2021-07-09: Guards, Not Guardians

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  • Log: 2021-07-09: Guards, Not Guardians
  • Cast: Pearl, Day Muirwall, Kaguya, White Knight Leo, Hilde, Skylr Paer
  • Where: Zanarkand Ruins
  • Date: July 09, 2021
  • Summary: Althena's Guard make their way into Zanarkand. But with a Summoner in their midst, are they Guards or Guardians?

=============================<* Zanarkand Ruins *>==============================

Zanarkand was once a thriving metropolis on the northernmost point of Spira - now it is a testament to the folly of a people long since dead. It is also the source of Spira's only hope.

The ruins of Zanarkand are thousands of years old, yet much of the crumbling infrastructure still stands, laid out in an unusual, enduring stone. Pyreflies flock to the location, lighting up the area and dancing among the shallow waves. The greatest concentration can be found in the heart of the ruins, in a giant dome - the pyreflies are so strong there that the entire area is almost like a sphere. Memories thought buried can resurface, given voice and physical form, only to vanish a few moments later.

At the centre of the dome is said to lie the end of a Summoner's Pilgrimage - the means to obtain Final Aeon and slay Sin. 

BGM: Final Fantasy X - To Zanarkand
DG: A party led by Pearl is now entering Ruins of Zanarkand.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route *>================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The gateway to Zanarkand is Gagazet Cave, a cavern in the foothills just      
 north of Mount Gagazet. This short cavern is a dangerous place, where cold    
 and biting winds blow, and more than a few pilgrims have lost their lives.    
 It serves as the first obstacle.                                              
                                                                               
 The path you find drops down into water. It seems that, to get ahead, you     
 will need to swim through a dangerous underwater corridor. Once you leap      
 down, things grow even more complicated. A few distant monsters, elemental    
 creatures known as Achelous, send forth a sonic attack -- that will hurl you  
 forward. As you swim, they send blasts of sonic force at you, which move      
 even faster underwater.                                                       
                                                                               
 Fortunately, on the other side, there is a cave entrance... and the towering  
 ruins of Zanarkand await.                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Exhaust============================================
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Gagazet Cave. The last obstacle before Zanarkand itself. Freezing cold, harsh. As though the summoners have not had hard enough a journey. And as though any thief or raider would not have been dissuaded by this point.

    Pearl leads the way, huddled in her cloak, Leo Jr bouncing along at her side. She knows they don't follow her, of course. Who would, but her Guardians- one at her side, and one watching quietly out of sight. *And they shouldn't.*

    Pearl stops at the water and looks deep down into it. There's something moving in there, she can tell. "This is the only way forward, I think. But there is something down there." She takes a second to think."...You can swim, can't you?" She says, looking down at Leo Jr.

    "Pukyuuu!" He says, with a firm little nod. Pearl seems satisfied with that, She looks forward, wishing she knew more about the path but there was very little in the teachings she saw about the journey this far ahead. She looks over tothe people who had come this far, to help Lady Yuna. To Leo, more than anyone else. Should she have told him what she did? Put that information in his hands? What had he told the Guard, if anything?

    She shakes her head. She can't think about this now. She unclasps her cloak, revealing her summoners garb- Dark blue kimono style robes, with long flowing sleeves and light blue embellishments, made of light fabric for Spira's weather with a long matching skirt and simple sandals. Similar to what she wore as Ena, but not the same. The main thing it does is hide her many scars.

    "I will go first," she says, tucking her cloak into her pack- to try and stop it getting wet. And then she dives in, Leo Jr jumping immediately after her. The fishlike elements make themselves known immediately, bouncing people around with their sonic blasts and sending them at speed. Pearl slings out her Grapnel. It's less effective underwater, but it will still work for her purpose- redirecting the Achelous to boost the group through the water as best she can.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wrist-Mounted Grapnel toward her party's challenge, Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Daillan Muirwall would give his eyeteeth for a cup of hot cocoa right about now, thank you very much.

Even his heavy cloak can't stave off the chill that's sunk into his plate mail. Day shivers beneath it, looking back towards Vess - Guingryph's there too, entirely nervous and unsettled about being led through even a short cavern. The idea of wading through the water is even worse, and the horse grumbles and recoils a little.

"Easy," Day murmurs, resting a hand on the back of Guingryph's neck. "We will get through this, alright?"

That's when Pearl takes her cloak off. Day presses his lips together and exhales through his nose, realizing that Pearl's not the only one who's going to have to get wet.

"I rust," he points out grimly before sighing and stepping back. He reaches back - and then realizes something.

"Please look away," he says in an abashed voice, his cheeks colouring as he glances at Skylr.

It is actually not an indecent thing that happens. Day manages to shed most of the platemail, but there's still a quilted layer of padded armour beneath. He grimaces and wraps his cloak around himself, and that too is exchanged in the most private way possible for a long-sleeved tunic and slacks. Soaking his underlayer would not do him any good. The armour ends up in Guingryph's packs, secure from being drenched on the trip over.

Still blushing, Day dives into the water after Pearl - and immediately gets blasted along by one of the Achelous. He bubbles something in surprise but manages to twist away from damage, grabbing ahold of the Chiro Tail still tucked at his waist.

Even underwater, the magic works. The young knight swims as quickly as he can, attempting to come up as close to the other end of the cave as possible.

"Good luck," Vess calls before going back to painstakingly floating an uncomfortable warhorse over the water on a bed of air. It takes way too much work for her to do it for anyone but Guingryph.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Shiro's Tail toward his party's challenge, Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

To be fair, one could class them as raiders, thinking about it. Kaguya is not going to say she's here to help Yuna specifically; she would rather say she's here because of Seymour. Or lots of reasons. She's good at reasons. But they definitely have nothing to do with Yuna.

"Really going in on this Summoner thing, huh..." Kaguya and Pearl still need to talk. "Nice outfit, I guess."

Kaguya is cold. She's not talking about being cold, though; the containment suit isn't perfectly sealed, and thus isn't helping the cold all that much, but she'll just have to deal with it.

...If not for the circumstances Kaguya would absolutely tease Day about all of this, but he's being blasted and he's had a bad time so she's nice this time. This time. For now.

"Heheheh. Flying horse." Kaguya, of course, makes use of her breathing mask to handle being underwater, and that's pretty much just how that goes.

...She might get bumped around a bit, but whatever, it's fine.

"Super cold bullshit coooold," Kaguya declares.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Last night, Leo made a promise to Pearl, to Leviathan, and to himself. He would see Yuna safely to the end of her Pilgrimage, and then return to Pentagulia to cleanse the rot in its core. To say his resolve is shaken is an understatement--some of what she told him tore at the very foundations of his beliefs--but like Mount Gagazet itself, he endures. As he follows Pearl into the caves, he can't help but wonder if any of his ancestors were Guardians, long ago.

    "It's not frozen," Leo says, peering into the clear, crisp pool before them. That doesn't mean it's not deathly cold, of course. It will only leech precious heat from their bodies. But Leo Jr. provides a spark of optimism, and his namesake smiles. "You're right," he says, reaching down to pat Leo Jr.'s fronds. "We can't give up here. But we'll need to dry off, quickly, once we reach the other side." Thankfully, they have a skilled healer, a wind mage, and one of Althena's own Wind Seraphim--all that's left to account for is...

    The Fiends. Leo frowns, spotting the swirling elements as Pearl intrudes on their domain. The White Knight pulls a length of knotted rope from his belt, and ties one end around his waist. He stretches out his shoulders, clasps his hands, and dives in after her. The cold hits him instantly, like a numbing wave. His ears and fingers and toes start to grow numb as his body reroutes blood to his core. Holding his breath, Leo swims as fast as he can, while trailing the line behind him. If anyone grows too tired, they can grab hold.

    Meanwhile, Leo does his best to dodge the Fiends' shockwaves--it's not easy, and he takes more than a few hits. He's primarily focused on getting to the other side before anyone drowns.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Rope Ladder toward his party's challenge, Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

The time has come for Althena's Guard to make their way to Zanarkand proper. But before that, they must first make their way through Gagazet Cave. Hilde joins the others at the entrance, staring down into the waters through which they must swim.

"Very well, but do be careful." Hilde replies, as Pearl insists on going first. As Pearl dives in Hilde takes a moment to secure her eyepatch to ensure water can't get through it. Once that's done she draws out her Rope Lance and dives in.

She proves to be fairly agile in the water, despite her armor. Even so, besting the Achelous in their natural habitat would be difficult. Still, the Rope Lance proves an excellent deterrent as she jabs it out toward any of the Fiends that get too close to her and her allies as they swim.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Rope Lance toward her party's challenge, Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      "No, but we will be after it." Skylr says to Leo, with a tone of anxiety and sombreness to it that she normally doesn't let him see.
 
      "Here." From her own pack comes a thermos, a different one than normal, but when opened it reveals a bit of steam. "It's not going to taste great." She warns the party. "But drink right before you enter. Please... it's the best I, your healer, may offer." Indeed, tasting the damned thing is like if someone burnt mint, added a bit of chamomile tea, some water, strained out the mint and the chamomile, and then left it sitting til it got reheated. On the flip side, it's certainly adding some pep to a step.
 
      Day asks something, and Skylr blinks for a few minutes , before retreating to Guingryph. She stands behind the horse where she cannot be easily seen, and where she doesn't have to see Day. Stepping out, she secures her pack closed, clad in nothing more than a pair of hose (no sense in getting her boots wet), hair braided up into a bun, a bit of rope attached to her glasses, and a positively scandalous short-sleeved, light brown shift.
 
      "Okay. Off we go."
 
      Skylr doesn't dive or jump into the water so much as she enters and slowly drowns, far behind the rest.

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Galloping Potion toward her party's challenge, Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route *>================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The gateway to Zanarkand is Gagazet Cave, a cavern in the foothills just      
 north of Mount Gagazet. This short cavern is a dangerous place, where cold    
 and biting winds blow, and more than a few pilgrims have lost their lives.    
 It serves as the first obstacle.                                              
                                                                               
 The path you find drops down into water. It seems that, to get ahead, you     
 will need to swim through a dangerous underwater corridor. Once you leap      
 down, things grow even more complicated. A few distant monsters, elemental    
 creatures known as Achelous, send forth a sonic attack -- that will hurl you  
 forward. As you swim, they send blasts of sonic force at you, which move      
 even faster underwater.                                                       
                                                                               
 Fortunately, on the other side, there is a cave entrance... and the towering  
 ruins of Zanarkand await.                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Exhaust============================================
=======================<* Ruins of Zanarkand - Round 1 *>=======================
=================< Results - Gagazet Cave - Underwater Route >==================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               0 --(17)--> 17                 Pass
Wrist-Mounted Grapnel               3   Agility Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        0 --(37)--> 37                 Fail
Shiro's Tail                        2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    0 --(37)--> 37                 Fail
Rope Ladder                         2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          0 --(37)--> 37                 Fail
Galloping Potion                    2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(37)--> 37                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               0 --(17)--> 17                 Pass
Rope Lance                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken              
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Pearl                       0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Slow(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Pearl 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> Pearl has posed.


    The passage is not what one would call easy.

    Which is to say the Achelous bounce everyone around like pinballs. Leo Jr most of all. He smacks into Day's midsection, then off Pearl's back, right into Leo's face, rebounding into Kaguya's leg before one last boost from an Achelous into Hilde's side and ramming into Skylr's stomach. There's a wailing 'FyuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu' the whole time, proving that onions don't need to breath underwater.

    But drastic pulling and pointing and grabbing the less bouyant of the group gets them slowly, painfully to the surface, and a brief bit of ground. Pearl drags herself to the surface, then helps to pull whoevers next up. Her robes are now clinging to her, as is her silver hair, but she doesn't have too much of a figure so it's fine and not scandalous. Leo Jr washes up with swirly eyes and spits out a spout of water like a fountain. Pearl looks around- worried. Since when has she looked worried?

    "Is everyone all right?" She asks, listening for null responses.

DG: White Knight Leo has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Turn On the Lights *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The road you follow leads to a massive stone and steel building. It looks to  
 have once been a massive shopping center, with large doors that are intact    
 and some windows... almost all of which are blown out. A few shards of glass  
 still litter the ground. The building, if you can cross through it, should    
 lead out to the other side.                                                   
                                                                               
 However, it soon grows incredibly dark -- almost pitch black. You can see,    
 in the distance, a few spheres that glitter. If you can find receptacles for  
 them, you may be able to restore power to the building. However, to do so,    
 you will need to navigate the darkness... and find slots to put these         
 spheres in.                                                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Everyone makes it through the alive. That's about the kindest thing Leo can say about the trip through the underwater passage.

    Cold, wet, battered, and thoroughly miserable, the White Knight hauls himself onto the bank, and somehow musters up the energy to crawl a few extra feet to help anyone who might've grabbed his rope line. Water pools onto the stone beneath him as he rolls over onto his back, his chest heaving with exertion. The air might be a little stale here, but it tastes sweeter than any he's ever breathed.

    "'m all--all right," Leo says, his teeth chattering from the cold. It takes effort, but he manages to heave himself upright, and starts wringing out his heavy fur mantle. He gives Day and Vesna a meaningful glance; the air in here is less cold than it was outside, but hypothermia is still a very real danger.

    Once everyone is as dry and warm as they're going to get, Leo raises his hand; his eyes hood, and the air between his fingers begins to glow. At first it looks like he's conjured a swarm of fireflies, but they quickly merge, forming a single, glowing sphere.

    "So this is Zanarkand," the White Knight murmurs. The light glimmers on shattered glass and pitted, corroded metal. Beyond that is darkness. Leo frowns, noticing something glimmering in the distance. "...What is that?" he says, gesturing with his free hand. A moment later: "Watch yourselves. It could be more Fiends."

DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Turn On the Lights.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day pointedly tries not to look at Skylr. He wouldn't dream of being so indecent.

By the time he climbs out of the water, he's sore and shivering, but manages to warm himself up with a little help from both a quick campfire and Vess, who's kind enough to provide a spring breeze that whirls gently around them. They're about as dry and warm as they'll get in no time.

Once again, Day takes cover. It gives him a chance to discreetly re-armour. He's still blushing when he emerges from behind the rockpile he'd hunkered down behind.

They're moving on soon enough, Day with sword and shield in hand. As Leo calls the light to life, Day widens his eyes at the sight of the ruins the light dances from. "This looks much more like something from Filgaia than something from Lunar," he murmurs. "I had no idea a place like this even existed in Spira."

"Let me try something," Vess whispers from Guingryph's saddle. The Wind Seraph focuses a moment, then releases a breath of wind from one palm. Motes of light swirl on that breeze, scattering around the area a little more widely to broaden the field of view.

The light focuses on a group of glittering spheres nearby. With a blink, Day moves to pick one of them up, turning it over in his hand. "I think these are for giving the doors energy," he says, his voice seeming to carry in the low light. "Lady Alathfar, do you know how something like this could work? Could we get the doors open?"

Day's technical know-how is limited to flying his Gear. He suspects Kaguya's a little more tech-savvy.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Vess's Guidance toward his party's challenge, Turn On the Lights.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Bluhhhhh," Kaguya replies to Pearl, which means 'i'm fine' in complaint. "Little guy bounces a lot..." She pulls a small device that starts exuding heat when she cracks the side, rolling it between her hands. After she warms herself a little she hands it over to Leo. "Just hang onto it," she says. "Pass it on when you warm up."

What is it? A mystery.

From tehre, Kaguya looks around thoughtfully, noticing the spheres, and speaking up to answer Day's question. "...Spiran technology uses spheres like this--we need to find a space to place them, and it should activate something. Looks like that applies to Zanarkand tech, too."

"So look around for round slots you could put a sphere into, and when we find them, we'll find the place we need to go. If we look around for lines that could carry electricity..."

Kaguya reaches out to take another of the spheres and examines it, moving it near the walls to see what lights up on her way to finding a space.

"Supposedly, Zanarkand is an ancient 'machina' city. So it makes sense that there'd be higher tech here... Though it's not in great shape. I think this was a shop..."

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Loot Abuse toward her party's challenge, Turn On the Lights.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Deep in the water, Skylr takes an Achelous to the stomach. It takes her breath away, nearly causing her to breath in with a gasp, but a muffled slap of her own hand against her mouth keeps her from being inherently stupid, even as she flails around, eventually grasping for a rope.
 
      Some minutes after everyone else, Leo fishes up a Skylr Paer.
      Hm. A common fish. Throw her back in.
 
      Perhaps too long for Pearl's anxiety, Skylr does breathe, but all she can be heard doing otherwise is incomprehensible mutterings about Metal Demons, never again, becoming a nun, dedicated to the earthen shrines of Althena, anything to keep her from swimming again. She does eventually sit up though, pushing her glasses back into place, shamelessly lifting her shift to look at her bruised stomach, before she absently rolls over to her pack and another pile of debris, reappearing dressed, um... mostly. All that can be told is her fur cloak has reappeared.
 
      "It's ... spherical? So if people used them, we're not looking for anything too far up or too far down - probably something around one's shoulders for the shorter, like me, maybe a bit further down for the taller. It'll be easy to tell since the accepting object will have that half-sphere sort of design to it..." She advises the group, before wheezing faintly. Too much talking after too much water.

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Book of Notes toward her party's challenge, Turn On the Lights.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

"I'm alright." Hilde replies, pulling herself out of the water. She takes a moment to wring some of the water out of her cape before seeing to the others, checking to make sure everyone is alright and on land. The Rope Lance is stored safely away once more, and she takes a moment to rest and warm up.

Eventually, though, it's time to move on and she follows Leo as he leads the group forward, onto a road nearby a building of stone and steel.

"Yes, I was thinking much the same thing..." Hilde agrees, looking toward Day as he comments on the nature of the building. "It is quite the wonder."

It darkens, but she leaves the puzzle-solving to the others. It's not that she's bad at it... but she knows where her specialties lie.

"Indeed." Hilde says with a nod at Leo's warning, drawing her sword. She'll help keep watch, so that the others can focus more easily.

DG: Hilde has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Turn On the Lights.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    Leo's response is not encouraging, but it's a response. And Day is alive even if he ignores Pearl's concerns. *Is that surprising? He can see through you.* Leo Jr let's out an apologetic 'Puu...' to Kaguya. Skylr, however, draws concern and Pearl is over by her. She's not sure what to do- any natural born Spiran would know how to deal with drowning, but Skylr breathes and Pearl breathes out. "...Good, we all made it."

    Thankfully, between Kaguya, Vesna and the Fire, they are dried and warmed, and Pearl has her cloak out again for warmth. As Kaguya explains Pearl nods. "Yevon say that it was Zanarkand's machina that led Sin to destroy it, but that is just the doctrine." She looks at the notches in the dark, and something clicks. "I saw these in Bevelle!" She exclaims, and confirms Kaguya has the right of it. "They tld us these would be in the cloisters, as part of the tests." Not that she had ever been in one. "...I'll see if I can locate one." She's okay in the darkness- a 'benefit' of her life to date. And it gives her a few seconds to think.

    'Really going in on this Summoner thing, huh...'

    When you are freed from who you were, working out who you are can be frightening. Sometimes you cling to what little you have.

DG: Pearl has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Turn On the Lights.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Turn On the Lights *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The road you follow leads to a massive stone and steel building. It looks to  
 have once been a massive shopping center, with large doors that are intact    
 and some windows... almost all of which are blown out. A few shards of glass  
 still litter the ground. The building, if you can cross through it, should    
 lead out to the other side.                                                   
                                                                               
 However, it soon grows incredibly dark -- almost pitch black. You can see,    
 in the distance, a few spheres that glitter. If you can find receptacles for  
 them, you may be able to restore power to the building. However, to do so,    
 you will need to navigate the darkness... and find slots to put these         
 spheres in.                                                                   
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire============================================
=======================<* Ruins of Zanarkand - Round 2 *>=======================
========================< Results - Turn On the Lights >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               17 --(24)--> 41                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        37 --(12)--> 49                Pass
Vess's Guidance                     1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    37 --(24)--> 61                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          37 --(12)--> 49                Pass
Book of Notes                       2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              37 --(12)--> 49                Pass
Loot Abuse                          2   Wits    Effects: Stalwart             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               17 --(24)--> 41                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Pearl                       15 --(15)--> 30                Fail
Conditions: Slow(1)|Stupify(2)|Tire(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Pearl 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: Day Muirwall has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Odessa Troops *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Unsent can sometimes be seen around Zanarkand. Most remain distant -- lost    
 souls, trapped here and in poor state to grapple with their existence -- but  
 occasionally one draws closer. You might think the people in the distance     
 are these.                                                                    
                                                                               
 But they're not. The individuals in the approaching group wear the olive      
 drab and black garb of Odessa soldiers, and carry the Filgaia-made gunsmoke   
 ARMs that they carried in life. One looks at you, then shouts out orders:     
 "Bring them down!"                                                            
                                                                               
 They raise their rifles, and begin firing gunshots. One, behind them, holds   
 a hand up; Symbols on their hand ignite with bright light, before blasts of   
 wind come down like sharp blades that may carve through the lot of you.       
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright============================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    The good news is that the Spheres are easy to find. Day and Kaguya have no problem collecting them, and Skylr locates the first few slots with ease. Those are all in places one would think to look--near the entrances of buildings, where one would normally locate a lightswitch.

    The bad news is that time has done a number on this place, and many of those sockets have grown nonfunctional--several times, Day inserts a Sphere, only to hear a dull 'clink', and then nothing. Once, the socket outright spits the Sphere out with a spray of sparks, and it flies across the plaza, hitting an oblivious Leo in the shoulder. The White Knight curses out an oath, and the light he was maintaining winks out.

    It's a long few minutes before the team can place the rest of the Spheres, and in that time, Hilde hears footsteps...

    But is it too late to alert the others?

<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

"Machina," Day murmurs, glancing towards Kaguya in the darkness. "It stands to reason things like this could be here, if Althena did come here from the Blue Star."

He takes a glance back at Skylr, quietly grateful she's put her cloak back on. He's even more grateful that she's alive. As she provides some suggestions, he moves to follow her and kaguya's advice.

Leaving it to Day is a bad idea in this case. Day is about as tech-savvy as a stump.

Fortunately, they're able to move on. The city's still dark, and Day's on alert as he takes up the head of the party, moving past a ruined structure and squinting off into the distance. Sounds register on his senses - rustles of movement, distant murmurs. "There are people moving," he murmurs, reaching to his waist. "Hold a moment."

Sure enough, a different sound intrudes - not the distant flicker and murmur of Unsent, but the crack of footfalls approaching. A moment later, the source of the noise bursts around a corner. Men in olive drab and black uniforms.

Odessa soldiers. They seem as surprised to see the Guard as the Guard is to see them, but the leader recovers instantly with a shout of, "BRING THEM DO-"

Day cuts him off instantly by the simple expedient of blowing his warhorn sharply. The loud resound rings off the buildings and echoes wildly. The Odessa soldiers all start involuntarily, one even dropping his ARM in shock.

It gives Day the moment he needs. "For the Goddess!" he shouts as he barrels forward with a sweep of his sword, charging into melee range without a shot actually being fired at him. By the time gunshots begin to go off, he's in close quarters already, slashing at a couple of the soldiers and refusing to let them back off to make it a firefight.

Guiding Guingryph back behind a pile of rubble, Vess looks on with surprise. "What are they doing here? Don't tell me we're in the middle of another weird world-spanning conspiracy thing!"

Guingryph just lays his ears back in consternation.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Warhorn toward his party's challenge, Odessa Troops.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Which is what the legends say, right?" Kaguya replies to Day. She wouldn't know firsthand, of course; she heard about these later, not growing up. Kaguya reaches down and pats Leo Jr. on the head, though, as he makes his little noise. "Good thinking," she says to Skylr, since she's not dead. "If you need to slow down or anything let us know. That looked kinda rough."

This is her specialty, but with how rough these things are...

"Well, at least that worked out ev--" People moving. Kaguya frowns, and she notices them too. Odessa soldiers....

Day charges in, but Kaguya has a different approach. She pulls a canister from her bag, and shakes it up before hurling it to burst into the group--but rather than a grenade that explodes and hurts Day, it gives him backup! Three-foot tall tomatoes burst into being, growing all at once with sharp teeth and gaping maws, as Kaguya pulls her own ARM and starts up.

"Questions later, smashing now!"

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Killer Tomatoes toward her party's challenge, Odessa Troops.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    Pearl is suddenly very concerned she would not have made it through a cloister, as she is able to contribute less than nothing. At least she doesn't electrocute anyone. But as Day catches what she doesn't, she curses herself and readies her staff. The Odessa soldiers come into view, and she lets fly with a barrage of shadow magic at them, suppressing fire and sapping magic to stop them getting their ARMs up while everyone closes.

    "Why are you here!?" She yells, almost... offended? "HOW are you here! This is a place for Summoners and their Guardians!" And Althena's Guard, apparently. I mean, they're here with a summoner, maybe they get a pass? Though she's pretty sure Day and Kaguya at least would object. Viciously.

    As the tomatos charge, so too does an onion! Vegetable Solidarity! "Pukyuupuk!!" He launches into his mighty headbutt against an Odessa soldier's stomach, wading into the fray. He's very, very dense. In multiple ways.

    Are they in anotjher world spanning conspiracy thing? She can't rule it out...

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Leo Jr. toward her party's challenge, Odessa Troops.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Pearl gets a big, sweet smile, the one that says 'I am all sorts of dazed but I'm alive!' Isn't that what really matters? "Thank you." She asides to Kaguya.
 
      As the group continues in and on, with lights working, not working, she hurries over to Leo, hands glimmering with a soft light as she approaches his shoulder with heedless concern, even as down the way, Day's warhorn goes off. "After, then, my lord." She tells Leo seriously, before diving into the fray, hands in her bag.
 
      An oft-familiar poltice, now soaking wet and freezing, finds itself thrown into an Odessian's face. No, it's not the traditional use - normally Skylr would have one tucked into the front of her dress, the men between their armor and the undershirts, so on, so forth - but with how cold it is, and with where the poultice was, it's practically a grenade of freeze thrown right at someone's face.
 
      "Can't it ever be questions now, and smashing now?" Skylr can be heard asking Kaguya plaintively over the din.

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Cleansing Poultice toward her party's challenge, Odessa Troops.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Leo listens as Day and Kaguya trade theories, his ears twitching slightly as he remembers what Marivel told him. "She did," he murmurs. "During the age called 'Zeboim'. Perhaps there was a schism, of sorts--those who left Her embrace came here, and brought their technology with them. Though that doesn't explain how Sin came to--"

    Boots crunch in the rubble. Leo whirls around, his cloak flapping behind him. Shock lines his face, but it quickly twists into anger.

    Day's decisive action gives them the chance they need to regroup. The White Knight takes advantage, pressing two fingers to the Crest hanging from a chain around his neck. It's still ice-cold against his skin, but the magic works perfectly fine: the White Dragon's power flows outwards from him, encasing Leo and his allies in auras of calming, pearlescent white. "Drive them forth!" the White Knight roars. Moments later, his sword clears its scabbard, flying through the air; energy collects along its edge, before leaping free and flying at the Odessa commander. A second slash, and a second projectile joins it. "Double Demon Fang!"

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool White Dragon Crest toward his party's challenge, Odessa Troops.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

Hilde hears footsteps... but indeed, it's too late for her to warn the others. When they arrive, they find Hilde hunkered down in a defensive stance. Her armor proves difficult to get through for the Odessan bullets and spells to get through, but the constant barrage prevents her from moving further to avoid revealing any openings.

"Ah! You all are here! Excellent. Let us rout the lot of them!" Hilde says. Their arrival gives her the opportunity she needs to draw out her banner, planting it in the ground and using it to stabilize herself. "They lack the discipline to force us back! We will not falter!"

She continues to focus on defense... but soon, a question is raised.

"...Perhaps they wish to seize the summoners' seat of power... If I recall, they have made a similar attempt before." Hilde considers.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Battle Standard toward her party's challenge, Odessa Troops.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Odessa Troops *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Unsent can sometimes be seen around Zanarkand. Most remain distant -- lost    
 souls, trapped here and in poor state to grapple with their existence -- but  
 occasionally one draws closer. You might think the people in the distance     
 are these.                                                                    
                                                                               
 But they're not. The individuals in the approaching group wear the olive      
 drab and black garb of Odessa soldiers, and carry the Filgaia-made gunsmoke   
 ARMs that they carried in life. One looks at you, then shouts out orders:     
 "Bring them down!"                                                            
                                                                               
 They raise their rifles, and begin firing gunshots. One, behind them, holds   
 a hand up; Symbols on their hand ignite with bright light, before blasts of   
 wind come down like sharp blades that may carve through the lot of you.       
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright============================================
=======================<* Ruins of Zanarkand - Round 3 *>=======================
==========================< Results - Odessa Troops >===========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               41 --(5)--> 46                 Pass
Leo Jr.                             3   Combat  Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        49 --(5)--> 54                 Pass
Warhorn                             1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    61 --(5)--> 66                 Pass
White Dragon Crest                  2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          49 --(5)--> 54                 Pass
Cleansing Poultice                  1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              49 --(5)--> 54                 Pass
Killer Tomatoes                     3   Combat  Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               41 --(5)--> 46                 Pass
Battle Standard                     1   Combat  Effects: Embolden and Fanfare 
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Pearl                       30 --(20)--> 50                Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Pearl 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> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day was not expecting tomato friends to show up. He cannot blink at Kaguya right now because there are currently several Odessa thugs trying to kill them all.

There is also an Odessa thug receiving a poultice to the face. It does not do much healing. The Odessan shouts in surprise and topples over, just in time for Leo Jr. to land on him with extreme prejudice.

Leo and Hilde move in with authority. ARMS are fired at them, but the Odessa soldiers can't stand up to the Double Demon Fang. The White Dragon's power is more than sufficient to deflect bullets that might pose a danger, as is Hilde's concentration on defending the group. The power of her banner keeps shots at bay while the other five clean up the gaggle of goons.

Soon enough, the last Odessan drops - alive but unconscious. Day huffs and flicks a bit of blood off his sword before looking back towards Hilde, then Skylr. A frown tugs at his face. "Sometimes I do wish we had more time for questions and answers. Whatever they're up to, though, we have little choice but to proceed and find out for ourselves. Spira's been through enough without the likes of Mr. Rhadamanthus causing it more grief."

It is not lost on him that the Guard has caused no small amount of that grief. He chooses not to dwell on it for the sake of his own sanity.

DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Dead Ends *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You following this emptied, abandoned street until it ends in a huge pile of  
 rubble. Several buildings, long ago, collapsed here to create a titanic pile  
 of rubble that offers little way forward. As you walked down the street,      
 though, you saw side streets. You could double back -- hopefully, you have a  
 good memory or notes about your path -- and try a different way, without      
 wasting too much time.                                                        
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Weaken=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Apparently the tech wasn't enough to keep them safe." Kaguya is more serious when she says this than she has been; for some reason, tech not being 'enough' is relevant for her. But rather than talking about Sin, she has to deal with combat for the moment, and so...

"I guess!" Kaguya shouts back at Skylr. "But I don't think they're going to answer!" A pause, as the battle ends, and Kaguya puts away her ARM. The tomatoes bounce away menacingly. That's probably fine.

"Well, they might have some data on them," Kaguya suggests, kneeling down and investigating some of the bodies. She takes some spare bullets and their ARMs--well, she takes one. The others she breaks in half with her hands. "Can't have them chasing after us."

...Since they elected not to kill the enemy, Kaguya isn't going to be the one to change that this time. But the empty, abandoned street they follow ends in a huge pile of rubble...

"Hmm... We're going to have to double back," Kaguya says, glancing backward. "I wonder..." Pause. "Got it." She picks up one of the spheres they had left over and walks over to the side, where a ruined receptacle for them remains. She rips that out of the wall and attaches it to her tablet, kneeling down to finish her work. In short order...

"There. This should lead us somewhere with functioning power."

Kaguya stands back up. "If anybody sees something with their eyes though, just as well. We still have to get around the rubble..."

Then she pauses, and glances to Pearl. "Whyever they're here, we can assume it's nothing good. The tech that might exist here buried... There could be some powerful stuff laying around that Odessa could use."

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Loot Abuse toward her party's challenge, Dead Ends.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

"Ah, a dead end," Day sighs as the group encounters that heap of rubble. He sets a heel against it and looks up, gauging whether the mound could be climbable.

"Yeah, not in fullplate," he grumbles under his breath, slouching back from the pile.

"Even out of fullplate, you wouldn't have much luck," Vesna points out, raising a fingertip. "I think I might be able to help, though. Give me a moment."

The Wind Seraph slides out of Guingryph's saddle, hovering upwards on a breath of wind. Her hair rippling around her, she hovers high up over the roofs of buildings, slowly turning in the air to survey the surrounding streets. She adjusts her glasses before nodding and beginning to descend, touching down beside Kaguya.

"I think if we turn right past that building over there, there'll be an open few paths," she recommends.

DG: Day Muirwall has used his Tool Vess's Guidance toward his party's challenge, Dead Ends.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

"Agreed." Hilde replies with a nod toward Day. With the Odessan soldiers unconscious they're free to move on, further into the city. ...Unfortunately, it's still a ruin, and ruins aren't always perfectly navigable. The path they're on ends in a huge pile of rubble, the results of several buildings collapsing in the same area.

"Yes... I agree. I do not know what they intend, but whatever it may be, they cannot be allowed to succeed." Hilde agrees with a nod toward Kaguya.

For now, though, there's little they can do but do their best to try to navigate their way through the city. Hilde helps keep an eye out for further attacks by Odessa - it isn't impossible that a patrol may come looking for the soldiers they defeated.

DG: Hilde has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dead Ends.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      "You answered, so we can at least talk." Skylr tells Kaguya in tired amusement.
 
      She stops by the Odessian she wiped out, fetching the poultice, squeezing it out with a causualness to the motion that a Skylr from a year or so ago would never use.
 
      On their walk, Skylr pulls out her book, sighing as some pages are warped, but finds a decently dry pen and starts sketching out little thoughts and notes to herself. This helps, for when Vesna and Kaguya both work together, she can back them. "That sounds about right from my notes - we have to keep pressing on... we're all guardians, aren't we? In our own way?" She asks after another moment, gaze sliding over to Pearl as she says it.
 
      When Vesna lands, Skylr scurries over and whispers something into the Wind Seraph's ear.

DG: Skylr Paer has used her Tool Book of Notes toward her party's challenge, Dead Ends.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    As the Odessans retreat, Leo sheathes his blade, and steps to the fore. He puts a hand to his brow, peering into the gloom as Kaguya rifles through the fallen soldiers' equipment. "Technology alone is no guarantee of safety," Leo says, "or of righteousness." There's a somber note in his voice. It's hard not to be somber, in this place. He could get a sense of scale from the mountaintop--while it lived, Zanarkand must've been as populous as Pentagulia, if not more so.

    "But you're right, Dame Kaguya. Odessa never goes anywhere without a reason--and I doubt they have a Summoner in their back pocket." Leo puts a hand to his chin, glancing around the dead end. "There must be something of value here--perhaps a machine they intend to use. But if there is, how did they know? Or were they simply guessing?"

    Leo has no comment on Spira's grief, but he does blink, once, as Skylr drops the word 'Guardian'. His expression hovers somewhere between 'mortified' and 'humbled' for a few seconds before it settles on 'humbled'. He clears his throat.

    While all this is happening, Leo makes a few observations of his own, but he's content to let his people do the scouting for him. This is called delegation.

DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Dead Ends.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    Kaguya posits a reason, and Pearl goes silent. If it's true, if this is a site of Machina at the height of their power, then there could be something incredible valuable there. That, strangely, is the more reassuring option. "I hope that you are correct," she says with concern in her voice. "...The only other option is they want whatever it is allows Summoners to defeat sin." This perhaps reveals a key gap in Pearl's knowledge: She knows Summoners die. But Yevon doesn't tell summoners what awaits at the end. Especially when they're a desperately trained summoner in the midst of a war who was also a spy.

    She walks past the Odessans. *Finish them off. They'll get back up. They'll be trouble. Kill them. KILL THEM!* It's not easy and Leo Jr nudges her along. Empathetic little beast. Day talks about climbing, and Pearl shakes her head. "Nor is there anywhere to land a grapnel, and it's too unstable for climbing gear. Another route is the only way."

    And then Skylr drops the word, and as Leo has no idea how to respond to this, Pearl's eyes go wide as dinnerplates. Apparently, she has expressions. She opens her mouth wordlessly at Skylr, closes it, and works out how to fathom it. "I..."

    Was that a stifled giggle from somewhere? ...Nope, Leo Jr's just making weird sounds. Pearl tries to compose herself. "...In what sense?" Yes put the burden on Skylr, deflect, deflect, deflect. *It's not like you deserve so many guardians. If the rest of them knew they'd just kill you.*

    Just like shge'd half expected Leo to.

    This distracts her from working out the path, so she focuses on trying to help with that, sticking her head down the occasional side street. She's kind of distracted right now, though.

DG: Pearl has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dead Ends.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Dead Ends *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You following this emptied, abandoned street until it ends in a huge pile of  
 rubble. Several buildings, long ago, collapsed here to create a titanic pile  
 of rubble that offers little way forward. As you walked down the street,      
 though, you saw side streets. You could double back -- hopefully, you have a  
 good memory or notes about your path -- and try a different way, without      
 wasting too much time.                                                        
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Weaken=========================================
=======================<* Ruins of Zanarkand - Round 4 *>=======================
============================< Results - Dead Ends >=============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               46 --(0)--> 46                 Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        54 --(12)--> 66                Fail
Vess's Guidance                     1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    66 --(12)--> 78                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          54 --(0)--> 54                 Pass
Book of Notes                       2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              54 --(0)--> 54                 Pass
Loot Abuse                          2   Wits    Effects: Stalwart             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               46 --(12)--> 58                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Pearl                       50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Fright(1)|Reckless(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Pearl 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> Kaguya has posed.

"Could they even use it? I'm not even sure we could use it, and we have you."

But, "...Yeah," Kaguya answers Leo, likewise somber. "Neither one."

"I also doubt they have a Summoner. Maybe they found something in a ruin that pointed them here--or maybe they did just guess. I mean, I bet there's more forgotten here than..." Well, than a little. "I don't like not knowing, though."

Kaguya doesn't even suggest blowing the rubble up more! It wouldn't help. Probably. But Vesna slipping up into the air sees Kaguya glancing her way, and then when she's back, "Cool." She nods to Hilde again, in double agreement, and rolls her eyes a little. "Sure, got any special questions for me, Skylr?" Kaguya is casual and cool, she uses given names!!

"Oh, you've got notes?" Pause. "Definitely not a Guardian here. I don't do a lot of protecting things, you might've noticed. I build things, and I grow things, and I wreck things."

Whether this is fair or not, Kaguya keeps leading onward for now, scouting ahead by virtue of her machine and a willingness to go out in front. And eventually, they do find their way through the rubble! But to where???

DG: Hilde has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>===========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Modern Roadblocks *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The streets of Zanarkand are empty, save for the occasional fiend and the     
 periodic dust storm. However, sometimes obstacles appear; many of these are   
 from damage caused over the centuries. What you find now is anything but.     
                                                                               
 Those with Filgaian military knowledge will recognize these: anti-Gear        
 barricades. They are twenty foot tall constructions of steel, painted black,  
 with numerous spikes sticking off them. While the barricades are akin to a    
 cage, they do not allow enough room between the bars and struts to slip       
 through. They will need to be removed.                                        
                                                                               
 But... who put them here?                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

"Guardians... yes, I suppose that's true." Hilde comments with a good-natured chuckle, as Skylr remarks that they're all guardians in their own way. It's true for her, certainly - she is, after all, the Knight-Protector of Hyland, and she would extend that some protection to those she has come to consider her friends and allies.

The party's chosen path takes them a good way through the city, but soon they run into something that brings them to a dead stop. A barred steel wall, twenty feet in height and bearing numberous spikes.

"...Oh my. This... certainly appears out of place. What was it for, I wonder? Did the people of Zanarkand have to put up with it?" Hilde considers. "...Regardless, we will need to find a way through, lest we be forced to turn around and negotiate yet another path through the ruins. However, before we begin..."

Hilde reaches into the pouch at her waist and draws out... a series of sandwiches? There's one for everyone, and they're nice, fresh, and matched with an appropriate (Goddess-approved) beverage.

"We must take a moment to regain our strength - there is no telling what awaits us ahead." She advises.

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Magical Pouch toward her party's challenge, Modern Roadblocks.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

Day is none the wiser about Skylr's whispering. Vesna, however, smiles a knowing little smile and leans in to whisper something back to the healer.

As the group navigates, Day falls in to stick relatively close to Skylr, sword in one hand, shield in the other. "I think there's truth to that," he concedes with a quiet nod. "That we're all guardians in one way or another, I mean. There are things we all want to protect, aren't there?"

The barred wall looms before them, and Day frowns at the sight of it. "It looks far too large to be meant to stop people. It doesn't even look like it belongs in the ruins. There's no sign of corrosion or rust on it," he muses, before scowling. "If I had to guess, I'd wager that Odessa put it up."

His expression darkens. "...That means they've been here awhile. Not good."

Handing his shield off to Vess, Day starts forward, sword in hand. When Hilde hands out a sandwich, he pauses a moment, then takes it with a grateful nod. There is no time to hold personal pain close here - not after Hilde stood by him even when so many others did not.

Once he's swallowed his lunch, Day squares himself to the gate. He curls both hands around the hilt of his sword, drawing it out to his side and taking a slow breath in, then out. For just a moment, he closes his eyes.

When he opens them again, he clenches his teeth and drives a heel sharply into the ground. "HOOOOOOOOOOAHT!!!" he shouts, swinging his broadsword across himself - and a blast of force booms from the weapon, aimed to try and crush through several of the steel bars.

DG: Day Muirwall has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Modern Roadblocks.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    The way the guard throw the word around is... strangely offputting to Pearl. The connection between a Summoner and her Guardians is important, vital, in a way she can't fully understand. She didn't take the teachings to heart. She was just wearing it as a mask. But given how it felt when someone actually offered... "That may be true." It's all she 'adds' to the conversation. Even if she only recently had something to protect.

    Even if one of her Guardians is an onion, and the other can only watch from the shadows due to her current choice of allies. That's enough to cause Pearl to take a look into the shadows, but... her Guardian is good.

    And then they see the towering barrier and Pearl stares. Indignation, fear and confusion are all clear on her face. "How? How long have they been here?" She's not sure what awaits her here. A Fayth? Something greater? But she can't help but fear for it. Leviathan roars within her at this insult. They spur her to fight. But she can't fight here. She could try and summon Leviathan, but it might withstand even them.

    Hilde hands her a sandwich, and she zones back in, taking it and breaking a bit off for Leo Jr, before hungrily devouring it. New types of food are interesting, and something she couldn't really experience before. A moment. "...This could even give the golems pause," she realises, putting together what they might be. She reaches into her pack, and pulls out the clawed gloves she used to wear with the guard. She doesn't seem to like wearing them anymore.

    She can't do much, but she's still strong enough. She drives them into a gap not big enough for a Gears finger, but small enough for human hands, and pulls. Widen a gap, create a weakness, she's not sure, but she has to do something.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wolf Claws toward her party's challenge, Modern Roadblocks.
<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Skylr's gaze flickers between Leo and Pearl for a few long, extended moments. She's not an idiot (okay, she is in *some* aspects, but not in this general field), and her gaze narrows at both boss and friend. There's a long moment before she looks back at Kaguya.
 
      "That's what this is... all notes, all the time. I don't have a perfect memory, and have learned many things, all of which are important to me, for better or worse. So I suppose something that would be finteresting to key in..." Skylr's head tilts to the side- "What's the most interesting thing you've ever seen?" She asks Kaguya, lightly.
 
      She takes and munches on sandwich and sips from her Althena Sippy Juice Box, before shuttling herself over to the farthest item, craning her neck upwards before she turns around and plants her back against it, doing her best to provide what brute force she can muster to knock em down knock em down knock em out.
 
      "Don't we all have something precious to protect?" Skylr asks from her little corner, hesitantly. Here, where she doesn't have to be face to face with people she very dearly likes. "Whether it be our family, our lands..." A pause, - then even softer, "Our faith... what do we go to when we have nothing else left? We follow our heart, and those who are around... we guard our friends, our families, our selves... and in some cases, that guardianship, that protectorate, is so deep to the core of who or what you are, that not being able to fulfil it brings heartache. So we keep pushing... and pushing... and pushing - for that is who we all are, even outside of the Guard."
 
      With that surprisingly philosophical statement, Skylr falls quiet, surrounded as she is by the actions of her friends.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Modern Roadblocks.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Case in point," Kaguya says, referring back to how she wrecks things, as she looks to the Gear barricades. Then she shakes her head, stepping up next to Hilde for a moment and--accepting a sandwich. "Oh, thanks. You remembered I don't eat meat, too." Then she pauses, and looks up to the barricades as she lowers her breathing mask to accomodate FOOD. "These aren't ancient," she says, nodding to Day. "These look like Odessa's work to me--anti-Gear barricades. This is serious military hardware. I just hope it means they didn't bring in Gears themselves."

The Golems pause... "Yeah, but it's a matter of using the right tool for the job, too. These are designed to keep out munitions of that size, but if you use something small enough to target the weak points..." Weak points, like the ones Day and Pearl are making. Kaguya pulls something from her things, a small box of mostly metal with various dials and a green light on it that blinks softly as she starts to make some adjustments.

Kaguya does not point out that this is the same kind of bomb she used to break the siege of Lastonbell.

Instead, she approaches the walls and notes that they're too secure to just pop through, even for her or Leo Jr. But the spikes could make good handholds...

So Kaguya bends at the knee and leaps upward, grabbing hold of some of the spikes to spin around and propel herself further up the wall until she goes over the top, and then, a few seconds later, hits the ground with a loud noise.

"That's a nice thought," she tells Skylr from the other side, muffled. "I think for you it might even be true."

Pause. "Stay away from the impact site if you're ever interested in having kids."

There's gonna be a big green explosion, though she is directing it such that it primarily hits the barrier...

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, Modern Roadblocks.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    "Nor do I," Leo says, and his tone only grows more grave. "I've no doubt Odessa would bring its aims here, if they could. The chaos they've sown on the Blue Star, in the name of their 'new order'..."

    He doesn't admit that he's starting to understand just why Odessa's goals resonate with so many.

    There's talk of guardians, and Guardians. Leo hesitates a moment, then raises a hand. "'Guardian' means something different to a Summoner--" And then he falls silent, letting Skylr speak her mind. The Leo of three years ago would've kept right on talking. The Leo of right now learns something new. He had no idea Skylr thought of Pearl, specifically, as a friend. It warms his heart. "Camaraderie," he says, to Leo Jr. "Goddess, I missed it."

    Of course, the barrier provides a distraction from the linguistic hair-splitting. Leo stares at it for a long moment, trying to remember where exactly he's seen it. "Is it... Kislevi?" he says, taking a wild guess. "--Of course," he adds, when Kaguya correctly identifies them. "That they would bring such heavy war material... they were expecting us." His hand slips into a pouch, and comes out with a pair of gauntlets studded with a mosaic of amber and dark granite. He slips them on, one after another, and flexes his fingers, feeling the armor as it synchronizes with him.

    Leo raises a hand. The ground beneath the barricade begins to shake and shudder. The earth starts to give way beneath Leo's will. Is it going to be enough?

    He does look away as Kaguya deploys her explosive, though it does nothing to stop his ears from ringingi n the aftermath.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Earthgrasp Gauntlets toward his party's challenge, Modern Roadblocks.
===========================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>===========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Modern Roadblocks *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The streets of Zanarkand are empty, save for the occasional fiend and the     
 periodic dust storm. However, sometimes obstacles appear; many of these are   
 from damage caused over the centuries. What you find now is anything but.     
                                                                               
 Those with Filgaian military knowledge will recognize these: anti-Gear        
 barricades. They are twenty foot tall constructions of steel, painted black,  
 with numerous spikes sticking off them. While the barricades are akin to a    
 cage, they do not allow enough room between the bars and struts to slip       
 through. They will need to be removed.                                        
                                                                               
 But... who put them here?                                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
======================<* Ruins of Zanarkand - Round 5 *>======================
=======================< Results - Modern Roadblocks >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               46 --(5)--> 51                 Pass
Wolf Claws                          2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        66 --(5)--> 71                 Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    78 --(5)--> 83                 Pass
Earthgrasp Gauntlets                3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          54 --(5)--> 59                 Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              54 --(5)--> 59                 Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               58 --(17)--> 75                Fail
Magical Pouch                       1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse              
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Pearl                       70 --(20)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Reckless(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Pearl 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: Skylr Paer has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>===========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The End of Blitz *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The center of Zanarkand is a huge dome. Once, it was a blitzball stadium,     
 but much of it has collapsed inward -- and it is within that the pilgrimage   
 comes to an end. The way you have taken has led to a practice facility for    
 the blitzball players; now, it is a half-shattered building, ruin piled high  
 with rubble and debris.                                                       
                                                                               
 Broken weight training equipment, some shattered stands, and a practice       
 court, and a couple of long-weathered statues of blitzball players can be     
 seen. It forms a huge pile -- one you have to take apart, piece by piece, to  
 get inside. It feels quite like taking apart people's lives, though.          
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

"You're quite welcome!" Hilde replies, beaming, as Kaguya thanks her. She takes great care in ensuring that the food she makes is tailored to the individual, while still being delicious and nutritious.

Once everyone has eaten, it's time to deal with the barricade before them - which, as Kaguya explains, is a barricade meant to stop Gears.

"That is... troubling. That they would both have the time, resources, and prior information to prepare something of this scale..." Hilde remarks with a frown.

And with that, it starts. Day goes first, channeling his power and skill with a blade into a burst of force that caves in a section of the gate. This creates some openings that Pearl can taken advantage of, using her clawed gloves to pry and creates weaknesses. Even Skylr is able to help, putting her back to it and pushing hard. The wall creaks! She's making a difference!

Leo is up next. He calls upon the power of the earth, shaking and shuddering. The gate itself starts to crack... which is the exact opening Kaguya needs, leaping up incredibly and using the spikes to build momentum as she does to propel her to the other side, where she sets a bomb. Hilde immediately moves to take cover, raising her shield and gesturing for the others to follow suit.

And then...

BOOM!!

The gate, weakened by the efforts of the others, proves incapable of standing against the force of the bomb which has already proven its mettle in tearing apart walls, blowing apart an opening through which they can pass.

"Excellent work, everyone!" Hilde calls out, before looking to Skylr. Her words... she had given them some thought, and she sends her a smile.

"...You are quite correct, I feel, Lady Paer." She says.

<Pose Tracker> Skylr Paer has posed.

      Kaguya gives her warning and Skylr scatters. While kids aren't on the immediate menu, they're still a possibility for the future. When it all comes down, Skylr whistles, appropriately awed with Kaguya's bomb. "Nice... can anyone do that, or am I not allowed to do exploding things?" Quick, Leo! Dissuade her of this idea!
 
      Hilde gets a smile but no other response, before Skylr leads the way in, towards Kaguya. "We have to be close, right?" She asks, stretching as they approach the dome and walk into it, Skylr immediately awed by the sight. She never made it towards the still active and 'alive' (so to say) Blitzball stadiums, so she's fascinated with everything she sees, but something tugs at her, frowning lightly as she looks around.
 
      "It's like they didn't get a chance to ... escape, somehow..." She murmurs, distractedly.
 
      Being the one so close to the front, Skylr allows herself to go wander around for a bit, hands ever so gently, slowly, almost reverently ghosting across these artifacts. There's something here, something she can't really put all the way to words, but after a few moments, Skylr comes across the statutes, and puts her hands together.
 
      "Thank you. I know not what you do, or what importance it had, but lives are not to be forgotten, irregardless of who you were." She says softly to them, before moving back to the group.
 
      "Clean up!" She says, looking at the pile. "I don't think we've got any other path choices, so... Just... try to be careful, please..." She requests of the team, before putting brute force to work, wanting to finally get somewhere to rest and chill out.

DG: Skylr Paer has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The End of Blitz.
<Pose Tracker> Day Muirwall has posed.

It takes Day a couple of breaths after unleashing that burst to regain his equilibrium.

When he does, he looks over to Skylr, listening for a moment and taking in what she says. He inclines his head and closes his eyes with a low hum in the back of his throat. "I think there's something important about that. About finding something you believe in so profoundly that you can't help but want to protect it. I think it's good to want to protect others."

He looks away, eyes opening, but voice growing a little quieter. "...I sometimes wonder if I've thought too much about protecting myself," he murmurs, just barely loud enough to reach ears. He may not have even meant for it to be audible.

As they move onwards, Day keeps closer to the front of the group. he purses his lips at the sight of the ruined stadium and its shattered building, the way barred by training gear and even statues of blitzball players from an age long past. Behind the party, Vess is quiet; so's Day, looking up at the rubble pile with quiet gravity.

His gaze falls on Skylr as she thanks the statues. There's not much better he can do than the way she puts it. Day just bows his head and exhales, clasping his hands together for a moment, then offering Skylr a faint, grateful smile.

"Right," he agrees. "Anything we can keep intact, we should try. This is a historic place and it wouldn't be right to just smash things."

Day puts his focus on one of the statues. He handles it with care, trying to brush away brick and beams in the hopes of extricating the statue and moving it off to one side through sheer muscle power.

DG: Day Muirwall has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The End of Blitz.
<Pose Tracker> Hilde has posed.

The party proceeds beyond the shattered barricade, and they find themselves in the ruins of a Blitzball Stadium. It's... a little sad to look at, actually - the ruins of a shattered life. Hilde lowers her head, whispering a silent prayer for these people she never knew.

"...Yes, of course." Hilde agrees, as it's suggested they approach this with care.

Once again she provides refreshments - this time, just drinks - before stepping in to help move things aside with care.

What awaits them beyond this...?

DG: Hilde has used her Tool Magical Pouch toward her party's challenge, The End of Blitz.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


    Pearl is clear of the explosion with her typical speed. Had the comment about kids even spurred her? You will never know. It shatters the barricade, and she moves through quickly. She doesn't want to stick around, even as Skylr waxes political.

    She remains the outsider. She wants to protect Spira because that's her duty as a summoner. Because that's what she promised Leviathan. Because she can't help the victims of the cult from here. And Jean said she would take care of it, and had explicitly not asked her help. But the rest of them, they have actual causes, actual reasons. They aren't...

    *Pretending.*

    She can't say anything to Day, even if she could help. He wouldn't want advice from her. Not ever. Another pause. Like they didn't get a chance to escape.

    She focuses on the clearing, but pauses when day speaks, as the claws on her gloves dig into wood. "Thank you, Guardsman Muirwall." She's quiet, but it seems... genuine. She continues to move the pieces, as best she can. Would Timu be glad to see such a place, or upset? If there were a reasonable relic, that weren't gravestealing, could she send it back? Why would it matter.

    Pearl remains quiet, wrapped in thoughts.

DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wolf Claws toward her party's challenge, The End of Blitz.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya never did answer what the most interesting thing she saw was. But she does answer the question of the bomb, looking to Skylr to say, "Anybody can use one, though you'd have to learn a few things to do it effectively. That's part of what makes the technology so dangerous."

Close... Well, they should be. But...

"Nah," she tells Day, brashly ignoring the fact that she wasn't meant to hear that. "You think a lot about others."

But she considers, looking over the rubble. "...So," she says, "You don't want to just blow it up more. That's fair. That wouldn't really help anyway, would it? It'd just make the place more ruined..."

She considers. "Guess Yuna wouldn't want it blown up either..." She trails off, and shakes her head. She does pull a bomb--but immediately she cracks it open and starts messing with the contents, pulling out the explosive and making use of the magnetic resonator instead to set it to humming, revealing weak points and places they can grab at to try to get more of the debris out of the way. Then, well...

She starts making use of her ridiculous physical strength to just move stuff, with the metal gathered towards the point she designates to get it out of the way.

"The normal people caught up in the middle--athletes, not warriors. This is what happens. ...This is the cost of..."

Kaguya shakes her head, and lifts a chunk of statue larger than she is,k tossing it out of the way.

IT isn't the first time she's taken apart lives. It won't be the last.

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, The End of Blitz.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    Leo turns to Skylr, but thanks to the ringing in his ears, he only catches the last few words. "...Explode things?" he says, brow furrowing with consternation. "Guardswoman Paer, I thought you were--"

    He glances at the smoking ruins of the barricade, then at Skylr.

    "Oh. Oh. Best, ah, let Dame Kaguya handle such matters." Kaguya is significantly less likely to cause catastrophic explosions on accident. Probably. Hopefully. Leo waits for the ominous glow to fade before he steps through the rubble. And what lies on the other side, but--

    "--A Blitzball stadium?" Leo breathes. "Here, of all places?" He steps closer to the entrance, sees the barricade. The statues, he thinks--those are oddly lifelike. Are they...? A shake of the head. Comparing them to the Fayth does no one any good. He almost misses Kaguya attaching the bomb to the wall, and jerks away, startled--but all it does this time is hum. "...You're right," Leo says, as the tension leaves him. "She wouldn't." Instead, Leo starts to gesture with his gloved hands, willing the stone to flow away from the weaknesses Kaguya has identified. He's deliberately avoiding anything that looks human-shaped, just in case.

    "This place is a tomb," he murmurs.

DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Earthgrasp Gauntlets toward his party's challenge, The End of Blitz.
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The End of Blitz *>=======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The center of Zanarkand is a huge dome. Once, it was a blitzball stadium,     
 but much of it has collapsed inward -- and it is within that the pilgrimage   
 comes to an end. The way you have taken has led to a practice facility for    
 the blitzball players; now, it is a half-shattered building, ruin piled high  
 with rubble and debris.                                                       
                                                                               
 Broken weight training equipment, some shattered stands, and a practice       
 court, and a couple of long-weathered statues of blitzball players can be     
 seen. It forms a huge pile -- one you have to take apart, piece by piece, to  
 get inside. It feels quite like taking apart people's lives, though.          
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
=======================<* Ruins of Zanarkand - Round 6 *>=======================
=========================< Results - The End of Blitz >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pearl                               51 --(101)--> 152              Pass
Wolf Claws                          2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day Muirwall                        71 --(101)--> 172              Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
White Knight Leo                    83 --(101)--> 184              Pass
Earthgrasp Gauntlets                3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skylr Paer                          59 --(101)--> 160              Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              59 --(101)--> 160              Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hilde                               75 --(101)--> 176              Fail
Magical Pouch                       1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse              
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Pearl                       90 --(15)--> 105               Fail
Conditions: Overzealous(1)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Pearl is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Day Muirwall is too exhausted to continue!
DG: White Knight Leo is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Skylr Paer is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Kaguya is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Hilde is too exhausted to continue!
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Pearl has successfully explored Ruins of Zanarkand!
============================<* Ruins of Zanarkand *>============================
================<* CHALLENGE - Arrival at the Zanarkand Dome *>=================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 After a long trek through Zanarkand, you have arrived at the Dome at the      
 center of the city. You make your way inside... but you don't find the        
 solemn scene you expected. Instead, there are a pair of smaller working       
 Gears outfitted for construction -- and excavation. They make loud, roaring   
 noises as they tear up concrete and drill their way underground.              
                                                                               
 And, worse than that, there is a large number of Odessa forces present.       
 Armed soldiers, Moblins, and more are watching over. When they spot you, one  
 of them calls out. At least it looks that other Drifters are arriving, too.   
                                                                               
 OOC: You start this battle at 50 FP!                                          
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================