2021-05-20: Priceless Means Nothing of Value
- Log: Priceless Means Nothing of Value
- Cast: Ruth Pauling, Jacqueline Barber
- Where: Gemstone Cave
- Date: May 20, 2021
- Summary: Known Hellions should never go into dark places with shiny sparkly gems without adult supervision. Especially when their reason for breaking away from a guided tour around a gem mine ties too closely to one of their sore spots. Jacqueline Barber, luckily, is Adult Supervision incarnate.
==============================<* Gemstone Cave *>=============================== The Gemstone Cave is an ancient cavern buried deep within the Sylvara Great Woods. The cavern is nestled into a hillside and well-hidden. The interior, however, is stunning: huge, immense gemstones fill it, providing a natural light... though in so many shades that it can make the light play tricks. The upper levels are sometimes visited by adventurous townsfolk, but the lower levels are known to be filled with monsters and quite dangerous. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xVmoBV6N40
DG: A party led by Ruth Pauling is now entering Gemstone Cavern. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Ducking the Tour Guide *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
"The Gemstone Cavern is a natural wonder of Sylvaland. For almost a century,
our people have come here for commerce... for solace... and to find rare
pieces of crystal that are critical to power the technology of the
now-extinct Elw species. These caverns have a myriad of vibrant colors..."
So it goes.
The first part of the Gemstone Cavern is completely safe. It is completely
without danger. It is, in fact, a tourist destination. It is the deeper
places that you wish to travel to... but it can only be entered via a tour,
which costs 50 gella a person.
Somehow, you need to shake off the young Sylvaland College undergraduate
working part-time as a tour guide, and slip deeper into the cavern.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The Gemstone Cavern - a natural wonder of Sylvaland. A place of great natural beauty, in one of the few areas left on Filgaia that can plausibly deny that the entire world is in a death spiral into a decaying husk incapable of supporting further life upon it. It's a bleak thought...
Speaking of bleak thoughts... some of the bigger names of the Drifter community - notably those in frequent contact with ARMS - know that Southern Aquvy has been having Malevolence problems. They found, braved, and took care of a Malevolent Domain... but as for the Hellion who caused one to exist in the first place...
She escaped Purification. For whatever reason, she's not even currently about the Zoara landmass. Instead... she's at Sylvaland, which is about as far removed from the Celesti Civil War as anyone can surmise. The other nations of Aquvy professed neutrality in the conflict, and lived up to that... even with some suspect privateer activity disrupting trade between the recognized government of Celesti at the time and its neighbors. That's enough of a history lesson.
"...As a special gift from Guild Galad," comes a tour guide as they come to an odd crystal, "we've been allowed to host a variety of specimens recovered from the former territories of Celesti as to highlight some of the novel differences between our Gemstone Cave deposits and those of our neighbors throughout Aquvy..."
An overdressed elven woman who has somehow been allowed to keep a large rifle on her person, from the back of the crowd, stares at this display, blinks a few times, looks downcast... and slinks off. Coincidentally(?), she seems to be trying to slip off to one of the lower tunnel access areas you're supposed to pay to get into.
Letting a known Hellion go off anywhere on their own unsupervised is a bad idea.
DG: Ruth Pauling has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ducking the Tour Guide.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline has been keeping on top of the situation. While she wasn't present at Halim, she'd heard about the situation, and heard who was responsible. And so, she's been keeping an eye out for her...
...Not to fight her, of course. But if there was an opportunity to have a friendly conversation, well, that would be convenient.
As it is, though, it is entirely by chance that Jacqueline encounters Ruth again. She had stopped by the Gemstone Cavern intending, this time, to follow the tour properly rather than slipping out to have a Big Adventure... up until the point she spots a certain someone.
The way Ruth slinks off into a side passage... it's worth keeping an eye on her - both to make sure she isn't doing anything untoward, and because it's dangerous to go alone.
She'll have to apologize to the tour guide later since someone's bound to notice she's missing eventually, but she's sure she'll be able to keep them - and herself - from getting in trouble.
Once she's close enough to Ruth...
"Did you see something of interest? Or are you just sightseeing?" Jacqueline asks. It's not accusatory - just some polite questions, while also a way of announcing her presence. Surprising a Hellion is also a bad idea.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ducking the Tour Guide.
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 1 *>========================= ======================< Results - Ducking the Tour Guide >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling 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> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The Hellion doesn't get far before she finds a place to kneel down (instead of the fancy waiting room seats right there and bring both her hands clasped together with a bowed head. The shared reports about her were that her particular 'flavor' of Malevolence is on the spectrum of despair. Sadness, guilt, regret, shame, and the like. (There is no such thing as a 'good' flavor of Malevolence.)
She doesn't look up when Jay talks, but this is mostly the benefit of Jay coming from her right side - the side she can better hear from (...or at all).
"...Just another thing Guild Galad took from the people of Celesti." Ruth remembers Jay and the less-than-cordial way they met, where she seemed ready to try and shoot her with a revolver over the mistaken belief she was someone sent by Guild Galad to shake down a settlement (in her eyes). She doesn't look Jay in the face, but there's a smile creeping on her face. It's... one of those troublesome-looking, unnerving ones.
"It's fine. If Sylvaland feels fine about showing off stolen treasures... they won't mind if I 'find' some down there, will they?" She's looking to her rosary. Stealing is wrong, that's a sin. A sin that ends up feeling magnified in the context of what she's doing and why, and her heart gets a little heavier thinking about it. Some of the buzzing in her mind gets quieter.
The tour guide does not come to accost any of them, which is both a good thing (Jay won't get in trouble!) and a bad thing (Jay's the only one who has her eyes on the Hellion).
Finding a will, Ruth rises up and starts to the lower levels without looking back towards Jay. "...You understand, don't you?"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Maze of Gems *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You come to a room that hasn't been mined before. Here, countless gemstones grow up from the ground -- and the glowing, multi-colored gems have many sharp edges. Even brushing one will cut you. There are precarious, narrow paths through the crystals -- forming a maze. At times, you have to squeeze; with a few wrong movements, you can injure yourself badly. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline stands, waiting off to the side as Ruth takes a moment to kneel. She doesn't interrupt her, doesn't hurry her along, just waits until she's ready to talk.
"...I'm sorry. It must seem rather callous to you." Jacqueline replies. She notes that smile... and she, too, certainly remembers the way they met. She's not sure she likes that smile. She 'hm's a little at what Ruth has to say next.
"I'm not sure that repaying crime with crime is the best way to live, but... I won't stop you from taking anything. Goodness knows there's far too much left for them to ever catalogue. In return, though... do you mind if I accompany you? I have business down here, too." Jacqueline replies, following her as she hears down into the lower levels. Ruth asks an interesting question.
"...I'd like to think I'm doing my best to." Jacqueline replies, after a moment of hesitation.
As they proceed downward, they'll notice that gems have begun growing out of the rock walls - glowing, multi-colored gems that are, mostly importantly, rather sharp to the touch. Care will need to be taken to avoid even the slightest brush... easier said than done, as they've begun to form a maze of precarious, narrow passageways.
"I'd hesitate to say I..." Jacqueline starts, pausing for a moment to very carefully brush her way past a gem, drawing her steelcloth cloak around her. "...fully understand, but I'd like to, someday."
She pauses for a moment.
"Ah... I have curatives on hand, by the way, should anything happen. I recommend still being careful, though." She advises.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, The Maze of Gems.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"Hm." Ruth sighs aloud, it trailing off - but there's nothing in her body language suggesting she's taking offense with Jay's answer (nor that she might be in any danger). She rubs her left shoulder as they descend, her posture remaining charitably slouchy. With the weight of her clothes and how close that skirt comes to her boots, this place is a tripping hazard waiting to happen.
"I've had my scrapes and bruises over the years," she offers as she handles one of three Crest Graphs that Jay can catch sight of as she starts to work her descent. All of them bear the Crest of Muse in some form. This one has Muse and Wing combined together, its powers invoked to a stream of water that tries to cut through a path near (but not through!) Jay's current route, like a rapid river. (This is, again, a slipping hazard - but it may have loosened or washed away some of the detritus.)
"I remember you dealt with curatives," Ruth says, head bowed as she contemplates the pain in her left arm. There's just enough going on here that, if she were just this, it might not be the best of idea for her to go on Digs. Even in tamer settings like this one - they may demand more of her physically than she can provide, now.
A certain truth about her aside, anyway.
She starts making her way at her own pace once the Rivercrest does its thing.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Rivercrest toward her party's challenge, The Maze of Gems.
=======================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 2 *>======================== ========================< Results - The Maze of Gems >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ruth Pauling 8 --(12)--> 20 Pass Rivercrest 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 8 --(20)--> 28 Fail Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ruth Pauling 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Ruth responds in a way Jacqueline can't really place. There doesn't seem to be any danger, at least, and that's good enough for her.
"I imagine..." Jacqueline replies to Ruth's next comment with a slight frown, more of good-natured concern and maybe a hint of humor. She pauses, then, watching as Ruth draws out a Crest Graph and invokes it. She remembers the spectre on the battlements, and how it took everything she had to divert her spells in order to protect her allies from being washed away.
It's nice, now, to be able to observe Ruth's spellcasting technique in a situation that isn't in the middle of a pitched battle.
Ultimately, Ruth's spell proves something of a double-sword - the river of water washes away some of the smaller, looser, but no less dangerous crystals, clearing them away and making passage that much easier, but it does make the path a bit more slippery. Having it is better than not, however, and moving forward is made easier for it...
...but it still proves to be a bit slow-going, if they intend to avoid getting cut on the rest of the crystals. They may yet need healing once they're at the end of it... but, at least they're out of there.
DG: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Down the Right Hole *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The cave room that you enter next has glowing crystals all around, many
quite large. This gives you an excellent view of the room. Unfortunately, it
also gives you an excellent view of the enormous chasm cutting right through
the middle -- and it's much too wide for everyone to be able to leap, fly,
or otherwise cross over. However, a small spiralling path on this side leads
to another area.
This room is above the room with the chasm. There are numerous holes on the
floor. There aren't crystals in here and seeing through the holes is harder
than it sounds. If you leap through the right hole, though, you should be on
the other side of the chasm.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
If Jay gets hurt by the descent to the extent that she needs to stop and gather herself after being hurt, Ruth patiently waits near her - sort of hovering around her, as if to watch over her for however long it takes for her to overcome that inconvenience.
The path takes them to a room full of beautiful glowing crystals. A Ruth of... some time back seems suddenly taken aback by this, looking to Jay as she crosses her arms - like someone who might be trying to remember how to shiver (but doesn't).
"Is it warm in here?" There's a quiet urgency in Ruth's voice. "If it's warm in here, we shouldn't... be here." (It's not warm in here.) Ruth is someone dressed in a bit too much clothing. How can she not feel warm? She looks away, as if feeling uncomfortable about something, her right hand parting from the arm cross to rest upon her heart.
Really, though, it's not warm in here, so by Ruth's reckoning it's perfectly fine! It's perfectly fine... to see a huge chasm set right through the middle of the glowing crystal chamber, and neither of them seem possessed of anything that might allow them to fly through. There are some holes in the ground, and the glowing light sort of blinds and obscures what it looks like through them - but they all seem to be routes (or chutes? wee, chutes, chutes are fun if you are a small child and in a carefully constructed playground and not A CAVE FULL OF SHARP POINTY SEE-THROUGH ROCKS). Maybe there's a way to the other side through the spirals that can be observed down the sides of the walls? (If not which gaps they attach to.)
Ruth isn't taking initiative on pointing this out or going anywhere, as if something has her spooked.
DG: Ruth Pauling has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Down the Right Hole.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
More glowing crystals. Fortunately, these ones aren't block the way. No, the obstacle of the hour instead goes to the massive chasm splitting the room in half. Certainly too far to stretch an earth pillar over, or shape earth into a bridge. Even Jump might not reach, at least with her current skill level with it.
Jacqueline frowns, studying the chasm, before looking toward Ruth.
"Hm?" She responds. She notes Ruth's outfit. "Hm, no... it doesn't feel particularly warm, to me. Are you alright?"
Right now, though, they need to consider how to move ahead. Jacqueline follows the way up to that path off to the side, leading to a series of holes. Jacqueline considers them.
"Let's see... assuming none of these chutes intersect each other, and accounting for the possibility that some might twist more than apparent on the surface... I think I might be able to narrow our selection down to a choice few of them." Jacqueline considers with a pensive frown. She leans down to pick up a loose rock and then, as a way to test her theory, drops it down one of the holes and listens for the resulting sound.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Jumping Down the Right Hole.
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 3 *>========================= ===================< Results - Jumping Down the Right Hole >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 20 --(25)--> 45 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 28 --(25)--> 53 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 35 --(15)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 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> Ruth Pauling has posed.
That question has an answer that is not what Ruth says some moments later.
"I'm fine." She's still not looking to Jay. A gentler, possibly more reassuring smile were it not a blatant lie. "It's... most of the time I don't know if... something's hot or cold until it touches me." For how much of her skin is covered - her face and right forearm more or less being it - that means she can't gauge temperature very well.
She shakes her head, "I don't... let's not go down there," why? Along the way here there were a few other routes they passed because those routes looked dangerous, but no, she seems more intent on picking one of the other ones, as the former elf steps away from the glowing crystals while hugging herself.
"...If it's glowing that bright and it's very, very warm, like... it tingles... you shouldn't be there," she explains, if not all that thoroughly, because it's not 'very, very warm' in there but some part of her is convinced it might be and... well, a Hellion making up their mind and also not being sure what to think are both dangerous in their own ways, and so far, 'being convinced' is proving less problematic if the result of that is 'not taking a fun chute ride.'
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>=============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Hodacs *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Hodacs are strange, leathery lizards. Quadrapedal, with long golden horns
and violet fins, those reptilian creatures prowl the depths of Gemstone
Cavern. Miners know to avoid them; Sylvaland's Rangers sometimes exterminate
groups that get too close to the sections with tour groups. You,
unfortunately, are far from the tour groups.
They come in packs of three and four -- and such a pack finds you, loping
from the hallways, and then rushing to attack with jaws and fierce claws!
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
'I'm fine', Ruth says. Jacqueline looks at her in a way she suggests that she clearly doesn't buy that statement, or that smile. Still, with a slight frown, Jacqueline folds her arms in front of her and nods, deciding not to press the matter for now. The bit about not being able to feel hot and cold, though... that she can believe.
"I see... That sounds difficult, I'm sorry." She murmurs.
She pauses, though, when Ruth decides that they shouldn't go down there, warning of her that she shouldn't be there when it's bright and warm.
"Hm... okay. I won't force you if you don't want to." Jacqueline replies, offering her a small smile. Convincing her that it's fine... might be more difficult than just going the other way around.
Unfortunately, this takes them to a part of the cavern that most people avoid, and for good reason. Before long, a pack of four lizard creatures, quadrupedal with long golden horns and violent fins, approaches!
Quickly Jacqueline backs away, reaching into her bags and drawing out the Lifeweaver's Codex.
"These are... Hodacs! These reptiles tend to make their homes in caverns like this... I guess I shouldn't be surprised to run into them here. They're weak individually, so they hunt in packs - using their coordination to overwhelm their foe!" Jacqueline explains. "Watch out for their teeth and claws... that's where their strength is greatest!"
With the advice given out, the only thing left to do is deal with the Hodacs themselves.
"Sorry for the intrusion... we won't be here long, so please move aside!" She requests of the lizards. With a gesture of her right hand she invokes one of the Crest Graphs in her gauntlet, causing various bits of rubble and debris scattered around them to rise into the air and pelt the group of Hodacs from all sides.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Hodacs.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Hodacs *>============================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Hodacs are strange, leathery lizards. Quadrapedal, with long golden horns
and violet fins, those reptilian creatures prowl the depths of Gemstone
Cavern. Miners know to avoid them; Sylvaland's Rangers sometimes exterminate
groups that get too close to the sections with tour groups. You,
unfortunately, are far from the tour groups.
They come in packs of three and four -- and such a pack finds you, loping
from the hallways, and then rushing to attack with jaws and fierce claws!
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The elf takes in a breath that never leaves her when coming away from there, mind swimming with thoughts about whether or not something is or isn't despite Jay giving her gentle and genuine reassurances that it's fine. (For what it's worth, that rock Jay threw? That rock had a really fun ride down that chute, it just lacks any lungs in which to go 'wheeeeee this is fun.')
"...Thank you," she says, but is not at all relieved, like there's a specific set of ideas and contexts coming into play here that she can't quite convince herself isn't even with someone right there saying it's all right.
She doesn't hear the approach of the lizard creatures, but when she looks up, her eye spots the movement - and where Jay backs away, the heavy-dressed elven woman who is additionally carrying a large sniper rifle on her back moves behind cover like it's life and death, a wince of pain as she moves that arm a lot faster than she should to grip her revolver.
She's able to make out what Jay's saying. Pack tactics. She looks behind herself, doesn't see any there (yet)?
She parts her right hand from the revolver to grasp a Crest Graph - one of Muse+Geo - and the incantation comes in a great ol' glob of water manifesting from above the pack in a disruptive, loud splash. Jay will be able to see from her vantage point that there's a look in Ruth's eye, wide and hungry for something when she follows that up by shooting the revolver.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Splashcrest toward her party's challenge, Hodacs.
=======================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 4 *>======================== =============================< Results - Hodacs >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ruth Pauling 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Splashcrest 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 53 --(5)--> 58 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ruth Pauling 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Injure(1)|Reckless(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline glances back, taking note of the pain as Ruth moves to grip her revolver. She wants to tell her to take it easy... but on the other hand, in their current situation they really don't have that luxury.
Still, between the two of them, the hodac pack doesn't really stand a chance - it isn't long before they're routed, sent scurrying every which way as they flee the two of them.
...The fear might be more toward Ruth than Jacqueline herself.
"...Alright, I don't think they'll bother us again, but that doesn't mean we're in the clear. There might be more creatures lurking down this way. Stay on your guard, alright?" Jacqueline advises.
DG: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Inconvenient Boulders *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Huge boulders have fallen down from higher up. This appears to have happened in the past -- dust has long since settled, and a grime is across the boulders. Gemstone Cavern was mined actively, in the past. Miners likely caused boulders to come falling down, which now rest here... in front of the entrance to the next chamber. The two boulders have piled up -- and will need to be broken or pushed aside. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Tire========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
In that moment, Jay can see that the heartless monster of whenever Siddim happened has never fully left her. When she leaves cover, the breathing slows. A few more bullets are loaded into the chamber of the revolver with unerring discipline as she journeys back over to where at least one of the hodac hostiles were perched, seeing the color of something intermixed with the sorcerously conjured water, in no small quantity. She utters a prayer, clasping hands together tightly in their wake.
"One of them's not long for this world," she states with a sorrow in blatant contradiction to the excitement and battle readiness she was displaying moments before. She doesn't seem ready to accept 'it was us or them' in this context. "I'm sorry. I'll... be with you soon."
She'll be with Jay very soon! Jay will be the first to see that up ahead, there was a cave-in in some indeterminate point in the past, and the boulders don't have enough pretty stones in them to be worth mining. (There don't seem to be any remains, so whatever accident happened didn't cost someone their life.) There's enough grime on there in which to proudly say, 'we've been here for a while, and we've settled in well here, thanks!'
When Ruth catches up, she takes out a third Crest Graph - one of Muse and Fray, which upon invocation presents a pleasant, calming mist that also relaxes the pressure of the surrounding area so it should be easier to dislodge the boulders present here.
"...This is their home," she speaks quietly to herself about the recently routed hodacs (at least one of which Ruth believes may have been fatally injured), right hand on her heart as if not ready to let go of that subject just yet. "...I'm sorry. I'll try and spot for any others. The spell I've cast is about the most I can do," she says as she takes the hand on her heart and massages her opposite shoulder. The mist is relaxing it to a point, but only to a point.
It should be easier to move the boulders as-is, depending on Jay's gameplan for them.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Mistcrest toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Boulders.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"...I see..." Jacqueline murmurs. She notes that Ruth actually seems... sorrowful, about that. Jacqueline can't blame her. She, herself, prefers to approach encounters even against monsters or beasts with as little loss of life as possible. She nods when Ruth apologizes and, as she requests, moves ahead.
Soon enough Ruth catches back up, and Jacqueline notes the spell she uses, the calming mist it provides.
"...It's alright. It's already really quite helpful. I'll do what I can from here." Jacqueline replies, offering her a smile. The relaxed earth becomes a little more receptive to manipulation... and that's what Jacqueline intends to do now, drawing a Crest Graph from her deck, depicting twin Geo crests, and invokes it. Her eyes shut tight as she focuses, the effects of her spell may not be evident at first...
...But gradually, the earth begins to shift as Jacqueline shapes the lay of the land to her will, to shift the boulders aside and allow them to pass while being mindful of the cavern's structural stability.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, Inconvenient Boulders.
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 5 *>========================= ======================< Results - Inconvenient Boulders >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass Mistcrest 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 58 --(5)--> 63 Pass Landscaper Crest 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling 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> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Cave-ins are of no match to someone with a keen eye for the use of the element of earth and its foibles and limitations - the Landscaper Crest gently repositions the boulders so that they roll and settle around in front of the two women, and... nothing above collapses in which to make the route impassible, though the ceiling looks suspect - like there should be a better support affixed there before long. (This may be the universe's way of ensuring this card becomes a problem for another set of spelunkers later.)
Things don't rumble above them, after any number of tense moments. There's just enough space between two boulders they can pass through without much difficulty (Ruth only a little more, because of the rifle).
The elf continues to look downcast thinking about the hodac, but she also hasn't been looking Jay in the eye very much this entire journey.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Controlled Collapse *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You come down to the lowest layer of the Gemstone Cavern. Countless
gemstones are here, reaching up from nearly floor to ceiling, with many
colors. Some sparkle; some are valuable gems and rare stones, sure to sell
for a great deal of money.
Unfortunately, the pathway near you is blocked. A series of large stone
pillars rise from the cave's floor, all the way to the ceiling. They are
almost like jail bars. Behind them are tantalizing gems, ready for grasping.
But, you will need to break through a series of rock pillars -- and when you
do, part of the ceiling will collapse down. You will need to break
through... and do it without crushing yourself or trapping yourself out of
that chamber.
At least you can see other tunnels lead back out from the gem-filled
chamber, once you're inside it.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Past the boulders the path continues down, and soon they find themselves at the deepest level of the Gemstone Cavern. This level, where only the most experienced of Drifters have explored before, is there the most valuable gems and stones remain, as of yet untouched by the miners of Sylvaland.
There is, in fact, a good-sized cache just in front of them... unfortunately, it is currently blocked by a series of large, natural stone pillars, each spaced just deviously enough that they can almost just slip an arm through far enough to reach for the treasures on the side and just barely glance them.
"Hm... if we want to go further, I think we'll need to deal with these pillars, but... they're load-bearing..." Jacqueline considers, folding her arms in front of her with a contemplative frown. "I think... I might be able to give us some more support pillars to work with, giving us a little more leeway..."
She moves to do just that, once more invoking the Landscaper Crest. This time, however, she aims more toward giving the room a little more in the way of the part. Smashing the pillars themselves should, hopefully, be the easy part.
...Hopefully.
She considers some possible escape plans just in case this doesn't work out.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, Controlled Collapse.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth lifts up her chin so that she can look at the glint of the beautiful gems within, tantalizingly just out of reach beyond the earthen obstructions that resemble prison bars, and a gentle smile crests her face. "Heh... no one knows about these, huh," she comments as she strides past Jay who is currently working on a solution. She brushes some hair away from her face. Why does she even keep her hair that long? Don't they just get in the way of her ability to see anything, sometimes? (yes)
Her mind wanders. "It wouldn't be the color, or the luster, or the size," she starts to murmur as if her thoughts were starting to trend towards despair and defeatism, "no one would be able to keep it, or want to... how much food will this get them. Will the people they owe money to offset any of their debts." This is a woman whose eyes are averting from the moment of beauty that they can freely look at right now (if not touch... yet), already moving to how none of it seems like it'll bring any lasting happiness or prosperity.
She draws the Muse and Fray crest idly, as if a part of her were also at the same time eagerly awaiting to see how it'll look in her hands, setting it down to relax the physical pressure in the room (but not the emotional) after it is invoked. To Jay's trained eye, it seems as though all her spells use the Muse crest in some form - like her education in the field is either incomplete, or she has just had a skewed, imbalanced approach to the use of Crest Sorcery theory and never bothered to correct it. (...she may just like water.)
She sucks in another breath that never leaves.
She looks to Jay with a little smile, and she'll be able to see a bit of those gray eyes. (...The same from Siddim.)
"I'm sorry... you're really putting a lot of thought into this." She was, too, when she was thinking in terms of taking something away from Sylvaland to appease a paper-thin act of revenge. "...I'll follow your lead. Tell me which pillars to try and strike with a Crest."
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Mistcrest toward her party's challenge, Controlled Collapse.
=======================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 6 *>======================== ======================< Results - Controlled Collapse >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ruth Pauling 55 --(101)--> 156 Fail Mistcrest 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 63 --(101)--> 164 Fail Landscaper Crest 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ruth Pauling 90 --(15)--> 105 Fail Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Ruth Pauling is too exhausted to continue! DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling has successfully explored Gemstone Cavern!
============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Elw Power Crystal *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- One of the large crystals among so many in the cavern stands out. It has a faint blue hew -- and it is large, glowing, and uncut. But, you recognize it as an Elw crystal (unless you do not). Though uncut, it could be shaved down and prepared to power Elw technology... or human technology, modified to use it as a power source. Whether you use it or sell it, it could prove very valuable. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"As far as I'm aware, at any rate." Jacqueline considers, glancing in Ruth's direction. She goes quiet, listening as her mind wanders.
"Hm, that's one way to look at it." Jacqueline considers. "...But it could do a lot of good, too. Give someone what they need to push forward."
She notes Ruth's preference with spells - it's certainly an interesting observation. She's curious - it's something to tuck away and consider for later. But when Ruth smiles at her, Jacqueline smiles back and shakes her head.
"It's alright, really. Plans and logistics... these are what I'm best at. It's all part of the job." She replies, and then nods. "Alright, will do."
The two of them work together, shaping the room to their liking... but with just the two of them, it's difficult work.
And then, finally...
"Now!" Jacqueline says, rushing through the entrance they've created. The plan buys them both a little time... but it isn't long before the ceiling starts to collapse. They'll have to take what they can and leave while they still can.
But, there are things of interest here, at least - a wide variety of gems and stones, and perhaps most prominently, an Elw Power Crystal.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Rocks. Shiny, beautiful rocks.
Unless her sniper rifle has appreciated in value among gunsmoke ARM collectors (putting aside that it is Hella Cursed with her Malevolence), everything Ruth holds between her gloved hands - there isn't all that much - might be among the most expensive things she's ever held. There's some excitement and wonder to be had in having two almost-strangers (one of whom is aware of another's darker truths) just up and misbehave and maybe even make a little history in the process.
It quickly fades from the elven woman's face, even with one of the crystals looking a whole lot more interesting and important than the small handful of gems she's managed to secure.
"...Here," Ruth speaks up. She holds up her hands to Jay, as if suggesting she might want to hand something to her... but then she just sets what she's carrying down and gently slides them towards her, shaking her head. "I don't feel like taking these with me." (These were literally the reason she up and misbehaved to begin with, the opportunity to just take something from Sylvaland to give back to a nation that technically no longer exists!)
"You might be able to do good with them," she says, turning away from Jay where she sits. She leans forward, away from the wall, as if quietly and subconsciously making room for something that might fill the space in-between but never does.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
In the end, Ruth just... hands her share over to Jacqueline. Jacqueline stares, surprised. ...She's not sure she expected this.
"...Are you sure? I can't just take all of this..." She replies, shaking her head. She's a little hesitant... but, after a moment, she nods.
"But, if you're sure... I'll do my best, And I'll try to find a way to make it up to you, too." She says.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
'I'll try to find a way to make it up to you, too,' Jay promises in earnest... and then there's a building laughter.
It sounds a whole lot more bitter with the latter 'ha' parts in the sequence, as if it were about to turn into something sinister. Given what Jay knows about her true nature...
"What is there for you to 'make up' for?" She looks at her gloved hands, clenching, unclenching a few times. "...I'm giving back," says the woman who was ready to take whatever seemed like something Sylvaland would miss.
"And what I can give back... it's not beautiful rocks," comes that tired smile - and the glint of something underneath one eye, as if maybe the sorts of things she might want to give back are things that can't ever be given or taken back.
Jay will be able to leave without being bothered further, and that might be for the best - as there's a certain stillness to Ruth's body language that might be disconcerting to stick around. (Ruth won't stay around much longer if Jay does leave her behind, which is good, because Hellions of her level of strength should not be left to brood on their own for long.)
(Sylvaland does not need a Domain.)