2021-05-23: Ascending the Tower
- Log: Ascending the Tower
- Cast: Seraph Clarine, Venetia Vuong, Zed, Billy Lee Black
- Where: Babel Tower
- Date: May 23, 2021
- Summary: A disparate group of Drifters joins together to ascend Babel Tower, in hopes of contacting Shevat. Along the way, many lessons are learned...
==============================<* Babel Tower *>=============================== In the center of the Crater Sea is a small island containing one of the great mysteries of the world. Rising out of that island and piercing up to 5 km into the sky is a grand, ancient metal tower. It looks in terrible shape, with its surface long-since bleached and pitted, and its armored lower portions riddled with holes punched through; but it has stood for millennia. In every era of Filgaia's history, this tower has stood, piercing heaven and earth like a binding nail: Etemenanki, The Tower of Babel. Entry from the ground is impossible. Binding seals bearing holy icons block entry to the site--some bear the iconography of the Order of Ethos, while others bear the iconography of the Order of Paladiennes. Despite the foreboding sorceries, the site is a place of pilgrimage for the faithful of Granas. It was here, before a crowd of onlookers, that Saint Calucion defeated a terrible monster, and sealed it within the tower using her own body. A network of well-worn footpaths surround the base, leading to dozens of small shrines. To date, no one has dared to breach the seal. As for entry from higher up... Nobody has yet returned to tell what happens if you do that.
DG: A party led by Seraph Clarine is now entering Babel Tower. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Why Don't We Fly Up There *>==================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The daunting Tower of Babel, so fittingly named, stands as a reminder of the
limits of human progress... and, perhaps, a teaser to urge one to surpass
their limits in turn. An enormous cylindrical structure of rusted metal of a
bygone era, it rises well past the atmosphere to bounds untold. Just peeking
inside, the scene of utter carnage that visits the innards of the tower is
clear. It would take remarkable feats of agility and balance to go through
all of this.
Then, perhaps, your first thought might be: "Why don't we just fly up
there?" Perhaps your Gears can fly! Perhaps you've obtained some kind of
lifter device! An ancient anti-gravity crystal! Or perhaps a good old
fashioned winch and rope contraption!
...
Should you succumb to this entirely understandable impulse, the inevitable
conclusion eventually arrives minutes (or hours, depending on how foolhardy
you are) later:
It's far too high to fly up there.
The Tower of Babel isn't one to give free passes, alas.
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Madness, Madness, Madness, Secret===============
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
There's been a lot of activity around the Babel Tower of late, and for obvious reasons... an agent of Shevat, the ancient enemy of Solaris, has reached out to the Drifter community, informing them that Shevat would like to speak with them. This is an important opportunity to secure a valuable ally in the fight against Solaris...
...But in order to reach it, they must first scale Babel Tower to access the communications array at its peak. There's just one problem with that -
The tower is very, incredibly tall.
At the foot of a tower, a Gear stands. It may look be somewhat peculiar to some, its form remniscent of a cricket, rounded and painted in bright colors. Nevermind that there are no obvious signs of organic life within it.
The antennae wiggle as the machine considers the tower before it until, eventually, a sigh echoes out from within.
"Ah... How to approach this, I wonder..." Clarine, the Gear's pilot through possession, murmurs. This ascent... will be difficult for everyone.
DG: Seraph Clarine has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Why Don't We Fly Up There.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia Vuong is out here in part for the air. She has sought something...
... which she has not elaborated on very much. It is mysterious. It is the kind of mysterious that led her to think 'I should take the school's Gear out and get things in order. Clear my head that way.'
JIMMY CHAN, HERO OF GEAR PILOTING, is monitoring the situation. He's actually driving today so he can build skills and because Venetia has a book she's still working on. So it is JIMMY CHAN who says...
"I can't believe this thing is real. I thought it was like an air vortex. Like it was where heat rose and moved around the atmosphere or something... God! Does it just go on, like, forever? Are we gonna come out on Lunar? I never went to Lunar. Are any of you guys from Lunar?"
Ametrine is essentially a Reaverbot-styled Gear which has had a superstructure, suggestive of a Grand Bronze Statue of a Woman, built on its top, along with some supplementary material and a pintle rifle. Venetia is thus technically sitting outside of the Gear, though there's plenty of armor and observation stuff going on.
"But people HAVE done this," Jimmy says into the transmitter. "......... RIGHT?"
DG: Venetia Vuong has used her Tool Micro-optic Spectral Analyzer toward her party's challenge, Why Don't We Fly Up There.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The tallest structure on Filgaia is Babel Tower. How can Zed, renowned connoisseur of Tall Places To Stand Upon, possibly lay rightful claim upon the title if he does not even try to scale the mighty, cylindrical monolith!? Nevermind that finding and speaking with the reclusive Shevatians is probably a wise decision for anyone who desires the downfall of Solaris, this is important! He needs to get to the top of this tower, stand upon its highest point, and then write a review of its pros and cons and post it to the memory cube network for his loyal readership to read.
And all that starts with a single step.
"What ho, mysterious Gear! I appreciate your paintjob." Says a voice coming from what can only be described as a 'truly super robot' wearing the most Saturday Morning Mecha Anime conceivable. It's all white and orange and red and gold, and there's a big round crystal set into its chest, flanked by a pair of what can only be enormous heat sinks. It's the most toyetic design possible without also being a combiner, and it... stares pointedly at the invisible summit of the tower, so high up in the sky.
"Hmmmmm. Surtr, I don't think we've got enough fuel for this," Zed says, helpfully.
And then a DIFFERENT VOICE answers, apparently reverberating from the heroically masked face of the gear itself.
Correct. There is a 99.99% chance that we run out of fuel mid-ascent.
"But it's not a 100% chance! So you're saying it's possible--"
Limiting thruster performance for fuel efficiency. Please use the provided platforms for standard ascent.
"Awwwwwwww Surtrrrrrr...!"
DG: Zed has used his Tool Jotun Heart toward his party's challenge, Why Don't We Fly Up There.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Renmazuo and its mighty, majestic cape has also gathered with those attempting ascent. Renmazuo has quite strong flight capabilities. Darn near fully-autonomous atmospheric flight, in fact! A-rank Sky movement! The works!
Still, Billy, in his seat in the cockpit, slumps back in his seat as he forces the camera to try and find the top of the tower. "Seeing it with the actual intent to climb it really does change how you think about it, huh?" he says. "I feel like if I weren't strapped in I'd start falling up..."
"Oh. No, never," Billy replies to Jimmy. "That would be the problem, you see. Until recently, the entrance was sealed by two different orders."
He left his pocket gospel in his other habit, so you'll just have to trust him on that one. "Or rather, every so often says they're going to try flying, and..."
He motions, helpfully, at Zed's return. "It...doesn't work out."
DG: Billy Lee Black has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Why Don't We Fly Up There.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Why Don't We Fly Up There *>==================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The daunting Tower of Babel, so fittingly named, stands as a reminder of the
limits of human progress... and, perhaps, a teaser to urge one to surpass
their limits in turn. An enormous cylindrical structure of rusted metal of a
bygone era, it rises well past the atmosphere to bounds untold. Just peeking
inside, the scene of utter carnage that visits the innards of the tower is
clear. It would take remarkable feats of agility and balance to go through
all of this.
Then, perhaps, your first thought might be: "Why don't we just fly up
there?" Perhaps your Gears can fly! Perhaps you've obtained some kind of
lifter device! An ancient anti-gravity crystal! Or perhaps a good old
fashioned winch and rope contraption!
...
Should you succumb to this entirely understandable impulse, the inevitable
conclusion eventually arrives minutes (or hours, depending on how foolhardy
you are) later:
It's far too high to fly up there.
The Tower of Babel isn't one to give free passes, alas.
=Dungeon Conditions: Madness, Madness, Madness, Madness, Secret===============
=========================<* Babel Tower - Round 1 *>========================== ===================< Results - Why Don't We Fly Up There >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 0 --(39)--> 39 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 0 --(27)--> 27 Pass Jotun Heart 3 Wits Effects: Sacrifice and Enlight ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Billy Lee Black 0 --(39)--> 39 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 0 --(27)--> 27 Pass Micro-optic Spectral Analyzer 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Clarine 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Conditions: Madness|Secret(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraph Clarine 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. DG: Venetia Vuong has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Times They Are a Loading *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It is said that the ancients had unfathomable knowledge over the disc-like
movements of the ground. Before making time-critical and precise jumps over
precarious platforms, they would be able to detect the tectonic shifts of
Filgaia beneath them and avoid certain doom.
Unfortunately, such knowledge is gone now, with the 'advances' in sensitive
Gear instruments. When next you leap, you may just find Filgaia playing a
nasty trick on you, rumbling ever so slightly and making you miss your
jump... and back into the drink you go.
A truly desolate, dying world indeed...
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"I am from Lunar, yes..." Clarine confirms, as Jimmy asks. "I am a Seraph, presently inhabiting this machine..."
That would explain why it doesn't seem to have any form of cockpit, at least. Soon, Zed complicates the paintjob of her Gear!
"Ah... thank you!" She replies. "I wished it to look friendly, and pleasing to the eye..."
Questions are raised about the viability of scaling the tower, which Billy answers. ...Unfortunately, it sounds like it'll be slow-going.
"Ah... that sounds rather unpleasant... Let us avoid that fate..." Clarine suggests.
Unfortunately, that means going up the slow and (debatably) safe way. It might take a while.
A long while.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Jimmy Chan answers Zed.
"You don't sound like you're certified. Are you certified? If you're not certified, why the double chocolate fudgestack are you here on an island with a giant metal tower on it? You should be getting certified."
Venetia answers Billy, having put down her book for now. "I understand what you mean... I looked up through the window, Father, and I thought I was going to vomit."
Jimmy assesses what Clarine is talking about and looks up from the piloting pit towards Venetia, who gives him a thumbs up.
"Okay! Everyone, follow the *certified operator* inside."
Soon enough...
The first few platforms aren't that hard, even for Ametrine, who is a stompy lady. Tromp tromp tromp thump thump thump. After about rotation #2, Ametrine changes its practice, but not before pausing to give...
A lesson.
"Here's your first step towards Certification, Suture," Jimmy says to Zed, having misheard his cross-talk with his Gear. "You're dealing with complex terrain. WHAT do you do? That's right: WHAT do you do?"
"That's what we call a Memetic Acronym. The first thing you do is... WAIT. You're in a Gear, you don't have to hurry." (Except if you do, Jimmy.)
"Then you ASSESS your situation. We skip the H because it's an unvoiced fricative and doesn't even exist in a lot of our older writing systems," Jimmy explains. "Like right here, I'm ASSESSING that these gaps are real wide and if we don't get things just right, we're gonna fall into that incredibly foul water I can see down there."
"Finally, you TEST your plan of operation, because your assumptions and analyses could miss key elements. In this case, I figured out a plan, which is to use Ametrine's steam reservoirs to launch a penetrator anchor and winch across and upwards on that gap up there I'm not gonna make. So I'm gonna TEST that -"
Ametrine sticks its hip out like it's being saucy. FOOSH!
CHUNK!
It begins ascending upwards by its own hip.
"Ya see? I'm TESTING it now, and since this is a single step process the test is a forward motion. Now that I know the process is sound, I can repeat it - always Waiting and Assessing as I go along, and Testing if I gotta -"
The tower shifts a half a degree, which is not a lot in the abstract, but is a shitload if you're inside of it. "SHIT!!" Jimmy says.
DG: Venetia Vuong has used her Tool Super Trade-School Level Power Winch toward her party's challenge, The Times They Are a Loading.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"It is very much those things! Gears should always be colored appropriately. How will anyone know who to cheer for if everyone is drab green or beige!?" Zed nods approvingly at Clarine, but then--
What! Jimmy, you are... attempting to lecture a person!? Or rather, a giant robot? This is somewhat problematic, you see. Because... "Certification!? I am a certified stander on things that are tall. Certified by what? Who can gainsay my right to mount a giant robot and mete out righteous, burning justice upon all who do evil in my sight!? Is it... you...?"
There is a non-zero chance he was speaking to me, although I am not, strictly speaking, an 'operator.' I am Surtr, MUSPEL-class combat intelligence unit. My 'operator' is Zed, former member of the Advanced Reconnaissance and Marauding Squadron of the Photosphere.
"And ULTIMATE MACHO MAN, and GRIM REAPER'S PEN PAL!" Zed adds, as the party encounters... A PLATFORMING CHALLENGE. Surtr, too, is a large stompy robot. It is, however, kind of a tight fit, getting all these Gears to stand on the same platforms at the same time. Thankfully they can all sort of... fit on top of each other, somehow. But then...
There's a sound... it goes 'click-click-click. Zed's blood runs cold, ancient fighting instincts taking into account minute changes in his environment and sending a DIRE WARNING to every nerve of his body. Something wobbles out of place, a gyroscope spins and wobbles in ways it shouldn't. A voice calls! Alert! Unusual seismic activity detected! Jimmy slips! And suddenly...
Finds himself tangled up in a BRIGHT ORANGE, MECHA-SCALE scarf!! "We've got you! Looks like... You should have WAITed a bit longer, eh? Ehh???"
Jimmy is faced with a decision.
Either climb up this MECHA SCARF, or... pull Zed and his ABOMINABLE INTELLIGENCE into the abyss with him. The choice... is his...
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, The Times They Are a Loading.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"Thank you!" Clarine replies to Zed, but then, Jimmy speaks up again. The head of the cricket-shaped Gear tilts curiously to the side.
"'Certified operator'...? Ah, I did not realise it was so rigorously structured... Very well, I shall follow your lead..." Clarine replies, taking everything at face value. She's still a little new to this even with all the practice she's had, to be fair. Her first experience piloting a Gear was several months ago, going out with several other Seraphim and Borrowing* some Gears from the Thames.
(* ...Without permission. It's okay, Clarine returned hers.)
Soon enough, they find the first major obstacle. Clarine listens attentively as Jimmy lectures Zed, nodding along with the explanation. Or rather, her Gear nods, but at the moment they're one in the same.
"I see..." She murmurs. So, she approaches the ledge, considers the jump... and then, springs forward! Her Gear looks like a cricket and jumps as impressively as one, it seems - it can get some major distance. At the last second, however, the tower shifts... but her Gear's propulsion jets soon fire, pushing her forward even further!
If there's one thing this machine is made for, it's leaping long gaps.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Propulsion Jets toward her party's challenge, The Times They Are a Loading.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
'I looked up through the window, Father, and....'
Billy flinches like someone jabbed him with a knife. "Ah. ...please. Just Billy is fine. After everything, I..."
...he lets that trail off. "But yes. It's quite dizzying, hm? Fortunately, the inside should be more...." ... "Actually, you know, I don't know what the inside is like."
INSIDE:
Renmazuo's awesome blue-and-yellow cape lies still and flat in the grim silence. "Also unpleasant, but differently," Billy finally decides. Jimmy is having a great time over there and Billy decides to let him have his fun while he pokes around his cockpit for surprises left for him by the kids. Today, he finds an old battery pack the size of a fist, which he plucks up from the glove box and considers. "Sensors aren't really properly scanning things, huh?" he murmurs. You see strange behaviors in the ruins, and this might be the oldest ruin of them all." He reads a small note on the battery, which leaves him smiling, and looking down under his instrument console to where a receptacle has been concerningly hastily put in place. He rams it in.
Renmazuo SHUDDERS, like the machine had eaten a bad berry. Then the jet thrusters fire at 45,000x power and send him SOARING INTO THE SKY.
Billy cannot scream because he needs to not bite off his tongue. He also loses consciousness for approximately 13 seconds, which is enough time for him to only barely control the landing, which will hopefully be on a platform.
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Overclocked System toward his party's challenge, The Times They Are a Loading.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Times They Are a Loading *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It is said that the ancients had unfathomable knowledge over the disc-like
movements of the ground. Before making time-critical and precise jumps over
precarious platforms, they would be able to detect the tectonic shifts of
Filgaia beneath them and avoid certain doom.
Unfortunately, such knowledge is gone now, with the 'advances' in sensitive
Gear instruments. When next you leap, you may just find Filgaia playing a
nasty trick on you, rumbling ever so slightly and making you miss your
jump... and back into the drink you go.
A truly desolate, dying world indeed...
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
=========================<* Babel Tower - Round 2 *>========================== ==================< Results - The Times They Are a Loading >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 39 --(5)--> 44 Pass Propulsion Jets 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 27 --(5)--> 32 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Billy Lee Black 39 --(5)--> 44 Pass Overclocked System 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 27 --(17)--> 44 Fail Super Trade-School Level Power Winc 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Clarine 15 --(30)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Secret(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraph Clarine 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> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Jimmy Chan does what he wants, because he's so ill / This is a warning, *he can't be killed*
Also he's screaming.
Ametrine dangles for a few moments, because the chain slipped the winch slightly. Ametrine's arm comes up... and... grips the scarf!
"so I'm - gonna give you another big thing that's gonna - help you out on the examiner," Jimmy says, breathlessly, as Ametrine pulls itself upwards along the scarf. "Which is... if you let your dumb pride kill you... you're screwing up the job... cuz they ain't paying you for your pride... but for... your... work."
Ametrine reaches the platform.
Venetia cuts in on the main mic. "Pilot swap!"
Venetia continues on. "Jimmy's going to be washing up so I'm not going to do any drastic maneuvers for a few minutes. And I understand... Billy.~"
"We have to have certifications because in Guild Galad we use Gears for a few key purposes," Venetia explains, "and there's only so many labor models out there, to say nothing of the horrible bloody consequences of a Gear rampage on, for instance, a loading dock. It could ruin an entire cargoload of food or raw materials... to say nothing of, you know. Anyway, it's one of the little projects from about, oh, three? four? masters ago, and it just keeps going since, you know, team spirit, and it really does help you understand what you're doing."
"I'm only class 3 certified, technically," Venetia continues, "but Jimmy took the jump maneuvering course because the school paid for it. It was fun, apparently."
"... Where did Billy go?"
"Oh! There he is."
And so the ascension continues...
DG: Billy Lee Black has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Babel Tower *>================================
=================<* CHALLENGE - A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You loom precariously over an enormous expanse. Underneath is the same
obnoxious body of water you may have fallen into over and over and over
again. Sensors indicate the distance is too far for your Gears to safely
bridge with their own powers.
The one tiny, shiny hope is a dangling piece of metal hooked onto a fragile
wire. You could leap onto it, see-saw back and forth to gain momentum, and
jump... time it wrong, and you may be here for a very long time.
Or... maybe you can remember you can fly for short distances...?
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy actually does not in fact come back down. He's off in space somewhere now.
More precisely, as the party ascends further, the pitted metal and precarious-looking platforms constructed of fallen-in infrastructure forms into a rough outcrop. The next platform is a good bit away. You'd need pretty powerful thrusters to get there! But, dangling down is a length of powerful industrial (??) cable (!?) that looks like it can probably support a Gear's weight (!?!!?). If you were to latch on to that, you could swing across! Carefully!
Renmazuo itself is on the far side of the wire, Renmazuo flopped out and Billy dazed in the cockpit.
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Overclocked System toward his party's challenge, A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Huh!! That makes sense," Zed says to Venetia's explanation, and wisely does not inquire after why it is Jimmy has to suddenly wash up. Maybe if he knew how fleshy meat-people reacted to sudden bursts of pants-soiling terror, he'd be less willing to share his scarf, so this is probably for the best. "Back home, we had machines too, but usually we had Metal Beasts to help out with the heavy lifting. Though I guess we wanted to make sure those wouldn't go on random rampages either, so it all works out?"
I appreciate the attempt at sharing advice. It is said that one must also 'look for the helpers,' yes?
Beat.
Onwards!! To... answer a very important and pressing question, because Billy does not in fact come back down, which suggests he might have run into some trouble further up! Soon, it becomes clear just what happened.
That is...
...Billy Lee Black... Has commited the cardinal sin of SEQUENCE BREAKING.
"Huh," Zed says at the... apparent, intended solution and simply uses that HANDY MECH-SCALE SCARF again. The orange length of fabric(????) wraps around the same anchoring point that the industrial cable is fastened to. With a hop and a jump and a flaring of booster engines, Surtr goes to sail across the gap to check on the fallen Renmazuo. Friends of All Children need to watch out for each other!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"Ah, that is understandable..." Clarine replies consideringly, as Venetia explains the need for certification. It makes sense!
She clears the jump with ease, and they're able to proceed up and onward. But the higher up they get, the greater the risk of falling becomes... it's something that's important for all of them to keep in mind - especially as the next obstacle presents itself, in the form of a rather large gap.
Clarine may be confident in her Gear's jumping capabilities, but even that may be a bit too far. But, that cable... right now, it's their only hope.
"...Oh dear... Is that Billy? Is he alright?" Clarine observes, noticing the Renmazuo on the other side. Well, now they have another reason to risk crossing.
"I am... uncertain how well this machine will be capable of holding onto that cable..." She admits. But, she has to try anyway, so her Gear takes a big leap toward the cable, looking to grapple onto it with its many legs. Once it finally succeeds, it very carefully shimmies to the other side. And then... it leaps! As it flies through the air the wings flutter to give it a bit more airtime, the propulsion jets once more going off to increase jump distance.
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Propulsion Jets toward her party's challenge, A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
"Well, this is tricky, isn't it," Venetia comments as the wire swings back and forth. "It must have been damaged by... whatever happened. I'm glad to see his Gear is intact, at least. That means he probably survived."
What would they do if he didn't? Say a prayer and strip his Gear for the good parts?
... well...
They wouldn't... NOT do that.
Venetia goes for a somewhat different option of temporarily splicing the wire into one of Ametrine's winches, which appear to be very well and stoutly built. "... Yes, quite... how did you, er... draw the distinction among you? I apologize if this is... crude, but I don't have a good language for this. I mean to say, where did you draw the line between a machine, even a complex machine such as our Gears, and a Metal Beast?"
Swing! Venetia goes last, probably because the rocket winch launchey thing means that if Ametrine breaks the shit, SHE can save the Gear.
DG: Venetia Vuong has used her Tool Super Trade-School Level Power Winch toward her party's challenge, A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope.
===============================<* Babel Tower *>================================
=================<* CHALLENGE - A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You loom precariously over an enormous expanse. Underneath is the same
obnoxious body of water you may have fallen into over and over and over
again. Sensors indicate the distance is too far for your Gears to safely
bridge with their own powers.
The one tiny, shiny hope is a dangling piece of metal hooked onto a fragile
wire. You could leap onto it, see-saw back and forth to gain momentum, and
jump... time it wrong, and you may be here for a very long time.
Or... maybe you can remember you can fly for short distances...?
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
==========================<* Babel Tower - Round 3 *>=========================== ===================< Results - A Golden Shiny Wire of Hope >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Clarine 44 --(5)--> 49 Pass Propulsion Jets 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 32 --(5)--> 37 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billy Lee Black 44 --(5)--> 49 Pass Overclocked System 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Venetia Vuong 44 --(17)--> 61 Fail Super Trade-School Level Power Winc 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Clarine 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Clarine has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Major Issues to Ground Control *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your Gear's sensors spot a person-sized door with blinking lights; there's
power behind it! One quick disembark later, your team filters into an
impressive control room, with at least a dozen panels expanding before you.
A cursory glance immediately shows that you can open at least a couple doors
and make progress by using the systems in this room.
There's one issue:
It's all sideways. Hopping and jumping from one platform to another is one
thing, but seating yourself in front of a computer and making something
happen is another...
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
"'m OK!" Billy says once everyone reaches Renmazuo. "That one had some kick, wow. Didn't know the thrusters could DO that."
Gradually, Renmazuo gets itself up to its feet, its cape fluttering behind. "Seems...we got a bit closer, at least," he affirms. "Everyone together?"
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
RENMAZUO IS SAVED! And... they are faced with a problem. There is a locked door in front of them! Normally this would be solved by the team deploying frankly disastrous amounts of explosives, picking a lock, or simply sobbing into their hands due to door-related PTSD until the obstacle feels awkward enough to just get out of their way after a cursory, door-union mandated delay. But this time, there's no need to do any of that! Because...
Electrical activity detected. There may be a control room nearby.
And indeed, there's a door with flashing lights just off to the side there! It's person-sized, so people (or at least Zed) will have to dismount to actually make anything happen. And he does just that! In fact, he may be the best choice for this job, as... Surtr's eyes simply flash when his pilot disembarks. The massive gear draws a sword and takes a defensive stance. I will watch for hostiles. Proceed with peace of mind.
As the party enters the control room, another problem becomes apparent: It's... all sideways. The entire thing is huge inside, probably evidence that this place was some kind of regional security hub with its own dedicated staff than a simple checkpoint or guard post. Zed scratches his chin and... stretches his OWN scarf toward the ceiling. Anchored solidly to the structure, Zed is able to better reach some of those far-off controls and sit in the available chairs to begin beeping and booping at the various buttons.
"Yeah, so, that's a really interesting question!" Zed answers Venetia with the helpful tone of an exotic foreigner excited to find someone genuinely interested in the bits of his culture that aren't plastered all over the travel journals, retold in old war stories, or scandalized in steamy bodice-rippers. "Metal Beasts are actually biological creatures, living things made of living metal, just like those of us you'd consider to be 'Metal Demons.' We're both Hyadean, as far as being made of the same stuff and being forced to serve The Mother, but it's kind of like how a human and a cow are both made of meat, but one's a person and one's an animal. On the other hand, machines can have bits that are made of living metal because this stuff is awesome, and Metal Beasts can have parts that are completely mechanical, but a good distinction is that machines are mostly built and Metal Beasts are mostly grown!"
There's a beat as Zed stops clicky-clacking at this security console and goes to move to another. "Oh, and then there are Metal Dragons. So like, normally Metal Beasts aren't the most intelligent things. They're kind of like animals most of the time, but you get some real smart ones occasionally. Metal Dragons are way smarter, way bigger and way more powerful. Like colossal Metal Beasts with the same brain capacity as me or Riese or any of the rest of us 'Metal Demons.' They're some of our greatest heroes, especially the older ones. The Dragon Fossils your people use to make your weapons are basically the bones and bodies of some of our mightiest dead."
So that's potentially an awkward thing to deal with.
"...Anyone have any luck? Some of these look like they might open doors, but I don't speak or read Ancient Babelese!!"
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, Major Issues to Ground Control.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
The party crosses successfully! And up ahead, they find themselves in front of a control room. It's person-sized, rather than Gear-sized, so it necessitates leaving their machines.
"Thank you..." Clarine says, as Surtr volunteers to keep watch. There is a golden flash, and soon enough a small ball of light rises from the cricket-shaped Gear. This ball of light settles down on her Gear's head, and then Clarine herself appears. She floats on in. She... doesn't really seem to have any trouble with this, to be honest, but that may be due to the fact that, as a being of light and magic, physics has something of a tenuous grasp on her. She listens curiously as Zed explains for Venetia the difference between Metal Demons and Metal Beasts... but as Clarine looks to the screens, she notices an issue.
"...Ah. I cannot understand this, either... I thought they might be in the language you call 'Zeboim', but it is not..." She murmurs. An even more ancient tongue than the Ancient Tongue... she supposes she shouldn't be surprised.
Actually handling the computers might be more difficult than she thought...
DG: Seraph Clarine has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Major Issues to Ground Control.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
As they find a control center, Venetia says, "Jimmy, cover us in case anything comes up this way. If we hear the rifle firing at, I don't know, Solaris Odessa death squadrons, we'll... figure something out." And then she descends the rope ladder to the 'ground,' shall we call it, conjecturally.
And as they move inside, Venetia listens to Zed.
YOU DIDN'T EXPECT THAT, DID YOU, TRUE BELIEVERS? But it's true. Zed would know. He's an expert. If he started talking complete gibberish that would be one thing, but Venetia is able to follow him along even as he speaks conversationally. "Hm," she says, "I see. Like how shellfish make use of calcium carbonate - limestone, though it's really more the other way around in a lot of cases - or the magnesium struts in hob frames... Tell me, do a lot of these creatures shed their skeletons or... outer shells or anything, like that? In your experience."
Please, Venetia thinks, because otherwise this is going to be insanely awkward in the long term.
"I don't know the language, but I recognize these as 'computer terminals,'" Venetia says. "They use relic ARM wafers in order to do mathematics. They're very sensitive so they're usually left in place - it was never clear how they worked, though I've heard that there's some evidence that they may actually use a form of lightning Symbology, based on analysis in Adelhyde."
"But," Venetia says, cracking her knuckles, "I do know a few tricks."
Such as CTRL ALT DEL.
And ALT F4.
And PROPELLER SHIFT DEL.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Seeing everyone disembark, Billy, who has equalized his humors, also steps out.
Billy does not have a horse in the race of what's going on with Venetia and Zed, though it seems like an interesting conversation. Instead, he plucks a small notebook out of the many pockets of his traveling habit, fwips it open and idly reads while the gang works. "... completely dissimilar to most standard formats. Interesting."
He steps forward. "Hm, I'll go back to Renmazuo. Once you've adjusted the settings, I'll push through the open doors. There should be an all-clear switch further up, if this follows usual principles."
He turns and leaves.
Then, several seconds later, the sound of his boost jet going off, this time with rather less conviction, resounds!!
DG: Billy Lee Black has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Major Issues to Ground Control. DG: Venetia Vuong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Major Issues to Ground Control.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Major Issues to Ground Control *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your Gear's sensors spot a person-sized door with blinking lights; there's
power behind it! One quick disembark later, your team filters into an
impressive control room, with at least a dozen panels expanding before you.
A cursory glance immediately shows that you can open at least a couple doors
and make progress by using the systems in this room.
There's one issue:
It's all sideways. Hopping and jumping from one platform to another is one
thing, but seating yourself in front of a computer and making something
happen is another...
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire=====================================================
=========================<* Babel Tower - Round 4 *>========================== =================< Results - Major Issues to Ground Control >================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 49 --(0)--> 49 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 37 --(0)--> 37 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Billy Lee Black 49 --(0)--> 49 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 61 --(12)--> 73 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Clarine 65 --(20)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraph Clarine has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
FUN FACT, Zed can absolutely see Seraphim. He can do this because he was told one day by the Shepherd that you had to have the right <<Resonance>> to see Seraphim, got SUPER HYPE, and decided to take the most literal meaning of the word and learned to vibrate his eyeballs at unusual frequencies.
To the surprise of everybody except Zed, this actually worked.
FUN FACT NUMBER TWO, when you don't understand what anything is saying, jabbing at random keys seems to work just fine. In fact, Clarine and Zed both have excellent luck! But Venetia's attempt at a three-fingered salute instead seems to prompt a HARD REBOOT of her console.
Which would actually be pretty useful if you had to boot out of a freeze, but not when you're trying to figure out which buttons open the doors you need to get through to advance. With the door open, Renmazuo is able to proceed to the other end where a helpful weight-activated actuator seems to do something to hold the door open. Success!
"Kind of?? It's more like we were designed to be weapons of conquest, and so many of us are able to adapt quickly to things like cybernetics. Uh, I think you guys call it 'ARM Affinity' or something? So we used that to our advantage. As far as shedding... I think so? I've never gone through a molt myself, but some of us have horns and stuff, and those can fall out sometimes, or need to get trimmed down. I know some of the bigger beasts and dragons would occasionally drop pretty big chunks while they grew, but... Never the inside-bones. Those huge skeletons you have in Guild Galad really are just that. Skeletons."
Truly, it is not Venetia's day.
DG: Seraph Clarine has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Get Spacy Now *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
They say the weather enjoyed after an effortful hike is all the more
precious to savour; the moment of triumph in overcoming obstacles and one's
own limits.
The bright blue sky shines before you as you make one final ascent. The
sun's rays gleam warmly, bathing the crumbling top of the Tower of Babel
with a calming warmth. Everything is pleasant and quiet, allowing you a
moment of peace...
Then... it happens--
The powerful rumble of an ancient Gear in red and grayish white rising from
some strange-marked hangar bay. It doesn't look like any Gear that's
excavated from Ignas, nor does it bear the semblance of Galadian or Odessan
Gears. It doesn't even look manned, though there is a mysterious faded
insignia on its shoulder that reads:
-= GREATER UNITED NATIONS =-
(NB: For Outer Space folk, the make of this Gear is definitely offworld, yet
is so odd that it seems to predate even the Federation!)
What it /is/, however, is hostile -- it pulls out a long rifle and fires a
/beam/ out of it, as a warning shot. You're in for quite the fight!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
The doors all are opened and, thankfully, no one arrives to challenge them. They're free to proceed onward, up a set of stairs, out of the darkness, and into the bright blue sky. The sun shines above them warmly, and there is a faint, peaceful wind. It's really quite lovely!
"Such an experience... it has made the entire trip up here worth it..." Clarine remarks, in awe. Just as she considers hopping out of her Gear, though, the tower rumbles as nearby hangar doors open. A beam of light streaks out as a warning as a red and grayish-white Gear bearing a long beam rifle emerges!
"An enemy...!" Clarine gasps. "They do not appear to be related to Odessa or Solaris... who are they...?"
There are no life-signs from this Gear - it's entirely unmanned. The only identifying sign is an insignia on its shoulder, faded but still legible, reading 'Greater United Nations'. Whatever that means... this Gear is clearly hostile.
"I will attempt to disorient it... please take advantage of the opening!" Clarine says. The wings of her Gear begin to shake, producing sound as metal scrapes against metal - sound that is run through an amplifier at full volume, directed and concentrated at the opposing Gear in a loud, discordant burst that scrambles its internal systems!
DG: Seraph Clarine has used her Tool Sonic Amplifier - Full Volume toward her party's challenge, Don't Get Spacy Now.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia grimaces as the system reboots. If nothing else, at least, she ruined some nerd's hypothetical brag rights over uptime. But then, they move back, and they're not at all hindered for a while.
The doors open, revealing a vast sky. A sky of infinite hope. Of potential. Of freedom.
Blue, free... warm...
... to Venetia's eyes, it looks hideous. A flat nonsense. A titanic blue gel on the stage set of reality. The night sky? The night sky is beautiful; you can see at an optical distance of forever. Jewels on black velvet. But a clear sunny daytime sky?
Nauseating.
The light shining in is, frankly, kind of painful to her, and she moves down to swap seats with Jimmy again, to get out of it. Jimmy seems better surface-adapted, although he grumbles vaguely in deep-dweller slang about how bright it is.
Ametrine lumbers forwards when --
SHRRRANK!
"FFFFFFFFF" Jimmy says. "Screw this guy!! This is why we filled out that requisition form for a LOADER HOPPER!" And as he mans the pintle gun, pressing the pedal that moves it along a track so that the gun emerges from Ametrine's art-deco suggestion of 'lips', he leans forwards to track o the optics.
"Hey! Uncertified! Try and make it like -- back up away from the post here! *If it's going backwards I don't have to lead the shots!*" Jimmy fires one with a THOOM, because these are in fact 38-caliber rounds - no, not .38 caliber, one hundred times that. The spent shells are thrown out, as if Ametrine were eating sunflower seeds and spitting the spoils to fall to the surface of Filgaia.
"Okay I only have like twenty more rounds, so, you know, hustle!"
Venetia, for her part, guides the machine into a steady crouch. She does not plan to maneuver more than she has to. Ametrine does not have flight capability at all. FAlling off here would be SUPER bad.
DG: Venetia Vuong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Get Spacy Now.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Finally, they have reached the tower's zenith. It is... amazing. Incredible even. There's nothing quite like seeing the world stretch out in all directions beneath you. Never has Zed been so high up...!
Finally... He stands on the tallest thing on Filgaia that isn't also flying. Finally, Zed thinks as he clambers bravely atop his giant robot's ornate head-crest, he can claim the title... of Greatest High Place Connoisseur...
But then something arrives to spoil his fun! A machine emerges from the tower, looking...
...That is not something that Zed recognizes. It's not a Gear of any class he'd seen before. "Huh, you guys know what that thing is?" He asks, as he hops back into the safety of Surtr's cockpit...
Just as a MASSIVE BEAM CANNON rakes across their formation. High energy reaction detected. Such power was unexpected...! The colossal gear brings its massive blade to bear against the screaming thermal lance, and...
Surtr is actually pretty good at defending against heat-based weaponry, in fact. It isn't named 'Muspell' for show! Loaded with a plethora of thermal weaponry, its chassis is naturally built to endure such attacks-- but even then, as the gear's blade cleaves the beam into arcing streamers of excited particles, the steel making up its structure begins to glow ominously. This... Cannot continue. Jimmy has a request. Surtr processes the problem...
And Clarine provides a solution. Her machine is equipped with system that amplifies sound and uses the resulting discordance to somehow scramble the enemy's systems. Surtr glances her way and places himself between her cricket-like frame and the mysterious enemy. Suddenly, its armor opens up, revealing...
...a built-in, high-powered speaker system...
...That blares a jaunty theme song...
...Which somehow resonates with Clarine's sonic attack and is also amplified to frankly ridiculous volumes. Understood. Forcing the enemy into direct retreat. If it does not... Heaven itself trembles (with Zeboim-era anime fight music) as Surtr surges forward, its sword unfolding to reveal what can only be thermal exhaust vents. It will meet our blade!
Blazing with brilliant flame, Surtr's powerful thruster column sends it rocketing forward with its rockin' theme song blaring in the background. A pair of linear cannons fold up over its shoulders, launching thermal lances even as a number of internal weapons pods open up across its body and unleash a deluge of unguided incendiaries to the enemy machine's flanks. With a roar and a chop that trails an arcing vermilion firestorm, Surtr meets the beam-equipped menace head-on as only a proper fire giant can...!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Super Robot Boombox toward his party's challenge, Don't Get Spacy Now.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Renmazuo waits patiently for everyone to arrive. Billy plays solitaire.
Eventually, the group gathers back together, and Billy falls into line. This is going almost too smoothly. Nothing but tricky navigation...not even an alarm, not a sentry Gear, nothing? Odessa kill team? Solarian vaporization laser? Wall panel melting to reveal it was actually a colony of ravenous Wels bacteria?? Nothing!? This is bad for his nerves.
And then, they open into the sky, and his breath catches. "Incredible..." he breathes.
A motion alert pings on his scans; something incoming. He half-turns to check.
And then the beam CHOOMPs out, and Billy sends Renmazuo into a sideward roll, its cape baffling attempts to track him by the eye! Billy sucks in a deep breath and flips open one of the closed compartments on the gear display. A photograph of a humble wooden building with a high clocktower, children scampering about the front lawn peeks out, a bit faded with age.
Billy sucks in a breath, and focuses, snapping up Renmazuo's revolvers. "You have been here too long. Your watch ends now!" he declares.
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Orphanage Reminder toward his party's challenge, Don't Get Spacy Now.
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Get Spacy Now *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
They say the weather enjoyed after an effortful hike is all the more
precious to savour; the moment of triumph in overcoming obstacles and one's
own limits.
The bright blue sky shines before you as you make one final ascent. The
sun's rays gleam warmly, bathing the crumbling top of the Tower of Babel
with a calming warmth. Everything is pleasant and quiet, allowing you a
moment of peace...
Then... it happens--
The powerful rumble of an ancient Gear in red and grayish white rising from
some strange-marked hangar bay. It doesn't look like any Gear that's
excavated from Ignas, nor does it bear the semblance of Galadian or Odessan
Gears. It doesn't even look manned, though there is a mysterious faded
insignia on its shoulder that reads:
-= GREATER UNITED NATIONS =-
(NB: For Outer Space folk, the make of this Gear is definitely offworld, yet
is so odd that it seems to predate even the Federation!)
What it /is/, however, is hostile -- it pulls out a long rifle and fires a
/beam/ out of it, as a warning shot. You're in for quite the fight!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=========================<* Babel Tower - Round 5 *>========================== ======================< Results - Don't Get Spacy Now >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Clarine 49 --(15)--> 64 Pass Sonic Amplifier - Full Volume 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 37 --(15)--> 52 Pass Super Robot Boombox 2 Combat Effects: Sacrifice, Embolden, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Billy Lee Black 49 --(15)--> 64 Pass Orphanage Reminder 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Venetia Vuong 73 --(15)--> 88 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Clarine 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraph Clarine has successfully explored Babel Tower!
==============================<* Babel Tower *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Warring State *>======================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your team lands the final blow, which significantly tears through the
ancient Gear's internals; looks like it only had enough integrity for a
brief battle, and was going to fall apart at any given moment.
Unfortunately, that also means that it effectively is unsalvageable - most
of the parts have turned to slag. When you investigate further, however, you
discover a Gear-sized sword in a nearby hangar!
You've acquired a Gear-sized katana! Now you can be fashionably cool and
razor-sharp, even in your Gear.
---
Just as you're about to leave, another powerful force rattles the top of the
tower -- this time from above. A mysterious, enormous disc-shaped city
descends nearby, shrouded in an orange force field.
There is a most palpable silence for a moment, and then...
"... can you hear me? This is the City of Shevat.
The Queen Zephyr has granted permission for you to board.
We will launch a craft shortly for your Gears..."
It looks like your efforts to get up here weren't all in vain after all!
You've discovered the floating City of Shevat!
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"Thank you!" Clarine says appreciatively, as Surtr takes on a protective role. She's allowed to continue to broadcast her sound in piece, and her sonic amplifier combined with Zed's own speakers, causes the opposing Gear to suddenly find itself bombarbed with a burst of sound that leaves it stunned. This leaves it at the mercy of the others - Ametrine and Renmazuo firing upon it from a distance, while Surtr rushes forward, unleashing a burst of incendiaries and a powerful chop.
In the end, they prove far too much for the ancient machine to handle. It isn't long before it's completely torn through, practically reduced to slag.
With the foe defeated, there's an opportunity to check out the nearby hangar. There's some old parts here and there, but most notably... there's a large, Gear-sized katana - still in perfect condition!
Clarine does not notice this, because she is, at present, sitting atop the head of her Gear outside, taking shots of their surroundings with her camera while humming to herself, pleased.
Soon after all of this, however... the tower rumbles again. But, it is not a foe - an enormous, disc-shaped city appears, shrouded in an orange force-field.
Shevat is here, and they extend a message of welcome - their Queen has granted permission to board, and a craft will appear to transport their Gears.
"Ah... They are here." Clarine remarks, surprised.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Is there any real doubt that Zed, upon discovering that there is a GIANT ROBOT KATANA of EXTREMELY QUESTIONABLE PROVIDENCE up for grabs, would immediately leap from out of his robot, into the extremity-obliterating freezing cold of the upper atmosphere, and cling to the frigid metal like a particularly vicious and sword-obsessed dropbear?
No. No there is not. This is Zed, and this Katana now belongs to Zed.
Or rather, Surtr already *has* a sword, but this is a *Katana* and the only way the poor, beleaguered AI unit is going to fulfill its mandate to defend and safeguard the life of its pilot is to pick up the sword and take it onboard the giant floating fishbowl-city that's swung by to pick them all up.
Poor Surtr. At least his pilot is good at swording things.