2021-03-19: This Strange 'Somewhere'

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  • Log: This Strange 'Somewhere'
  • Cast: Tio, Clarissa Arwin, Azoth, Avril Vent Fleur, Seraph Clarine
  • Where: Emulator Zone
  • Date: March 19, 2021
  • Summary: Trapped in the Emulator Zone, some aboard the train explore the local 'landscape' in order to determine whether an escape might be feasible.

DG: A party led by Tio is now entering Emulator Zone.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Redshift *>===========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The train had come to a lurching stop somewhere -- this much, you already
 know.

 You also likely know that the 'somewhere' is best qualified as a 'somewhere
 /else/'.

 Still, the expanse before you -- pulsing magenta, swirling reds glittering
 with impossible stars, a sickly swirl of oranges and yellows -- once you
 make your exit through one of the train car doors is likely not quite what
 you expected.

 The appearance of this place isn't all you have to worry about. There are
 platforms, yes, and a suggestion of a path...

 ...but they have an orientation contrary to the one you currently face (or
 think you are facing?). Reaching one of the platform paths might be trickier
 than it looks -- which way is up? And, for that matter, can you cross the
 distance to them?

 But reaching stable ground (such that it is) might be your only chance of
 starting to make some sense of this dimensional space into which you've been
 flung.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfVh9Vshfbw
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Maim, Hesitate, Secret==========================
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    Outside the train, the sky above is filled with colours that shouldn't be and stars that make no sense. So, notably, is the lack of ground below. Indeed, everything that isn't the train and the tracks it sits is a whirling mess of colours.

    Some minutes after entering this place, Tio's eyes start to function again, ocular sensors finishing their reset. It was most distressing. She has also deactivated the sensors atop her head, her antennae void of light. Too much of this place didn't make sense. Tio opens the door of the train, and looks out. She is clad in a dark blue dress, black gloves, black boots, and a silver necklace that she pulls out from under her dress to reveal the Soul Egg she carries with her.

    "...I can ascertain very little about this place." She says, finally. "But I can see what I believe to be platforms." Believe to be is the crucial status here. "They are however... difficult to reach."

    That is underselling it. The platforms are at all sorts of orientations, strange and odd. Some, indeed, look impossible to land on, on 75 degree and 90 degree angles. But that's assuming her sight can be relied on at all. The angle could be something completely different in here.

    "Clarine, are you sure you can continue?" She asks, concern in her voice. "It is alright if you stay on the train. We can scout." She seems less worried about the others, but she nods to them. She is, however, looking very curious at Azoth. She's interested to see what he can do.

    Tio can't close the gap between train and platform at her height and limited reach. So she does the first thing she can think of. She goes to the other side of the carriage from the door, gets a short running start, and leaps for the nearest platform she can go for.

DG: Tio has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Redshift.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Clarissa lost track of things for a minute on the train. Uncomfortable in stilted social situations and uneasy with the sense of being used as a common thug by a political leader she doesn't entirely trust, she left a lot of the socialization to people better than her at hiding their feelings, eventually moving out of the main conversation to patrol the car. Discomfort aside, protecting people from harm is a profound desire for her.

She was not expecting to have to protect them from kaleidoscopic hell.

"I'm fairly sure those colours shouldn't exist," she says with a frown as she looks up into what passes for a sky, her hand clasped tightly around the grip of Strahl Gewehr. Her teeth catch her lower lip as she glances from here to there, trying to orient the platforms in her mind.

It's harder than it ought to be. Everything's at angles that don't make a great deal of sense.

With a look towards Tio and Clarine, Clarissa flashes a faint smile. "Hey... it'll be alright. I promise. We'll get through this."

The only one unruffled by it all is, of course, Felius Arwin. Crouching at the edge of the platform, he lazily underhands a couple of small rocks towards the next platform, watching how gravity acts upon them. His expression is, as always, hard to read.

But it's a different kind of hard to read. He seems a little more intent on something than he usually does.

DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Redshift.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

"I'm not getting a great read either," Azoth says. "And I'm not built for these conditions. It'll take a moment to put together the right algorithms." After Marivel's nudges on the train, it seems he continues to embrace a willingness to be robotic today -- even if he's keeping his vocabulary heavy on the informality. Tio's presence helps his confidence, though.

But Azoth's sensors glitch and fluctuate with the assault of color and warped orientation of space. This strange 'somewhere' (or 'somewhere else', as it were) does not have data consistent with what he knows. He must make constant, minute adjustments as the rules shift around him -- then act with his best calculation. It's also the only way he'll get more data to start adjusting for the uncomfortably high likelihood of error.

So he makes his leap of calculated faith, dashing from their current uncertain footing to the next platforms. He tries for some of the angled ones to make quick hops and leaps off of them, not going for the shortest distance possible, but trying to tap as many of the platforms as he can along the way. Maybe by hitting them, he can learn more, and maybe the others can 'see' more accurately if someone else is interacting with them. And the smaller his jumps, maybe the less likely he is to risk falling into the horrible color swirls.

DG: Azoth has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Redshift.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    In one moment, everything had changed. The world had tilted on -- as far as Avril could tell -- a spiritual axis, and after that...

    Well. Even before she looked out the window it had been clear to her (on a spiritual level) what had happened, but staring out into the swirling expanse in which they've landed had only clinched it. They're in another dimension.

    While they could certainly stay here, Avril's sense of the situation tells her that this is not the wisest of courses. They might be waiting around for a rescue that may never arrive, or be vulnerable to whatever (whoever?) has dragged them into this space. Hadn't Ashley said, on that note...

    "There is," Avril speaks, after a long moment of staring into the swirl of space before them all, "something out there. Who...?" She crinkles her brow, frowning. Her attention tilts towards the others, and then, as they speak to the surroundings about them, the platforms that float near to here.

    "So we must reach these platforms? ...Very well."

    She presents before herself an octagonal metal disc. It shimmers faintly in the strange light of this space.

    "Lucadia... please hear me," she invokes. The disc glitters--!

    And Avril outright jumps into the colorful void. It's an extremely impressive leap, bouyed by the Guardian's magic. But will she land where she should...!?

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Redshift.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Their arrival into the Emulator Zone had been preceded by Clarine's collapse - having gazed too deeply into the anomaly that had begun to envelop them. She is a nature spirit - a being of light and magic, but one who still conforms to and embodies natural laws. This place, full of lights and colors that should not, could not be by her own knowledge, exists as if in opposition to her very being. It feels like everything has been turned upside down, like nothing is right, and she still feels a bit dazed. But even so, she has volunteered to join everyone on this scouting mission.

"I... I will be alright. I must..." Clarine replies, as Tio expresses concern for her. "But... thank you."

Clarissa offers encouragement, and Clarine sends her a small smile in return.

"Thank you, Clarissa..." She says. She glides forward. Though she moves without touching the ground, her method of movement still conforms itself to the logic - for a certain defintion of the word - of this place.

"Allow me... to provide some assistance." Clarine says. With a gesture, she removes several prisms from her sleeves, sending them out to float over the gap. She shines some of her light through them and they emit shimmering, rainbow platforms - perhaps a little difficult to see in this unnatural light, but it might provide some amount of stability to assist in moving forward.

DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Prismatic Projector toward her party's challenge, Redshift.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Redshift *>===========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The train had come to a lurching stop somewhere -- this much, you already
 know.

 You also likely know that the 'somewhere' is best qualified as a 'somewhere
 /else/'.

 Still, the expanse before you -- pulsing magenta, swirling reds glittering
 with impossible stars, a sickly swirl of oranges and yellows -- once you
 make your exit through one of the train car doors is likely not quite what
 you expected.

 The appearance of this place isn't all you have to worry about. There are
 platforms, yes, and a suggestion of a path...

 ...but they have an orientation contrary to the one you currently face (or
 think you are facing?). Reaching one of the platform paths might be trickier
 than it looks -- which way is up? And, for that matter, can you cross the
 distance to them?

 But reaching stable ground (such that it is) might be your only chance of
 starting to make some sense of this dimensional space into which you've been
 flung.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfVh9Vshfbw
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Maim, Hesitate, Secret==========================
=========================<* Emulator Zone - Round 1 *>==========================
=============================< Results - Redshift >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tio                                 0 --(17)--> 17                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarissa Arwin                      0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azoth                               0 --(17)--> 17                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Clarine                      0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Prismatic Projector                 1   Agility Effects: Fanfare and Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Tio                         0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Madness|Maim|Secret(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Tio 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> Tio has posed.

    "Very well. If you think you will be okay." Tio looks to Clarine, then to Clarissa. "I am unable to interpret them. They are... painful to look at." That's a term for your vision giving a 'Can Not Read' error. She nods to Azoth. "I am not sure my sensors will be able to interpret this area at all. Yours will be a great asset."

    Avril's statement makes her cautious. "Can you tell if it's an enemy? Or something else?" Though it's safer to assume everything in here is an enemy, most likely. Tio has hand falls down to her thigh, and she flits her skirt just enough to reveal the chakrams hidden below. Of course, the threat could be something that ARMs don't work against...

    The attempt to cross is sucessful, but not without it's difficulties. Felius experiments with gravity bear some fruit into indicating how the platforms work, and between that and Clarissa's agility, the two make the leaps easily, their sense of 'up' shifting with every leap. It's unpleasant, but manageable.

    Avril, with the help of Lucadia, makes her leap with ease, landing comfortably each time, but that same feeling of gravity shifting remains to upset. Clarine, however, provides a number of platforms through her light prisms, as she makes her way across the gaps with ease.

    It's not so for Tio and Azoth. Tio lands barely on the edge of a platform, and gravity can't decide which way to send her until she plummets down into one of Clarine's platforms with a bit of a thud. Azoth has similar footing troubles, his algorithms maybe not up to the task yet. At least there's something to catch him when he falls.

    At least they all make it across, where the platforms cease for the moment, and Tio looks out.

DG: Azoth has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Albtraum *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The light grows a sickly green in hue. The pressure of the air about you
 seems to shift; you can hear a ringing in your ears. Something is wrong here
 -- more wrong than the very nature of the Emulator Zone already entails.

 They come in swooping from 'above': a pair of them, winged purple creatures
 with long necks and toothed maws. Brilliant red antler-like protrusions
 erupt from their shoulders: these look quite sharp.

 They do not seem as if they are willing to just let you go on past them.
 Quickly -- strike them down!

 Image:
 https://monstersoffilgaia.tumblr.com/post/67557952158/alphabetized-bestiary
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

"Let us know if that changes," Azoth says to Clarine. "You're... light, right? And this place is..." Azoth grimaces. "...Not being good about any of that." To put it mildly. He gives a smile at Clarissa for her encouragement, and then a very serious faced not to Felius. Appropriate greetings! Something Avril says, asking for a who. Azoth frowns. "Or a prisoner...?"

When Azoth's jumping goes awry, he lets out a number of distressed beeps. But at least it seems everyone's made it. He sags a little, speaking to Tio. "...It is painful to look at," he agrees belatedly. That another machine describes it that way is, well, terrible, because pain is terrible. But also affirming.

The visual discomfort does not relent, and now air pressure and sound is joining in wacky perception soup. Azoth's left eye gives a glitched flicker and twitch with the onset of tinnitus he and everyone else gets a dose of.

It announces the arrival of two winged, purple almost deer-like, feathery wyverns. They swoop without further warning, mouths open and ready to chomp down with toothy maws and with large antlers coming from their shoulders that wouldn't be any more comfortable to be struck by!

Azoth erects a shield of light in a dome around himself, channeling it through his amber stone so it projects the image of the horrible arachnid within, as usual. Fight illusions with illusions...!

"Sorry -- I can't track them! The data's like noise in here...!"

DG: Azoth has used his Tool Bug in Amber toward his party's challenge, Albtraum.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Clarissa smiles and reaches out, touching Clarine's shoulder gently by way of encouragement.

They move on, moving across platforms before emerging on reasonably safer ground. Clarissa lands first; Felius is a couple of seconds behind her, still seeming distracted as he looks through the morass of shifting colours churning in what passes for a sky.

"This is a different reality," he realizes quietly, resting a hand at his chin. "Probably a small and tightly contained one."

With a startled blink, Clarissa looks back towards her ostensible brother. "What makes you say that?"

"Duck," Felius answers crisply.

"Huh?"

"DUCK," Felius repeats before jumping and tackling Clarissa to the ground just as one of the swooping horrors slashes through the space she was standing.

With a squeak, Clarissa hits the ground and rolls, scrambling to a knee. "Th-that was very opaque, Felius!" she chides as she fires a couple of blasts through the air after the swooping creatures, the bright light of Strahl Gewehr momentarily drowning out the riotous background kaleidoscope.

DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albtraum.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "A prisoner..."

    Something about that... connects for her. "A prisoner... perhaps," she answers, but still frowns. "Something... is not right about that." But the more she tries to chase after the sense of it, the further away it retreats. She'll get nowhere like this, and thus, she lets go.

    The time has come to venture into the expanse.

    Avril lands neatly, and after a moment, opens her eyes. "Is everyone alright?" she asks, looking about herself. "--Oh!" This, said as Azoth takes perhaps a bit of a tumble.

    At least he doesn't seem hurt...?

    "The feeling of this place is... rather strange," Avril starts to say, and while this might be obvious--

    Her blue eyes widen a moment later; just in time, she ducks; bent low, she darts ahead, an object in her right hand.
    No, a blade in her right hand. It has appeared seemingly out of nothing. Pivoting, she lunges for one of the creatures, now turned away from her and attacking another of them.

    "Be careful! They are also rather strange!"

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Albtraum.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.

    Tio grimaces. She's not the only one, at least. "Hopefully we will not be in here long," she replies to Azoth, giving him a small smile. She's trying to be reassuring. She blinks at Azoth's thought of a Prisoner, and turns to Avril who seems to give the theory some credence. Felius comments. The three theories all slot into place. "This place could be a prison? What for?"

    She doesn't have time to muse further, as the creatures descend upon them. In a simple swishing movement, Tio's chakrams are in hand, and the edges light up as the laser that makes their blade comes online. "Let us take care of them!" She shouts, and her sensors reflexively light up. The second after that, there is a yelp of pain and Tio stumbles back a little, the lights cutting off.

    For those who know Tio, she is fighting more aggressively than usual. She's defensive when she's around certain people, but none of them are here. She has no reason to hold back. She flies into a spinning dance of blades, hoping to end the enemy quickly. At least, as well as she can in this situation, with limits on her ability.

DG: Tio has used her Tool Glass Slippers toward her party's challenge, Albtraum.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"That is correct..." Clarine confirms with a nod, as Azoth asks about the nature of her being. "This place... it is in opposition to that which makes up my being..."

But, Clarissa offers an encouraging shoulder touch. Clarine relaxes a little, at that. If she were on her own... she probably would not be coping nearly as well. That may in part be why she elected to come with, rather than remaining behind.

They make it across, and Felius offers an interesting observation. Clarine glances toward him... but has no opportunity to question it before the light shift and sound assaults everyone's ears, heralding the arrival of an enemy.

"A-ah...! There are monsters even here...?" Clarine gasps in surprise. They are indeed quite strange. Clarine dodges around them, reaching into her sleeve to draw out some bottles. "Here... please take this, everyone. It should help..."

They're Panacea Bottles - a common curative in Lunar. They should help ward off some of the ill feelings that have been pursuing them since they arrived. ...Clarine takes one for herself, on that note.

A prison, though... Clarine frowns, consideringly.

"...Mayhap... for us..." She murmurs. "But... why...?"

DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Panacea Bottle toward her party's challenge, Albtraum.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Albtraum *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The light grows a sickly green in hue. The pressure of the air about you
 seems to shift; you can hear a ringing in your ears. Something is wrong here
 -- more wrong than the very nature of the Emulator Zone already entails.

 They come in swooping from 'above': a pair of them, winged purple creatures
 with long necks and toothed maws. Brilliant red antler-like protrusions
 erupt from their shoulders: these look quite sharp.

 They do not seem as if they are willing to just let you go on past them.
 Quickly -- strike them down!

 Image:
 https://monstersoffilgaia.tumblr.com/post/67557952158/alphabetized-bestiary
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
=========================<* Emulator Zone - Round 2 *>==========================
=============================< Results - Albtraum >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tio                                 17 --(5)--> 22                 Pass
Glass Slippers                      3   Combat  Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarissa Arwin                      5 --(17)--> 22                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azoth                               17 --(5)--> 22                 Pass
Bug in Amber                        2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Clarine                      5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Panacea Bottle                      1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    5 --(17)--> 22                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Tio                         20 --(30)--> 50                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Madness|Maim|Secret(1)|Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Tio has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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> Azoth has posed.

"It would be an effective one...!" Azoth says of prisons. But perhaps his data set is a little biased right now in that most of his data set is jumbled discomfort.

The furfurs are nimble in the air, causing Clarissa's shots and Avril's blade finding difficulty landing more than glancing hits, but Tio's aggressive dance of blades cleaves through one of them. The remainder takes to diving into Azoth's shield, attacking the face of the arachnid he projects in a moment of distraction. This buys time for Clarine to pass around her panacea bottles, making it easier to hit and avoid the monster until they can collectively bring it down.

Azoth drops his shield once it's over, shaking out his arm and his wrist.

"I admit I didn't expect that," he says. "Did they get caught in here like us? Or... Ah, it almost feels pointless to ask questions...!"

If this place is anything, it's reluctant with information.

DG: Seraph Clarine has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Emulator Zone *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Crumbling Heavens *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 It's almost pretty here. The 'sky' of the Emulator Zone is draped in
 delicate blues and silvers, a painter's interpretation of the heavens.

 But you would stop here to admire them at your peril. Behind you, the
 translucent path you follow through the alternate dimension has begun to
 fall away, vanishing into some deeper part of this place.

 Hurry! You can't stick around here!
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

The path ahead stretches before the party, and with the enemy defeated, the sickly green around them soon gives way to a sea of blues and silvers - like a pleasantly cloudy sky.

Clarine regards this... with suspicion. It's pretty, but she refuses to admit that out loud.

"Let us keep moving... I do not think it would be wise to -" She starts and looks behind them... only to see the path behind them slowly starting to fall away. And it's rapidly approaching them at that.

"L-let us hurry!" Clarine urges, zooming ahead. She produces more prisms, but does not disperse them just yet - should anyway seem to be in danger of falling, she will use one to try and scoop them up before they fall into the abyss.

DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Prismatic Projector toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Felius seems to be in no hurry to elaborate any further.

With a look towards Clarine, Clarissa flashes a faint smile, then moves back into step with her brother. "It seems like you recognize this space?" she asks quietly. "What's going on?"

The young man furrows his brows. "Not this specifically. But it's clear we're not in our own--"

Clarissa cuts him off with a gasp as the platform under her shakes and begins to fall. "Eeep!"

Breaking into a mad dash, Clarissa grabs Felius by the hand and scrambles across the vanishing platforms after Clarine. The two of them don't get much help from anything but their feet and legs, just running as fast as they possibly can.

"This dimension is a jerk!" Clarissa shouts in mid-run.

DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    They're fast...! Landing a hit on the creatures proves even more difficult that it had seemed at first blush; Avril finds naught but air more than once with her blade. Still, the things are overcome. All's well that ends well, in the end.

    "I am... not certain," Avril says, frowning. "Something about them seemed odd. Might they hail from here, instead?" she wonders aloud, taking the moment to consider this possibility.

    It's a moment that, very quickly, is pulled out from under her as the pathway begins to crumble. "Oh...!"

    She still has Lucadia's Medium in her arms, though. As she turns to run, she calls upon it once more, beckoning down the Guardian's blessings even a place as twisted away from Filgaia as this.

    But can Lucadia hear her prayers?

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Each step forward is another attempt to reanalysis and try new algorithms. As soon as Azoth thinks he's getting it, he just as soon realizes a number of errors that weren't there before. But there are adjustments one can make for that as well. He also keeps constant tabs on the group with frequent glances, as if expecting any one of them to suddenly vanish while traveling from one path to the next -- because he does, but he doesn't voice it.

Turns out, it's the floor that vanishes. Azoth points with a sag of his shoulders.

"...I feel like I should have seen that coming."

Azoth relies on the strength of his chassis to carry him as he bursts forward to escape the falling pathway.

DG: Azoth has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Crumbling Heavens.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.


    Tio's new outfit gets some scrapes, as does she, but it's easier to tell damage on that than here. Metal skin that doesn't bleed is like that. But combat is what she was built for, and she's going to do just that. She gains no satisfaction from cutting through the enemy, simply moving on to the next.
    'Effective' and 'Prison' are not words Tio wants to hear together. She shakes her head. "I will not be trapped again, here or anywhere." This is perhaps more determination than her friends are used to. "The colours here are no better than darkness." Arguably worse. Even as the colours ease, it's hard for Tio to look around. Instead she's focusing her view on others. Clarine, Clarissa and Azoth primarily, but even Avril gets a stare or two. It's less painful to look at them. "This place could have native beings?" That's... worrying.

    And then Clarine shouts and the ground starts crumbling and it's time for an all out run and Tio does just that. A full sprint for... wherever it is they are going, as best as she can.

DG: Tio has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Heavens.
=============================<* Emulator Zone *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Crumbling Heavens *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 It's almost pretty here. The 'sky' of the Emulator Zone is draped in
 delicate blues and silvers, a painter's interpretation of the heavens.

 But you would stop here to admire them at your peril. Behind you, the
 translucent path you follow through the alternate dimension has begun to
 fall away, vanishing into some deeper part of this place.

 Hurry! You can't stick around here!
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
========================<* Emulator Zone - Round 3 *>=========================
=======================< Results - Crumbling Heavens >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tio                                 22 --(5)--> 27                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarissa Arwin                      22 --(5)--> 27                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azoth                               22 --(5)--> 27                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Clarine                      10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Prismatic Projector                 1   Agility Effects: Fanfare and Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    22 --(5)--> 27                 Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Tio                         50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Slow(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Tio 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> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"I must agree with this sentiment... There are many unkind things I could say about this place." Clarine laments, as Clarissa calls the dimension a jerk. She looks toward Tio, then, as she states her determination not to be trapped here. It is indeed a surprise... but, Clarine can understand why. And she can sympathise with it, too - she, too, knows what it's like to be trapped, and doesn't wish to experience it again.

"We shall find a way out of this... or we shall forge our own way out. This I swear to you, Tio." Clarine agrees with a nod.

And so, they run. Even though this dimension attempts to sink them into its depths - wherever that might lead - they manage to stay one step ahead of the collapse with their own respective speed and talents - whether it be natural agility or requesting aid from a Guardian.

And eventually, they find themselves somewhere a little more stable. It'll give them a moment to catch their breath... but in all likelihood, only a moment.

DG: Clarissa Arwin has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Alpdrücke *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The air around you darkens, shifting into an impossible indigo light. They
 appear before you, one after the other: angular, yellow creatures, vaguely
 humanoid in shape and simmering with ill intent.

 They don't make a sound as they move towards you.

 Somewhere past them and through the unnatural haze in the air you can see
 it, though -- the path here leads towards the heart of this distortion. If
 you can only fight your way past this lot, you'll be one step closer to
 reaching it...!

 Image:
 https://monstersoffilgaia.tumblr.com/post/44000203014/alphabetized-bestiary
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Clarissa manages to scramble to the end of the falling platforms. She doubles at the waist, hands on her thighs as she tries to catch her breath.

Felius doesn't so much as bat an eyelash. Clarissa's more affected by things, particularly as the light begins to dim and shift to something oddly indigo. "Why does this place have to be so hard on my eyes," she grumbles. "And why does it feel like this was all some kind of dumb trap?"

Felius doesn't answer. He just sweeps his glaive into a ready position and pivots to one side.

With a breath, Clarissa looks up. She blinks once. "Do you see something...? I don't hear anything...."

Felius holds a hand up and doesn't answer, merely looking through the distortion. Squinting, Clarissa peers after him - and with a gasp, fires her ARM into the light.

Against the glow of Strahl Gewehr's blast, an angular and vaguely humanoid yellow creature is illuminated. One of many.

DG: Clarissa Arwin has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alpdrücke.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Just when Azoth thinks he's adjusted his visual readings to get rid of Horrible Colors, an indigo beyond what he has registered floods his vision. His eyes are overcome with static snow instead of blue light. He gives his head a violent shake and then smacks into his temple because sometimes percussive maintenance is all you have when you're lost in an alternate pocket dimension.

Eyes forced back to blue, Azoth narrows them at the incoming monsters.

He takes up his piece of amber, but not to project a shield through this time. He flicks it in the air like one might a coin, tracking the way light reflects off of it to make new calculations. He produces a blade of light, then dives into the fray himself, the energy sword not in his grip, but following his movements as he makes his assault. During combat, he catches the amber to toss or kick back into the air, constantly juggling it as a strange means of grabbing additional data.

But sometimes a little bit's just enough for better calculations. Or maybe it isn't. "There...!"

DG: Azoth has used his Tool Bug in Amber toward his party's challenge, Alpdrücke.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Even in this place, it seems, the Guardian's power can reach--

    Maybe.

    Avril takes a moment to catch her breath, glancing about herself as the air and colors seem to shift. "We are... not alone here," she states, and at first it might be taken as a statement on the area as a whole: clearly there must be something here in the heart of this place...?

    But the creatures that materialize before them all suggest she was referring to something else altogether.

    "...They're coming," Avril states, brandishing her blade before her. Ice shimmers in the air about her as she lays in.

    "Very well...!"

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alpdrücke.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.


    "Thank you, Clarine." Tio responds, a little buoyed. The idea mustn't be particularly happy to Clarine, either.

    The colours get worse, and Tio all but shuts her eyes with a grunt of pain. It's a vulnerability here, and she knows it, but she just can't look. Not at this impossible light. Her brain is simply incapable of processing it, and a part of her is scared it might overwhelm her completely.

    As they come across the next set of inhabitants within this strange world, Tio looks upon them all lit up by Clarissa's blast. She is forced to look, and to look upon them as they are less harsh than the indigo. Somehow. There is no other option. Tio sweeps in, chakrams out. If they can carve their way past, maybe there's somewhere she can bear.

DG: Tio has used her Tool Glass Slippers toward her party's challenge, Alpdrücke.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Not alone, indeed. Clarine doesn't notice it before it's too late and the enemy is among them - bizarre, humanoid creatures brimming with hostility. Clarine glides away quickly, once more dispensing some Panacea Bottles to help everyone feel a bit better.

"I will provide protection...!" Clarine says. "Field Barrier!"

A blue light erupts from her form, settling over the party and providing them with some extra defenses. They need all the advantage they can, in a place like this.

DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Panacea Bottle toward her party's challenge, Alpdrücke.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Alpdrücke *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The air around you darkens, shifting into an impossible indigo light. They
 appear before you, one after the other: angular, yellow creatures, vaguely
 humanoid in shape and simmering with ill intent.

 They don't make a sound as they move towards you.

 Somewhere past them and through the unnatural haze in the air you can see
 it, though -- the path here leads towards the heart of this distortion. If
 you can only fight your way past this lot, you'll be one step closer to
 reaching it...!

 Image:
 https://monstersoffilgaia.tumblr.com/post/44000203014/alphabetized-bestiary
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Treasure=========================================
=========================<* Emulator Zone - Round 4 *>==========================
============================< Results - Alpdrücke >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tio                                 27 --(5)--> 32                 Pass
Glass Slippers                      3   Combat  Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarissa Arwin                      27 --(5)--> 32                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azoth                               27 --(17)--> 44                Fail
Bug in Amber                        2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Clarine                      15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Panacea Bottle                      1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    27 --(17)--> 44                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Tio                         70 --(25)--> 95                Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Slow(1)|Treasure(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Tio 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.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

The creatures approach with a silent determination, intent on getting close and wreaking soundless havoc. They do not count on the fact that the group they are getting close to is 'AARMS,' aka ARMS, Avril and Azoth.

The first of the yellow sentinels goes down as Clarissa's shot scorches through it. Avril's ice cuts another apart before it can get close, but two more emerge, soundlessly drawing close to she and Azoth. One reaches out --

--and hits the floor with a thud as Tio's chakram slashes through it. The other is quickly dispatched as Felius darts in and runs his glaive through the creature's chest.

Clarine's light flickers out to shield the group, buying Azoth a moment. A well-placed energy slash brings the very last golden fiend down.

Silence falls over the indigo scene. This time it is not murderous silence.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Blueshift *>===========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Could this be, perhaps, the heart of this distortion? All the paths
 throughout the Emulator Zone seem to converge towards this point: if you
 look about, you may see the others who had been aboard the train when it was
 caught in this alternate dimension.

 Perhaps beyond here, you might be able to find some way to end the
 distortion and permit yourself -- and the train and its occupants -- to
 escape.

 However, before you can attempt to do that -- or deal with whatever it is in
 the heart of the Emulator Zone -- you must contend with a particular
 obstacle.

 To be specific, you must contend with the color blue.

 You've never seen a blue like this. It has a particular intensity and depth.
 It veils the way forward in a way that is impenetrable without being an
 actual physical object, or indeed with any substance whatsoever. It exists
 and it doesn't exist. It's in your way and it's not really there.

 And you'll have to find some way to break through or remove it anyway if you
 aim to progress any further.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Injure================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Where one is cut down, two more appear. It seems to Avril for a moment that this is an endeavor doomed to futility, that they will be overcome here in the distortion--

    But they rally. They work as one. The creatures are dispatched, leaving before them nothing but an indigo silence, here on the path.

    Avril pauses but for a moment and with a flourish, returns her weapon (blade vanishing in a the blink of an eye) to a more secure place on her person. The same is done with the Medium, now that circumstances permit it. "Is everyone alright?" she asks, before they continue on.

    It seems almost as if the chaos is revolving about some central point here, like this is the axis of the world. And yet, they still reach a point at which they can proceed no further.

    The color blue drifts into their paths, silent and shimmering.

    "What is...?" Avril murmurs, reaching out a gloved hand to just barely--

    Try as she might, her hand can't intersect with the color. It's not there.
    And yet, still present, just enough, to prevent her from even taking a step in that direction.

    "..."

    After a moment's consideration, she produces from somewhere on her person a small object. It flips open, revealing a cherry-red button.

    "I wonder," Avril says.

    Somewhere in the swirling chaos of the Emulator Zone, something has started to move. But will it reach where they now stand quickly enough? Eternity takes a long time to travel.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, Blueshift.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

That didn't work as well as he hoped. Azoth pockets his amber, then holds the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. A seemingly useless gesture, but one that communicates he's still having trouble, and that his sensors may not be relied on here. "Thanks, Tio, Miss Clarine... I owe you both one."

Azoth's had just about enough of these colors interfering with his perceptions that he is absolutely prepared to give blue a bit what-for. For all the swords of light he can produce on his own, he, for some reason, opts to draw an actual ARM: a photon blade. He squeezes the hilt briefly, then activates it by channeling his own ARM energy through it.

He pours it in. It's a little piece of his reality, and a piece he hopes he can trust. The blade grows to a massive size, and with a tap of his toes to the ground and a hop, Azoth swings the blade into blue to detonate it on impact in what's hopefully a blue shattering explosion.

Or he'll just send himself flying with it.

DG: Azoth has used his Tool Falk's Photon Blade toward his party's challenge, Blueshift.
<Pose Tracker> Clarissa Arwin has posed.

Things are, all of a sudden, far too blue.

Clarissa opens her mouth slightly, holding a hand out as if she could somehow touch the concept of blue. But how can you touch a *concept?* It exists, and yet its existence doesn't rely on an actual tangible form. "I... I'm starting to think this place is some kind of actual nightmare," Clarissa opines after a moment, scratching her head and looking over to Avril. "I just can't seem to...."

"...grasp the form of this attack?" Felius finishes the sentence, scratching his chin.

"Yes, that!" Clarissa snaps her fingers. "How do you even fight blue?"

Felius moues his lips for a moment. "Well, we have blue things, don't we?"

With a pensive frown, Clarissa looks down at her feet - and then, with a sharp nod, she draws the silvery-blue ice rod she carries with her. "Okay, let me try something!" she exclaims as she holds the Cane of Lyra up and lets the magic she picked up in the depths of Macalania flow.

The temperature in the area begins to drop steadily as Clarissa attempts to override at least some of the blue with another concept: Ice.

DG: Clarissa Arwin has used her Tool Cane of Lyra toward her party's challenge, Blueshift.
<Pose Tracker> Tio has posed.


    The enemies fall. The path lies open towards them, Tio follows as they move forward, her eyes clearly on Avril's back as the blue seeps into her vision. She smiles weakly to Azoth. "I am glad you are alright."

    The blue that is all consuming, a blue she has never seen before and a in parts a blue she cannot see. She winces, and closes her eyes again, sticking a hand out in the hopes someone would take it. "I'm sorry. It is difficult."

    Tio would just like it to stop hurting, please. She wonders if it's an act of cruelty to give a combat automaton the ability to feel pain. When the group halts, she puts her hand on the Mana Egg around her neck, and extends her hand. She wishes she could disable her colour sensors. She opens her eyes.

    "Purple."

    A bolt of lightning flies from her hand into the blue, and then another and another. She pours her mana into the ancient artifact, and in so doing channels the bolts into the blue. Maybe it will be enough to help overpower it. Maybe.

DG: Tio has used her Tool Soul Egg toward her party's challenge, Blueshift.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"I... am alright." Clarine confirms with a nod, before sending a nod Azoth's way at his thanks.

From here... it seems they might be drawing close to something - something important, hopefully. But before they can draw closer...

...Suddenly, everything is blue. Intensely, horrifically blue in a way that defies reason. Clarine recoils back from it. It's... strange. Were this a natural place, she could attempt to manipulate it - color and light go hand in hand, after all. But here... this place goes against that.

In the end, the only answer is to use force. Clarine focuses, generating a sphere of light which she directs forward into a searing beam in hopes of forcing her way through along with the others.

DG: Seraph Clarine has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blueshift.
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Blueshift *>===========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Could this be, perhaps, the heart of this distortion? All the paths
 throughout the Emulator Zone seem to converge towards this point: if you
 look about, you may see the others who had been aboard the train when it was
 caught in this alternate dimension.

 Perhaps beyond here, you might be able to find some way to end the
 distortion and permit yourself -- and the train and its occupants -- to
 escape.

 However, before you can attempt to do that -- or deal with whatever it is in
 the heart of the Emulator Zone -- you must contend with a particular
 obstacle.

 To be specific, you must contend with the color blue.

 You've never seen a blue like this. It has a particular intensity and depth.
 It veils the way forward in a way that is impenetrable without being an
 actual physical object, or indeed with any substance whatsoever. It exists
 and it doesn't exist. It's in your way and it's not really there.

 And you'll have to find some way to break through or remove it anyway if you
 aim to progress any further.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Madness, Injure================================
=========================<* Emulator Zone - Round 5 *>==========================
============================< Results - Blueshift >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tio                                 32 --(22)--> 54                Fail
Soul Egg                            2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarissa Arwin                      32 --(22)--> 54                Fail
Cane of Lyra                        1   Brute   Effects: Strengthen and Fanfar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azoth                               44 --(5)--> 49                 Pass
Falk's Photon Blade                 3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Clarine                      20 --(22)--> 42                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    44 --(5)--> 49                 Pass
Remote Golem Override               4   Brute   Effects: None
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Tio                         95 --(25)--> 120               Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Fright(1)|Injure(2)|Madness
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Tio has successfully explored Emulator Zone!
==============================<* Emulator Zone *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Through the Angles of Space *>==================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Through your combined efforts, the unnatural color is removed! You have
 accomplished something impossible here today!

 The air about you twists to a pale teal light as you stride into the heart
 of the Emulator Zone. It is rather akin to being at the heart of a
 hurricane: all about you unnatural colors dance and glimmer, and matter is
 created and destroyed. Here, fully, you can appreciate the chaos of the
 dimension in which you are trapped.

 And here alone there is a bubble of order. A pair of figures stand here.

 TO BE CONTINUED......

 OOC: You have an advantage entering into the combat scene At the Mountains
 of Madness! You have gained 30 FP and Lock State -- let staff know that you
 are eligible for this bonus when the scene starts!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "It is unnatural," Avril simply remarks at Clarissa's comment, shaking her head. "It feels... wrong."

    The blue... endures.

    Perhaps that's the best way to phrase what happens when they all attempt to shift the color from the place it obstinantly 'stands': whether they attempt to alter (in a sense) the color though magic and artifact, or by applying force of a similar color, it continues to shimmer, rippling softly as if caught in an otherworldly breeze.

    The first thing that serves to give it real trouble is Azoth's blade. The sword -- made of light, the essence of color! -- slices though the veil of blue, and if the arc of his swing is perhaps bouyed by the continued strikes from his companions here...
    For a moment, it looks like it's been torn apart. Then for a moment, it looks like it's starting to knit itself back together.

    There is the low doppler-modified scream of something traveling at speed from behind them, though.

    Now might be a good time to get down! ...You know, just in case.

    Because a GREAT GOLDEN GOLEM ARM comes slamming right into the mass of blue before them, and in its weakened state--

    'Shards' of the color go glinting into the morass oabout them, fading out to join the rest of the chromatic cacophany.

    Avril, however, stands where she is for a moment, turning to regard the fragments of the now-shattered Golem arm. She reaches out to touch one of them.

    "...I am sorry," she tells it softly.

    And then she says to the others, "I will stay here. Someone must ensure we can return to the train."