2020-08-04: The Worst Thing You Can Do
- Log: The Worst Thing You Can Do
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Lily Keil, Fei Fong Wong, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: Claiborne
- Date: August 04, 2020
- Summary: In pursuit of Fei, Lily, Citan, and Elly come to Claiborne, and are swiftly caught up in the town's troubles. Can they catch up to Fei and help the townsfolk?
DG: The party hasn't entered the dungeon yet. Please use +dungeon/enter for your first draw. DG: A party led by Citan Uzuki is now entering Claiborne Under Attack. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Of Metal and Flesh *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Again and again, Claiborne finds itself under attack. The villagers have done their best to shore up the town's defenses, but there is only so much they have been able to do, and on such short notice. And against such strange foes. The reports from the beleaguered town have been garbled -- they talk of machines, but also of beasts. Perhaps, this might be some sort of incursion of Metal Beasts? But who, if anyone, is behind such things? You arrive in the middle of another attack, the villagers having done their best to keep the creatures out of their town. But alas, the walls have been breached. The creatures have invaded Claiborne. You manage to get inside the broken gates after a fashion. Some of the stragglers, perhaps scenting you, turn and charge, unbridled aggression their watchword. They seemingly obey nothing and no one except whatever it is that impels them -- they must be dealt with violently. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-WJUidpRU =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"...and why he has come here, I cannot say."
So finishes Citan Uzuki as the three of them stand, still a distance from Claiborne.
The small frontier town, famous for its horses, has undergone some decided changes of late, most notably the walls -- makeshift affairs, particularly where some of the older walls have apparently been destroyed recently -- that have been raised about the it.
The doctor pauses a moment, searching the exterior walls as if seeking some sign of entry by a certain young man. But the gates are shut, and likely have been for at least the last ten, twenty minutes.
Earlier this morning, Fei had vanished from the Thames, finally rousing from a long, long sleep.
Citan had contacted Elly and Lily soon after and had set out in pursuit, which had been delayed from the necessity of attempting to determine where he had gone.
"I was a fool," the doctor says, his face marked by a grimace. "If--"
And whatever else he might have said remains lost as a shout rises up from the town walls. The reason soon becomes clear.
They move fast. They glide across the field like oil on water, streaming towards the gates. Perhaps, if the three of them hurry, they can prevent all of them from slipping up and over the walls, from tearing their way on through into the streets of Claiborne.
"Be careful -- we must take care to not harm the villagers!" Citan shouts, bringing up the rear.
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Of Metal and Flesh.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
With the shout that rises from the town halls, Lily looks up quickly. She's been thoughtful on the trip out, following along without saying terribly much. The current moment is no exception; rather than reply audibly Lily looks immediately to the creatures streaming towards the gates and put out a hand to focus.
A cascade of icy blades rains down on their position, the mist itself chilling and slowing those who don't shy away from it.
"So, avoid fire," Lily finally says to Citan's warning, stepping closer in front of the others and drawing out her knife between castings.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Of Metal and Flesh. DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Born Staff toward her party's challenge, Of Metal and Flesh.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei left on his own. He is, if nothing else, in a state. He isn't even seen immediately as you arrive in Claiborne because--well--hard to know where he's going to be. Indeed, if he slunk out, maybe he's still possessed by Id. And in that case, maybe he'll never be seen again.
But he is seen again. The first suggestion of his presence is a Metal Beast being kicked away from a number of villagers. Fei rides the creature along, feet first for several yards before bending forward and throwing a flurry of punches into the creature without so much as a word.
He exhales out a breath when he's done and steps off the beast, stretching his arms above his head almost too casually before continuing on.
He might not have noticed the others yet. He is in kind of a state here.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Of Metal and Flesh.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Of Metal and Flesh *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Again and again, Claiborne finds itself under attack. The villagers have done their best to shore up the town's defenses, but there is only so much they have been able to do, and on such short notice. And against such strange foes. The reports from the beleaguered town have been garbled -- they talk of machines, but also of beasts. Perhaps, this might be some sort of incursion of Metal Beasts? But who, if anyone, is behind such things? You arrive in the middle of another attack, the villagers having done their best to keep the creatures out of their town. But alas, the walls have been breached. The creatures have invaded Claiborne. You manage to get inside the broken gates after a fashion. Some of the stragglers, perhaps scenting you, turn and charge, unbridled aggression their watchword. They seemingly obey nothing and no one except whatever it is that impels them -- they must be dealt with violently. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-WJUidpRU =Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
=====================<* Claiborne Under Attack - Round 1 *>===================== ========================< Results - Of Metal and Flesh >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Iron Born Staff 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Overwhelm Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Indeed!" Citan calls back.
Regrettably the creatures move quickly; Lily's sudden storm of ice comes but inches shy of hitting one of their marks. Elly, on foot, has better luck, likely for Lily's near-miss: the creature scrambles one way, only to meet the business end of Elly's staff. Dealing with the one is easier at that point for the former Kislevi.
But other creatures have crested the wall.
One has swarmed onto the makeshift battlements; a cry rises from the villagers stationed there among which it is suddenly present. Things look for an instant quite grim.
And then--
"Fei! Wait!!"
Fortunately for the villagers up on the wall, Fei does not wait as the doctor implores, instead laying into the metal beast-like thing -- herding it away from the militia members -- until it stops moving. The villagers are quite effusive in their thanks, but can Fei even hear them, now...?
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - A Desperate Rescue *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The defenders of the villager have fought hard against the creatures, but they have their back against the wall now -- literally. A pair of the creatures have pinned the townsfolk in against the very fortifications they had used to try to keep the marauders out, and though the townsfolk are clearly not giving up-- One of the creatures snaps at a makeshift pike, snapping it in two. This won't do. You'll have to intervene and down the beasts, before this gets any worse. But it won't be an easy fight against two of them. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Overzealous=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
A state, all right. Lily doesn't know what kind of state really--the fact that he's hitting things is one thing, but he's not awash with red aura either. It's... not something she's used to of him.
But Lily keeps her knife out as Fei moves forward and the creatures fall or escape, depending. "...We'll have to go in after them," Lily says, looking to the others. Then she starts forward, quickly, shifting past the battlements after jut a look at the villgers.
The path is broken and ruined, and thus very easy to follow. Ahead where Fei's moved, ahead of him too, are more of the cretures--a pair pinned against the fortifications, not far from the entrance. A pike is chomped.
"Quickly!"
Lily dives forward this time, suddenly among shadows that cloud around her and surround her weapon.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Desperate Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
He doesn't seem to hear any of them, seemingly acting towards an end that none of them can entirely comprehend.
It's easy to get into the village with the damage the creatures have done during their invasion. It's easy, too, to see that the destruction continues.
"There! He is over there!" Citan points at Fei as he moves along in a dream state.
Towards where a pair of the village militia are caught, trapped against a wall and soon disarmed. "--This is no good!" remarks the doctor. Briefly, he taps a hand on Lily's shoulder, leaving but a bolstering force behind as he moves past her. "Fei! You must come back!" His focus, for the moment, is everywhere but the metal creatures menacing the villagers.
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Desperate Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly van Houten is not here, but is acting through the power of influence that echoes throughout--
-- no, she's here, she's just quiet. She had cried a lot, but then she had sat a lot, and she had nothing better to do in her life than to go with Citan, right now. Maybe if they help some people it will all be okay. It feels good to help people, right? Right?
She whacks monsters with a piece of metal. A trusty length of steel, even without sharpening, has taken many people through small villages full of horror with safety. She looks up, though, blinking once as Citan calls out.
Elly takes a deep breath. "Fei...!" she half-squeaks out, but then she breaks into a run.
That monster better look out!
... Because Elly abruptly produces a weird shape in the air that blazes hot and seems to impulse-press it forwards to rip a hole in the thing's mudflaps at the same time that she gives the iron staff a vicious swing. "Fei!" Elly calls again.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Born Staff toward her party's challenge, A Desperate Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei looks up. He can hear Elly and the others--but if he turns around, he won't be able to keep moving. Their calls are distant. He wants so badly to turn around but--
--he's dangerous. When the time came, he couldn't resist.
No, it didn't even matter that he resisted.
"'m dangerous." He mumbles as he throws himself into the creatures pinning the townsfolk down. There is an almost feral quality to his movements. Eaach strike is quick and vicious but not refined like one might expect in a martial art--but that kind of true fluidity suggests he just knows how to move. And when one knows how to move, well, martial arts is just optimized movement at the end of the day. Being able to shift instantly as the situation calls for, so quickly it is as if you aren't doing a martial art at all--well, tournament fights and actual fights are a bit different. A real fight is over real quick, nice and dirty. Fei prefers the forms rather than--this.
"Dangerous..." He murmurs again. "Always..."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Desperate Rescue.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - A Desperate Rescue *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The defenders of the villager have fought hard against the creatures, but they have their back against the wall now -- literally. A pair of the creatures have pinned the townsfolk in against the very fortifications they had used to try to keep the marauders out, and though the townsfolk are clearly not giving up-- One of the creatures snaps at a makeshift pike, snapping it in two. This won't do. You'll have to intervene and down the beasts, before this gets any worse. But it won't be an easy fight against two of them. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Overzealous=======================================
=====================<* Claiborne Under Attack - Round 2 *>===================== ========================< Results - A Desperate Rescue >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 12 --(20)--> 32 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 12 --(20)--> 32 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 12 --(20)--> 32 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 12 --(15)--> 27 Pass Iron Born Staff 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Overwhelm|Overzealous(2)|Wound(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Over there--they find Fei. Unfortunately, not alone. Lily takes the bolstering force Citan offers her and charges into battle next to Fei, where she can almost hear. "Fei," she starts. "That's not..."
But trying to talk in the midst of this isn't easy; Fei moves ferally, and for his trouble he gets silvery-red blood on his hands, much as Lily does on her knife.
They also both get hit a lot, by a pair of the creatures all at once. Elly has the best progress against them--her magic tears one free and sends both of the creatures bounding off in search of easier prey.
..By way of Citan, who has to move quickly to avoid them. The whole experience is tiring.
But there's no time to relax...
DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Look Over Here! *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Some of the would-be defenders of Claiborne have instead gotten into a right fix -- a couple of them are attempting to fend off with a pitchfork a larger beast. It's not going too well for them. You're not sure if you can reach them in time to help them out: you're quite a distance away. But, if you can make loud enough noise, perhaps it will buy them some time to escape. Perhaps you can even get it to come after you. Of course, that means that it will then be your problem to handle, one way or another. But isn't a little selfless risk what heroics are all about? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Injure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei pays little mind to his wounds. Maybe he's hoping that in just giving everything he has to help these people--maybe EVERYTHING--he can find some absolution. Does he think he can control himself if he runs into Josie again? He couldn't even at his strongest. Not even with Emeralda and Elly in his life. He thought--
--He thought that maybe it would be managable. Maybe he could make peace with Id. He isn't so sure about that anymore. What if Emeralda was there? He doesn't want her seeing him like this.
He's not even sure if Id wants her to see him like this. Not more than he wants her to be safe and happy anyway.
There is a commotion down the street. A couple Claiborne defenders are battling a large beast with a pair of pitchforks. Fei focuses on this.
"Tim...Aliice..." He murmurs.
Before he starts running down the street towards the monsters as quick as he can. He doesn't have the werewithal right now to be clever about it but he's definitely not subtle.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Look Over Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Fei does not seem to hear them.
Does not even seem to hear Elly.
"Fei! Wait!" he calls out again, but then the beast is off, breaking from Elly and scampering for him--
Which necessitates a fair bit of misdirection and footwork in order to lose again (and without necessarily putting the militia members in a fair bit of a fix a second time around).
Which means he loses time.
Which means, thus, that he loses Fei.
"...There is no helping it. We have lost sight of him," he says to them. "Elly, do you, by any chance, have any insight into what may be driving him? What it might be that he is heading towards, here? ...I had heard some of what had happened but..."
A commotion down a street is hard to ignore. It's not one that's likely to end well -- not for the villagers engaging a metal creature with a pitchform. Citan considers this situation for a long moment, then comes to some sort of internal consensus. "Lily, Elly... I apologize for this," he says, drawing out his camera.
The camera, which makes heavy use of a flash.
He has not yet caught sight of Fei again.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Strauss Camera toward his party's challenge, Look Over Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily loses track of Fei, too; in all this chaos, finding him is a bit of a mess to begin with. So Lily looks to Citan and Elly as they consider where he is. She considers, but...
Well, it's Elly who was asked, and she doesn't chime in for the moment, certainly not to elaborate on what 'happened'. Instead she looks around their surroundings again--ah, there. The creatre, another, and villagers.
Flash!! Lily blinks stars out of her vision. "it's fine," she says then, and gets a thought. "Bright light... Yes."
Lily lifts up her knife and begins to channel light magic towards it--she flickers it to reflect more of the light towards the creatures, but the magic alone--nuclear heat--is already more than bright enough to draw attention.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Lily's Knife toward her party's challenge, Look Over Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks at Fei.
She doesn't seem to see the creature they just ripped through. Or Citan, perhaps, or Lily, although there is a brief glance at Lily, perhaps a twitch of concern. Citan asks her a question and she says, softly, "I don't know."
Now she looks at Citan. She then takes an unusual step even as the doctor gets out his camera. She hands him her iron staff with a clear implication of 'hold this', looks at Lily again, smiles, and -
- runs.
A few moments later -- perhaps too fast, or too helplessly, or without much preamble, Elly catches up with Fei and she throws herself upon him. Not an attack but an embrace, although they aren't exactly that massively different in sizes. The grip is tight, desperate, and she puts her face on his shoulder and she says in a hot and quiet force, "I don't care. I don't care. Please, don't - don't run away from me. Please. I'm sorry, I'm - I'm so sorry about -"
Citan can at least get this on photo.
Other than this Elly contributes nothing to the problem. She may be OK with being eaten by a monster just this moment.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Look Over Here!.
=========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Look Over Here! *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Some of the would-be defenders of Claiborne have instead gotten into a right fix -- a couple of them are attempting to fend off with a pitchfork a larger beast. It's not going too well for them. You're not sure if you can reach them in time to help them out: you're quite a distance away. But, if you can make loud enough noise, perhaps it will buy them some time to escape. Perhaps you can even get it to come after you. Of course, that means that it will then be your problem to handle, one way or another. But isn't a little selfless risk what heroics are all about? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Injure==========================================
====================<* Claiborne Under Attack - Round 3 *>==================== ========================< Results - Look Over Here! >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 32 --(8)--> 40 Pass Strauss Camera 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 32 --(8)--> 40 Pass Lily's Knife 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 32 --(8)--> 40 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 27 --(15)--> 42 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overwhelm|Overzealous(1)|Stupify(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
*FLASH*
Citan gets an honestly pretty terrible picture of Elly hugging Fei moments before it seems to connect to his brain.
On the plus side, all the noise means the monsters do turn to look towards our heroes--Lily even temporarily blinding it as the noise from the camera draws their ire--
--the villagers strike in this moment, puncturing the creatures' hides with their pitchforks but Citan and Lily are likely going to have to help mop them up while Elly and Fei are having a moment. Luckily, it's only two monsters--easy peasy for the members of the party for whom these creatures basically con grey to.
Fei stops.
"I...I'm sorry Elly." Fei says. "I...really thought things were better. You're right about Josie. I really believe that. But I couldn't stop him. It's like I didn't even matter."
"What if I hurt you?" He asks. "I ... I care. I couldn't bear that."
DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Preemptive Attack *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Perhaps you have the higher ground. Perhaps you've managed to sneak up on the creature you're currently about to engage in combat, or perhaps you've just managed to surprise it. Whatever the specifics, you have the advantage of surprise in this particular altercation in Claiborne's streets. But don't take this to mean that victory is assured: this particular creature has a wicked set of claws and teeth and isn't afraid to use any of them. This is not the time to get sloppy -- but if you press your advantage, perhaps you may seize glory. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
If they're drawn by the light, after all, they'll be on their way over towards them--
Except, in a heartbeat, a number of things happen.
There is Fei.
Elly runs for him.
And the camera's flash goes off.
"Oh-- oh dear," Citan utters, for a mere instant almost caught off guard by this particular turn of events. It won't be a well-composed or even in-focus photograph.
Indeed, there is a blur of red hair. If one squints at the resultant photo, they might be able to make out the two people in it, but...
But there are other matters of which to attend, and they may be metal creature-shaped.
The pitchforks actually end up working pretty well against them; there is a mess of silver blood. ...Silver, tinged with red. But if Citan takes note of this, it is only on an academic level. He's turned to regard Fei and Elly, for the moment silent.
Then: "Fei... are you...?"
Into this tense moment, the villagers with the pitchforks stained silver intrude.
"Bob saw one of 'em with its back to us 'round the corner. Hurry -- betcha we can take that sucker out quick if we hurry!"
Citan glances over at Lily. Perhaps some mutual resignation/understanding passes between them.
"Yes... I see. Lily, follow my direction, if you please. And Elly -- please take care of Fei!"
He breaks off from the two of them, rounding the aforementioned corner. Down the lane is one of those creatures, striding slowly and snuffling as if it were hunting, its back to it.
"...These things have no comparable anatomy to ours, I am afraid," he murmurs to Lily. "Nevertheless... perhaps a blow with enough force to the head may cause the rest of it to 'cease'."
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Preemptive Attack.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily sees Elly reach Fei--and that's good enough, for now. She doesn't focus on them as instead she finishes moving up to help finish destroying the creatures.
"Silver and red..." She notices the blood, all right. But at least the picture isn't a big issue. Instead... She looks to Fei then, at the things he's said. "Fei, I..."
Lily absolutely shares a look of both resignation and understanding with Citan. She sighs, before she takes off after Citan, looking to the creature at hand. She murmurs back, "Then that's where I'll focus."
She gets a bead, staring to the creature, considering distance, power--
Ice again--a hammerblow of mist and frozen Ether, from above.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Preemptive Attack.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly holds onto Fei. Maybe the people will learn of the meaning of love from this. Or they'll be eaten by a monster. That's like love.
"I," Elly croaks, then, "I know you would never -- do anything like that. I know that. I know it, alright?" The hug loosens, and she brings her hands up to Fei's shoulders. "I know it."
"I want to be with you," Elly continues, face all puffed up and eyes red and cheeks wet, "and the - the worst thing you can do is run away from me, alright?? I know you, you have problems, but I accept them, okay...? Just don't, don't run away."
She leans forwards again, slumping momentarily against Fei. "Please," she pleads. "Please, don't..."
There's a delay for a moment. Elly's eyes turn to the side, a little guiltily. Then she turns her head, grudgingly, away from Fei.
A bolt of lightning cracks out of the sky. Helping. ("Sorry," Elly says. "We should - um - we should catch up with them.")
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Born Staff toward her party's challenge, Preemptive Attack.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei doesn't look to Elly for a long time. She flat out tells him that the worst thing he can do to her is run away but--
--maybe he's selfish, Fei thinks. Maybe he's just selfish and doesn't want to be the reason for Elly's pain. As in physical pain. AS in flipping out and hurting her because Id took control at a bad time. So far, Id has NOT struck Elly but--he's not exactly stable, is he? One burst of rage at a bad time. He doesn't want to be that kind of person. He's heard stories about those kinds of people. They're the worst. People like Timotheus and--
...If he's going to have a family, he'd rather it be one like Doc's. A little strange. A cute daughter who is also a little strange but--good people. They care for each other. It's not perfect but--they do care, he thinks, they really do.
He looks at Elly.
He blinks a few times. "I..."
He looks at Citan. For the moment, he seems to be cogent.
Or cogent enough.
"...I'm sorry, Elly. I..."
He is at a loss for words.
"Is that the worst thing I can do? Is that what you think?"
He looks up at the lightning.
"...Yeah we should."
He continues on though he's likely to lag behind.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Preemptive Attack.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Preemptive Attack *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Perhaps you have the higher ground. Perhaps you've managed to sneak up on the creature you're currently about to engage in combat, or perhaps you've just managed to surprise it. Whatever the specifics, you have the advantage of surprise in this particular altercation in Claiborne's streets. But don't take this to mean that victory is assured: this particular creature has a wicked set of claws and teeth and isn't afraid to use any of them. This is not the time to get sloppy -- but if you press your advantage, perhaps you may seize glory. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire=============================================
=====================<* Claiborne Under Attack - Round 4 *>===================== ========================< Results - Preemptive Attack >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 40 --(13)--> 53 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 42 --(8)--> 50 Pass Iron Born Staff 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overwhelm|Stupify(1)|Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - A Daring Rescue *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You hear a cry for help ahead in the streets! A group of children have gotten trapped in a narrow alleyway by one of the creatures. It seems to be unable to reach them, swinging at them wildly from where it now lurks, barred by assorted debris, but it seems unlikely that this is a situation that will resolve on its own. The time, perhaps, has come for some carefully-directed violence. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Yes," Elly tells Fei.
She means it, from her voice: is she wrong?
Perhaps the scarier thing would be if she were not.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
A little pressure in the right place (e.g., the entire damn head) as directed, then when one adds in the sudden descent of a totally random* unexpected** lightning bolt, well...
Suffice to say, it is one ex-metal creature.
By the time the two of them meet up with Elly and Fei once more (which is really just a matter of backing up a few feet and turning) it seems that things just might be headed in a somewhat more managable direction than they were before.
"Fei, are you... alright?" the doctor asks, reviewing the young man as if he were not completely certain of the veracity of that statement.
Except for the fact that this is occuring in a village currently crawling with metal beasts, that is.
*no
**still no!!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly affirms herself and a moment later there's a high pitched shriek. A familiar shriek. A shriek that for three of the four people here may be something that they have felt or heard in nightmares -- the shriek of a young girl in terror. In distress.
Elly's head snaps round as if to realize where things are going, where things have come from. She only takes a moment to recover her staff from Citan before she runs headlong forwards, lurching slightly, but --
NEVER MIND ELLY'S USUAL BIG OL BREAKDOWN AND SLOPPY MESS STATUS: WHAT MATTERS IS THE NINOS.
The ninos are trapped in a narrow alleyway. The good news is that they can be glimpsed because the wall of one of the buildings has an extension, a bay window that is frankly inadvisable but is right now saving the children's life. The girl who is shrieking like a banshee recieving a combination of electrolysis and bad news about popular music has a bad scrape on her leg, but she is not dying. There are several other children, five to eight years, with Miss Shrieky; an older boy and girl have gotten the best they could manage for weapons, a fire poker and a broom handle, which they are using to jab with a stone-faced, agonized courage at the tapered head of the thing.
The monster steps back a pace. They aren't safe. One huge limb slides forwards - the force of it alone knocks the girl over and sends the poker clattering.
The monster is not looking behind itself. ROOKIE MISTAKE.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Daring Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The worst thing...
Would Lily say differently, in her shoes? Maybe, maybe not. But she isn't; she is in her own, at the moment, looking to Fei and Elly both for a moment once they've met back up, and then back to Citan. But there--the shriek.
Lily snaps over, too--she rushes with the group, though her only 'child' experience is 'a horrible death robot' so it is perhaps a little different in terms of viscerality. Nevertheless, as she reaches the alley...
Lily looks over wounds quickly, makes a decision. That decision is to charge straight into the fray with her knife, surrounded by a dark aura of power that will hopefully at least draw attention to her instead of the kids.
Well, that or the knife slashes across the thing. One or the other.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It's important to remember that, all else aside, the doctor has a young daughter.
Thus, there are certain things that can turn Citan Uzuki's blood to ice in his veins. It doesn't matter that the girl screaming is certainly not Midori -- Midori is safe, in Yui's care. But facts and reality don't matter a whit in what is a purely visceral reaction.
He doesn't say a thing. He moves, moments after Elly reclaims her staff from him.
He makes to move past it, to interpose himself between the creature and the children in the same moment that Lily goes for it from behind.
Perhaps he's counting on her (and the rest of them) getting its attention. Perhaps he's thinking, better himself than the children.
Or perhaps he's thinking something else entirely.
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Daring Rescue. DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Daring Rescue.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei looks at Elly for a while. She said 'Yes'. She sounded certain. Is he just being selfish?
Maybe he was. But he can't help being that weak. But then--
THE CHILDREN ARE IN DANGER. Electrolysis isn't that bad though. It's more the anticipation than the--
Fei cuts off the metacommentary by rushing forward. He sees Citan moving in the way and for the first time, Fei considers the possibility of Citan perishing on this journey and not making it to its end. He seems so INVINCIBLE sometimes that Fei just feels like the guy can handle any situaation.
But can he?!
Well probably--but he isn't going to bank on it! Fei leaps into the air, wwholly intent on dropping down onto the creature and smacking it repeatedly upside the head with his two palms.
Paper beats rock?! The movements are a little more defined now. Is Fei pulling out of it? Or was this just a momentary jarring of his psyche at seeing Citan defending THE CHILDREN.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, A Daring Rescue.
=========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - A Daring Rescue *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You hear a cry for help ahead in the streets! A group of children have gotten trapped in a narrow alleyway by one of the creatures. It seems to be unable to reach them, swinging at them wildly from where it now lurks, barred by assorted debris, but it seems unlikely that this is a situation that will resolve on its own. The time, perhaps, has come for some carefully-directed violence. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
====================<* Claiborne Under Attack - Round 5 *>==================== ========================< Results - A Daring Rescue >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 53 --(18)--> 71 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 48 --(8)--> 56 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 48 --(8)--> 56 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 50 --(8)--> 58 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(1)|Overwhelm|Tire(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
As a man of honor - a man of action - a man of duty - it is Citan who gets there first, and it is Citan who is able to squeeze through to the children. Abruptly faced with a towering colossus in a green coat, there is a squeal of shock and, perhaps, delight.
The boy with the broom handle looks at him and says quickly, "Get the eyes!"
The creature is able to dig another hand inwards and that is a god damn mistake because Lily gathers her power (which the creature does not notice) around her knife (which stabs into the creature's underarm and Lily can FEEL the tissues give way and fluid begin to roll out - which it DOES notice).
It bellows and rears back, no doubt intent on trying to cleave Lily. At this point Elly turns the corner. Fei is just a little faster, and he leaps. He lands on its back, avoiding glistening spines.
He smashes its head.
One strike and it bellows again. Two strikes and an eye pops out. Three strikes and something goes crunch. Four strikes and it goes MASH and begins to topple wearily over, slouched against the side of the building.
Elly pants a little as she catches up, saying to the children, "Are you all okay!?"
"Are you the Widow?" asks the injured child.
"I'm taking you in for the bounty," says the boy with the broom handle, immediately.
Elly blinks once. "No," she says. "I'm not married at all."
"Thanks, mither, ma'am, doctor," says one of the smaller children, though he seems to linger on what to call the bounty-laden criminal.
The badly scraped leg is easily wiped and bound - it would have been fine on its own but even basic treatment eases the child.
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Together As One *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There are far too many of the creatures for you to take on safely. That, as you have crawled your way through Claiborne to at last the town hall, is a sure thing. A band of the town leaders -- accompanied by some of the local militia -- are locked in a tense discussion within the barricaded building. They're attempting to develop a plan of action, but aren't coming to an agreement. You, of course, have a better idea of what needs to be done. If there aren't enough of you to handle the creatures, you need to unite and rally the townsfolk to do just that. But what are /your/ ideas for getting the creatures out of Claiborne? And how are you going to convince the townsfolk? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Suffer==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily keeps working with her knife until Fei brings the thing down, and then she steps back, looking over the kids and the creature both. She has to make sure it's dead, after all. But--
The kids are... well, they're kids, all right. "Some kids," she comments, and leads the group onward once the child is tended. And then, there's...
WEll. Soon they are there in the town hall, and Lily steps in first, regarding a band of the town leaders with local militia in their tense discussion. She listens for a moment, but--
They're mostly just arguing at this point.
"..." Lily looks back at Citan. "I'm confident I can plot a battle with these forces that keeps them all alive, but not that I can get them to listen to me." She holds up her knife, which she hasn't put away, still tinged red and silver with the creatures' blood since she hasn't put it away yet. She starts to clean it off.
So how are we going to get people to listen?
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Once the dust settles--
"Hmm... no, while there is a certain resemblance to the 'Black Widow' I would say that it is merely superficial. This is a case of mistaken identity," Citan tells the children, perhaps to a few blank stares. "...Well, that is to say... they look alike but are not the same person," he tries again, before rendering the requisite first aid.
--and they move towards the town center, children in tow.
He glances over towards Lily. "Indeed. Much like the children back in..." Citan starts to say, then looks over at Fei and falls silent.
Folding his arms over his chest, he watches the town leaders argue for several long moments. His brow creases. He taps his foot thoughtfully.
Then: "Excuse me, for a moment."
He slips off for several minutes.
When he returns, it's with a photograph.
It's the creature they just beat to death in the alleyway.
"Please pardon me. But, I believe you may wish to see this." The photo in question, he hands to the man who has the look of an elected official.
"These creatures can be defeated. Indeed, I believe we are capable of defeating them, without further injury to the people here. But to do that..." He turns his gaze out towards Lily, Fei, and Elly. "...We must first be in agreement regarding our aims and intentions. This is no longer the time for argument."
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Strauss Camera toward his party's challenge, Together As One.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong hops off when the job is done. He looks to the children as they call her 'The Widow'.
Fei rubs at his neck a little. Then he kind of turns around. Why is he feeling embarrassed right now?! The fury still dwells within him and he's trying his darndest to keep it to a dull roar instead of an inferno. Children are being attacked too. It reminds him of Adlehyde. But unlike Adlehyde--there is far less protection here.
He lets out a low breath. Citan and Lily take point on encouraging the town leaders to work together. How are they going to get people to listen?!
Fei is really not in the mindset to do negotiations. He figures if he speaks up he'll just make matters worse anyway.
But there's this look in his eye.
And it's bound to make the townleaders a bit uneasy. That look in the eye suggests...
...well it suggests they be cooperative without even so much as a threat because a look in someone's eye quite like that...means trouble you can count on.
He remains silent otherwise.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Artist's Toolkit toward his party's challenge, Together As One.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I don't know if I can convince you to work together," Elly says, as they come together. "I don't know if these rifts can be covered over, even temporarily. Maybe they're more important than this town. Maybe they're more important than everything."
Her hands clasp together.
"But you aren't just making these decisions about yourselves," Elly says. "What you decide to do - whether it's leave, to fortify, to try to counter attack... To call for help, and from who... whatever those decisions may be, you have to be the ones to decide. Because you're responsible for this place; for the children, for the animals, for whatever legacy you've inherited from the past. Even if you don't want to be weighed down by it..."
"You shouldn't throw it aside because you were too busy arguing."
("She killed like a million people and has a bounty of six hundred and sixty six MILLION gella," says a child nearby. "thousand" "Six thousand and sixty six MILLION-")
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Together As One. DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Lily's Knife toward her party's challenge, Together As One.
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Together As One *>======================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There are far too many of the creatures for you to take on safely. That, as you have crawled your way through Claiborne to at last the town hall, is a sure thing. A band of the town leaders -- accompanied by some of the local militia -- are locked in a tense discussion within the barricaded building. They're attempting to develop a plan of action, but aren't coming to an agreement. You, of course, have a better idea of what needs to be done. If there aren't enough of you to handle the creatures, you need to unite and rally the townsfolk to do just that. But what are /your/ ideas for getting the creatures out of Claiborne? And how are you going to convince the townsfolk? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Suffer==========================================
=====================<* Claiborne Under Attack - Round 6 *>===================== =========================< Results - Together As One >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 71 --(22)--> 93 Pass Strauss Camera 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 56 --(22)--> 78 Pass Lily's Knife 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 56 --(22)--> 78 Pass Artist's Toolkit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 58 --(22)--> 80 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Overwhelm|Stupify(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has successfully explored Claiborne Under Attack!
==========================<* Claiborne Under Attack *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Blazing Saddles *>======================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your gambit pays off -- you're able to, with the help of the townsfolk, vacate the creatures from Claiborne proper. They will be back, unfortunately, but you have for now bought Claiborne a reprieve for them to regroup, rebuild, and prepare. If you could only determine where their nest was, perhaps... Strapped as they are after the repeated attacks, the villagers don't have much to offer you but their thanks, a good meal and a place to sleep for the night. Or at least, that's what it seems at first. Late after dinner, one of the stable masters approaches you and says while they don't have much, they'd like to cut you a deal. For beating back the beasts today and saving their herd (and probably, lives) they'd like to give you one of their horses. This one's a fine steed even for a town known for their horses and should serve well. BGM: https://stuartchatwood.bandcamp.com/track/the-hamlet =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Citan provides photographic evidence. Elly provides impassioned words. Fei provides... a different kind of incentive. And Lily has a plan. Fei's lack of negotation works in their favor; the group decides he must be dangerous, and at the moment something dangerous they can point at someone else instead of themselves is welcome. So, they get in agreement.
For themselves, for their children, for the animals...
And all the things that weigh on them.
The plan as it turns out works more than fine. The creatures for now are driven off, giving the group time to prepare for the later assault. With the townsfolk, it works out.
...And the townsfolk are grateful!! Real grateful. Even if a lot of them think Elly's valuable and might be inclined to give Fei the scariest horse to match his look.