2020-08-23: Gobnet
- Log: Gobnet
- Cast: Yulie Ahtreide, Dean Stark, Rebecca Streisand, Avril Vent Fleur, Isolde
- Where: Desecrated Shrine
- Date: August 23, 2020
- Summary: An increasingly routine 'visit' to the Desecrated Shrine goes rather awry. Is the party capable of handling GOB JUSTICE?!
DG: A party led by Yulie Ahtreide is now entering Desecrated Shrine. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Master Of Unlocking *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- According to local lore, the abandoned shrine has stood here for as long as anyone can recall, and save for one brief interlude roughly a decade prior, hasn't been in use in all that time either. That is, until a band of Gobs arrived and made this their headquarters for harassing nearby fields and stealing their food. This may even be why you have come here -- or perhaps it's simple curiosity. Regardless, immediate entry to the shrine is obstructed by a makeshift fence piled across the doorway in. There are piles of scrap stacked behind it, and only one gateway, which, naturally, is locked, barred, and blocked with yet more piles of stuff. When you don't have a key and no other obvious entrances present themselves, then the only answer that remains is the brute force method. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRLRUyvkJY =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
The Desecrated Shrine and the Gobs it seems to attract always seems to be a source of trouble for the people of Honeysday. No matter how many times Drifters show up to try and make them stop their thieving, it never takes long for them to bounce back and get right back to it.
And so it is that yet again the Gobs have arisen to cause trouble, and yet again a group of Drifters show up to retrieve what they've stolen from Honeysday.
This time, Yulie has decided to join them! She remembered her first meeting with Dean, when he mentioned the troubles the people of Honeysday have been having with them, and now that she has some more Digging experience under her belt, it's time to help out.
They arrive to the shrine to find the entryway obstructed by a fence, behind which piles and piles of junk have been stacked up to bar the entrance. And if that weren't bad enough, behind that is the gate leading into the shrine which has been locked and barred... not to mention barricaded by yet more junk.
"That's... a lot of junk. Can we really push through all of this...?" Yulie wonders out loud. "Well... I guess we have to try."
With that she rummages through her things, eventually bringing out what appears, at first, to be a bright red jewel. To those familiar, though, it's one of the energy-packed gems that tends to appear in places where Sorcery has been used in battle. Yulie draws the fire elemental energy from the gem, directing it into a blast of raw power centered on the wall of junk. Its power used up, the gem's color fades before it crumbles into dust.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Magic Gem toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
The first time around, the Gobs didn't stop their thieving. The second time around, the Gobs didn't stop their thieving. Now... third time's the charm! That's what Dean tells himself, anyway, as he heads into the Desecrated Shrine with several of his friends to deal with the Gob menace yet again. Honestly, he has to wonder how many times they need to talk them down before they'll get it. It's not like they haven't offered to help them figure out other ways to get food and support themselves! Maybe it's their pride that makes them not want to accept outside help?
Whatever it is, here they are again. "It's not as bad as it looks," Dean reassures Yulie. He pulls Twin Fenrir and adjusts it to shoot Fire Bullets. "...Admittedly, it does look really bad," he adds a moment later. Then, as Yulie unleashes her fiery magic gem, he fires a series of small fireballs on the wall of junk to combine their power and blast the junk away *that much harder*.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Fire Bullet toward his party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Again with these gobs. Can't the people of Honeysday catch a break?" Rebecca sighs as she does some last minute maintenance on her ARM. With a click back of the cylinder, she sights it, pointing nowhere in particular.
As she jams it back in the holster, she says to Yulie, "Good of you to offer a hand Yulie. Didn't realize your order did any Drifter work." Considering that fact, she seems taken aback, "Wait is it because we drifters get hurt all the time?"
And then they enter the shrine.
"Nngh, they set up the barricades again. Where do they find all this junk?" Rebecca offers in mild complaint.
Rebecca in contrast, starts kicking junk out of the way. Lashing out with a foot as she knocks aside ruined furniture.
Sometimes she even times it to kick it after its lit on fire and is partially incinerated. Kick fast enough and the flame doesn't have time to burn you after all.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
By now, Honeysday is doing fairly well -- perhaps through Kaguya's influence and timely rebuilding efforts from the Kinship and Outreach, there has yet to be (and perhaps will not) any backlash from the Veruni.
But 'doing fairly well' is a different situation from 'doing well'. There is, after all, still the matter of the Gobs.
Even some thievery is bad for the villagers. It cannot be permitted.
Even if, as before, it is... rather unlikely that they will be able to come to terms with the Gobs in any lasting meaningful way.
A part of Avril readily suggests a more lasting resolution. She, for now, pointedly ignores it.
"It seems they have rebuilt the wall," Avril observes, frowning at the tower of junk outside the shrine. She glances Rebecca's way. "Hm... I wonder..."
She can actually think of a few places where they might have gotten some of it, but she doesn't offer them up. Instead, she nods as she regards Yulie. "Yes... with all that has happened, we certainly must assist the people of Honeysday."
There is a pause. "Furthermore... if this is where someone who called himself 'the future Johnny Appleseed' had come..."
She watches Rebecca then for a moment as she takes a rather more... aggressive approach to the junk pile, joining Dean and Yulia's fire with her foot.
"Please, allow me," she says, and approaches to touch a hand briefly where the fireballs aren't landing. Frost spreads quickly, and in spite of the heat. But don't they say if you change the temperature on something quickly and dramatically enough that it'll become weaker?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
ISOLDE is here because - Well what's she going to do instead, eat dinner? Gamble? Mostly the latter thing. She is, of course, an Adventurer, a Drifter, and so she does just those things. She is in her slightly raggle-tag dress-and-half-armor combination, and she seems to study the place that Yulie has considered an obstacle. She cups her own chin in thought.
"I think that junk is a very flexible concept," Isolde tells Rebecca. "I imagine your ancients of eld, you know, the Zeboim - am I saying that right? - They'd think we were playing with junk, wouldn't they?" At this point people begin setting a fire in front of her, which Isolde treats with philosophical consideration.
Isolde's contribution is, once she hears the blaze crackling merrily, to step forwards and stomp one mailed boot into it with shocking emphasis, her other hand going for her sword as she pushes ahead! This is a recipe to get burned, isn't it?
DG: Isolde has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================ ====================<* CHALLENGE - Master Of Unlocking *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- According to local lore, the abandoned shrine has stood here for as long as anyone can recall, and save for one brief interlude roughly a decade prior, hasn't been in use in all that time either. That is, until a band of Gobs arrived and made this their headquarters for harassing nearby fields and stealing their food. This may even be why you have come here -- or perhaps it's simple curiosity. Regardless, immediate entry to the shrine is obstructed by a makeshift fence piled across the doorway in. There are piles of scrap stacked behind it, and only one gateway, which, naturally, is locked, barred, and blocked with yet more piles of stuff. When you don't have a key and no other obvious entrances present themselves, then the only answer that remains is the brute force method. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRLRUyvkJY =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 1 *>======================= ======================< Results - Master Of Unlocking >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yulie Ahtreide 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Magic Gem 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Fire Bullet 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Yulie Ahtreide 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Yulie Ahtreide 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> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"Sometimes, when it's something we can help with... and that might be a part of it. Though, I'm not working with the Order directly at the moment." Yulie explains. "My friends and I are...traveling, so we've been taking up Drifter work to fund ourselves."
It was always good to make sure you had money on hand when there was a chance you'd need to leave abruptly, after all.
Dean reassures her that it's not as bad as it looks, even if it looks pretty bad, and Yulie nods. Besides, it's as Avril says - they have to help the people of Honeysday.
And so, they get to work!
The magic of Yulie's gem creates a small spark, which is soon stoked into a raging fire thanks to Dean's fire bullets. Avril then touches the parts that have yet to ignite, and frost spreads over the rest of it.
Where fire and ice meet, an opportunity is made. In that way, Rebecca and Isolde will be able to join forces and take the fight to the obstruction directly. Between the two of them, they manage to smash a way through everything that hasn't already been burnt away. And in that way, a way forward has been opened up.
"I'm sure they must have heard that... Do you think they'll be ready for us?" Yulie asks, stepping cautiously ahead.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Stuffing Their Gobs *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There! There's a bundle of the villagers' stolen food, hanging in a sack high atop a wooden tower built by the Gobs. If you could get up there, it would be a piece of cake to take it down and return it to the villagers or use for your own nefarious purposes. There are just two little problems. The first is, the Gobs have smeared the structure with something slippery, probably oil. Probably cooking oil. The other is that they have hammered a lot of nails into the structure which has effectively studded it with spikes. Getting up there without injury is /theoretically/ possible, but... =Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"It is surely possible," Avril says, following after Yulie.
And indeed--
They are, in a manner of speaking.
The shrine itself is old, ancient stonework shored up with assorted scrap and woodwork, the latter almost certainly introduced by the Gob residents. In particular, this room features a tall wooden tower which lacks a definitive route up it... and of course, reaching the top is in this case ideal because there is a sack hanging up there, bearing the mark of Honeysday. Almost certainly, it has food in it!
The tower itself glistens in the light. By the general scent in the room it's been doused in cooking oil.
It also menaces with spikes, courtesy of all the nails driven into it, pointy-part out.
"This would appear to be a trap," Avril surmises, gazing up at the sack towards the top and frowning. "The prudent approach would be to leave it and move onwards."
But she looks at Dean.
"...But, you cannot simply let this be, can you, Dean? If this represents one thing we can return to the villagers..."
She draws out her Medium and bears it in both hands. "Lucadia... please, guide us..."
One of them -- or several of them -- will certainly be able to use the power of JUMP to ascend the tower.
But will it be enough?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Exploring dungeons and doing Drifter work is a great way to raise money on the go," Dean says, nodding to Yulie. "Me and Avril and Rebecca do that while we head all around, too. We've got different dreams, after all." Different from being Drifters, he means, though that may not come across well.
Regardless, the five of them smash down the barricade, Avril on ice, Yulie and Dean on fire, Rebecca and Isolde on sweet kicks. Inside there's a wooden tower, from which dangles a sack full of Honeysday food. Avril suggests that this is a trap and they ought to ignore it. Dean is already marching up to the slippery, spiky wood.
"You're darn right I can't!!" he tells her firmly. "How can they steal food, then not even eat it?! It's criminal!" The power of Lucadia might well help him to the top and get that sack of food... but then there's still a question of how he gets *down*.
Good thing Rebecca's playing with portals!
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Very practical of y'all." Rebecca says to Yulie, seemingly approving of Drifter work to fund them. Which means perhaps that she doesn't need to worry much about how Yulie conducts herself in a fight. She was a bit concerned about that before. "Yeah it's true." She agrees with Dean, "Money isn't why we're in this, but it always helps open doors."
Though then Isolde makes a comment that leaves Rebecca cross-eyed. "What you mean... because they were so advanced advanced? That seems a bit different from you know..."
Rebecca gestures over the debris pile. "... actual trash."
As fire and ice meet, compromising it's structural integrity, Rebecca calls out, "Nice one Dean - Avril!"
Onward they go though, until they reach, the wooden tower. And Rebecca nods with crossed arms at Avril's comment. Though she also seems to agree that Dean just won't move on either. "... well since we can't let it go. Then the smart approach is just not to do what they want us to do to get it. Who knows what other kinds of boobytraps they have set up if we try to just climb all the way up?"
As Avril uses Lucadia's powers, Rebecca hitches a ride. Planting her foot on the side of the tower, she instead launches herself off towards the shrine's stonework.
As she rockets through the air though, she draws one of her ARMs and fires a shot high, then fires another right at where she's going to strike the wall.
As she emerges from the tower, she fast draws her revolver in mid-air and...
Tries to sharpshoot at one of the ropes that has the sack suspended, with her better vantage.
Granted, her portal guns might give the rest of them all kinds of opportunities to do the same, assuming they don't want to deal with cooking oils and nails.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Isolde's nose twitches, like a bunny's.
"Did they douse this thing with perfectly good cooking oil?" Isolde says, in annoyance, even as she fishes out a carved wooden whistle and raises it to her lips. She blows out what sounds like a short chord with a couple of lingering long notes, and then lowers it.
Isolde nods slowly...
And she says, "I'm going to stay down here. I'll catch the sack if you get it loose, just give me a shout and tell me when I'm in the right position."
"To finish my thought," she calls after Rebecca, "Their standards might be different. In poor parts where I grew up, people moving house would burn the house after they'd taken out all the furnishings. The house, even if it was a two-story affair, would be worth less to sell to someone else, than it would be to set the entire thing to the flames and rake the metal nails out of the ashes."
DG: Isolde has used her Tool Echolocatory Whistle toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"It took a little while to get used to... but fortunately we have an experienced Drifter with us to show us the way." Yulie replies to Dean. She smiles, though, as he remarks that he and his friends do the same. "Different dreams... I hope you'll be able to find them someday."
The inside of the shrine is rather jarring, in a way. Seeing the ancient stonework interspersed with the Gob's slapdash woodwork... it's a strange combination. Not to mention the smell.
"...Is that... cooking oil?" Yulie remarks with surprise. And, indeed - as they make their way into the shrine, they encounter a wooden tower bristling with nails, at the top of which is a sack that can only be supplies stolen from Honeysday.
"...I think so. What a waste..." Yulie says with a sigh, as Isolde comments on the oil as well.
As for the tower, Yulie wants to help, but... She looks up at the tower. Then she looks down at her shoes. She likes the feel of them, but platform shoes are not ideal footwear for ascending a tower full of nails, even with the aid of portals and teleportation through Guardian power.
"I'll wait down here... if any of you get scratched up, I can heal you." Yulie decides.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs. DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Stuffing Their Gobs *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There! There's a bundle of the villagers' stolen food, hanging in a sack high atop a wooden tower built by the Gobs. If you could get up there, it would be a piece of cake to take it down and return it to the villagers or use for your own nefarious purposes. There are just two little problems. The first is, the Gobs have smeared the structure with something slippery, probably oil. Probably cooking oil. The other is that they have hammered a lot of nails into the structure which has effectively studded it with spikes. Getting up there without injury is /theoretically/ possible, but... =Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Treasure===========================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 2 *>======================== =======================< Results - Stuffing Their Gobs >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 8 --(8)--> 16 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isolde 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Echolocatory Whistle 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Portal Guns 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yulie Ahtreide 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Maim|Tire(1)|Treasure(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Yulie Ahtreide has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Better Get Pushing *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your path through the shrine takes you into one particular circular chamber within, one of the rare few sections still in reasonably good shape. Arranged on the recessed floor before you are a series of blocks in faded colors, echoed by similarly faded squares on the floor. Is this-- oh no, it is. It's a block puzzle. As if to determine your degree of choice on the matter, the door behind you slams shut mere moments later. The good news is that what you need to do is pretty straightforward. The bad news is that there's a whole lot of pushing involved, and these blocks prove to be quite weighty. ...Well, better get to it. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
In spite of her statement that they ought to ignore it and move on--
Avril still smiles when Dean -- of course -- says he can't just let something like this go. That they have to retrieve the food. "I thought that you would say that, Dean. You're right. Even if this should be a trap, we cannot risk returning empty-handed. Even one bag may help them turn their situation around. ...Please permit me to help you."
Rebecca, it seems, has a similar thought to her own -- even if it's a trap and the smart thing is to ignore it, the moral thing is to retrieve it, even if it hurts.
But there are things they can do to make it hurt less.
It becomes a matter of teamwork, then. Avril's Medium giving Dean lift. Dean retrieving the bag and tossing it down to Isolde -- once she's in the right position. Rebecca's portal guns on standby for Dean's escape.
And Yulie here just in case something goes wrong. Nothing does, as it happens-- but perhaps that's an outcome that everyone is just fine and dandy with.
"Thank you, everyone," Avril says, ducking forward in a brief and shallow bow.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"I *know*!" Dean declares at Isolde in outrage. "How could they?!" He nods firmly when she says she'll catch the sack. Considering she's blind, that's fair. "Okay, will do!"
To Yulie, he gives a curious look and then a nod. "Who's your Drifter friend?" Then a warm smile, and he adds, "Thanks. We'll keep working on it!" To Rebecca, he grins and gives the V-for-victory sign; to Avril, he gives a firm nod. "Exactly. Now let's get this food recovered!" And with Yulie down there to heal anyone who gets scratched up, they're sure to get that bag down no problem! Which they do. Victory!!
But they can't leave it at just the one bag of food. It's great that they did get this one retrieved, but there's more left to go. Unfortunately, when they head further in, they reach a circular chamber with a puzzle so old and worn out that it's less a puzzle and more an exercise in brute force. Good thing it's just pushing blocks around in the first place. Bad thing the door slams shut behind them so they can't just walk out, or walk on, without dealing with it.
"This sure looks like a pain," he says, planting his hands on his hips as he looks around. "Oh well! Let's get to it!"
What else is there really to say? At least the Fire Bullets are limitless, so he can literally just keep firing until they force the blocks forward into the gaps in the floor.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Fire Bullet toward his party's challenge, Better Get Pushing.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"His name's Arnaud. He's very smart - I don't know if we would've made it this far without him." Yulie explains, and nods when Dean says they'll keep working toward their dreams.
And so, they make their way up the tower to retrieve the stolen goods, and they succeed without a single scratch! Which is good - she might like to help, but it's better if they don't need her kind of help at all.
Yulie's in agreement, though - they might have retrieved one bag, but it'll be even better if they can retrieve more. And so, they proceed forward into a chamber with a block-pushing puzzle...
...One that immediately closes behind them.
"Oh! ...It shut." Yulie remarks, before looking toward the puzzle itself. Raw strength... it's one of her weaknesses, though it's better than climbing.
Once again Yulie rummages through her things but this time, instead of a fire gem, she produces an earth gem.
"I hope this works..." She murmurs under her breath, once again drawing out the gem's power. Instead of a fiery explosion, though, this time it's more of a burst of earthen force that gets directed at the nearest. Something that has a bit more pushing power, to help move it along - at least, she hopes.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Magic Gem toward her party's challenge, Better Get Pushing.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"That seems so wasteful." Rebecca notes, "But Dean and I grew up in a small town. We didn't have enough dwellings that I could imagine something like that." Scratching her head at in thought, "Then again, none of our property had ever really been up for sale either."
The sack however, is saved, and Rebecca just smiles at her, "Anytime Avril."
Rebecca flashes back a V at Dean, in lieu of being close enough for a high five.
And then they enter, the puzzle room. And Rebecca starts as the door closes, "Should have expected that."
Rebecca takes some time to evaluate it. Then realizes that it's just an exercise in brute force. Considering the nature of it, she notes.
"Hey Dean. Since you just have to keep firing that until it gets where it's going, I'm going to take a break to make some notes."
Rebecca spends the time jotting down a brief entry in her diary.
The Gobs caused trouble for the people of Honeysday again.
Suppose there's a lesson in that.
Take the time to destroy all of their puzzle reset mechanisms afterwards.
This does not help the group at all, but perhaps she's relishing the idea of sticking it to those Gobs.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Better Get Pushing.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
After catching the sack, Isolde leaves it near the exit in a place some distance from any lingering junk fires. She pats the food sack and then proceeds onwards with the others AND
BLOCK PUZZLE
Isolde makes a sort of snarl-grunt of frustration and gives one of the blocks a kick. Then she seems to simmer down, speaking with grace and lightness again, pausing to repin up her hair. "Well," she answers Rebecca, "I did grow up on Lunar, and wood's cheap there, while metal's dear; down here it's a little bit the other way around, it seems."
"On that topic," Isolde says, "I have a slightly odd question for you all, about the Gobs."
"What are their... heads, their faces like?"
DG: Isolde has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Better Get Pushing.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It seems so wasteful.
"...I see," Avril says, bowing her head as if thought. "Deprivation I have seen, and certainly, there is no end of lack within Filgaia. Still... I feel as if I have finally understood what it means to be 'wasteful'. To have, and to use without concern for others. ...I am sorry. There is... there are things that I find I only understand in the abstract."
They venture onwards and soon find themselves caught, again, in the mechaninations of the Gobs.
Avril stands towards the back of the room, watching Dean and Yulie as they work to try to get the heavy blocks to move.
Maybe it's because it's the third time now. Maybe it's because of everything that has happened in Honeysday. But Avril finds herself increasingly contemplating a very decisive course of action against this particular puzzle/trap the Gobs have set for them, one that might well also serve to open the way forward.
"..."
"..."
They continue to push the blocks.
"Rebecca," Avril says suddenly, taking a few steps forward. "I have made a decision."
What sort of decision it is becomes readily apparent when she takes out
it.
The golem button.
"Dean, Yulie, Isolde, please move aside. I am..."
She extends her arm before her.
"I intend to settle this, here and now."
She pushes the button. Immediately, something begins to rumble, deep below the shrine. --Is this safe?!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, Better Get Pushing.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Better Get Pushing *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your path through the shrine takes you into one particular circular chamber within, one of the rare few sections still in reasonably good shape. Arranged on the recessed floor before you are a series of blocks in faded colors, echoed by similarly faded squares on the floor. Is this-- oh no, it is. It's a block puzzle. As if to determine your degree of choice on the matter, the door behind you slams shut mere moments later. The good news is that what you need to do is pretty straightforward. The bad news is that there's a whole lot of pushing involved, and these blocks prove to be quite weighty. ...Well, better get to it. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 3 *>======================== ========================< Results - Better Get Pushing >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Magic Gem 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Fire Bullet 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Remote Golem Override 4 Brute Effects: None -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isolde 16 --(12)--> 28 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 16 --(12)--> 28 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yulie Ahtreide 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Maim|Overzealous(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Yulie Ahtreide 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> Dean Stark has posed.
"Arnaud, huh? I don't think I've met him. If I ever do, I'll make sure to say hi!" Dean says. Of course, he'd say hi anyway, because he's a friendly type of person, but it's the thought that matters.
Rebecca says she's going to take notes. "Yeah okay!" he says, still firing.
Isolde asks what the Gob heads and faces are like. Dean pauses in firing to stare at her before remembering--right, she's blind. "They're, uhh... They're kinda big? And lumpy? With big ears? And hairy?" He looks over at Rebecca and Avril. "That's about right, right?"
Then Avril says she has made her Decision. "What decision?" Dean asks before she pulls out the Button. He GASPS, eyes immediately sparkling. "YESSSSSSS!!!" he squeals, jumping up and down back and forth on his tippy-toes. The ground rumbles--and from below the shrine, a Golem hand *bursts* up from the ground, smashing the everloving snot out of the puzzle. There it stays and rests and cools down as fragments of the blocks rain down.
The doors open. That is one solved puzzle.
The next puzzle: how to peel Dean off that Golem fist, to which he has attached himself.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - On A Knife's Edge *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Gobs have made a number of renovations to the shrine, most of which serve to allow the smaller creatures easier passage about or to enhance their defenses in a place harrowed by the ages. Such is the condition of the shrine that the Gob catwalks are sometimes the only way to get from one section of the shrine to the other anymore. You've ascended to one of the catwalks, and without any railings or anything even remotely resembling a line, it is a narrow, shaky, and very high indeed above the distant rubble below. And worse, there is the sense that the shrine does not wish you here pressing down upon you, an additional metaphysical weight to burden your path. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca just adds on to Dean's description to Isolde, without looking up, "Most of them have beards. Though they don't groom them well at all."
Rebecca looks up from her writing to look at Avril. And Rebecca looks up her way and... can instantly see how serious she is.
"A decision? What kind of decision Avril?"
Rebecca instantly appears puzzled by the puzzle, as she shuts her diary and brings herself up to her feet. And then, she sees it. The golem button. "Oh."
And instantly scrambles out of the way, "Yep! Everyone take cover!" As she confirms it, and when it happens...
Rebecca's look gets serious as she murmurs to Avril, in the aftermath, while Dean is cheering. "If you're that serious about finishing this quickly - then I'll get serious too."
And then Dean attaches himself to the Golem Fist, and Rebecca simply suggests to Dean, "You know if you stay here admiring that thing - you're gonna miss dinner."
And promptly walks on by.
As they move out of the puzzle room though, they find themselves on a narrow stone staircase, that opens a doorway into a rickety wooden catwalk.
"Okay. This... doesn't look sturdy. I'll go ahead first."
Taking a step onto it, the rest of the group will hear creaking, as the catwalk abruptly shifts from just Rebecca's weight on it. She finds herself re-balancing that weight in order to prevent it from collapses. "Everyone steady..."
She holds out her arms.
"Stead-" And that's when she feels it. "-y."
Her expression grows tense, and suddenly she turns around to look at Avril. "I'm... feeling something - off. Is... this what it felt like to be rejected... for you?"
Looking like she's suffering a migraine of sorts, she takes out her portal gun and fires it ahead. "I don't fancy trying to balance across this while... feeling this way. That section up ahead looks more sturdy though."
She puts the next portal at her feet.
"Avril... think you can Jump us further? If we don't manage this... feels like it's only going to get worse the further we go."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, On A Knife's Edge.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"Perhaps someday!" Yulie replies with a nod toward Dean. She listens with interest as Isolde asks about Gobs, and Rebecca and Dean describe them.
"...Come to think, I don't think I've ever seen one outside of storybooks..." Yulie says consideringly. And then, Avril says she's come to a decision.
"Oh...?" Yulie replies in surprise. But, as requested, she moves aside... and watches in surprise as a mechanical arm bursts through the ground and smashes the puzzle into rubble.
"Miss Avril is... a very decisive person, isn't she...?" Yulie remarks, still in awe.
She recovers quickly enough, fortunately, enough so that they can proceed forward. Unfortunately, the only way to get any further is a rather rickety wooden catwalk. Yulie regards it with a frown that displays a complete lack of confidence in its structure.
...Not only that, she can feel something here. Like something weighing on her - not physically, but on her mind and spirit. A sense of rejection... Yulie shivers. It feels... awful.
"...I agree, I don't like this one bit..." Yulie says. She's probably going to need more than a little help making it up.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, On A Knife's Edge.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Big and lumpy with big ears. Hairy. Beards... Isolde nods along in thought.
Isolde immediately gets the Fudge out of the way (only, of course, it isn't fudge. it's the other word. THE WORD.)
After the act of Golem, Isolde says, "My goodness," while stepping forwards, coughing for a moment. "This feels breezy." She brings out that whistle again and does a quick two-note chord on it. She then pauses and seems to heed the air closely.
The sound of the air... and the wood.
"Miss Ahtreide," Isolde says, turning her head towards her, "I would like to make a proposal." A pause. "Not that sort," she continues.
"Let's take this together. I will keep my hands on your shoulder and we'll take it one step at a time. Left, and right, and left, and right," Isolde says. "If you start to wobble I'll hold you straight, and if you see anything go wrong you can let me know; and of course, with my hands on your shoulders, we'll be like a four legged beast. It will look ridiculous, but I am confident that Dean, Avril, Rebecca; they won't ruin our reputations. What do you say?"
DG: Isolde has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, On A Knife's Edge.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Wha--bu--Rebeccaaaa! Come onnnnn!" Dean whines after she passes by. After an extended, grueling moment of looking between the Golem hand and the leaving party with extremely obvious indecision, eventually Dean manages to tear himself away and hurry after the others. Forgive him, Golem...!
That awful feeling only intensifies the further in everyone goes. "Rejection...? Is that what this is?" he wonders, looking and feeling a bit green around the gills. Apparently Yulie feels it too. Isolde... he's not so sure. If she does, she's taking it in remarkable stride.
"We won't make fun of you guys, promise," he tells Isolde and Yulie instead. For his part, he frowns at the catwalks stretching out ahead. It'll be risky with no railings and a very far fall, but... "As long as we take it slow and easy, it shouldn't be... *too* hard," he says. "But yeah, if we can Jump part of it and go through portals for another part, that'd make it a lot easier for everyone. Yulie, you just follow us and help Isolde along, okay?"
Forward march they go! Carefully. One hopes, anyway.
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, On A Knife's Edge.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's one way to solve a puzzle, at least. Now there is no puzzle.
"Dean, I do not think we can afford the time," she says to him as he hugs onto the (now inert, forever, RIP Golem) Golem arm, before she, too, passes on by.
SOON! They find themselves ascending to a higher level within the shrine, and with it, to one of the Gob-crafted walkways within.
Avril hesitates well short of the catwalk, staring straight ahead as if she could see, like a cat, into another dimension. "You..."
She lapses into silence.
"I wonder... are you...?"
Rebecca calls out to her, asking for her assistance, and here, Avril rouses from her reverie. "Oh--"
Then blinks. "You, as well? I had... also felt it, now. I wonder..."
She pauses, then shakes her head. "...Yes, of course."
She draws out the Sea Medium, soon after.
"Lucadia... please..."
Perhaps with the power of JUMP they should be well-equipped to manage the passage, even if the inevitable should occur.
As they carefully, all in a row, make their advance.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, On A Knife's Edge.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================ =====================<* CHALLENGE - On A Knife's Edge *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Gobs have made a number of renovations to the shrine, most of which serve to allow the smaller creatures easier passage about or to enhance their defenses in a place harrowed by the ages. Such is the condition of the shrine that the Gob catwalks are sometimes the only way to get from one section of the shrine to the other anymore. You've ascended to one of the catwalks, and without any railings or anything even remotely resembling a line, it is a narrow, shaky, and very high indeed above the distant rubble below. And worse, there is the sense that the shrine does not wish you here pressing down upon you, an additional metaphysical weight to burden your path. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 4 *>======================= =======================< Results - On A Knife's Edge >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yulie Ahtreide 28 --(12)--> 40 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 28 --(12)--> 40 Fail Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Echolocatory Whistle 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 28 --(12)--> 40 Pass Portal Guns 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Yulie Ahtreide 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Maim|Overzealous(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Yulie Ahtreide 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> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"You have no idea."
Was Rebecca's ony remark to Yulie before the catwalk rejection incident of the Desecrated Shrine happened. Though she said it more affectionately than negatively.
Perhaps she admires that about Avril?
"It's strange... up until now you were the only one who felt it when that happened." Rebecca mumbles, "Why now, is it including us?"
She's not precisely disturbed. Perhaps it's because they're associated with Avril?
Well... that's not an unfamiliar thought to her, of how she thought the Veruni would regard them. If Filgaia does too...
Her Portal serves as a safety net back to the beginning, as Avril invokes Lucadia's power. As they land, the section turns out not to be as stable as Rebecca had thought.
Because while the supports don't wobble... a brittle board breaks the moment Yulie takes a step.
Isolde has to catch her and draw her back up, preventing her from falling.
Fortunately they'd worked that out!
"You good Yulie? Everyone? Okay... from now on, I'll test out what's ahead with a portal before waving y'all to jump over."
This isn't a pleasant operation, but eventually...
They do make it to the other side, where the catwalk gives way to stone work again.
"Made it."
... Despite being on solid footing though, the feeling of rejection still lingers, it's just easier to deal with while they're keeping their balance.
DG: Isolde has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================ =======<* CHALLENGE - Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long *>======== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- "Hold it right there, gob!" While making your way through the crumbling shrine, you are approached by a trio of apparent representatives of the most recent occupants of the shrine... the Gobs. These three are just as well-armed as any others you may have encountered during your explorations. But these three seem to want to talk. "What you doing in here, gob? Making all this noise?!" "This private property, gob!" "Was napping, gob!" ...On the other hand, they do seem willing to talk. Is there a chance you could argue the point on the purloined food to them -- or negotiate passage inwards? ...Do you even want to try? BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnO8w_-wA0 =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Stupify, Reckless================================
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
On the far end of the catwalk, Isolde leans against a wall and takes something out of her travelling bag. It's a glass bottle with an atomizer spray; she spritzes a little on her hair, and once on her collarbone. Perhaps she was bothered by how sweaty she was getting in here, or perhaps she's just picking up on some degree of decay from leftover cooking oil or gobscent.
They continue forwards, and Isolde puts her perfume away JUST IN TIME FOR
THE LIGHTS TO GO OUT!
(You can hear the oil lamps squeak shut. Then some others are lit...)
(Lamps that underlay...)
THE TRIUMVERATE!
"Hold it right there, gob," says Gob 1. "You're trespassing in private gobperty and we are PRETTY sure you have broken up large supplies of our valuable scrap and garbage, yes!" gob
"In the gob justice system," says Gob A, "there are two roles, of equal importance. One is the prosecutors who argue the case, and the other is the whirling death trap that descends upon the duly convicted malefactor and cuts them into coarse ground taco meat!"
"This is our story, gob," says Gob Alpha. It bangs a hammer on a piece of stone. donk donk
The gobs have a high seat and several of them have firearms (Gob Alpha has a large hammer).
"This is outrageous," says Isolde.
"Silence! Under gob law, perfumed matrons will only deliver testimony when addressed! Your children will answer our inquiries!" says Gob A.
Isolde pauses, as if to consider this.
"Make your testimonies," says Gob 1. "And remember: Lying to the court of inquiry will get you a whirling death trap IN your QUIRIES!"
DG: Isolde has used her Tool Perfume Atomizer toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean's been here before; he's encountered the Gobs and tried to talk them down, tried to explain to them what they're doing is wrong, supported friends who tried to offer different ways.
He has never been put on Gob Court.
"What??" he utters, utterly *gob*smacked, when they speak of a justice system. He knows they tried to teach them about right and wrong and stuff, but why this? Why this and not no stealing??
"What d'you mean, trespassing? You stole more crops from the people of Honeysday!" he says. He holds up the sack o' food from earlier. Just in case they don't get it, he shoots a Detector bullet, which zeroes in on the sack and shows that they are indeed of Honeysday origin and not, say, something the Gobs grew themselves. "Look! This proves it!! How can you have the nerve to say we're barging in when we're only here to take back something you took that wasn't yours to begin with?!"
If they give him the whirling death trap after that, he's going to be extremely cross.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Detector toward his party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Yulie looks toward Isolde, who has a proposal. She frowns, looking hesitant at first, but eventually...
"...Um, okay..." She replies with a nod, and then, after thinking about it for a moment longer, "...Thank you. Let's do that."
It is, of course, a little embarrassing... but, it'll help both of them out, and she's sure that she can trust the others to not say a word about it.
It's a good thing she decides to accept Isolde's help, at any rate, because partway through a board breaks and she would've fallen right through if Isolde weren't there to catch her.
"Th-thank you..." She says. It... takes her a little bit to calm down after that.
"I'm okay..." She replies to Rebecca, still shaking a little.
Eventually, they proceed, eventually finding a room, at which point, the lights go out!
...And when they come back on, it's to shine light on a series of three mean-looking Gobs. Yulie stares up at them, blinking. She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out so she closes it again.
...What would Saint Calucion do in this situation...? Being falsely accused of a crime...
...Well, technically it wasn't false, they did do that, but it was because the gobs were comitting crimes first... It reminds her of one of Calucion's tales, when she was framed by the very culprit of the crime she was looking into. She turned the tables on them, in that situation... which gives her an idea.
"Oh, um, everyone... could you stand a little closer to me?" She whispers. She slips something out of her coat.
She lets everyone say their piece, before adding in her own.
"Which means... you should be the ones on trial, not us..." Yulie says. ...At which point she invokes the Replace Crest Graph she had drawn.
A sorcerous light emanates simultaneously from Yulie's position and beneath the three gobs, at which point(if all goes well, that is) both parties will suddenly find their positions switched - the Gobs in their own Death Trap/Prosecution Pit, and Yulie and her friends in the prosecutor seats.
...There are only three seats, though, so there's going to have to be some sharing done.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Calucion's Journeys toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Still reeling from the hand-on-the-shoulder-like effect that is the shrine's rejection of her, Avril ventures into the room beyond on a sort of autopilot.
It's only then that she realizes anything at all is amiss. "This is--"
donk donk
court is in session
"...This, then, is your justice?" is what she utters at last.
"Very well."
In her hands now is the mirror.
"I understand. To you, we are the wrongdoers, for we have come into your home and broken your belongings. In that sense, you are correct," Avril says.
Light, pale and terrible, begings to pour out of the mirror.
"However."
She might as well be made of stone. Or ice, with eyes like that. With that stare she now delivers for the Gob Triumvirate.
"You have stolen from the people of Honeysday. You have set traps within for us, knowing we would come to reclaim what belongs to the villagers. ...No more. I say to you that this ends here. Return what you have stolen, at once, and trouble Honeysday no further," she orders them, slowly approaching where they sit. She is illuminated by now, awash in the power resting in the mirror.
"If you do not... then I will demonstrate to you my own justice."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
The lights go out. "Probably an ambush! Get ready!"
The lights come on, and her ARM is drawn. Rebecca just looks dumbfounded at the scene before them. "Excuse me?" As she gawks at what's going on. Then looks sidelong at Dean and Avril.
"This is completely ridiculous." She mutters, "But... I've watched a few big city trials since leaving Capo Bronco. Might be I can lull them into letting down their guard."
As Dean makes his impassioned defense of what the Gobs did, Rebecca coughs as if to tell him to settle down. And Avril alit with the power of the Mirror of De Soto threatens to demonstrate her own justice. But then Yulie switches positions of defendants and Triumverate. And she decides that her moment has come.
Thinking fast, she waits her turn and then clears her throat into her gloved hand and asks, "Town Prosecutor - Rebecca Streisand presiding - Magistrate Ahtreide if I might have permission to approach the defendants?"
Taking out her book, she opens it to a certain page as she walks back into the pit.
"So if it please the court I'd like to present a copy of the Honeysday legal code. Section 217.11 dash 20. May I enter it into the court record?"
Leaning against the stone bench of the Gob with the hammer, she pretends to read from it.
"So yes, according to the Honeysday Legal code - noodle thievery trumps trespassing as a crime, especially when one is trespassing to apprehend said noodle thieves. This noodle thievery will be punished by a sentence of no less than..."
Rebecca closes her book to punctuate the statement.
"... a boot to the head."
Rebecca looks at Gob Triumverate turned into Gob defendants, "And failure to recognize the jurisdiction of the Honeysday Legal Code will result in the perpetrators having the book thrown at them."
Rebecca then remarks, as she slides her foot forward, toe of the boot pointed down as she balances, "I would like to remind all three defendants that they are in range of both boot and book."
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Rebecca's Travel Diary toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================ =======<* CHALLENGE - Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long *>======== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- "Hold it right there, gob!" While making your way through the crumbling shrine, you are approached by a trio of apparent representatives of the most recent occupants of the shrine... the Gobs. These three are just as well-armed as any others you may have encountered during your explorations. But these three seem to want to talk. "What you doing in here, gob? Making all this noise?!" "This private property, gob!" "Was napping, gob!" ...On the other hand, they do seem willing to talk. Is there a chance you could argue the point on the purloined food to them -- or negotiate passage inwards? ...Do you even want to try? BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnO8w_-wA0 =Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Stupify, Reckless================================
======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 5 *>======================= =========< Results - Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long >========== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yulie Ahtreide 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Calucion's Journeys 1 Wits Effects: Resilient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Detector 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Mirror of De Soto 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isolde 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Perfume Atomizer 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 40 --(8)--> 48 Pass Rebecca's Travel Diary 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Yulie Ahtreide 85 --(0)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Maim|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Yulie Ahtreide has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
The court is in session. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ3khsva6E8
"Whoa! Crap!" says Gob Alpha.
Gob A says, sweating gobbily, "You can't prove we aren't just re-using the sack, gob! We won't deny there have been mistakes but -"
Traps come up.
Gob Alpha sweats harder. Gob 1 says, "W-we are entitled to defend our loot. I mean our stuff. Our take! No, our property! If you wandered in here out of a storm you could complain but --"
"I told you to leave the noodles! You all got greedy and now," says Gob A, "now we're gonna"
VWOOP
"AAAAH!! I CAN'T HANDLE BEING ON TRIAL, GOB!"
"I won't go back to prison!"
"fuuuuuuuuuuudge we're gonna have to find gainful employmeeeeeeeeeeeent!"
And the gobs flee the way everyone came.
Maybe they'll fall in the ravine?
Isolde, now seated in Gob Alpha's former space (and possibly with someone else on the arm rest or otherwise in the area) reaches over and collects the mallet. She turns it around.
"Court is adjourned," Isolde says, with a 'donk donk' on the stone.
"And I'm not THAT old-looking, I hope," Isolde complains quietly. "I mean you're all adults. I can tell I'm on the taller end here, but we're human beings, not... I don't know, fish or lizards or something that never stop growing."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Go With Gob *>========================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- However your negotiations with the Gobs have gone they are interrupted by a call from the crisscrossing catwalks above: "We'll save you, gob!" There is an ominous creak from overhead. ...Are there nets up there? The Gobs to which you were just speaking react to this call from above with alarm. "Still down here, gob!!" But it is too late. A rope somewhere is audibly cut and the nets, laden with heavy debris and stones, are dropped down upon you and the Gob ambassadors. Hurry! If you make a run for it, you should be able to make for the far door and escape being crushed! =Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Injure, Hesitate================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril does not so much as turn her head as the 'judges' flee. The glowing light that washes about her still may underscore her thoughts on the matter. After all, her presence may well be a clear and present threat.
Justice, perhaps, is what you make of it.
All at once, the light about her ceases.
"I wonder," she muses, lowering the mirror in her grasp. "Is that what a 'trial' is like? In Mirapulse, it was quite different..."
Likely because Veruni justice is a completely separate concept from human justice -- which itself is completely different depending on just where in the world you are.
Justice, it seems, has no true form...
"Perhaps this may put an end to their stealing," Avril says then, glancing up at her friends who have found themselves in the seat of 'justice'.
Of course, this is then the moment when there is a loud 'clunk' from above.
Followed by another clunk. A few errant broken chainlinks rain down on the proceedings below.
Followed by a too-distant wail of "No! The death trap of justice, gob!"
...So that wasn't just a Gob lie?
Indeed, if one looks up, they will be met with the sight of an absolutely massive array of whirling blades... hanging erratically from seemingly two whole chains now.
Another one gives way--
Followed by the very last.
Running, right now, might be the best plan ever.
"Lucadia!" Avril calls, already in flight towards the nearest door. Brilliant light swirls about her, but will it be enough to help carry them across the distance--?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
"Approved, Prosecutor Streisand." Yulie confirms with a nod toward Rebecca. She watches, then, as Rebecca marches down into the ring and really goes to town on them. It's very impressive! And really quite scary... and so is Avril, too. In the end, it's successful, and the Gob Triumvirate is sent fleeing!
"Um, well... I'm still young, but... you don't look very old to me?" Yulie replies to Isolde when all is said and done, trying to reassure her. She looks toward Avril when she speaks, and is about to say something...
...When there is an ominous 'clunk' from above.
"...Oh. O-oh, um..." Yulie says, Clunk. Clunk. ...And then, it falls.
There's no time to say anything. Yulie turns to bolt away after Avril along with the others. Staying here probably isn't very wise!
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Woah!" Dean utters when Yulie produces her crest and swaps everyone's positions with the Gobs. Fortunately, everything works out, and the Gobs panic and run away. Dean plants his hands on his hips and shakes his head. "Hmph! Here's hoping they really do get honest jobs this time..." He nods to Avril. "Yeah. Maybe scaring 'em straight is the ticket this time."
CLUNK.
Dean looks up.
A whirling deathtrap begins to fall!
"Uh oh," Dean utters. "Isolde! This way!" he calls, grabbing her hand to help guide her--though he'll let go if she slaps him away--and then bolting to join Avril and the blue light to get the heck out of here. Or to join Rebecca and head through one of her portals. Whichever one ends up actually working!!
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"Do you think that ultimately this is simply because it is hard for them to grow their own food?" Isolde muses after she gets up and they start moving forwards and then
clank
Air moving
Isolde twists round as Dean calls to her - grasping his hand but her other hand grips her sword hilt as she dashes forwards. She seems to be listening though, with an echolocatory tension -- and the sword is whipped out and STABBED forwards, clashing against and (slightly) deflecting a particularly jagged chunk with a loud SHANG and a spark!
Hope this place isn't full of *natural gas* (or natural gob)
DG: Isolde has used her Tool Echolocatory Whistle toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca puts her hand up to her brow like she's tipping a hat Yulie's direction in the aftermath. She is definitely not wearing a hat. "That was some really impressive Crest Sorcery you pulled off there."
As the judges turned defendants flee, Rebecca sighs and puts her book away.
"What happened with Chuck wasn't a trial at all. Just a pretense to put on a showy execution." Rebecca asides to Avril.
Before, she puts a hand to her cheek, staring at Avril for a moment, then smiling despite her best efforts not to. "You know, you can be surprisingly optimistic sometimes Av-"
And that's when there's a loud clunk. Followed by another clunk.
And Rebecca envisions them all being ground into taco meat.
Quickly drawing her ARM she fires it at the far wall, then sprints up to Avril as she invokes her Lucadia's Medium. "Everyone to Avril or the portal!" Firing another shot at the floor just nearby, guessing at what Jump's range is.
This is perhaps meant to be a second avenue of escape for anyone who doesn't make it in range of 'Jump' in time...
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= =========================<* CHALLENGE - Go With Gob *>========================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- However your negotiations with the Gobs have gone they are interrupted by a call from the crisscrossing catwalks above: "We'll save you, gob!" There is an ominous creak from overhead. ...Are there nets up there? The Gobs to which you were just speaking react to this call from above with alarm. "Still down here, gob!!" But it is too late. A rope somewhere is audibly cut and the nets, laden with heavy debris and stones, are dropped down upon you and the Gob ambassadors. Hurry! If you make a run for it, you should be able to make for the far door and escape being crushed! =Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Injure, Hesitate================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 6 *>======================== ===========================< Results - Go With Gob >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 48 --(12)--> 60 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 48 --(12)--> 60 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 48 --(12)--> 60 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Isolde 48 --(12)--> 60 Pass Echolocatory Whistle 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 48 --(12)--> 60 Pass Portal Guns 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yulie Ahtreide 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Hesitate(2)|Injure(2)|Reckless(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Yulie Ahtreide has successfully explored Desecrated Shrine!
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================= =========<* CHALLENGE - Maybe This Is What They Call A Happy Medium *>========== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Ducking into the far room, you find yourself in one of the Gobs' main storerooms for their ill-gotten goods from Honeysday's fields, the shrine, and perhaps elsewhere as well. Most of the contents are food and crops stolen from Honeysday, which the villagers will certainly reward you well with but in an inspection of the items you also find-- Incredible. You've found a small stack of Copy Artificial Mediums. The Gobs must have collected these from within the shrine, but without knowing what they were, just left them here in a corner. True, you'll need to be 'accepted' by Filgaia to use one of these, but they're still worth a good deal to the right collectors. You hear distantly the shouting and thumping of many small feet. It may be a good idea to collect what you can of the purloined supplies and make a retreat before the entire Gob populace is mobilized. (OOC: These Copy Mediums are not blank but may contain a copy of any Artificial Medium for Guardians of the Elemental, Terrestrial and Celestial tiers -- players' choice for which ones they like. These can only be used by individuals accepted by Filgaia -- Veruni and Metal Demons explicitly cannot use them. Contact staff if there are any questions.) =Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Escape happens, but it is by inches. Gathering as many close to her in the time available, Avril leaps forward with Lucadia's power, the onrush of the Guardian's prowess bringing them to the doorway which they're able to duck into.
A few others take flight into Rebecca's portal, sidestepping the issue completely as the entire death machine apparatus comes crashing down. Whirling bits of metal come flying through the door of the room (fortunately no one is standing there; they just lodge into the far wall) and the whole shrine complex shakes with the impact.
And then, everything is still.
"Is everyone alright?" Avril asks, taking a look about herself and the room into which they have taken refuge.
"--Oh!"
There are stacks and stacks of purloined foodstuffs from the village in here. And what's more...
"...Are these not Copy Mediums? Oh, but it seems there is something already loaded into it..." Avril remarks, picking up one of the disc-shaped Mediums. She closes her eyes, as if to investigate it by other means. "...Water. I believe... this one has been imbued with the powers of the Water Guardian."
Distantly there's some Gob-like shouting, but if they're going to cause trouble those guys will have to get through the wreckage of the death trap machine, so ha ha ha ha ha.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
They all run away! For Yulie, it's pretty close - she ends up tripping over some debris, but a timely portal will place her safely into the room, even if she does crash into the ground.
She remains on the floor until the room goes still, but really just so that she can avoid the shrapnel flying overhead. Once everything's safe Yulie pulls herself to her feet, dusting off her dress.
"I think I scraped myself up a little, but it isn't anything I can't heal..." Yulie replies with a shake of her head. And with that, she looks around to see where they've ended up.
"Oh, this must be... more stolen food supplies...?" She remarks, at about the same time Avril does. And there's something else, too - Yulie doesn't recognize them, but Avril calls it a Copy Medium. Yulie walks over to pick one up... but when she does, a frown crosses over her face. "...It feels... strange..."
...She's not sure that she likes it. It's different than her own power... but it feels close enough that it puts her a little on edge.
"I might give this to one of the others..." She decides. She doesn't want to hold onto it for much longer, so she buries it deep within one of her bags. She could just try to sell it, but... that would feel too impolite. She knew the significance the Guardians had to others, already.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Whoosh!! Everyone is gathered up in Lucadia's light and is spirited to safety. That sure was a close one. Dean breathes a sigh of relief, then looks over the group to make sure everyone's safe and accounted for. Avril beats him to the punch of actually asking if everyone's okay, though--and also at looking around at the room they've found themselves in.
"Oh hey!" he utters, following her attention. "We found all the food! Let's get it out of here before the Gobs come back." He walks over to one of the Copy Mediums, grabs it, and stuffs it in his pocket. There's enough here for exactly one for all of them, so no need to grab several.
"We can heal up any scrapes once we're out of here," he adds, nodding to Yulie. "For now, let's pack up and get out before they throw another one of those deathtraps at us."
This sure will be a relief for the people of Honeysday, too. Will the Gobs finally give up on their thieving ways this time, though? Only time will tell.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Isolde lets go of Dean's hand with a murmur of thanks once they are, more or less, clear. She also sheaths her sword, if somewhat more hesitantly. She can still hear gobs. She thinks there are gobs. She feels a certain tension. The drifter's code: Hear; think; feel.
Wait, wrong code.
"Hm?" Isolde murmurs as it becomes clear that there are more to be found here than sacks of grain and casks of salted meat. She approaches where the others are murmuring, reaches forwards, and takes one of the items. She fingers along the edge, turning it over in her palms, and saying, "This is..."
"... I have no idea which Guardian it is," Isolde confesses. (It's Celesdue.) "I wonder where they got THESE from. I suppose we're fortunate they didn't turn them against us, eh?"
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Just a few bumps and scrapes here." Rebecca answers to Avril, as they come out of it. Dusting herself off in the aftermath.
Rebecca then looks over her shoulder and notes to Dean and Avril, "Well... I think we've got a good head start. Feels like they'd have to dig out half the chamber over to get to us."
Rebecca looks at the Mediums in surprise as Avril points them out. "Huh. Didn't figure we'd find these here... I wonder if it's linked to what we felt earlier?" She queries, "Like... something trying to keep us away?"
As Yulie remarks on it feeling strange, Rebecca rubs the back of her neck, "You know... it's the opposite for me. Feels only natural. Then again, me, Dean, and Avril have been using one since... not long after we departed from Capo Bronco."
With a shrug though, she decides that it's not her place to try to get Yulie to try something she doesn't like. Stone Mediums she has a more complicated relationship with... ever since that temple where she felt they were cruel to Avril.
Non-nonchalantly she walks on by as if she were going to head to the food stuff, but a Medium catches her eye... and she finds herself picking it up and putting it away.
She'll figure it out later.