2021-05-27: Yesterday's Solutions, Today's Problems

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  • Log: Yesterday's Solutions, Today's Problems
  • Cast: Loren Voss, Yue Rohay, Seraph Lanval, Yulie Ahtreide
  • Where: Thunder Plains
  • Date: May 27, 2021
  • Summary: They're just trying to cross the Thunder Plains for their own reasons. But it seems that though the war has ended, the obstacles (induced in part by the war) just keep causing this odd traveling group some problems.

DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Thunder Plains - Wild Road.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - But We Just Got Here! *>=====================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There is no other way between Macalania and Guadosalam on foot save for the
 Thunder Plains. Wracked by an eternal storm, the route is a treacherous one,
 but fortunately the presence of the lightning towers makes the passage
 somewhat easier on travelers.

 Once a lingering battle here between Yevon and Althena's forces had made the
 passage impossible for the average Spiran, but the way is now clear--

 Or rather, would be clear if there weren't a crowd of pilgrims and merchants
 blocking the transition area into the Thunder Plains proper. There has been
 a disagreement about which group gets to head in first with the guide and
 everything has ground to a standstill.

 Unless you can resolve this somehow, you're probably not going anywhere in a
 hurry, either.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    It's a fact that Solaris can't (overtly) use flying machines in Spira. Not outside Macalania, that is, and certainly not this far south. Therefore, when something needs to be done outside the lake region, they have to send someone on foot.

    He only has himself to blame this time, though. It had been assigned to someone else. He'd just realized that that guy was going to totally get himself killed and/or blow it, big time. So he'd stepped in. After all, he's been here before. He can just don the appropriate 'persona' and get on with it.

    There's a big old traffic jam at the Thunder Plains entrance today, though. It hasn't devolved into shoving yet but given the general aura of the situation here, it very damn well could get there.

    "I'm an idiot," Loren remarks to himself and the world at large, because it's (especially?) true at this moment. He's going to have to wait around here forever!

    ...Unless.

    Rising from his despairing crouch by the roadside, he eyes one of the larger chocobos. They're trying to figure out who goes through first, right. What if he... forces the matter.

    In one hand he balls up a chunk of nutrient bar. And then, making sure the chocobo seems him do it, he throws it.

    ...Chocobos like nutrient bars, right?

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    Yue Rohay is...

    ... supposed to be here today! Hooray!!

    Because she's here in Spira for the extremely powerful and important reason of Slacking Off, because while she knows her mother can track her in Spira, it takes longer and is more of a pain to do. It takes a lot for the Veruni to observe Spira these days given the whole Veruni-Althenan Guard relationship has fallen apart, and Spira itself has become more of a liability recently.

    Plus, a big ol' traffic jam is a great place to be, so curiously there's a hooded pilgrim perched in one of the merchant's caravans with a Cucco feather in her mouth dozing off... at least, until the arguments start to heat up.

    "Mm... keep it down out there... I'm sleeping..."

    She'd have an amazing disguise if the shackles weren't still in plain sight.

DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Fox Company has some business going through here too. Seraph Lanval realizes that maybe he's not that suited for difficult in-depth business negotiation between parties, so he has decided to do what he does best, which is to say he is laying down in the middle of the ground and enjoying the feel of it on the back of his manifestation. (It's a water spirit thing.)

     "Mmmm, wonder what all the commotion'sh about," Lanval murmurs as he continues to lay there. It's loud, it's kind of getting heated, and problems are sure about to arise but he's not sure how or why it's a problem or what anyone intends to do about it. He figures it's not his business, so he just keeps laying down there with this big silly novelty beer lens glasses on.

     Meanwhile, people are arguing over who's going to go get the portly fellow lying down to get out of the way so that any of them can get through.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

The war between Althena's Guard and Yevon had really limited Yulie's ability to explore Spira. So many angry, armed adults about... if it wasn't the actual risk of a battle breaking out that stopped her, it was her own fears, which meant she didn't get a whole lot of traveling done. But now that the fighting has ended, she can now try to see the parts of Spira that were blocked from her before.

The Thunder Plains are... a questionable place to start, perhaps, but they were one of the places that experienced fighting the most, which means they're now New and Different.

...Unfortunately, it seems like quite a few others have had the same exact idea she had, as there's currently two opposing groups trying to argue over who gets to go first.

"Ah... please calm down, everyone..." Yulie protests. "I'm sure we can come to a reasonable agreement... Only by working and cooperating with each other can we achieve peace..."

That's something she's learned from Calucion's Journeys, the book she's currently holding close to herself. ...Unfortunately, she's a rather quiet sort, so she can hardly be heard over the din of arguing voices that are really giving her a headache. But she still tries, possibly fruitlessly, to help them come to an agreement...

DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Calucion's Journeys toward her party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - But We Just Got Here! *>=====================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There is no other way between Macalania and Guadosalam on foot save for the
 Thunder Plains. Wracked by an eternal storm, the route is a treacherous one,
 but fortunately the presence of the lightning towers makes the passage
 somewhat easier on travelers.

 Once a lingering battle here between Yevon and Althena's forces had made the
 passage impossible for the average Spiran, but the way is now clear--

 Or rather, would be clear if there weren't a crowd of pilgrims and merchants
 blocking the transition area into the Thunder Plains proper. There has been
 a disagreement about which group gets to head in first with the guide and
 everything has ground to a standstill.

 Unless you can resolve this somehow, you're probably not going anywhere in a
 hurry, either.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 1 *>===================
======================< Results - But We Just Got Here! >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          0 --(16)--> 16                 Fail
Soylent Nutribar                    2   Wits    Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Amber Tinted Glasses                3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yue Rohay                           0 --(16)--> 16                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yulie Ahtreide                      0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Calucion's Journeys                 1   Wits    Effects: Fanfare and Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.

    Chocobos, as it happens...
    ...are very interested in nutrient bars. But they're less interested in only being offered a piece of a nutrient bar (especially balled up and thrown in a direction that they're not interested in heading in), particularly when there's much more bar to be had in the hands of the one 'offering'.

    "Hey. It's over there," he tells the chocobo, pointing where he threw it. "Not over here. ...Wait, what are you-- no, stop!"

    The chocobo is unpersuaded.

    The sad turn of events ends with Loren, pinned to the ground by the bird, as it eats his nutrient bar. ...The situation might not be that much more favorable for the caravan that comes along with the bird, though. ...Or Yue, who is riding along with it.

    By contrast, Yulie's calm and quiet approach seems to work as the moves through the crowd. At long last, at the entrance to the Thunder Plains, she finds the real cause of the blockage.

    ...It's Lanval. This may be a fairly easily-solved problem.

DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Bridge of the One Hair *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Getting around the Thunder Plains can be a little bit tricky. Sticking to
 the roads is usually safe, but sometimes -- due to monsters or a
 malfunctioning lightning tower -- this just isn't possible. You've been
 forced off the road.

 Fortunately, when the Warrior Monks had been fighting here they had set out
 some bridges across some of the shallow ravines using left-over planks.

 Unfortunately, the particular bridge you've come across is exactly one plank
 in width. It's going to be a balancing act to cross this one safely.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
[OOC] Loren Voss says, "bluray 'as she works through the crowd'"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval opens up one eye half-lidded to Yulie as she draws near. "Heyyyy there, how ya doin'," Lanval asks. This is a problem that is fairly easily-solved!

     POST-PROBLEM PRESENT PROBLEM

     ...Come to think of it, this header is only about 2/3rds right, because this is post-another problem, involving a lightning tower everyone here is familiar with no longer being operational, because apparently at some point late in the hostilities a very creative Earth Mage on the Althena's Guard side decided uprooting it and flinging it at heathens was a wonderful idea. (It was, in that it won the engagement. For the lightning. The lightning has dedicated this victory to itself since. Lightning knows how to party and celebrate. It does it by being bright and loud. LIGHTNING 2038070725307, NON-LIGHTNING ZILCH.)

     So it is post-problem, post-post-problem, pre-present problem. Ugh.

     THE PROBLEM

     The necessary detour takes them about shallow ravines, in which Lanval has staggered on ahead because at this point why not (here's why not - the lightning, but shh).

     "Mmmm," Lanval opens up both his eyes half-way to look at the ground in front of him. "...Planksh." Planks! Thanks, planks. Nobody wants to fall into any ravines, and they also want to get places... and the next available opportunity to get back to the main established 'road' for the Thunder Plains involves walking further out among these shallow ravines, deeper into not-Tower'd territory, so they're just going to have to travel on planks.

     It's not clear if he's for or against the idea, but it's a narrow and precarious walk. Sometimes there's only a plank between one and perdition, as he has a seat and gets out a kiseru-style smoking pipe to have a drag. Of bubbles.

     Now there's bubbles between a plank and perdition. (Maybe the bubbles are also perdition. They're bubbles.)

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Bridge of the One Hair.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    There's some Zeboim-era cursing (which Lanval might curiously detect as the Ancient Tongue) happening inside the carriage as it jostles somewhat violently thanks to the chocobo getting very interested in Loren's snackoos. Always keep your snackoos around. And don't pelt chocobos with them.

    Yue tumbles out and grouses, "<What was that?? I'm sleeping-->" before pausing and blinking. "Oh, Yulie? Loren? And... Lanval, was it not?"

    She pushes her hood down with a sigh, and tosses her pilgrim coat aside. She has her own regular black coat underneath, so you could somewhat say she's a bit of a turn coat.

    Yue ends up following the group, in part because the caravan finds out and shoos her away; there's a faint sigh as she looks up to the lightning tower and looks towards their plank problem.

    "I'm not sure if I should give them points for trying, or give demerits for making it even more workplace-unsafe..." Yue sighs, before tying her hair up in a cute side-ponytail. Today's scrunchie is black with polkadots with a gold trim.

DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Cute Scrunchie toward her party's challenge, Bridge of the One Hair.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie is pleased that the people here seem willing to listen to reason. Fortunately, the problem is worked out before long - the problem being, well, Lanval.

"Ah... hello, Mister Lanval..." Yulie greets politely. Indeed - this is a problem easily solved, and soon enough she's left with those here who aren't currently part of any of the caravans.

"Miss Yue... it's good to see you again." Yulie replies with a small smile. "And..."

She looks at Loren. ...She doesn't recognise him, though, even if a part of her thinks he looks familiar.

Oh well. It's probably for the best.

She follows along with the others, until eventually a malfunctioning lightning tower forces them off the road. Unfortunately, it looks like the only way across is... a rather thin plank. Yulie grimaces a little. Balance has never been a specialty of hers.

She looks toward the others for guidance, noting the way Yue ties up her hair.

"Your scrunchies are always so cute, Miss Yue... where do you get them?" Yulie asks, as she starts to carefully make her way across the plank. She is genuinely curious, but it's also a convenient way to distract herself from looking down. It's not like it's a very long drop, but it wouldn't be pleasant... at least Lanval's bubbles are there to catch her.

DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Bridge of the One Hair.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren, eventually, manages to escape the chocobo (fortunately before it discovers the rest of his stash of nutritional bars and eats those, too) but not before someone he recognizes--

    Which is to say, Yue!

    --calls him by his real name. "Aren't you..."

    At which point the caravan master had had some words with him about messing with his bird.

    NOW

    He'd ended up accompanying the other three mostly out necessity. Traveling on the road is a little dicey, just because the master of that caravan keeps giving him a stare that could drop most at thirty paces when he gets too close (and they're traveling... pretty slowly). So, it'd been off and onto the roads less traveled, and then...

    "Can't we go around?"

    It's not all bad, though. That girl who did that strange summoning arte in the Ethos Headquarters is here, and he's just been granted a rich opportunity to observe her at close range.

    Apparently, though, they can't go around. Frowning, he begins to make his way across. He goes slowly, trying not to trip or overbalance. ...It's a lot harder than it looks.

    "That better not be mud," he mutters, making the mistake of glancing down the one time.

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Bridge of the One Hair.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Bridge of the One Hair *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Getting around the Thunder Plains can be a little bit tricky. Sticking to
 the roads is usually safe, but sometimes -- due to monsters or a
 malfunctioning lightning tower -- this just isn't possible. You've been
 forced off the road.

 Fortunately, when the Warrior Monks had been fighting here they had set out
 some bridges across some of the shallow ravines using left-over planks.

 Unfortunately, the particular bridge you've come across is exactly one plank
 in width. It's going to be a balancing act to cross this one safely.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 2 *>===================
======================< Results - Bridge of the One Hair >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          16 --(0)--> 16                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Bubble Pipe                         3   Agility Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yue Rohay                           16 --(0)--> 16                 Pass
Cute Scrunchie                      2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yulie Ahtreide                      0 --(0)--> 0                   Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Stupify(1)
Effects:
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval picks up the Ancient Tongue complaining - but he doesn't speak up on it (yet). That's in the past. "Yep," he says neutrally to Yue, confirming it - noticeably less warm and friendly to her than he is to Yulie.

     STILL IN THE PRESENT

     It's not a great foothold, but it is a foothold, and Yue is able to just walk across it no problem. (Which is good, because those bubbles edge away from her as she walks.) Yulie, if she desires, has a bubble to catch her if she does slip, but that's still kind of scary because it is a fair bit rainy and heavily lightning-y out here. It's the Thunder Plains, after all, and it still hasn't gotten over how awesome it was that the lightning tower got uprooted and flung some time back. (It doesn't get over anything, it's lightning, it's going to have some excuse to thunder out a cheer about something.)

     Loren glances down, and wonders if it might be mud. Optionally, he may discover that it is, indeed, mud. He may also be happy to discover Lanval is willing to lift him up out of the mud with a bubble if he so chooses, but that does not change that he has to live with the forbidden truth of knowing that within the shallow ravine... was mud.

     muuuuuuuuuuuuuudddddddddddddd

     What isn't muddy: the way forward, one would hope towards the usual route with lightning towers that are still there.

DG: Yue Rohay has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>=======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Battlefield Debris *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You've come across the remains of one of many battlefields left by the
 conflict between Yevon and Althena's faithful. Much of the debris has been
 buried by mud or claimed by others, but some weapons and other items still
 look salvageable.

 It's the weapons that are the problem. Said weapons are, of course, largely
 metallic.

 The storm that rages across the Thunder Plains is, of course, still very
 much in play.

 If you want to claim anything left behind here, you're going to have to do
 it /quickly/.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "Yulie," Yue nods quietly, scratching her nose for a moment and smiling quietly. Then, she's a little taken aback when Yulie compliments her on her scrunchies and asks where she gets them.

    "Ah-- well, I actually buy one every town or village I come across. No matter where you go, there's demand for things to tie hair up with..." she explains. "So I have a bit of a collection."

    ELSEWHERE

    A glove box on the Aura pops open and belches out innumerable amounts of scrunchies. It's a darn hoard, is what it is.

    HERE

    Yue doesn't seem to mind Lanval being distant. They've kinda settled into a 'you do you, I'll do me' kinda routine, it seems. "Also--"

    The Veruni peers closer to the Solarian young man and nudges Yulie's way. "Don't think about doing anything. I'm watching you," she warns in a lower tone.

    Of course, if anyone asks if she's ended up feeling like she has to protect Yulie, she'll huffily deny it...

    She does, at least, give Loren a helping hand up along with the bubbles, since it turns out -- uh -- there's a lot of weapons hidden under that mud.

    "... that's always war's toll, isn't it," Yue grouses quietly as she picks a broken blade out of the mud and tosses it somewhere a bit more out of the way. "No one ever comes to clean things up. Kids die stepping on land mines, you know...."

DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Cute Scrunchie toward her party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Suddenly, what's going on down in the shallow ravine seems a whole lot more interesting than why they were crossing it to begin with, and as things trend towards the direction of joining Loren in his misery (and maybe even adding to it), somewhere in all of the digging for weapons, shows up... Lanval, who is now lounging atop a slow-moving flat-bodied creepy hollow rubber horse, which is as ghastly as it sounds. Watery power courses around its underside, courtesy of Lanval, who currently has his hand dangling inside the mud.

     "Mmmm." He leans over and pulls out a flute. HE blinks a few times. "Who even ushes a flute ash a weapon?" He tosses it somewhere, digs around for...

     "...who ushesh a haircomb ash a weapon?"

     This goes on for a while.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bouyant Steed toward his party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren, for his part, gives Yue the biggest 'what? what did I do' look possible. He wasn't thinking about doing anything! Well, this time. ...Other than taking notes for his ominously-intented superiors on Yulie, that is. Come to think of it, Yue's reaction might just be a reasonable one...

    Still, let it be said that when Loren inevitably plummets into the drink (the drink in this case being mud) she's on hand -- along with the bubbles, for some reason? -- lend him a hand up.
    Though while he's gotten more gracious generally, he doesn't express any of it her way. Rather in fact, he glowers her way and searches about for a clean cloth in his bag for his glasses. He is of course rather caked in mud, which is definitely putting a damper on his mood.

    "Gah!"

    As is the sudden reappearance of that thing. That... terrifying equine monstrosity. Stumbling backwards, Loren backs into a sword.

    No, not like that. The pointy end is in the mud.

    "What's all this junk? Did they just," and he pulls the blade free from the muck, "leave all this, oh shit is that thunder."

    This may go badly.

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie doesn't seem to notice how cool Lanval is toward Yue. Maybe she thinks they just don't know each other very well...? Nor does she notice the way Yue subtly warns Loren.

"Oh! So, it's like you have a little souvenir from everyplace you've been... That's wonderful." Yulie reasons, at Yue's response.

Unfortunately, Yulie does end up falling into the ravine... but, at least she has a soft bubble to break her fall. She immediately scrambles her way toward Lanval's mount for safety. She's not particularly interested in claiming weapons lost from war...

...though, she will follow Yue's example and try to extract some of the sharper, more dangerous looking ones so that no one gets hurt on them.

"I guess so..." Yulie murmurs, with a glance toward Loren. "Once they were done, they saw no reason to go back..."

She nods Yue's way.

"...War always leaves scars like this..." She murmurs in agreement. ...It's sad, and it might be even worse to hear it from someone so young.

DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>=======================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Battlefield Debris *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You've come across the remains of one of many battlefields left by the
 conflict between Yevon and Althena's faithful. Much of the debris has been
 buried by mud or claimed by others, but some weapons and other items still
 look salvageable.

 It's the weapons that are the problem. Said weapons are, of course, largely
 metallic.

 The storm that rages across the Thunder Plains is, of course, still very
 much in play.

 If you want to claim anything left behind here, you're going to have to do
 it /quickly/.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
==================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 3 *>==================
=======================< Results - Battlefield Debris >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          16 --(15)--> 31                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       0 --(7)--> 7                   Pass
Bouyant Steed                       1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yue Rohay                           16 --(7)--> 23                 Pass
Cute Scrunchie                      2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yulie Ahtreide                      0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  40 --(15)--> 55                Fail
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Tire(2)|Treasure(1)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Yue Rohay has posed.

    Yue spends just a bit of time staring fully at Lanval's rubber horse, but shakes her head and looks aside and keeps on picking at the random weapons where she can find them. Lanval finds a flute and haircomb and maybe a megaphone and kedama and--

    Maybe it's not scars of war, but some merchant caravan exploding here.

    Loren backs into a sword. It's fine, it's a cutscene, so all he'll get is cool half-demon powers and... oh, it doesn't work like that? Alas...

    "Mmm, yes... when you put it that way, it sounds more remarkable, doesn't it?" Yue responds to Yulie.

    ... it takes a while to pull weapons and goofy things out of the mud, and honestly, in the end, while muxing and mooing through it, they don't get much more than mushy weaponry at the end.

    ... that was tiring. And now they're significantly more muddy.

DG: Yulie Ahtreide has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>=======================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Tower Patch Job *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Long ago, the towers were built with the aim of permitting safe passage
 across the plains in spite of the storm.

 As the increased difficulty in crossing suggests, the state of the towers is
 a bit of a sorry one, as the one you approach now can attest. Lightning
 strikes the ground about it, seemingly shirking the tower altogether, and
 it's not hard to see why -- paneling hangs loose. Certain key segments
 appear to be cracked and broken.

 The damage doesn't seem too severe, though, and it's within reach -- perhaps
 you could do a patch job on this tower, mysterious ancient technology or
 not.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

It's hard work, but important... even if, ultimately, they don't get anything out of it - especially with all the nearby lightning strikes attracted to them.

Although... come to think of it, isn't there a lightning tower nearby that should be protecting them? When they push forward, they soon come across one - and in the process, see exactly what the problem is.

The lightning tower ahead of them is in a poor state - cracked and broken in some places, and paneling hanging loose in others...

"I guess... that explains why it's been so difficult lately..." Yulie observes. She looks between everyone gathered. "Do you think... we might be able to do something about it...?"

They're a capable group of travelers, right? If they can do something that would help others, they have to try... at least, that's what her teachings tell her. And it'll make their passage forward that much easier, too.

DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Calucion's Journeys toward her party's challenge, Lightning Tower Patch Job.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    There's a scant sigh as Yue looks up towards the broken tower, and even a cursory glance tells her that this was probably caused by a combination of neglect and lack of maintenance, somewhat poor planning of positioning and resourcing-- does Spira even have a civil council to approve of urban planning and design??

    This goes on for a bit longer until Yulie asks if they can do something about it. "What? No, likely not, we do not even have--"

    She catches that look the Paladienne gives her.

    "... ... ..."

    Yue's errant cowlick wilts as she grouses, "Oh, fine, I can take a look... it's not that different from restoring a server, right?"

    Whatever a server is. Maybe Loren knows the pain.

    The Veruni starts messing with the consoles, before thinking that actual physical engineering is way out of her scope of expertise when she's more of a computer nerd... whyyyy did this slacking off day become so mired in hard labour?!?!?!

DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lightning Tower Patch Job.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    "Shome ridiculoush shtuff, gotta shay," says Lanval, who wields a drinking gourd as his weapon of choice. (Even if one can charitably call it a mace, it's still out there!) He drifts out of that mud before anything untoward happens involving the lightning, but there's always something untoward about the continued existence of... THAT THING.

     let us never mention it again (tonight)

     "Mmmm," Lanval looks up as Yulie suggests they can - and should! - do something to help with this lightning tower. It's the lifeline of those who have to travel through here (themselves included), and so many of them have fallen into further disrepair or ruin due to the hostilities and short-sighted actions of those waging war.

     "Wait. Waaaaaait. I think I shee it, yep!" Lanval puts on a big dumb smile as he has his novelty glasses on, which do not make him look smart at all and also one of the lens fell out a while back. (It always does.)

     Somehow, could this 500-plus-year-old water spirit, whose life never had much of anything to do with engineering, technology, or that ilk... found a way to fix the problem? To fix its failing foundation, its exposed paneling, the lean of the structure, the...

     He wills some water up in the middle of this rainstorm to wash away some dirt and grime on some of the more intact paneling.

     "There!" He smiles, eyes closed. "That oughtta do it! Thanksh fer bringin' it up, Yulie. Now everyone can shee their face in it...!"

     ...

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Lightning Tower Patch Job.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren is very quick to drop that sword, let us say, and is a little loathe to look further in the muck. Needless to say, he doesn't find much else.

    "I don't remember it being this bad last time," he says, once they make their way out of the ravine. At least the steady rain will fix the 'covered in mud' problem, but then he has a separate issue, which is 'being soaked to the skin'.

    He really is an idiot, he considers, once more.

    "That tower's busted," he says, considering the structure there in the near distance. "No wonder. Well--"

    Yulie is heading towards the tower.

    "...Seriously," Loren says, only to shake his head and sigh. "Well, if the lightning's not striking the tower, it's not going to be worse over there..."

    Speaking of servers! Pulling out a device from his bag, he attempts to run some (makeshift version of) system diagnostics on it. "Looks like this part's loose, which I guess means isn't making... the power flow through it right? Huh."

    He stands there looking expectantly at the others for a moment. ...Then sort of starts to wilt, particularly when Lanval makes his own contribution. "You're kidding me."

    The physical labor part of repairs is also a little bit outside of Loren's wheelhouse, too.

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool MediScan v7 toward his party's challenge, Lightning Tower Patch Job.
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>=======================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Tower Patch Job *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Long ago, the towers were built with the aim of permitting safe passage
 across the plains in spite of the storm.

 As the increased difficulty in crossing suggests, the state of the towers is
 a bit of a sorry one, as the one you approach now can attest. Lightning
 strikes the ground about it, seemingly shirking the tower altogether, and
 it's not hard to see why -- paneling hangs loose. Certain key segments
 appear to be cracked and broken.

 The damage doesn't seem too severe, though, and it's within reach -- perhaps
 you could do a patch job on this tower, mysterious ancient technology or
 not.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
==================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 4 *>==================
===================< Results - Lightning Tower Patch Job >====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          31 --(0)--> 31                 Pass
MediScan v7                         3   Wits    Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       7 --(0)--> 7                   Pass
Amber Tinted Glasses                3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yue Rohay                           23 --(0)--> 23                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yulie Ahtreide                      15 --(0)--> 15                 Pass
Calucion's Journeys                 1   Wits    Effects: Fanfare and Stalwart
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  55 --(20)--> 75                Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2)
Effects:
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie beams as everyone chips in! Even Lanval's contribution gets a smile. It might not make the tower work any better... but it does at least make it look nicer, and isn't that just as important?

Everyone else gets to work, and between Yue and Loren it soon becomes clear that the damage isn't too serious - it's nothing they'd need dedicated tools for, at least. Some grounding equipment might be helpful... but they don't have any, so they'll have to do without.

Yulie might not know how to fix it herself, but she does take direction pretty well from those who actually know what they're doing, catching on quick to what she needs to do.

And soon enough, between all of them, the tower seems to be back in working order. Yulie takes several steps away from the tower, both to get clear of it and to take a good look at it... and soon enough, lightning strikes! It hits the tower, leaving everyone spared.

"Thank you, everyone... I'm sorry to have asked this of you so suddenly, but I'm sure it'll be a big help in the future..." Yulie says politely.

DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Who Could Have Done This? *>===================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 According to your map/directions/guide/roadsigns/what-have-you, this
 /should/ be taking you close to one of the exits to the Thunder Plains, but
 all /you/ see is the aftermath of some sort of massive landslide.

 Did the rains cause this? Except, no, the outcropping instead looks like it
 sustained some heavy damage sometime in the recent past. In fact, are those
 the remains of Yevon and Althenian war machines poking out of the mud...

 Well, regardless of the precise reason why, you're going to have to clear
 yourself a path, one way or another. It's brutal work, especially in this
 rain.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Fortunately, the patch job is the sort of thing that once diagnosed, doesn't need specialized tools to resolve. Even more fortunately: no one gets zapped, which becomes critically important when, shortly after they patch the tower, it gets struck dead-on by lightning.

    "Geez," Loren remarks, pocketing the device surreptitiously. "I don't wanna do that again." If he'd been just a few minutes slower, would he have gotten a nasty zap for his pains? ...Again?

    Still, it at least makes the movement away from the tower a little better. The lightning strikes seem a little less often than they'd been, prior, though it's still raining hard.

    "I think the road was around here somewhere. It seems kind of familiar," Loren muses, looking this way and that. "In fact, wasn't it right around... here?" That nearby plateau in particular looks really familiar. But he's not seeing an exit.

    Oh. That's why. ...that's a lot of mud. That's a lot of war machine and weapon-riddled mud. "Huh, was there a mudslide during the..."

    Loren's expression goes carefully, carefully neutral, then, as he has the sort of realization that today's problems are the result of yesterday's actions.

    "...Okay," he says, because what else can you say to this? "Guess we've gotta... deal with it."

    If the mud begins to start to slide a little bit to either side (sort of like the parting of a muddy sea?) surely it's just a result of local conditions, somehow.

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Who Could Have Done This?.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "... that's a nice tool. What's it got -- remote scanning... electronics reading? No, more than that, it's got wireless signal tracing and packet sniffing, doesn't it? Does it do on-the-fly decryption?" Yue's eyes all but light up when Loren makes the mistake (??) of procuring the diagnostic tool. "I miss those... they used to have very good ones downtown--"

    A pause.

    She clears her throat. She does, at least, preen a little on Lanval's shiny mirror. See? It helps!

    Yue exits with the others, staring towards where... the road once was. Now, there's an enormous pile of war machine and weapons and mud.

    "... aah," Yue sighs quietly. "I want eclairs for this work."

    The Veruni focuses, drawing to a three-point stance... and then--

    *TSHIING*

    Yup, there's one of those screen splits as she tries to make a mountain into a molehill.

DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Zantetshoeken toward her party's challenge, Who Could Have Done This?.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval considers his work a job well done! Then his hairs stand on end as lightning strikes it, making him look a bit frazzled (even though it was a near-miss, thanks to the hard work of others). He half-blinks a few times before reasserting at least a modicum of dignity for what his station is, being that he speaks for the water of a world he is currently not on for some reason! (Drifters gonna drift.)

     "Mmm, yeah... thish ushed ta be a way out, 'm shure of it," Lanval scratches away at his chin as he takes a seat and thinks on it. Lots of things change around him all the time and sometimes he's not clear on how far back it was that something was something else, and he's been through here a fair number of times (as many Drifters have). "Mmmph. Well," he stands back up and starts to open his eyes to a brilliant aquamarine. Just as he opens his mouth...

     *TSHIING*

     He's mostly going to watch it all split clean. (Dirty, maybe? It is a huge pile of mud and rock.)

DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Who Could Have Done This?.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

As they move forward, they suddenly find themselves face-to-face with a massive landslide. Yulie regards it with surprise.

"What happened here...?" She asks. ...It's probably best if she doesn't know. Still, she can see that it's a problem. There's no way they're moving forward with that kind of obstruction in the way.

"I can try to help..." Yulie says, rummaging through her things. Eventually, she draws out a gem glimmering with an orange-ish light - an Earth Gem, infused with the leftover power of an earth-based spell.

As Yue goes to try to just split the obstruction in half, Yulie draws the power from the gem and directs it outward in a burst of raw power, looking to blast away whatever's left standing in their way.

DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Magic Gem toward her party's challenge, Who Could Have Done This?.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Who Could Have Done This? *>===================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 According to your map/directions/guide/roadsigns/what-have-you, this
 /should/ be taking you close to one of the exits to the Thunder Plains, but
 all /you/ see is the aftermath of some sort of massive landslide.

 Did the rains cause this? Except, no, the outcropping instead looks like it
 sustained some heavy damage sometime in the recent past. In fact, are those
 the remains of Yevon and Althenian war machines poking out of the mud...

 Well, regardless of the precise reason why, you're going to have to clear
 yourself a path, one way or another. It's brutal work, especially in this
 rain.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Overzealous======================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 5 *>===================
====================< Results - Who Could Have Done This? >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          31 --(101)--> 132              Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       7 --(101)--> 108               Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yue Rohay                           23 --(101)--> 124              Pass
Zantetshoeken                       4   Brute   Effects: something
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yulie Ahtreide                      15 --(101)--> 116              Pass
Magic Gem                           2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  75 --(15)--> 90                Fail
Conditions: Injure(1)|Overzealous(2)|Reckless(1)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Seraph Lanval is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Yue Rohay is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Yulie Ahtreide is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over.
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Thunder Plains - Wild Road!
DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>========================
===========<* CHALLENGE - Does This Mean There Will Be a Cutscene? *>===========
|Type: Landmark    |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 That was a trek through the plains that could have gone much, much better.
 Still, you're through to the other side, and wouldn't you know it! There's
 the sun, breaking through the clouds.

 And even better, considering your recent fortunes, there's a roadside
 traveler's inn. You're in luck, too -- they're offering you a night's stay.
 For free. On the house.

 Why? Maybe they're just happy to be in business again. Maybe you helped the
 owner out somehow, once. Maybe they just like your face. However you slice
 it, it's a free bed.

 Are you in?
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    He's incredulous as Yue asks after his medical scanner. "What? What are you talking about, it's just a medical--"

    Here is the part where Loren starts to not-so-metaphorically sweat. "...nothing, nothing at all." He starts to try to sidle away from Yue. Surreptitiously.

    At least the problem that presents itself in the form of the condition of the road might be a good distraction?

    "Let's see..." Loren mutters, trying to amp (except without a literal Ether Amp) up his control of local conditions, frowning as he focuses mightily...!

    The mud erupts upwards, in a sort of horrible mud geyser. Loren has exactly two seconds to regard it with shock and dismay, before suddenly...!

    It's an earth pillar alright. Most of the mud doesn't touch him. And the rest of it is

    cut
                            in half.

    Quite neatly.

    ...Even if it comes spattering down again in a slightly dirty rain. It's just spread across this whole area instead of piled high in one spot! But hey, the road's clear.

    It might be some sort of relief to various parties that a conveniently-placed inn soon presents itself.
    Rooms on the house, even. ...Did the owner see what they just did and want to congratulate them for it? Or is something else afoot?

    Loren, as paranoid as he tends to be, considers the advantages of a bath and a brief nap.

    "...Sure."

    The nap wins.