More insects?" he says, as he draws his blade--preparing, perhaps, for another swarm. "Or perhaps deadly flowers? It matters not! Our goal lies ahead, whatever it may be. I can feel it!" He steps into the grove, and glances around, studying every tree and bush as though it contained a dozen bloodthirsty horrors. It's undeniably peaceful, but is it wise to let down one's guard in a place like this? As it turns out: no, definitely not.

    An ear-splitting SCREECH fills the air. Something huge and leafy falls from the sky, shrieking and spewing sorcerous light in every direction. "DOWN!" Leo shouts. He stomps a foot into the grassy loam, and a wall of earth rises from the ground before him. One of Galem's beams slams head-on into the shield of turf, and the smell of burning turf fills the air. Leo presses a hand to the Crest around his neck, whispering a brief prayer. Once again, that soothing, warding energy flows forth from him, enveloping the rest of the party in its embrace.

    Thus protected, Leo makes ready to strike back. One of the smaller 'drones' flits around Leo's cover, and takes aim. His blade lashes out in an instant, cleaving the thing in two.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool White Dragon Crest toward his party's challenge, Galem the Guardian.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

"Althena said.... not to look to ones self, but to look at what you can do to others, and what they can do to others too!" Skylr says after a long moment of her gaze flitting around the room. "They probably aren't shielded from each other, so bait them into each other's lasers!" Then she nods at Leo.
Skylr Paer says, "Isn't that right, sir? If they take themselves out, that lowers their numbers, and gives us a greater advantage! Althena Bless!" She does admit, peering at the earthen wall. She's always delighted and finds it neat to see Leo do his stuff. She worked with his sister for too long."

<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

"Althena said.... not to look to ones self, but to look at what you can do to others, and what they can do to others too!" Skylr says after a long moment of her gaze flitting around the room. "They probably aren't shielded from each other, so bait them into each other's lasers!" Then she nods at Leo.
 
 "Isn't that right, sir? If they take themselves out, that lowers their numbers, and gives us a greater advantage! Althena Bless!" She does admit, peering at the earthen wall. She's always delighted and finds it neat to see Leo do his stuff. She worked with his sister for too long.
 
 However, she puts her own advice into work, drawing bow and arrow, firing shots to draw attention, weaving through the drones and the like, tagging them with arrows and using them as cover from other attacks.

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Lessons From Althena toward her party's challenge, Galem the Guardian.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day widens his eyes as Kaguya reads off the notes. "What-- how can that be? How could someone have-" He cuts off, clenching his teeth and raising his shield.

Kaguya's bomb goes off. It is nothing compared to the bomb of shock and disappointment revealed in story by the notes.

The scent of flowers, some of them familiar, does little to buoy Day's spirits. He drops to his feet, moving up to one side of Leo with a grim focus, sword and shield at the ready. "It remains to be seen. Whatever mad art created this place, all we can do is prepare for it." Moving with the Guard Captain, he holds his side of the front expertly enough.

This feels right, at least. A little more like home. And not monastery home.

The massive Galem drops in with a screech. "Vess, back!" Day shouts immediately before planting his knee against the grass and raising his rather more conventional shield.

Oxygen flash-burns with the steely scent of scorched ozone as the Galem opens up with its laser. The blast rakes the face of Day's shield, thundering against the white pegasus forcene blazoned there. The enamel and coating there remain intact, char marks dancing across the metal - but it holds.

"Then that allows us to reach the core," he answers Skylr with a glance back. "Cover me, Miss Paer."

Without so much as a flinch, Day bursts forward. One of the drones darts into his path, and the young Rolancian slashes out to try and carve it aside. His target is simple: The core.

Another blast flashes from it. He raises his shield again - and there is an eruption of light, flame and smoke. The blast swallows Day up completely. From somewhere behind Skylr, Vess lets out a shriek of fear.

And then another voice rises from inside the light and smoke.

"HYAAAAAAAAAHT!!!"

Day comes surging out of the light cloud, unscathed but leaving his shield over his shoulder. More laser scars have slashed into it. He's taken his broadsword in both hands, close enough now to engage the core in a melee directly. Eyes afire with intensity, he powers close and winds up, raising his weapon over his head.

"TOOOOOOOOOOOOORYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" he roars like a lion as he attempts to split the core down the middle with a devastating blow.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Kite Shield toward his party's challenge, Galem the Guardian.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

So - this place may not be the salvation they were looking for, after all. A quiet frown crosses Hilde's face as Kaguya reads off the note. She's quiet, even as she passes out food... and even as they continue onward, facing this place's final guardian.

It attacks with a flurry of lasers, which Hilde ducks to avoid at Leo's call. And then, she stands, drawing out her battle standard and planting it into the ground.

"Though this may not be the passage back home that we have sought... what we have seen here, these abominable experiments, makes it clear that this is not a place that we can simply leave alone." Hilde says, drawing her sword and shield. "We must press forward. Do not falter now, friends! This place fought against us at every step - we must show it that Althena's Guard cannot be halted so easily!"

With those words, Hilde forces her way forward. A blue aura suffuses her body, joining in with protective ward of Leo's White Dragon Crest. She wades through lasers, deflecting any direct hits with her shield while letting near misses pass her by.

She makes her way to the core, and once she's there... she thrusts her sword forward, looking to stab it straight through at about the same time Day comes down upon it with an overhead chop.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Battle Standard toward her party's challenge, Galem the Guardian.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Pearl's mood, once again, is not improved by idyllic natural environments. If there's a flower in her path, she may just step on it out of spite. "If there is no path back, then there had best be something here worth our time." She growls, finally speaking.

    And then a leafy... THING slams into the ground and draws everyone's attention. This? This is something she can do something about. As Leo's shield bears the brunt of the attack, Pearl touches the tiny scroll, then starts running. "An interesting tactic, Skylr Paer." She says, racing towards one of the eyeballs.

    "Feed you anger." She says, her growing rage tingeing her voice. She launches towards the plant, and aiming to dig into in the hope she can steer it's laset, if briefly. Regardless of the outcome, she drops off it shortly afterwards to keep fighting towards the core. Killing that would seemingly end the fight quicker. If an enemy has any such thing, it is best to strike for it. The last three words of the Mantra of Rage leaves Pearl's lips, quiet and cold, as she charges.

    "Destroy your enemies."

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Mantra of Rage toward her party's challenge, Galem the Guardian.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya keeps showing up when the Guard call for help; she keeps in contact with them. Maybe that counts enough.

"We've seen a few times when people have come and gone; nothing says that it hasn't happened in the past, too. She accepts some food, removing her mask to eat some. It sstays off for now, as they walk forward...

"It's beautiful," Kaguya says, looking all around the grove, at the amazing tree... But the shadow grows, and the insects scatter, and there is an alarm. Brilliant energy blasts out, and Kaguya dives to the side, evading a set of vines beneath her feet. "Right!" Kaguya calls. "This won't stop any of us!" She rises to her feet, narrowing her eyes at the creatures. Skylr's suggestion... "Yeah," Kaguya says, and jumps, taking off to the side and pulling a number of blue gems from her bag, keeping each between fingers. "Hey, over here!" She calls from behind one, and starts hurling the gems. Each of them explodes into a blast of ice magic as she does, sprinting across the field to repeat the process behind another.

She stops only to read off of a fallen terminal, committing the names to memory. "Gazer, Project Mispolm..." Rush, throw the fourth. "They're definitely from far off at least!"

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Loot Abuse toward her party's challenge, Galem the Guardian.
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Galem the Guardian *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 ...Gazer and Project Mispolm in particular have been very useful references.  
 The ancients of this land must have been scientists beyond compare. I can     
 only hope that my own work can meet the standards they set...                 
                                                                               
 FINAL CHALLENGE: As you pull yourselves out of the tangle of obstacles, you   
 find yourselves in a sunlit grove at the foot of a truly spectacular tree.    
 Colorful flora blooms brilliantly, tended to by a small army of busily        
 swarming insects. The air is fresh and crisp, full of the heady scent of      
 aromatic nectar. Just as you think you have a moment to rest, something       
 abruptly changes. A shadow grows across the ground as the pollinating swarms  
 scatter. Something falls out of the sky! It looks like a massive bush with a  
 single eye. The thing emits a noise that can only be described as an alarm    
 siren as its leafy shell comes apart into a dozen smaller, floating           
 eyeball-shrubs. The core, now revealed to be an enormous seed or nut, begins  
 firing bolts of brilliant energy from its eye and commanding thorny growths   
 to burst from the ground underneath your feet, even as its subordinate        
 drones launch their own beam attacks and menace with stinging tendril-vines!  
                                                                               
 Your goal is within sight, but you're going to have to overcome this final    
 guardian to claim it!                                                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
=====================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl - Round 6 *>=====================
========================< Results - Galem the Guardian >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    13 --(10)--> 23                Pass
White Dragon Crest                  2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               18 --(10)--> 28                Pass
Mantra of Rage                      2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               13 --(10)--> 23                Pass
Battle Standard                     1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              18 --(10)--> 28                Pass
Loot Abuse                          2   Combat  Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        13 --(10)--> 23                Pass
Kite Shield                         1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          38 --(15)--> 53                Fail
Lessons From Althena                2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: White Knight Leo            80 --(35)--> 115               Pass
Conditions: Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by White Knight Leo has successfully explored The Lifeweaver's Whorl!
==========================<* The Lifeweaver's Whorl *>==========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - A Mutant Onion...? *>======================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Life is a fickle thing. So easily do benign lines give rise to malign         
 offspring. But perhaps some good can come of it. Perhaps the wilds yet have   
 need of a warden...                                                           
                                                                               
 Galem flees, retreating back into the canopy, leaving you to your own         
 devices. At first glance, it seems as though the grove is nothing more than   
 a tranquil oasis in a sea of horrible man-eating plant-monsters. But soon,    
 you find something of... interest?                                            
                                                                               
 There's what seems to be an onion bulb growing here. It's... kind of huge,    
 for an onion bulb. It's at least the size of a man's torso. Its size makes    
 it an object of interest, but perhaps not necessarily something worthy of     
 being called a treasure--                                                     
                                                                               
                           "ansi(hg,peffuuuuuu~)]"                             
                                                                               
 Did that onion just snore?                                                    
                                                                               
 Yes, in fact. There's even a sleepy little nose bubble growing there. Before  
 you can approach or sneak away, it abruptly *pops!* The onion bulb stirs,     
 pushing itself up on a pair of tiny red feet. "Pechuu~?" The creature asks    
 up at you before hopping cheerfully in your direction. It looks as this       
 little abomination of horticultural science has taken an interest in you.     
 Perhaps you should take him home with you...?                                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Skylr's advice is sound, in practice! Three of the drones drop out of the sky, pierced through by the priestess' arrows; a fourth takes a magic beam square-on in the eye and bursts into flame. It smells pleasantly of wood smoke as it hits the grass. Unfortunately, there are too damn many of the things. More drones converge on Skylr, hemming her in with repeated laser blasts. Is there no respite for her?!

    A glimmering blue jewel flies into the melee, and explodes into icy shrapnel. Several of the drones fall to the ground, shredded by the blast. The next gem takes out the stragglers, giving Skylr the chance to get to cover, and Kaguya the chance to read that terminal. There might just be interesting data there!

    The rest converge on the core. Pearl tears drones out of the sky with her bare hands. Day cleaves them apart, and deflects their blasts with his shield. Hilde just wades right in, advancing slowly but inexorably. Leo joins them a moment later, his blade flashing through the air; beams glance off the edge, reflected in a kaleidoscopic display. His aura flares up around him as he raises his blade, his stance identical to Day's. "LION'S HOWL!" the White Knight roars. A wave of energy tears free from his blade, slamming head-on into the thing's core. The nut cracks with the sound of splintering wood. Day's blade crashes down, splintering more of the creature's shell. Hilde's widens the opening even further. All of it gives Pearl the chance to break on through, and make good on the lesson she's learned. The thing's lifeforce starts to shred apart beneath her claws...

    It disengages. With another alarm-like shriek, it leaps into the air, vanishing into the canopy far above. The surviving drones flee after it.

    "Well done!" Leo says, once he's taken a moment to catch his breath. "Now, where were--"

    ]ansi(+green,"peffuuuuuuu~")]

    Something pops out of the ground. A bright green tip, like the first proto-leaves of a sprouting bulb. A moment later, the rest of the whatever-it-is joins it. It's...

    An onion? It has a face. It has adorable little feet. It looks groggy, as though something just woke it from a pleasant nap. It's precious.

    "Well," Leo says. He stays as stoic as he can. It takes effort.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Skylr's advice is sound, in practice! Three of the drones drop out of the sky, pierced through by the priestess' arrows; a fourth takes a magic beam square-on in the eye and bursts into flame. It smells pleasantly of wood smoke as it hits the grass. Unfortunately, there are too damn many of the things. More drones converge on Skylr, hemming her in with repeated laser blasts. Is there no respite for her?!

    A glimmering blue jewel flies into the melee, and explodes into icy shrapnel. Several of the drones fall to the ground, shredded by the blast. The next gem takes out the stragglers, giving Skylr the chance to get to cover, and Kaguya the chance to read that terminal. There might just be interesting data there!

    The rest converge on the core. Pearl tears drones out of the sky with her bare hands. Day cleaves them apart, and deflects their blasts with his shield. Hilde just wades right in, advancing slowly but inexorably. Leo joins them a moment later, his blade flashing through the air; beams glance off the edge, reflected in a kaleidoscopic display. His aura flares up around him as he raises his blade, his stance identical to Day's. "LION'S HOWL!" the White Knight roars. A wave of energy tears free from his blade, slamming head-on into the thing's core. The nut cracks with the sound of splintering wood. Day's blade crashes down, splintering more of the creature's shell. Hilde's widens the opening even further. All of it gives Pearl the chance to break on through, and make good on the lesson she's learned. The thing's lifeforce starts to shred apart beneath her claws...

    It disengages. With another alarm-like shriek, it leaps into the air, vanishing into the canopy far above. The surviving drones flee after it.

    "Well done!" Leo says, once he's taken a moment to catch his breath. "Now, where were--"

    "peffuuuuuuu~"

    Something pops out of the ground. A bright green tip, like the first proto-leaves of a sprouting bulb. A moment later, the rest of the whatever-it-is joins it. It's...

    An onion? It has a face. It has adorable little feet. It looks groggy, as though something just woke it from a pleasant nap. It's precious.

    "Well," Leo says. He stays as stoic as he can. It takes effort.

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Once Galem has departed, Pearl stands up to her full height. The fighting is over.

    A pity.

    Pearl looks down at the... thing on the ground. She looks at it's tiny beady eyes, it's adorable face, it's cutesy wutesy feet.

    "...Another plant monster. Shall we kill it before it gets stronger?" Pearl holds up one clawed hand to illustrate that she is willing.

<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

As brave and as skilled as Day can be, his skill is not the equal of Leo's. The Captain of the Guard unleashes the power of the Lion's Howl. Day can add only the power of his arm, the weight of his blade, the skill of his hands and the courage in his heart.

They are, together with everything else, enough. The Galem crumbles and splinters before them, what's left of it disengaging. Smoke wafts from Day's sword and shield as he draws a few slow, steadying breaths. With a quick snap, he whips the blade out to one side, then brings it back to clean it and check for nicks.

There are none. It cut cleanly.

"I suppose we were going to," he begins before something cuts him off.

            peffuuuuuuu

As soon as the onion pops up, there is a high, thrilled squeal from behind the group. "Oh, what a cutie!" Vess titters as she dashes forward, immediately zooming in to give the onion a little hug. "Aw, look at him, he's so sleepy! Awen't you a sweepy buddy, awen't you~"

In spite of himself, Day smiles lopsidedly, watching the young woman and the onion - and presumably the Skylr. "Well. We can't just leave him here, sir," he suggests to Leo.

Pearl has a different idea. Vess immediately gasps and spreads her arms over the chubby onion. "No! He's a cutie. You can't do it!"

"Yes. That's not necessary," Day answers Pearl with a shake of his head. "This being hasn't raised a hand against us. Honestly, from what we saw in those pods earlier, it may be as much a victim of this place as anything."

<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

In the end, the guardian flees - it seems that it was not expecting the level of power they were able to bring to bear.

"...It would seem we have won." Hilde say. She cleans her sword off before returning it to her sheath. "Shall we-"

She starts to speak... when suddenly, what is clearly an onion with a face emerges from the ground. It's... it's adorable. It looks so harmless. ...Maybe it's just trying to lure them into a false sense of security. Clearly, this warrants further testing.

Carefully, very carefully, Hilde leans down, and... pats the precious little bulb on the head.

"...It is alright. I do not think it is harmful." She concludes. ...It's too much. Too adorable.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    "pefffuuu~<3" says the whatever-it-is, as Vess and Hilde cuddle it. A little heart bubble forms above its head as it nuzzles against their ankles.

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Pearl looks at those arrayed around the creature. She sighs. "...Very well." She says, crossing her arms. "But if it later decides to kill us, I will not be held accountable."

    And then she walks off to one side in a bit of a huff, until the Guard decide to leave.