2020-07-17: Into The White
- Log: Into The White
- Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Jacqueline Barber, Zed, Avril Vent Fleur, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: Sielje Icy Sea
- Date: July 17, 2020
- Summary: A group of Drifters venture up Mt. Colshrie in search of what secrets its summit may hold. But first, they have to negotiate with the mountain itself and its many perils.
DG: A party led by Ethius Hesiod is now entering Mount Colshrie. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - Through The White *>================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It is said that at the peak of Mount Colshrie in the Sielje region are ruins named by some 'Cythraul the Demon Tower'. Scholars believe that the tower dates back to the Metal Demon War. The ruins are poorly explored and in a dangerous location, and as such, the interest in them is high. You arrive at Mount Colshrie in the early evening, just as the stars would be coming out. They are of course invisible to you since there is, as there is so often, a storm swirling about the mountain base. Between the weather and the terrain, the mountain is near certain death for a traveler on foot. For someone in a Gear or similar, though... But even a Gear only gives you a slight chance: the storms on Mount Colshrie are known for their ferocity, and soon the world has gone white. Even the glittering crystals that dot the mountain are lost to your sight. Can you determine which way is best to proceed? A storm like this conceals the mountain's hazards: a wrong step could be dangerous. You will have to reckon with mountain and storm both as you begin your ascent. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-sgn7QLVP4 =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire, Injure====================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Mount Colshrie. It is not known as 'Mount Cold As Shite,' no matter how much a frequent traveler to the Thames has been trying to make this very funny and punny name that no one has ever made before, ever, stick for the cartographical record. Whoever they are, surely their brand of wit shall serve to pave the way for other amazing names to endure the ages. This is not the story of that clever soul, and more importantly, this is nowhere near the open waters.
There is no such thing as a 'good time' to explore Mount Colshire. No matter the time of day, the skies are blanketed in pale gray above, soft white below, and a shade in-between for everything, well, in-between. If one is lucky, maybe there's a bit of dark brown rock and shiny crystal to admire as one collides against it. Some say it is of the influence of 'Cythraul the Demon Tower,' supposedly a tower that dates back to the Metal Demon War of a thousand years past.
It's early evening, which is the only thing anyone can say about this definitively. A handful of Gear-piloting Drifters of varying walks of life are together for the operation. Making up the fore, for the moment, is a Gear of a faded maroon-and-yellow paint job that's probably the worst thing to have in this visibility - an uncommon Aiguille model that nonetheless is possessed with some of the better sensory instruments of its day. Its pilot, Ethius, puts one of his own pieces of sensory equipment to a scope as an unconventional scanner - a technique that works rather well for its purposes as he makes the all-important first examination for...
"I have not found evidence of active defenses," comes Ethius' voice across the usual communication channels. "...However, looking directly towards the crystals returns visual noise."
...That's only one concern of many about the approach standing to be addressed, as the wintry squall picks up and blows waves of snow towards them every so often to obstruct their ability to even see. To say nothing about issues of stability, and the like...
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, The Storm - Through The White.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline has been to Mount Colshrie once before. But that was a while back, and it's possible now that things have changed and she might be able to discover something that she didn't before. And so, here she is on this particular expedition to the mountain, following after Ethius has he leads the group forward.
"Hm, I see..." Jacqueline murmurs, as Ethius makes his comments. How best to proceed...?
Jacqueline rummages about in her cockpit for a moment, before eventually drawing out a maintenance manual and flipping through its pages.
"The weather can wreak havoc on your navigation equipment, so it's important to be sure to recalibrate it appropriately... The exact steps differ for each machine, but usually..." Jacqueline begins before outlining the general process. It should help make the ascent a little easier, if they can properly adjust their equipment for the environment.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Maintenance Guidebook toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Through The White.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
It's said that the tower at the peak of Mount Colshrie is home to ancient, Metal Demon War-era ruins. It's only natural, then, that one (or rather two) of those very Metal Demons would come here to scope the place out! There could be priceless historical artifacts at stake, after all!
To get to that Demon Tower, though... Well, they're going to need to penetrate the constant, awful, impassible-on-foot blizzard first! And so Zed has brought a... friend.
A gigantic, burnination-equipped friend.
"Just think of it as cold weather training!" Zed says with a cheerful chirp as the red-and-gold-and-orange-and-white, super-AI-equipped mechaniloid strides through the driving snow. 'Cold weather training,' says the demon wearing not one, not two, but six different scarves all layered on top of each other...!
With something a little like a sigh, the giant that Zed is riding within speaks, "Beginning standard handshake protocols. Cross-referencing Photosphere security codes, transmitting and awaiting response. Mapping forward route now." Zed grins as his AWESOME ROBOT continues its slow trek forward. "Yeah! You got this, Surtr! I believe in you!!"
DG: Zed has used his Tool Jotun Heart toward his party's challenge, The Storm - Through The White.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's not the first time that Avril has been to the mountain called Colshrie. But for some reason, she has the feeling that it might be the last time she comes here--
At least, like this. What is the saying some people have? 'Like someone's walked over your grave'?
Only, it isn't so much her grave as it is...
There are times when having a vague sense of foreboding is really not at all helpful.
Especially the vague part of it.
"It has been some time since I have last used the Skadi," Avril remarks, as she, with the others, presses onwards into the storm. "Fortunately, I have dressed warmly, and I believe that the insulators are in good form." She sounds almost as if they were going on a light stroll and not venturing into a blizzard on a Guardians-forsaken mountain.
She sounds not at all how she has been feeling of late.
'Just a puppet'.
Yes, she knows. And yet, the best medicine for her is to press on rather then be pulled under.
She is a puppet and a work in progress.
The Gear's highbeams flick on as she surges ahead, into the white of the storm.
"Please take care to stay distanced from each other," Avril remarks, over local communications. "I hope that you are able to see my exterior lights."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Through The White.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Dust Dragoon trudges through the snow, steam rising from its heat exchangers. Its running lights shine through the veil of white, illuminating the ground around it--but the blizzard stops the light from going any further. Not that this deters its pilot, who has systems in place for just that sort of thing: two small drones fly ahead of the patrol, scanning the area with radar. It all comes together to form a nice, pretty map on Ida's screen.
The heiress leans back, and sips a cup of tea, brewed with water heated to boiling by a heat sink. "Not to second-guess you, Surtr," says Ida, her voice crackling across a tightbeam band. "But I'm not one hundred percent sure that is a Hyadean ruin." She takes another sip. "It's ancient, whatever it is." A pause. "Acknowledged, Avril." If she's relying on her friends a bit more than usual, well, she's still recovering from being torpid for almost a week, and then being kidnapped.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Reconaissance Drone toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Through The White.
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - Through The White *>================= |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It is said that at the peak of Mount Colshrie in the Sielje region are ruins named by some 'Cythraul the Demon Tower'. Scholars believe that the tower dates back to the Metal Demon War. The ruins are poorly explored and in a dangerous location, and as such, the interest in them is high. You arrive at Mount Colshrie in the early evening, just as the stars would be coming out. They are of course invisible to you since there is, as there is so often, a storm swirling about the mountain base. Between the weather and the terrain, the mountain is near certain death for a traveler on foot. For someone in a Gear or similar, though... But even a Gear only gives you a slight chance: the storms on Mount Colshrie are known for their ferocity, and soon the world has gone white. Even the glittering crystals that dot the mountain are lost to your sight. Can you determine which way is best to proceed? A storm like this conceals the mountain's hazards: a wrong step could be dangerous. You will have to reckon with mountain and storm both as you begin your ascent. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-sgn7QLVP4 =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire, Injure====================================
=========================<* Mount Colshrie - Round 1 *>========================= ==================< Results - The Storm - Through The White >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Jotun Heart 3 Wits Effects: Sacrifice and Enlight -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Maintenance Guidebook 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Reconaissance Drone 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ethius Hesiod 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
An approach happens - that is the best anyone can hope for in these conditions. The lot of them all move forward as they all take their precautions in which to figure out their paths forward so that they may start the ever more perilous ascent. Doing on-the-fly maintenance may not be feasible in these conditions for the most part, but Jay's preparedness on the matter ensures that she is probably the least hampered by the billowing waves of snow and ice against the chassis of her Gear.
Ida and Ethius both provide the most solid mapping of their surrounding environs - indeed, there seems to be no active countermeasures against approach here, so if there's any non-weather-related defenses in play, they've either gone around them or it's further up. Ida's means do a better job of mapping what's right in front of them, allowing navigation around protruding crystals that could cause--
Whoops, Skadi trips over one from their direction. It's an easy recovery and not at all a show-stopper. It'd jostle anyone awake, but it's not an explosive or a snare. It is the structural equivalent of a stubbed toe.
Surtr does snot seem to get a coherent response aside from vague static - something damaged, something foreign, who knows? There's no sense of imminent danger beyond the elements. That may be the biggest hanging thread of a threat. They are just managing to weather the storm, which picks up more on the approach. Anything could happen as the ascent begins in earnest. Anything at all...
Anything except the storms letting up. That is a given.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================= ==============<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - The Mountain's Wound *>============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The storm closes in; the world about you is doused in white, even to the point of dimming the glowing crystals common atop this mountain. But you can still see the obstacle ahead of you: a great crevasse, a wound carved into the mountain. No doubt, the current weather will make crossing the deep gap difficult. But it must be done, if you want to proceed in this direction. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Hesitate=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The storms make the passage ahead difficult. Even without them, the ascent would be treacherous at best, but with it it becomes a dangerous traversal that only the most experienced would dare attempt. It's difficult to see, a world enveloped in white even to the point of dimming the glowing crystals.
It serves all the more to magnify the immensity of the obstacle before them, then - a great wound carved into the mountainside, visible even through the storms.
"That... complicates things." Jacqueline says with a frown, bringing her Gear to a halt. "We're either going to have to find a way around, or find a way to cross it... either way, we've got our work cut out for us."
Jacqueline can only help navigate - her Gear doesn't have any particular functions to help make this easy on her, though. It's during this traversal, though, that Jacqueline elects to make smalltalk.
"Oh, by the way, Ida... I read your book! I quite enjoyed it, it was very informational... There was a lot in there I didn't know." Jacqueline says. "I appreciated your contributions to it too, of course, Zed!"
She's concerned about Ida's condition, of course, but she figures a more positive conversation topic would be better.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Storm - The Mountain's Wound.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
After completing a full circuit around the group, the quadrotor drones flit back towards the machine that deployed them. Computerized guidance systems direct them towards their appointed housings in the Dust Dragoon's skirt armor--the heavy plate splits aside to let them dock, and closes again. Two drone indicators light up green, and lightning-bolt icons appear beside them as bar gauges start to fill. She's about to deploy the next set when the wind starts battering the group in earnest. The Dragoon's gait compensators adjust accordingly, keeping it from toppling over--but in its cockpit, Ida frowns. If she deployed more drones in this kind of wind, she'd risk losing them in seconds.
Instead, Ida decides to rely on what they've already given her. "Easily traversed with jump-jets," she says. "If the ground on the other side is stable, of course." As if to demonstrate, the Dragoon takes to the air, rising from the snow; plumes of flash-boiled water trail after it, glimmering in the icy air. It hovers there a moment as Ida triangulates her approach, and--
"Oh! You purchased a copy?" The smile is audible in Ida's voice. "I'm--I'm so glad." She doesn't take her eyes off her surroundings for a moment, though. The Dragoon begins its descent, tracing a parabolic arc as Ida angles it for the other side of the gorge.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Storm - The Mountain's Wound.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"--!"
From out of nowhere, it's a giant crystal. The Skadi plows into it and the machine staggers at a critical moment. But, the Gear is too well-balanced to be laid low. It simply means that she is slowed for a moment, that she is perhaps a potential hazard for the others for a moment.
"I am alright," she announces, once she gets moving again, pushing on ahead through the snow and storm. "I encountered a crystal underfoot, I believe."
She's soon able to catch up and keep pace with the others, the light-framed Gear making good time across the ice and snow. "...Oh yes, you did write a book, did you not...? I am afraid I have not had the time to read from it quite yet. Perhaps I may soon."
She has had other matters of which to attend, which has unfortunately precluded...
"Hmm. I believe an approach from an angle may be best under these conditions," Avril suggests, before conducting precisely that, using the verniers to control her approach as she makes to cross the divide.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Storm - The Mountain's Wound.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
No response. Or rather, if there is a response, then the Demon Tower is obviously having some serious technical difficulties at the moment. Surtr's silence speaks volumes as to its lack of success in attempting to communicate with... whatever might still be alive out here. It's hard to say if anything could be alive out here! There's nothing but cold and snow, a blinding blizzard that swallows up all light and occludes all sight.
...Except, as it happens, Surtr's advanced sensor systems. It's why the machine comes to an abrupt stop inches from the enormous chasm. What a gigantic hole in the ground! It's almost like... Almost like someone just cut a hole through the mountain itself...
"Hm," Zed says thoughtfully. Something seems to have given him an idea. "Yes... Yes, dressing warmly is a very important step to take in the cold, but... Did you know..."
Surtr's eyes flash. The super robot grabs hold of its OWN scarf and... hurls the thing across the chasm. Somehow, the living metal fabric rapidly solidifies and forms a makeshift tether that links one end of the mountain to the other. "That scarves could be used like this too!? Ha-ha!"
Surtr begins the process of using its own scarf as a guiderope to navigate the chasm, the tether largely negating much of the wind-shear while allowing the gear's thruster suite to propel it to the other end. "Hmhmhm," Zed says on the topic of PUBLICATIONS. "Of course! Anything that contains words of wisdom from the DARK HERO is bound to sell!" Then, in a lower voice, "and if anyone tries to trash it i just show up at their door with a handy slideshow so it's all fine"
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, The Storm - The Mountain's Wound.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
'That... complicates things.'
Jay's words has the pilot of the Aiguille unit come to a halt as they reflexively raise the rifle-staff, as if in anticipation of an incoming threat that does not exist (nor does anything come in on the infamously sensitive Panic Eye). "I am on standby."
There is clarification that they'll have to find a way around, or a way to cross it, and the nature of the issue becomes a bit clearer. In the intellectual sense. In the visual sense, it is difficult to discern the dimensions and colorations of the crevasse ahead due to the worsening winter weather. The pilot of the Dust Dragoon highlights their thoughts on it (given their superior visualizing capacity of the surface topography), and makes their attempt to cross as Jay crests a pleasant conversational topic.
"The book... Steel, is it?" Ethius asks as he positions the Aiguille for crossing. "The level of detail provided was... thorough." There is a sense of him struggling to put the words together, as if betraying a level of discomfort that tends not to show in the way the man speaks. He is the man who somehow knew of Mother's 'Star Drive' and moved to neutralize it during that final pitched battle for the fate of Filgaia while their terrible might was brought to bear upon the star's last, best hope against them. Something virtually no one else knew about - and from a man who has never, ever set foot in there.
He did not offer himself for consultation on anything related to the Photosphere's diagrams. Would he have volunteered such information willingly? (For a man who can be a pain in regards to giving his name, the odds are somewhere between 'zero' and 'also zero.')
"...I am engaging jets." So the pilot claims. Chillingly, there's no heat readings when the Aiguille engages them. Not even a standard visual - strong, short-burst mobility virtually undetectable as long as it remains in short spurts, attempting to cross at an angle slightly more dangerous than the Dust Dragoon's careful descent. The man must have incredible faith in the Gear's ability to absorb shock, or otherwise grip the surface (this part is true and part of what makes it one of the better sniping units of its era).
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Phantom Jets toward his party's challenge, The Storm - The Mountain's Wound.
=============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================= ==============<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - The Mountain's Wound *>============== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The storm closes in; the world about you is doused in white, even to the point of dimming the glowing crystals common atop this mountain. But you can still see the obstacle ahead of you: a great crevasse, a wound carved into the mountain. No doubt, the current weather will make crossing the deep gap difficult. But it must be done, if you want to proceed in this direction. =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Hesitate=========================================
========================<* Mount Colshrie - Round 2 *>======================== ================< Results - The Storm - The Mountain's Wound >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 12 --(18)--> 30 Pass Phantom Jets 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 12 --(18)--> 30 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 12 --(18)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(18)--> 33 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 12 --(18)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Jump-jets, right." Jacqueline confirms with a nod. That's one thing her Gear does have, at least. She very carefully follows after the others, and elects not to respond until they're all to the other side of the crevasse safely.
Avril determines that an approach from an angle would be best, so they do just that. After taking a moment to judge where to start from they're off. Avril crosses over without difficult, and Ethius follows soon after. The nature of his Gear's jets don't even disturb the air around him, leading to a clean landing. Zed will find his crossing quite easily, while Jacqueline and Ida...
...find themselves landing on a more unstable section of land, and will have to quick fall back on Zed's tether to avoid and unpleasant drop. But, despite that scare, they all manage to make it over safely.
"I did! I read it from cover to cover - twice now, in fact, to fully absorb everything. You're quite the writer! You explained things in a way anyone could understand, and without sacrificing detail..." Jacqueline confirms brightly, on the subject of Ida's. "I especially appreciated your chronicling of Hyadean history..."
Jacqueline has a noted weakness for books - so, a book by someone she knows is absolutely impossible to resist. She pauses, though, as she registers Ethius's words.
"Ah, Ethius, you read it to...?" She says, surprised. Did he buy his own copy? As for Zed, though...
"A-ah, well... as long as that's the only way you handle negative reviews..." She says.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Clear Sky - A Griffon *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- With the storm's intensity waned, the way is clear for you to see where you must head next to make your way safely up the mountain. Shimmering crystals light the way where they poke through the snowdrifts; other than any lights on your Gear, there is little else but starlight. Something glints from above. Before it descends with a shriek. A griffon! An enormous one, nearly half the size of the average Gear. Its talons are sharp and hard enough to tear steel. The creature is overtly hostile as it engages your Gears; you are forced onto the offensive. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Exhaust==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
In a storm, heat-sensitive visuals may be ideal for keeping track of the whereabouts of others. These, Avril engages before gliding across the chasm, making certain to move herself once she touches down on the other side so as to not invite a disaster.
...That's strange. While she can see the rest of them on their approach...
"Is something the matter with your Gear, Ethius?" Avril asks, clearly a little puzzled. From 'normal' visuals, she can just about see his Gear on his approach through the storm but...
Not long after that, once they're all across, the storm begins to peel away from the mountain. A little bit longer, and the sky above is unveiled, a sea of glittering stars.
"Oh... It is beautiful," the young queen remarks. Her machine stops in its tracks and she takes that one moment where everything seems to stop and drowns herself in it, staring up at the sky.
She is a puppet.
But she is here, now, in this place.
"--No," Avril says suddenly, jerking forward in her seat as if she suddenly had woken up from an overlong nap. "Look out!"
The scream comes moments later. As griffons go, this one is massive, descending at speed with its talons bared. Drawing that massive slab of metal that can only loosely be called 'a sword' from where it had been magnetically held at her machine's back, Avril swings Gambanteinn for the monster it closes. "Do not let it get close!" she calls out to the others.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Gear Blade - Gambanteinn toward her party's challenge, The Clear Sky - A Griffon.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"Everything is operational to the best of my knowledge," Ethius remarks in that wordy, roundabout way of his as Avril expresses concern about something that could be an inconvenience in these environs. The weather starts to abate some, enough that visibility above is restored. The night sky. It wasn't long ago that the Caravan Kinship managed to take Lydia to a place where she could see them so much closer than before. The resounding joy, awe, and wonder that surrounded everyone there.
Ethius remembers their reaction a lot more than what elicited them. But no, his eyes are on the sky for a different reason, as the Panic Eye goes nuts on something above. Just as Avril shoots the warning to look out, the Aiguille's rifle-staff points upwards and discharges several bright laser-like shots towards the descending griffon in an attempt to deter its current ambushing angle.
It might take the edge off of the element of surprise, but such a ferocious beast may need more concentrated power to dissuade.
"Engaging," Ethius says in that dry manner of his as he keeps his distance to continue to pepper it.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Panic Eye toward his party's challenge, The Clear Sky - A Griffon.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
They proceed forward, and as they do, the storm eventually begins to subside - just enough to where they can see the shimmering crystals and the starlight above.
"...Yeah, it really is..." Jacqueline remarks breathlessly, as Avril comments on the beauty. It wasn't often one got to see nature's beauty like this. It was... a little overwhelming, honestly. "You don't get to see a sight like this every day..."
So enamored by it is she that she doesn't realise what's coming until Avril calls it out. With a gasp of surprise Jacqueline jerks the Jaeger back abruptly as it rushes them.
"Alright, if it wants to get aggressive, then let's get aggressive... Sorcery Converter Overdrive, engaged!" Jacqueline remarks. And then, she slides a Crest Graph marked with dual Crests of Wing into a slot on her dashboard. The console lights up with both symbols.
Jacqueline draws her combat rod, then. Green lights begin to run along it. With a gesture, Jacqueline sends a strong wind blast in its direction, looking to turn the very air against it and make continued flight difficult.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool SC Overdrive toward her party's challenge, The Clear Sky - A Griffon.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
It's a long, nervous moment before the Dust Dragoon sits on solid ground once more. Ida's machine lets go of Surtr's scarf, and inclines at the waist ever-so-slightly in an approximation of a bow. As it sets off again, Jay resumes the conversation, and Ida can't help but notice her cheeks are growing redder. It isn't from the cold. "Thank you," Ida says. "That... was the goal all along, honestly." Around them, the storm dies down. As the clouds part, Ida looks upon the night sky, which glitters like diamonds set on black velvet. She breathes in, breathes out.
The moment does not last.
Avril cries out. Ida's head snaps up; the thermal sensors ignite as the griffon swoops down at them. The Dragoon thrusts a hand out, and a metallic pwing echoes through the air as something fires from just below its wrist. A two-foot-long spike slams into the mountain, just ahead of where the griffin lands. The Dragoon's other hand reaches around and whips its massive cannon off its mount. Dragon filaments glow within the barrel as Ida takes aim--and then a bolt of lightning rips from the barrel. She's trying to herd the animal into the spike she just deployed, the business end of an anti-Gear mine.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Anti-Gear Mine toward her party's challenge, The Clear Sky - A Griffon.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Hmph!" Zed harrumphs! "The only people who would ever write a bad review are the ones who just don't understand yet! So I just need to educate them. It's fine! It worked* before!"
The gears make their way into a clearing, perhaps even the eye of the unceasing snowstorm. A window to the sky- more of a porthole, really- fills a black void with a sea of glimmering stars. Zed looks to them without comment. He wasn't there when Lydia had her special experience with the endless void, but he does have a few feelings about those distant stars....
Maybe someday, he'll be able to visit them. Maybe someday, he'll be able to see a distant galaxy with his own eyes...
Maybe...
But first, there's... an issue to deal with here.
It's half-birdshaped, half-beastshaped, and all unfriendly-shaped. "What!? A... giant birdface catbutt? What is this even?" That is a griffon. Surtr says, helpfully. "What? What's a griffon. That's not even a thing! Drive it away, Surtr! If it's a birdcat, then all we have to do is be loud enough to spook it back into its tree!"
This logic...
Is... Sound?
Literally, because a number of speakers and subwoofers emerge from a series of concealed compartments all across the gear's frame. They begin blasting a... really energetic, vaguely mid-70s, trumpetful and saxophoney instrumental theme? "Engarde, catbird!" Zed declares as his gear charges forth to try and whack a griffon with a sword. "Yeeeeaaaaaart!"
(*no it didn't)
DG: Zed has used his Tool Super Robot Boombox toward his party's challenge, The Clear Sky - A Griffon.
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Clear Sky - A Griffon *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- With the storm's intensity waned, the way is clear for you to see where you must head next to make your way safely up the mountain. Shimmering crystals light the way where they poke through the snowdrifts; other than any lights on your Gear, there is little else but starlight. Something glints from above. Before it descends with a shriek. A griffon! An enormous one, nearly half the size of the average Gear. Its talons are sharp and hard enough to tear steel. The creature is overtly hostile as it engages your Gears; you are forced onto the offensive. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Exhaust==========================================
=========================<* Mount Colshrie - Round 3 *>========================= ====================< Results - The Clear Sky - A Griffon >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 30 --(12)--> 42 Pass Panic Eye 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 30 --(12)--> 42 Pass Super Robot Boombox 2 Combat Effects: Sacrifice, Embolden, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 30 --(12)--> 42 Pass SC Overdrive 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 33 --(12)--> 45 Pass Gear Blade - Gambanteinn 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 30 --(12)--> 42 Pass Anti-Gear Mine 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ethius Hesiod 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - Yetis *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The storm is heavy as it builds about you, the wind howling as it whistles its way down the mountain. It is very difficult to determine where you are going. And, after a few moments, you realize that it was not /merely/ the wind that was howling. They're large creatures, the lot of them, big enough to be a serious threat to a Gear. Vaguely reminiscent of apes, they lurch from a direction you were not aware was traversible as they aggressively engage your Gears. Perhaps if you were able to defeat them, you might be able to take advantage of their apparent shortcut. =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
If the griffon thought it were about to get the better of the Skadi, it soon finds itself facing several tons of steel and, demonstrating that nature is awesome, veers on a dime away from her and her blade. It's at this point that lightning rips forth from Ida's dragon gun, and though it loses several feathers in the process, the monster-bird manages to evade that shot and the laser-like blasts from Ethius' own Gear's weaponry, herding it, as intended, towards the mine.
Which detonates, as the monster draws near to it. With a healthy shriek, it darts from this end of the field back towards Surtr, its talons outstretched. Perhaps it still intends to make a meal of a sort today (do... griffons eat machinery? natural history sure is weird) but the air currents (courtesy of Jay's spellcraft) are making its approach difficult.
And then, just when it thinks that it has the upper hand (paw? talon?)--
--there is an awful, terrible amount of noise.
there is so much noise.
Sometimes, the only winning move is to not to play. The griffon, with a highly disgruntled shriek, launches itself skywards and wings away, trailing a few more feathers as it goes.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
That's right! Cheery super robot music always wins against giant angry catbirds! "Ahahaha!" Zed laughs as the mountain predator beats a hasty retreat back into the rapidly deteriorating sky. "Looks like it didn't appreciate my taste in music! OR being turned into roast catbird. Tigerchicken? Eaglelion?" Beat. "Well. Whatever! Let's keep moving-- Surtr is a subwoofer broken? I'm getting some really weird off-beat bass rhythms here and I'm not sure I'm okay with them."
Negative, says the giant robot, as the storm rolls in, snow sluices out of the sky, and something abruptly waylays into it from a previously avalanched-over cliffside cave. "We have-- company!"
They do indeed. The ape-like creature attacking Surtr leaps away with simian agility, evading a counterstrike from a massive, burning sword. They are strange, gaunt things, with apelike bodies covered in thick, white fur. The largest of the creatures-- almost as tall as a standard gear-- thumps at its chest with hammerlike fists before leaping back into the fray with wild abandon. Maybe they were hiding from the predatory griffon, and now they're looking to drive away another perceived threat? If they can't defeat these wild beasts, the party might be driven back down the mountain... But if they can, well! There's probably some kind of animal trail through here, one that should be relatively more well-traveled!
DG: Zed has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Storm - Yetis.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The griffon is driven off with minimal difficulty. Jacqueline sighs in relief, leaning back into her chair and shutting her eyes for a moment.
"I guess we need to be careful even when the storm clears up... We're not the only one who can see clearly through it." Jacqueline says consideringly. But of course the storm is still a concern, and it appears to elect to reassert itself shortly after.
"To soon to relax..." Jacqueline mutters to herself, sitting back up. And that isn't the worst of it - soon, more enemies appear, bursting from a nearby cave.
"Are those... yetis? Goodness, I didn't realise they got so big!" Jacqueline remarks. "I'll draw their attention. While they're distracted, hit them with what you've got!"
With that said, Jacqueline flips on her external communications.
"Hey, over here!" She calls out, waving her baton distractingly... and keeping it at the ready to defend herself with.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Amplified Speakers toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Yetis.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"That may not be the--" There is AN INCREDIBLE AWARD-WINNING SOUNDTRACK being played, and Ethius can't call over it. (In fairness, broken subwoofers are kind of srs bzns!!)
"That may not be the--" The storm rolls in and howls over him. EThius, within his cockpit, stares blankly without blinking as the Panic Eye goes nuts about any number of potential hostiles, and the Aiguille pulls back with another disconcerting heatless jet hop back. He has to take Jay's confirmation as to the nature of what they are fighting, and part of the reason why he's having some problems confirming Panic Eye alerts - they're creatures that are well camouflaged by the blizzards. And yet, somewhere, deep down...
He doesn't like the name being used. Does he have a better one? (He doesn't have any.) He follows the light trails of others' weaponry - such as Jay's distracting baton - and taking further stock of what moves within the cover of the blizzard before he starts opening fire.
Since laser blasts are a) highly visisble, and b) reasonably easy to trace, one surmises it won't be long before hostiles might try to converge on their origin which could make this a bit easier.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Panic Eye toward his party's challenge, The Storm - Yetis.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
For only a moment, Avril lets her machine's grip on the blade slacken.
But only for a moment. Already, the Skadi turns, in the direction of something that perhaps scratches across the surface of her keenly-attuned extrasensory awareness. "Over there--"
She calls out even as Surtr also notices the source of the problem.
As the storm returns in full force.
She does not merely stand her ground this time. Breaking into an all-out charge, Avril lunges into a swing only as she nears the pack of mountain apes, the weight of the blade -- and the force of her momentum perhaps enough to keep her moving forward even as she leans into the strike.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Gear Blade - Gambanteinn toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Yetis.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The griffin beats a hasty retreat. Ida lets out a breath, and watches as its heat signature fades into the distance--but there's no time to relax. More heat signatures appear on Ida's screen, advancing on the group.
Yetis. The last one Ida encountered was much smaller. "Mine out!" she cries. The Dragoon whips its hand forwards, and another mine-spike fires from its launcher, embedding itself in the ground. A bright red light ignites--hopefully the yetis are too focused on Jay to notice it. The Dragoon steps back, takes aim, and opens fire. Flame erupts from the barrel of its cannon, sweeping across the yetis' advance.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Anti-Gear Mine toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Yetis.
=============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - Yetis *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The storm is heavy as it builds about you, the wind howling as it whistles its way down the mountain. It is very difficult to determine where you are going. And, after a few moments, you realize that it was not /merely/ the wind that was howling. They're large creatures, the lot of them, big enough to be a serious threat to a Gear. Vaguely reminiscent of apes, they lurch from a direction you were not aware was traversible as they aggressively engage your Gears. Perhaps if you were able to defeat them, you might be able to take advantage of their apparent shortcut. =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
========================<* Mount Colshrie - Round 4 *>======================== =======================< Results - The Storm - Yetis >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 42 --(12)--> 54 Pass Panic Eye 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 42 --(12)--> 54 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 42 --(12)--> 54 Pass Amplified Speakers 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 45 --(12)--> 57 Pass Gear Blade - Gambanteinn 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 42 --(12)--> 54 Pass Anti-Gear Mine 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ethius Hesiod 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Secret(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Regardless of how burly and agile these yetis are, the fact remains that they were still hiding from a foe that this group of gears managed to fend off handily. They're worn and tired, and honestly just want to get out of dodge before any of the great mountain apes sustain a permanent injury.
The tide of frantic fur and force smashes into a wall of steel posed by both Surtr and Skadi-- a pair whose cooperation is both hilariously ironic, and incredible effective. Cold steel and burning blade alike work to fend off the crush of simian might. Cries of pain go up among the angry apes as bolts of laserfire burn through fur and hide that are in no way adapted to deter thermal weaponry.
With 'fight' thoroughly removed as an option, the yetis are further given reason to indulge in its opposite response. Not only are they confronted by a large-looking, active-acting and very very loud metal giant in the form of one Jacqueline barber, her attempts at distraction-turned-intimidation are bolstered by a blast of billowing flame courtesy of the Dust Dragoon. Primal fear overwhelms all other instinct, and the beasts shriek in their monkey-language as they hastily withdraw down a previously unnoticed path down the mountainside.
...It turns out that meat does not, in fact, beat metal.
"...Well!" Zed declares, turning his machine toward the cave that the beasts emerged from. It's... actually not a cave, and actually some kind of upward-sloping crag that had been hidden by a recent avalanche. "Looks like our friends left us a present! No loot, but... They say that a good shortcut is worth its weight in fuel, right? That's an old* Photosphere** saying!"
(*Zed heard it once, maybe, at most.)
(**Probably stolen by some technician from an encounter with the Thames at some point)
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ======<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain *>====== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You must be nearing the summit. If the rumors are true, there is an ancient ruin lost up the inaccessible mountain. Perhaps it won't be long now-- A scream from above interrupts that thought rather thoroughly. Your sensors pick up a hostile presence approaching, swiftly, and from behind. Just as the storm begins to pick up, completely hiding the form of the enormous and utterly hostile brightly colored avian creature known only as a hraesvelgr. It has the advantage. The storm is terrible. Perhaps the best plan is to try to lose it in the storm and make haste for the summit. But here of all a slip could be /very/ unfortunate. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOeb7StJlRc =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Fright, Injure=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The shortcut leads past another deep gorge, and then starts looping up towards the mountain's summit. It was a windfall, of sorts--by following it, the party has shaved a good ten to twenty minutes off their trek. As they approach the peak, Ida keeps one eye on her sensors, remembering what happened last time. It's possible the great avian beast has moved on, but as soon as the thought enters Ida's head, a monstrous heat signature ignites above, and an ear-splitting shriek echoes in the air.
As if on cue, the storm starts to pick up. Within moments, everything is a wall of white.
"Damnation," Ida growls. "Move, move!" The Dragoon's jumpjets ignite, sweeping the Gear off the ground. Ida holds the pedal down for as long as she dares, and then brings the machine down for a landing. The hraesvelgr is right behind her, swooping low, talons extended. Ida leaps again, the booming roar of her jets almost drowning out the creature's cries. Sweat drips down her face, despite the cold.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"WAIT!"
--Calls a voice, echoing out of the blizzard...!
If Ida would chance a look behind her, she might see... Something probably ill-advised.
"Hold on you bird!" Zed, DARK HERO, declares. Surtr has apparently hurled its scarf around the colossal eagle's neck and seems to be trying to wrangle it into... Into... something?
"You think I can just let something like you get away...!?" Is he... is he trying to bring the creature down so he can fight it!?
No. Not... Quite.
"Riese would never forgive me... if I didn't... get a picture of a GIANT, FLUFFY MOUNTAIN BIRD!!"
Ah. That'd explain it. At least with Surtr trying to wrestle the Hraesvelgr, the others might have time to break away. But... Then how is Zed going to follow them...?
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
There's a shortcut, and they take it gladly. It's certainly saved some time, but just when it looks like they're in a clear... there's a massive shriek, and a flap of wings.
It's definitely not the griffon. No, this is something much, much worse.
"That's... a hraesvelgr. They guard these peaks jealously... I should've known we'd run into one..." Jacqueline says. "We can't fight it, especially not in this weather!"
Sure, she appreciates the bird's bright colors. But now's not the time to marvel at their would-be destroyer. There's nothing for it but to run, as fast as their Gears can take them.
But...
"Z-Zed, what're you doing...?" Jacqueline hisses. ...He seems pretty set on this course of action, though. "Just be careful, okay? She'd never forgive you if you got yourself hurt trying to take a picture of said bird, either!"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The Aiguille points its weapon up about the same time there's a curse from Ida. The Panic Eye might need recalibration (again) after the fact, but there's no false positives about something trying to come in from above - and it's not that griffon again. Jay chimes in that they can't fight it - and Ida's cursing and insistence they move registers.
"...Copy." The delay comes from watching Zed be Zed. As Ethius' machine can disguise its heat signatures when engaging its jets, he doesn't scatter to start as he tries to track the great avian beast's movements throughout the blanket of howling, smothering, freezing white. There is a reason for this, as he tries to level the rifle where the creature moves.
He has almost never been seen wielding an ARM on foot. The times he has, they were scavenged or stolen on the spot but never kept. In this respect, that he has taken to piloting a machine at all with any level of proficiency - a few small risky operation choices a more experienced pilot would not do - is strange.
When the time is right, he opens fire once. After that, and only after that, does he start disengaging with the use of those stealthy jets in the attempt to lure the creature to a spot he is not going to be within the next few moments.
The rendezvous may be a bit touch and go in these conditions.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Phantom Jets toward his party's challenge, The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Ultimately, the yeti are dealt with, and abscond back into the mountains. Skidding to a stop, Avril takes but a moment to ascertain things here (as much as she can, amidst the heavy white winds) and re-'sheathes' the massive Gear blade. "Then," she says to Zed, "let us make use of it."
Perhaps particularly in light of the current storm.
It lightens some as they ascend.
Only to roll back in, in full force, mere moments after a rock-rattling shriek from above. Avril only gets a split-second glimpse of the thing on their tails.
Perhaps if they could see if, they could fight it. Perhaps if they knew where was land and where was air, they could deal with it.
They have neither.
"Let us make haste!" Avril cries out, and on that very subject in fact--
hits the button.
The big, red one. The one that says 'TURBO'.
If anyone could see her, there might have been a blur. The Skadi moves at speed.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Turbocharger toward her party's challenge, The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain.
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ======<* CHALLENGE - The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain *>====== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You must be nearing the summit. If the rumors are true, there is an ancient ruin lost up the inaccessible mountain. Perhaps it won't be long now-- A scream from above interrupts that thought rather thoroughly. Your sensors pick up a hostile presence approaching, swiftly, and from behind. Just as the storm begins to pick up, completely hiding the form of the enormous and utterly hostile brightly colored avian creature known only as a hraesvelgr. It has the advantage. The storm is terrible. Perhaps the best plan is to try to lose it in the storm and make haste for the summit. But here of all a slip could be /very/ unfortunate. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOeb7StJlRc =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Fright, Injure=====================================
=========================<* Mount Colshrie - Round 5 *>========================= ========< Results - The Storm - Flight From The Terror Of The Mountain >======== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 54 --(12)--> 66 Pass Phantom Jets 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 54 --(12)--> 66 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 54 --(12)--> 66 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 57 --(12)--> 69 Pass Turbocharger 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 54 --(12)--> 66 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ethius Hesiod 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Secret(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ethius Hesiod has successfully explored Mount Colshrie!
==============================<* Mount Colshrie *>============================== ============<* CHALLENGE - Cythraul Tower Ruins - A Lost History *>============= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You approach at last the ruins of Cythraul tower, the rumored structure well-hidden on the storm-ridden peak of Mt. Colshrie. To call what remains a 'tower' is a bit of an overstatement -- and yet you can still see that this place once reached to the heavens. When you disembark, you're able to explore what remains. You find after much exploring of the dilapidated ruins a room that seems strangely mostly intact. There are the remains of framework panels within, lining the walls. Once they are approached, the whole room becomes lined with swirls of brilliant blue light: the glow streams upwards for the ceiling before pouring downwards and filling the framework patterns as if it were liquid -- a touch proves the screens are now solid. Brilliant blooms of blue light burn across the screens, filling them with text that is likely illegible and difficult to read at the speed it races across the displays. Then it vanishes and is replaced by images of this tower at some point in the distant past -- when it was whole. As the images flit by, occupants included, it rapidly becomes clear that this was no Metal Demon stronghold. This belonged to the Elw. Some text, again in the apparent Elw script, hangs on the screen after the short slideshow ends. It's dated. A last message? BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_pggmF8Wks (OOC: Send a request to staff if you would like to consult a scholar (or other specialist) on the Elw about this!) =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Surtr's scarf whips out, wrapping around the hraesvelgr's neck. The massive aerial predator suddenly has to deal with an entire Gear dragging it down, constricting its airway--its wings beat furiously as it struggles for altitude. Whether he realizes it or not, Zed's insane plan to get a selfie with the hraesvelgr has paid off.
And good thing, too. The rest of the team needs all the distraction they can get.
The Dragoon lands, and immediately finds itself on shaky ground. What looked like solid rock starts to give way beneath the machine's feet, forcing Ida to leap into the air with seconds to spare. Her throat tightens as the heat gauge starts to climb towards the danger zone. Jay follows after, but by now the hraesvelgr has shaken off Zed's scarf, and wheels around for another attack. It swoops in for the kill--!
Ethius' rifle puts a quick end to its dive. His shot slams into the hraesvelgr's wing, forcing it to pull back before it can dig talons into Jay's machine. Avril simply whooshes past, the turbulence from her jets blowing snow in every direction. Wounded, the hraesvelgr is in no position to pursue. The tension lingers for a few minutes...
"I don't see it," Ida says. But she does see a power signature saved into the Gear's memory. She smiles. "And that must be the tower. This way!"
Ida leads the team up the final stretch. Her Gear stops in the broken shell of the tower, sheltered from the howling winds by its walls. Its armor slides open, and a rope ladder falls from within. Ida clambers down, rung over run, and lands in the snow. She pulls her coat tighter around her, and pats Devil's Due in its holster.
It isn't long before the on-foot search pays off.
Ida watches, eyes wide with awe, as the display ignites. She can't speak or read Elw, but she knows it is Elw, and that's a revelation in its own right. "Were they the ones who--" Ida trails off, reaches for her notebook, and copies down the text. She knows just who she's going to take this to.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It looks dicey for a moment... but, thankfully, things don't go as poorly as it seemed they might.
"Th-thanks..." She breathes out in relief. And, eventually, they're able to make it through. They find the tower itself, and within, they find a certain room... a room that leaves Jacqueline stunned at the revelation.
"...I... think they must be." Jacqueline says, awed. She follows suit, taking the opportunity to record the text for herself, as well. "That explains the Mediums I found here before, I suppose..."
She also has an idea of who they should consult about this.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Even with teh hraesvelgr's leave, things are tense in their quiet towards the summit - towards the fabled tower (or what of it is left). He's among the last to disembark as he keeps watch for the avian monstrosity's return - so much so that it's not clear when, exactly, he disembarked to rejoin the lot of them on the search.
He can tell something is off with the descriptors - equal parts having read through Ida's book and having journeyed through a few Hyadean structures in the last few years - and is gun shy about stepping too close to the chamber with framework panels. The blue light sees him hold his left palm outstretched as if ready to start Symbologically destroying them at a moment's notice, gaze racing towards probable places where weapons or other countermeasures might appear or form... but never do.
Someone might have heard him quietly murmur the same two syllables under his breath as an early preparation to shave a fraction of a second off whatever spell he was intending to cast if he thought they were in imminent peril.
Images. Text. Lingering Elw script that he side-eyes to see Jay and Ida write down at minimum. He lowers his hand, gradually, well after the slideshow ends. He offers little commentary or further justification for his presence, silently standing off to wherever he seems to deem 'the side' and allow the rest to make their own conclusions.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
There are several tense moments, where without the ability to run visuals -- and moving at a speed that makes relying on thermal reporting dodgy -- it's uncertain whether they have evaded the enormous bird or whether it might be right on their tails.
Or, worse, right in front of them!
But--
The reality of the situation becomes clear after a fashion.
Soon, even the weather begins to clear, at least enough that they're able to see their target before them:
The Demon Tower.
"That was rather close, do you not agree?" she remarks to the others, once they are within. Her own gaze lingers more on the architecture than seeking out whatever secrets this place might hide. "I wonder... are not Hyadean installations more militarially-oriented? Of course, it has been some time since this was occupied. I wonder whether this place might have had another purpose, then?"
If by 'another purpose' she means 'not Hyadean after all', though--
"Oh... I suppose that would explain it, would it not?"
But inevitably, Avril heads off towards some sidechamber on her own, still gazing at the structure of building itself, her fingertips trailing on the walls. Perhaps she needs some time to herself, after a fashion...
She is still in the process of digesting recent events. Recent revelations. She has only just begun to permit herself to journey inwards again.
...She is just a puppet. This building is only a shell. And yet... and yet, there is something precious and enduring in each.
Almost. She almost has an answer for her own fear.
But not just yet.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Maybe Zed knows exactly how vital his hilariously reckless plan was to the others' success. Maybe... he has no earthly clue and just did it to get a cool selfie with a gigantic fluffy mountain bird.
(He does exactly that. He even gets out of the cockpit to flash a double peace-sign mid-selfie. It's /totally rad.)
((Hraesvelgr does not think it is rad))
Surtr is sent flying not even a moment after Zed gets back into the cockpit, and it's only because the angry avian is wounded shortly thereafter that he isn't currently caught up in a tumbleweed of violence rolling down the mountainside right now. "Woo!" Zed whoops, saving a few copies of that AWESOME PICTURE to his MemoryBookPage. "I even got a few feathers! These'll make awesome prese-- oh we're here."
Zed disembarks again! But he doesn't leave until he safely stows the gigantic feathers away. He follows the others shortly thereafter, where he soon discovers...
"Oh," Zed laughs, "This wasn't a Demon Tower at all! Those silly Elw, getting called demons too. Well, I guess we should probably figure out who we can talk to about this, huh!"
(Zed has no idea who to ask)
(He'll probably come along with the others though)