2021-07-23: No Longer Just a Dream

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  • Log: No Longer Just a Dream
  • Cast: Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong, Emeralda Kasim, Citan Uzuki
  • Where: New Kasim City
  • Date: July 23, 2021
  • Summary: The group survives the descent into New Kasim City, deep underground Zanarkand. But in their search to find a way out, Emeralda again and again finds herself encountering reminders of the past, until a tipping point is reached.

DG: A party led by Emeralda Kasim is now entering New Kasim City.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Highway to the Danger Zone *>==================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The ground at the center of Zanarkand Dome is heavily damaged and weakened.
 It begins giving away, with even the smallest movement, and the end result
 is that the ground collapses right in front of the final temple -- right in
 front of the end of the pilgrimage. In a way, it might seem like a cosmic
 joke played on summoners and guardians.

 It is a frenzied, panicked descent into the darkness. Falling pieces of
 rock, chunks of concrete riddled with rebar, and the occasional pitted and
 rusted steel beam fall with you. You fall and fall, and need to find some
 way to arrest your descent -- or at least land without causing severe injury
 to yourself.

 When you land, it is dark at first. You are on a concrete surface -- and
 then lights nearby flicker on, as if detecting your presence. The lights
 catch reflective strips painted on the road -- and then signs appear.
 Advertisements flash on digital billboards, in the old language of Zeboim,
 Zanarkand, and the Ancient Tongue:

 	AMADI HEAVY INDUSTRIES -- SOLVING YOUR CONSTRUCTION NEEDS
 	LIZNER ROBOTICS. GREAT GEARS. GREAT RATES.
 	BUY THE NEW LONGOSSA CRUISER TODAY!

 The lights also reflect a green sign, outlined in white, and with white
 lettering that reflects:

 	New Kasim City
 	Population: 88,700
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure, Exhaust====================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

We fall. We fall. We fall...

The worst part of such falls in some ways is the aftermath, the period where you might think it's over but it isn't, not quite. The period in which you are waiting to see if there's another stone about to fall; waiting to see if you are in shock. After any disaster - and the infall of the wreckage of the ancient stadium is surely one - there is that period afterwards, where you hold your breath.

Lights come on, then. Flicking on, their location not entirely clear. The signs, ancient and imperishable through the craft of eld, shine and sparkle. The paint catches the light like an infinitude myriad of little cupped hands catching the rain. The signs shine!

... and they say...

... Things.

Of course, to Emeralda certainly and perhaps to others they begin to share their tales, and even to those who do not know the old language of Zeboim, the format is not so terribly different from what you would see in any large city. Boards hawking wares. They are immutable and shining; the sign has outlived its topic. A colorful digital ghost of a dead world. (Is it so dead?)

There are also muffled screams.

Which would be ominous - a foretelling of horror - except that the screams are coming from within a space partway beneath the open way leading into the ancient city, and they are swiftly silenced by -

"-Stop it! Stop. Please. It's just... It's the ruins powering on. Here, hold on, I'll go first.-"

From what was probably once a drainage culvert, now half buried by fallen stadium, emerges a dusty but intact Elly van Houten, crawling a little but pushing herself upright. She turns then, and reaches downwards, offering her hand into invisible darkness. She pulls out people in their undershirts - shocked-looking, silent. Several have weapons.

One of them with a red nose and cheeks takes over with the hoisting for the remainder, as Elly settles back, turns her head -- and raises a hand to wave. "Oh!! Oh, how lucky!"

Elly and her mysterious new contacts are *just* past the New Kasim City sign.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Climbing Pack toward her party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

WOW OKAY ELLY NICE SHB REF THERE

Anyway Fei fell a while ago. Woke up a while ago. And had a talk with Xantia a while ago before splitting off with Xantia to try and find everybody else.

He catches Elly and quickly runs forward, brightening and smiling despite his wounds and throws a wave to her, "Elly...!" He says before out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone behind Elly.

BEHIND ELLY WITH A GUN!

Fei immediately shouts, "Elly! Watch out!"

And he promptly, after leaping from several yards away, jump kicks the poor guy away from her--though, like, not off a cliff or anything. Just sort of away.and onto his back.

"That was a close one...!" Fei says. "Are you okay, Elly??"

He seems...really proud of himself here.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda Kasim was not part of the battle that cracked the very ground of the Zanarkand Dome.

That doesn't mean she wasn't *there*. She arrived with Elly and Fei, after all; she had just been outside, and 'outside' meant 'dodging Odessans and Solarians'. She had stuck with Citan for safety; if there had not been a brawl she might have tried to explore, but then she was just happy to be with someone.

But that was then, and this is now.

Now is down.

Emeralda handles falling by plummeting about twenty feet and then spreading her hair, flattening it and extending it immensely to the sides and a little bit forward and back. It makes something like a cross between a rectangular parachute and spread wings.

Even like this Emeralda cannot fly, or even glide. But she can at least fall a little slower. If Citan is fast and manages to hang on, he might be able to join - but that *will* make them fall quite a bit faster, and watching out for obstacles is hard.

Emeralda's eyes are wide on the way down, especially when the signs light up, because she can read them. Market signs, but in words she's not used to seeing them in. She knew they spoke it, in Zanarkand. Apparently they spoke it beneath Zanarkand too, in...

...

New Kasim City.

That convinces Emeralda to shut up the rest of the way down. She's probably way more visible to Fei and Elly (all they have to do is look up) than Fei and Elly are to her, but she'll hear them soon enough for the inevitable meet-up even if Citan doesn't alert them first.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool H&S Badge toward her party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    It had been a simple decision. With everything that had been going on, he had hung back with Emeralda. Keeping an eye on her -- and them -- would be easier at a distance, particularly since they hadn't known how many Odessa might have in the wings...

    ...and then there had been Solaris' involvement.

    Of course, that had been then.

    This was now, and now is down, as the arena beneath them crumbles.

    It was hollow beneath. How far down does it--

    The moment doesn't afford anything approaching proper thought. Debris skips upwards through the air; he's managed to keep his grip on Emeralda's hand as she had jolted downwards and had nearly dislocated his shoulder in the process. This wasn't the first time -- it was true that she could survive things that would simply end him, but it doesn't stop him from thinking like a father.

    She might not be his child but she looks about the same age.

    It fortunately doesn't take long for her to even out her own descent, turning it from bone-wrenchingly terrible into merely unpleasant. And that's, again, before taking the issue of debris into account.

    There's a large piece of rubble not far from them. Maybe they'll hit it. He can't discount that, or what might happen if they do. But in this moment he gets an idea concerning it and it will have to do.

    Pulling out the Macalania sphere, he tries to turn the spinning fragment of debris into a shield, ice spilling out over its edges as if it could thereby deflect anything else in its path.

    There are signs as they fall further, still lit in the script of Zeboim, of Zanarkand, and the Ancient Tongue. He can read-- fragments.

    The city was built atop the city. Of course.

    However they land, they are at least in one piece.

    Nor are they alone. "Fei--! Elly!"

    Elly, also, isn't alone.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Macalania Sphere toward his party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone.
=============================<* New Kasim City *>=============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Highway to the Danger Zone *>=================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The ground at the center of Zanarkand Dome is heavily damaged and weakened.
 It begins giving away, with even the smallest movement, and the end result
 is that the ground collapses right in front of the final temple -- right in
 front of the end of the pilgrimage. In a way, it might seem like a cosmic
 joke played on summoners and guardians.

 It is a frenzied, panicked descent into the darkness. Falling pieces of
 rock, chunks of concrete riddled with rebar, and the occasional pitted and
 rusted steel beam fall with you. You fall and fall, and need to find some
 way to arrest your descent -- or at least land without causing severe injury
 to yourself.

 When you land, it is dark at first. You are on a concrete surface -- and
 then lights nearby flicker on, as if detecting your presence. The lights
 catch reflective strips painted on the road -- and then signs appear.
 Advertisements flash on digital billboards, in the old language of Zeboim,
 Zanarkand, and the Ancient Tongue:

 	AMADI HEAVY INDUSTRIES -- SOLVING YOUR CONSTRUCTION NEEDS
 	LIZNER ROBOTICS. GREAT GEARS. GREAT RATES.
 	BUY THE NEW LONGOSSA CRUISER TODAY!

 The lights also reflect a green sign, outlined in white, and with white
 lettering that reflects:

 	New Kasim City
 	Population: 88,700
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure, Exhaust====================================
========================<* New Kasim City - Round 1 *>========================
===================< Results - Highway to the Danger Zone >===================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       0 --(32)--> 32                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      0 --(12)--> 12                 Pass
H&S Badge                           1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   0 --(32)--> 32                 Fail
Climbing Pack                       2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         0 --(12)--> 12                 Pass
Macalania Sphere                    3   Agility Effects: Rally
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(2)|Slow(2)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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: Emeralda Kasim has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Every Rose Has Its Thorn *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You make your way through the concrete and steel paths of New Kasim City to
 the place that, once, was meant to feed it: the hydroponic gardens. They
 never lost power, it seems, because the greenhouse panes are light up
 brilliantly. When you enter, though, you find that it has not been
 maintained well... or at all.

 The hydroponic bays are fixed into the walls, and water filtration systems
 and the like have kept the plants growing. Nothing has pruned them, though.
 The inside of the the garden is filled with overgrowth: thorny vines, huge
 bushes, trees jutting out at odd angles, and other plants that are likely
 supporting the building as much as being constrained by it. Getting through
 here will require caution -- not brute force or speed, but carefully
 deciding what to tear away and how to do so. Without some caution, you might
 well cause the ecosystem to collapse... on top of you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Injure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Fei Fong Wong strikes bold and true. The guy who he jump kicks goes down with emphasis, his gun flying out of his hands as he screams again and Elly says swiftly, "FEI NO!" while throwing her hands in the air and stepping forwards.

This puts her between the quartet and Fei. Elly lowers her hands, gazing at him, and says, "They gave up. I'm sorry."

Her hands come down.

Elly throws herself forwards and hugs Fei tremendously tightly. Her chin rests on his shoulder. Then she breaks off, holding his hand for a moment as she turns to face the group. (The four of them watch Fei warily, for obvious reasons. One of them helps the guy with a red nose up.)

"-This is Fei Fong Wong. I love him. I hope you can forgive him,-" Elly explains. One of the goons raises a hand, slowly, and says: "... Hallo... Fei-fong-wong."

At this point, however, further introductions are delayed by the wreckage giving way. Elly's head turns as she catches sight of Emeralda, gasping out -- and there, guarding himself with canny manifestations of ice from that Sphere he has made such efficacious use of, is the Doctor! "Ah! Dr. Uzuki," Elly cries out.

There is some brief conversation and introduction.

"HALLO!"
"-Hello, uh, doctor. How do you know---"
"-Was that a little girl? This planet is insane.-"
"*the wordless sound of taking the one remaining firearm in the squad and glaring at nothing in particular while not pointing the gun at anybody.*"

"We should hurry," Elly says. She raises her voice to call ahead, with forlorn hope, "Emeralda!!!" And so they move into the city...

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda lands not very far from Fei and Elly - having Citan around to point her helps. The landing is a little jarring, a little heavy, and ends up with her hair coming un-parachuted and into about eight feet of weirdly flat hair. It pulls back up, resuming its normal volume and size, before -

Yeah, she's going to practically throw herself at Elly, too, for a hug. You can't stop her. AND Fei. Fortunately not quite at once.

Only once she's recovered a bit does she look at the others. She seems... she's surprisingly hard to read today. "Hello!" she says back, followed by a slightly indistinct "...?" Emeralda sort of remembers some of her Solarian, but she never learned it very well - only through osmosis when she was in their labs, and never practiced. She can't remember how to talk to them, but she gets at least some of what they're saying. It makes her shuffle a bit behind Fei.

"That sign," she says as they walk, switching back to the more common language. She spins, pointing at it before she continues. "It says 'New Kasim City.' I thought this was Zanarkand."

Well, now everybody knows. Except for any of the Solarians who can't follow along with her words, anyway, and even they can get Zanarkand.

Moving into the city is... well, there are a lot of paths and most of them are blocked. It's easiest to go through buildings, sometimes - even very large buildings, which is so big that Emeralda doesn't realize it's a building and not a different cave entrance at first.

And it is full of plants. Plants overgrown their beds; plants overgrown each other, a tangle of confused life in the surprising light. Emeralda pulls up short rather than walk into a particularly brambly bush. "There's so many!" she says, before trying to worm her way into them a bit.

Even disregarding any abilities, she's the smallest. She sort of fits if she squeezes, at least in some places. Nobody else will be able to follow her path without some pruning. "Which ones do we need to push? - Ow!" Emeralda grabbed a thorny vine. It's harmless, but it stings.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Every Rose Has Its Thorn.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei looks up and sees ...

New Kasim City.

Fei blinks twice. "What."

What.

What do you mean What, what do you know about this??

I don't know anything, asshole!

Fei says, "Huh."

He looks to Emeralda, and then back up to the sign. "Well... sometimes cities change their name? Or maybe this city was destroyed then they put another city on top of it?" He wrinkles his nose in confusion and then eventually admits, "It's strange though... Why would they name a city after--"

He trails off, and focuses on Emeralda. "Well... At least it seems likely we'll learn more right?"

Emeralda gives him a hug! Fei returns it with gusto, even lifting Emeralda off the ground for a moment before he feels a strain in his left arm and he just sort of sets her back down.

"Don't rush off ahead too much. It might be dangerous. But we'll look around for however long you want, okay Emmy?"

He'll hug Elly too, naturally, and laughs happily and then-- "Oh." His face turns bright red.

"...Sorry guys." His shoulders slouch. "I've kinda got a kneejerk reaction--haha..ha..."

He nods to the goon and smiles to him. "Hey man. Sorry uh. I'll treat you all to a meal later or somethin'."

He gets to walking.

"Doc, it's good to see you too," Fei says as he moves, lowering his voice. "But uh... ... Please tell me you know more about this than I do. Even uh, 'he' is kinda like...'What' about this."

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    There is a point where Citan lets go of Emeralda's hand. It's after they've landed.

    There are no obstacles to her having a furiously exuberant reunion with her parents -- that's what they've become at this point, haven't they? Which leaves Citan with a moment to regard (after he's given Elly and Fei the once-over, as if to confirm that they're all right) the ones who have come along with them.

    "-...It is a long story-," he begins, shaking his head. He reaches over to rub, absently almost, at his shoulder. "-And I believe we have the immediate situation with which to attend. Now then... are any of the rest of you still armed? Other than that, of course. I hope that I am wrong, but you may have need of them yet.-"

    He smiles easily throughout, his gaze moving across the survivors. The smile, some of them might note, doesn't quite meet his eyes. Those eyes linger just a fraction of a second on them too long, as if he weren't merely looking them over but somehow evaluating them.

    "-Be careful if we should meet any enemies. Any mistakes would be quite unfortunate.-"

    Someone else might have stressed a word or two or there. Perhaps even given a knowing glance. With the doctor, it's said quite matter-of-factly, his gaze turning off towards the distance as if to evaluate the ancient city from afar.
    It's going to have to be up to the survivors what they make of this comment, if anything.

    Progressing into the city proper takes time.

    "Well... we have most certainly fallen under Zanarkand," he starts to say to Fei as they walk. "And I believe what we have before us is... an potential answer for the linguistical question we had discussed with Tidus not that long ago. Does this not more accurately resemble the ruins of a Zeboim-era city to you?" He smiles, abashedly. "Though, it appears that several pieces of the puzzle are still missing. Perhaps we might find the reason why within."

    Before long they encounter an enormous building, still overflowing with plants. "Goodness! Have they truly been growing down here for so long...? And without sunlight at that!" Witness now Doctor Uzuki, in true form. "That means that-- yes, they are using artificial lighting! It takes a particular frequency of light to induce... ah, but perhaps that is a topic for another time. We must make our way through here, after all, and it seems..."

    That this won't be an easy task.

    Folding his arms over his chest, Citan draws his camera out only to hesitate for a moment, as if uncertain about something.

    "Oh-- yes," he utters, only to sigh. "I do not think we have the time for me to 'put this to rights', as it were. Still, the lens should function just as well! Let me see if I can locate where the door might be. Or, for that matter-- oh, Fei, do not touch that one! It seems to be, ah, 'structural'!"

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Strauss Camera toward his party's challenge, Every Rose Has Its Thorn.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows How To Use toward his party's challenge, Every
Rose Has Its Thorn.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly embraces Emeralda warmly. (The ex-Geblers seem to accept this, with some mumbled, uncomfortable greetings.)

The sign, then, is introduced.

Elly seems to have no speculation, only wonder. (One of the ex-Geblers seems to have elected himself as translator. He explains Fei's offer to The Guy Who Got Kicked, who seems to get less sour at the prospect.)

The group attends to Citan. The one woman in the group answers him: "-One down, in the fall.-" She is the one with the gun. She nods at him, slightly.

The one who Fei kicked explains to Citan: "-Your first class girl there explained that much. They don't know what our undershirts look like, do they?-" (They are wearing the most comfortable underclothes on Spira right now.)

As they move forwards, threading through wreckage and buildings and built wreckage alike, they move into an open space - a stadium? - no - it's a...

An Arboretum? Elly thinks.

"... This has been... growing here, for so long...? I don't even recognize these plants," Elly says, even as she passes something that is recognizably related to if not *quite* a rosebush, where she lingers for a moment to pluck off a white flower, halfway between a classical boutonniere rose and a tulip. She turns it over in her fingers; the petals fall away, with a sweet fragrance lingering.

Elly seems stymied in the face of the plants. She is not, it seems, eager to harm anything here, but it seems that they HAVE to. She finally, grudgingly, digs out a scaling knife from her effects as well as a blood-soaked leather glove, using the two to - gingerly - cut off trailing vines and fronds.

"I was thinking it might be something like this," Elly answers Emeralda. "But... this place is so.. intact. I would have thought..."

She trails off again. Fei's statement about 'that guy' gets a glance of slight surprise, but no fear.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Every Rose Has Its Thorn.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Every Rose Has Its Thorn *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You make your way through the concrete and steel paths of New Kasim City to
 the place that, once, was meant to feed it: the hydroponic gardens. They
 never lost power, it seems, because the greenhouse panes are light up
 brilliantly. When you enter, though, you find that it has not been
 maintained well... or at all.

 The hydroponic bays are fixed into the walls, and water filtration systems
 and the like have kept the plants growing. Nothing has pruned them, though.
 The inside of the the garden is filled with overgrowth: thorny vines, huge
 bushes, trees jutting out at odd angles, and other plants that are likely
 supporting the building as much as being constrained by it. Getting through
 here will require caution -- not brute force or speed, but carefully
 deciding what to tear away and how to do so. Without some caution, you might
 well cause the ecosystem to collapse... on top of you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Injure==========================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 2 *>=========================
=====================< Results - Every Rose Has Its Thorn >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       32 --(29)--> 61                Fail
Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows 1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      12 --(29)--> 41                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   32 --(17)--> 49                Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         12 --(17)--> 29                Pass
Strauss Camera                      3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              15 --(15)--> 30                Fail
Conditions: Injure(2)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Cleanse
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - All Along the Watchtower *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Your brief exploration of New Kasim City shows that it is compact. It is no
 metropolis, but a carefully built small city, meant to use a small amount of
 space. You are near what you think must be the edge of it, for there is a
 large metal wall that rises up to the bedrock of Zanarkand above. Stenciled
 on the wall, in white text, reads: RAVINE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES -- KEEP OUT

 There is a stairwell that winds up, to an elevated level on the wall. This
 elevated level will let you keep walking. Nearby, built into it, is a guard
 tower; once upon a time, this would have been staffed by the very soldiers
 that would keep people out. Now, though, it has half-collapsed onto the
 stairwell. You will need to break your way through concrete, steel beams,
 and more, to get to the catwalk that leads onward.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

It could be a coincidence. Emeralda is still thinking it's a coincidence. Why would her name be up here?

"...maybe," she says, uncertain.

Emeralda has managed to get herself moderately caught in vines. While she can get out, it's hard for her to find a place to get out *to*, and she doesn't want to just turn into a puddle or something. She's trying to lever plants apart so that others can follow her, but...

Citan can find the door. It's actually relatively simple to get to when the place isn't entirely overgrown like it is now; this place was built for ease of use, apparently. It's just that getting from here to there is difficult, but at least they know which way to go!

Fei can start to push a way through, but Elly - and the rescuees - apparently find easier going of it. Elly's pruning knife is woefully inadequate on its own but is a good start at opening it up for bigger tools (or stronger people), and hey, at least it smells good.

Eventually, the team gets to the other side. Emeralda's hair is, frankly, a mess. She's going to be scraping brambles and leaves out of it for a while. Elly might, too, if she's not lucky. This is truly the curse of long hair.

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "-One down... I see.-" He's silent a moment more, only to nod when the one who got kicked explains further. "-So she has... As expected of her.-"

    And then, he raises an eyebrow. "-Your... undershirts.-" Yet he continues gamely enough: "-No, I do not believe so.-"

    Some of the plants in the greenhouse might be gone from Filgaia, scoured off the surface by one apocalypse of another. For just a moment, as he takes in the fragrance from single white flower, Citan can't help but wonder about...

    But now is not the time or the place. He focuses on what he -- they -- can do, and proceeds from there.

    It's not easy going for anyone involved. Their only consolation may be that they do, eventually, reach the other door.

    And that this is a sweet-smelling place in which to work.

    It isn't long after that, as they negotiate the cracked roadways, that they encounter the wall. It rises high, too high to easily climb -- not without the stairwell that leads up along it.

    ...Actually, let's backtrack a bit. The stairwell that is partially obstructed by the half-collapsed guardtower atop it.

    Citan eyes the mess, fidgeting the once with his glasses.

    "Well... it would seem that this is a problem with a certain solution. Now, let me think. What might be the best way to approach this..."

    He's taken out a manual of some sort, flipping through it. On the human body, the ideal pressure point would be...

    And if this is applied to a structure, then his best guess is that it would be about... there. The place which he meaningfully prods with a single finger.

    The solution here is clear. It's just a matter of how to approach this without causing themselves bigger problems.

    ...Ideally.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Acupressure Guide toward his party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei looks up at the sign. RAVINE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES -- KEEP OUT.

Fei feels... A strange feeling of nostalgia. That's...strange.

He stumbles briefly and rubs his forehead for a moment. A memory starts to worm its way into his conscious mind.

Memory of a Promise - Exploration - 4 - Wits - Vault

You are part of a military unit, an elite squad working for the government. You have orders. There is an illegal and deadly bio-weapon that you are to secure for study and, eventually, disposal.

It is being held in a laboratory run by a pair of terrorists. A pair of traitors. The organization they have defected to is supporting them with supplies and soldiers.

You step inside cautiously, finding yourself in a labyrinth of corridors. Terrorists are stationed everywhere but with some clever tricks you can lure them into traps or protect your team from attack.

Enemy terrorists include...

You hear a strange melody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksiowj71cfc&ab_channel=W

You don't entirely blame the rebels of course. Tensions are as high as ever and it seems that at a drop of a hat you--everyone--could lose everything. Maybe something should change. It goes against every ounce of training you've had but you still have free will...If you find yourself finding sympathy with these terrorists, you could always sabotage your team's efforts.

Of course you'd be court martialed...or worse.

Luceid gonna leave you
Gonna leave you for someone new

Fei stops staring, his hand on his forehead. "Biggs... Jessie... Wedge..." He murmurs. "...Yue..."

45

Fei jolts out of it and lets his hand drop.

"I'm..." He says, clearly shaken. "I'm going to clear out some space."

He takes his hands and starts chucking debris out of the way out onto the street.

"We should be really careful we don't miss anything." He adds. "But..."

Even escaping Filgaia couldn't save them. Not in the long run. Everything turns to ash and sand eventually. You always knew this.

You always knew this.

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Apparently New Kasim City not as big as Emeralda was expecting. That or they got into a weird corner of the city, because they just entered it but now they're finding another wall. Did she get turned around?

She looks up, up, up the wall. "Do you think they built it up to the top," Emeralda says, "or do you think it wasn't underground in the first place and it fell in and that's why the top is there now?" She originally thought it must have been buried, but if the greenhouse had internal lights, maybe it was always in a cave.

She lowers her gaze again to the writing. She can read it, but Ravine doesn't mean anything to her... until she says it out loud, mouthing the words in Zeboim under her breath. Then she knows she's heard it before. She's heard it...

... where? It's fuzzy, but there's only one place she has heard Zeboim names before.

Suddenly, Emeralda pulls away to step forward to the debris heap. She has pulled out a heavy-looking bar (where does she KEEP that?) and she intends to use it to start shifting the biggest pieces. She's not strong enough to just push them, but using her own weight as leverage is surprisingly effective. "We need to go up there!" she says, without explaining herself. At least Fei seems to be on her side.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Bart Jr Doll toward his party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Up, up, up.

Each step carries them against Lunar's gravity, up along the wall. Elly huffs out a little as she goes, but she is not quite as frail as all that. She reaches over to brush some of the twigs out of Emeralda's hair, tugging one out before putting away that glove.

The sign means nothing to Elly, but the pause lets her look towards Fei, even as she gently places the twigs she plucked from Emeralda's hair on the lip of the wall.

"-- Don't push yourself...!"

After this, Elly considers the wreckage before them. Her hand slides back into her bag. Emeralda has gotten out her pry bar; the Doctor is giving it a precise, gentle, resonant strike that makes it shift. But...

I could blast it, Elly thinks. Or...

... Her lips purse. Her fingers rest on the Ether-doubler from a back alley shop in Kislev. It all comes down to that, doesn't it? She looks out towards the city, for a moment, and she answers Emeralda, "I think they may have built down here... for safety. Maybe it was like Guild Galad, and when things got better, they left... but if they left to build Zanarkand, why -"

At this point Elly is nudged aside, without force.

"-Do they let the little girl do all the work for them? Weirdos.-"
"-You can't expect a first class and her boy toy to know how to do real fatigue duty! Can't complain too much.-"
("-She knows what you're saying.-" "-AGH SHIT-")

The one who seems to know some surface language pauses to say to Fei, with a sort of exaggerated care, "If you are buying a meal, we have to... erh... earn it, yeah?"

At this point, the number of hands involved in the project is doubled, allowing for additional leverage and, the Emperor's grace willing, a bunch of wreckage heaved over the side! (Hopefully that isn't someone else's Agility challenge.)

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Ether Doubler toward her party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - All Along the Watchtower *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Your brief exploration of New Kasim City shows that it is compact. It is no
 metropolis, but a carefully built small city, meant to use a small amount of
 space. You are near what you think must be the edge of it, for there is a
 large metal wall that rises up to the bedrock of Zanarkand above. Stenciled
 on the wall, in white text, reads: RAVINE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES -- KEEP OUT

 There is a stairwell that winds up, to an elevated level on the wall. This
 elevated level will let you keep walking. Nearby, built into it, is a guard
 tower; once upon a time, this would have been staffed by the very soldiers
 that would keep people out. Now, though, it has half-collapsed onto the
 stairwell. You will need to break your way through concrete, steel beams,
 and more, to get to the catwalk that leads onward.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 3 *>=========================
=====================< Results - All Along the Watchtower >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       61 --(0)--> 61                 Pass
Bart Jr Doll                        3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      41 --(0)--> 41                 Pass
Reinforced Bar                      2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   49 --(0)--> 49                 Pass
Ether Doubler                       3   Brute   Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         29 --(0)--> 29                 Pass
Acupressure Guide                   2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              30 --(20)--> 50                Pass
Conditions: Collapse
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* New Kasim City *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Iron Man *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You follow a concrete road into what, once, was a small park. Like much of
 New Kasim City, it is built compact; the park space had several segmented
 places for greenery to grow, with metal benches built into walkways between
 them, and dual levels. A stairwell at the end leads up. A small placard,
 still lit, reads: ANASTASIA MEMORIAL PARK

 Unfortunately, the trees and grass are withered to dust; there is a
 half-petrified stump remaining in one corner.

 There are a quartet of sentinels here, though: humanoid, metallic, and with
 arms ending in long cannons. They turn as one, when you enter; their eyes
 flash a sharp red, before they declare in Zeboim: "Scanning... potential
 Risen Populace detected. Eliminating!"

 They fire their gunshots, and add to the bullet holes pockmarking the walls
 of this park.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright, Injure====================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    The mass of the tower shifts just a touch. It's now fractionally less in a direction likely to collapse itself down upon them all in a way that would be absolutely perilous.

    He turns his head then. "Fei...?" The once, Citan looks the younger man over, regarding him carefully. "Are you feeling all right? It had been quite the fall," he explains, stepping aside to let Fei work--

    Fei is soon joined by Emeralda and by the would-be deserters alike, Citan himself falling back to stand alongside Elly.

    "It is a strange thing to see," he remarks to Elly, watching them all as they work. "It almost feels as if there might..."

    He trails off. His gaze is distant, as if he were fixed on the distant point of some inward thought of his own.

    And just like that, the stairway is cleared. Citan starts forward without hesitation, glancing once back over his shoulder at Elly.

    "Let us continue. Perhaps we may be able to find out the 'mystery of this city' yet."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei looks back to the Gebler agent who knows surface tongue and says, "Oh uh--sure, yeah. I mean. It's apology food but I'm not going to turn down help. What'd you say your name was? I'm Fei."

Citan asks if he's okay. "Just...memories." Fei says to Citan. "Incomplete as usual. 'Ravine' sounded familiar.

THE GROUP MOVES ON, eventually finding themselves in the...saddest look park imaginable. There's space for greenery to go, but it's all dust. Apparently, even on Lunar it couldn't survive.

"Man," Fei says, "Would you look at that."

He points towards the 'ANASTASIA MEMORIAL PARK'. "Guess her memory made it to another world."

He lets his arm drop and steps forward when--

Metallic sentinels turn on the group.

"Scanning..." They declare in Zeboim. "Potential Risen Populace detected. Eliminating!"

They open fire.

"Oh come on!" Fei shouts as he launches ki blasts at them.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Iron Man.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda knows enough Solarian to tell when they're talking about her. "-Help because can,-" Emeralda says, defensively, in extremely broken Solarian. "-Am strong! [Unintelligible] pick up you.-" Emeralda said a nonsense word in there, but she's trying. "-And Fei and Elly is good.-"

She really does bet she can pick the guy up, though. Probably best not for her to try.

As they move on, Emeralda sees the park, but... she has no familiarity with it at all. 'Anastasia Memorial Park', it says, but who is Anastasia? She has not even the vaguest of dreamy memories to tell her.

"Maybe it would grow if it was outside," Emeralda says, "and not in a cave. Grass doesn't grow in caves, mushrooms do." It occurs to her that she could look for a mushroom to see if she is correct, but she doesn't want to take the time.

Which is weird. Normally Emeralda wants to investigate every little nook and cranny. Today... well, she still wants to investigate every nook and cranny but *for* something, and mushrooms aren't it.

She pokes her head in after anyway, before the sentinels show up. "I'm not Risen!" she objects, in Zeboim, but apparently they don't listen because they shoot anyway. Emeralda's response to *that* is to retrieve her Etherstone, a shard of crystal from Crescens' Ether Amp, and summon...

Emeralda pauses. She had been about to throw rocks, but something tells her that maybe she doesn't want to try to move the earth here and now. So after the moment's hesitation, she summons a lightning bolt instead, one that strikes from a clear blue (browny grey, if you count the stone above) sky and chains across two of the sentinels.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Large Etherstone toward her party's challenge, Iron Man.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "-Trust me when I say, she is both far stronger and more capable than most 'children' of her age-," Citan remarks, not able to entirely keep that sly slight smile off his face. "-Do not underestimate her.-"

    But he pauses a moment near Fei. "Memories..." Citan appears to consider this for a moment, then nods. "I see. Do not pressure yourself," he suggests, before they move on.

    They find themselves in a park, still more or less intact after so many years. Citan squints at the sign, as if attempting to parse it out the hard way. "Ana... stasia," he reads, glancing over at Fei. "The 'Sword Magess'. Of course, it could be no one else. And it would have been far more recent for 'them'..."

    A voice rings out then. Citan catches a few words of it, including the one which might be the most important of them all--

    "Take cover!" he shouts, doing similarly as he ducks behind an outcropping.

    He pauses a moment there until the rain of bullets ceases (briefly), taking a chance to eye the sentinels.

    He indicates towards one of them "--Ah! There appears to be damage to the armor in the back! Aim there!"

DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Iron Man.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"My name...? I are, am, Henri," says the man. He indicates the others. "Jurg. Elody. Apfelstraussen. But we say Apfel, for length. You know?"

Jurg, who has a shaved head, tells Emeralda, "-You... speak very well, did your... big sister, teach you?-" He glances at Elly during this sentence.

As they descend into the skeleton of a park, Elly feels her lips tug down in a soft frown. Her eyes turn up to the sign - the lettering is getting familiar enough that she can make out the part that's a name. "Mm," she says, softly. "I don't think I know much about her. She must have been legendary, of course... maybe she was involved in whatever brought the people of New Kasim City to this --"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nob1Tp_NDU !!

"What--!!"

Gunfire rips out. Elly yelps, although without a weapon, she throws herself behind the petrified stump, rolling to cover. "Ugh--!"

As for the new guests --

-- they break and rush in a loose cluster towards the dessicated remnants of a tree, one of them surely having been the one to panic first. They hurl themselves to the ground in the echo of discipline.

"-Oh God! We're gonna die!-"
"-Albrecht - if Albrecht, agh, Albrecht, agh! Agh!-"
"-Come, come on lads! L, look at the surface dweller, come on you all, don't-"

Elody, aka the lady, aka the one with the gun, hyperventilates. She raises one hand to her mouth and bites the meat of her thumb hard enough to hurt. The red fog clears. She looks up over the fallen tree, once, twice.

As the lightning cracks, she screams over, "Van Houten!"

Elly's head turns.

"-You were Jugend, right??-"
"-Yes!-"
"-Throw me the detonators! I'll flank!-"

Elly hesitates, just for a second, before sliding off her shoulder bag, miming the throw, and then rising upwards to hurl it over towards the improvised cover. As the sentinels wheel towards her, Elly crosses her arms in front of her. There is a sudden searing feeling in the air, and a barrage of lead towards Elly sort of-- spatters, vaporizes off to the side.

"How much ammunition can they even have-- We might be able to just run them out!" Elly says, before the thermal bloom in front of her bursts ahead, a superheated sirocco that throws up the dust of centuries--

-- out of which bursts Elody, running at a dead sprint, holding the Gebler-issue grenade in one hand and turning her head, intending, in fact, to bomb that thing into the damaged armor plating Citan has just pointed out!

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool One Woman's Stout Iron Rod toward her party's challenge, Iron Man.
=============================<* New Kasim City *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Iron Man *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You follow a concrete road into what, once, was a small park. Like much of
 New Kasim City, it is built compact; the park space had several segmented
 places for greenery to grow, with metal benches built into walkways between
 them, and dual levels. A stairwell at the end leads up. A small placard,
 still lit, reads: ANASTASIA MEMORIAL PARK

 Unfortunately, the trees and grass are withered to dust; there is a
 half-petrified stump remaining in one corner.

 There are a quartet of sentinels here, though: humanoid, metallic, and with
 arms ending in long cannons. They turn as one, when you enter; their eyes
 flash a sharp red, before they declare in Zeboim: "Scanning... potential
 Risen Populace detected. Eliminating!"

 They fire their gunshots, and add to the bullet holes pockmarking the walls
 of this park.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright, Injure====================================
========================<* New Kasim City - Round 4 *>========================
============================< Results - Iron Man >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       61 --(0)--> 61                 Pass
RPS Badge                           3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      41 --(0)--> 41                 Pass
Large Etherstone                    2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   49 --(0)--> 49                 Pass
One Woman's Stout Iron Rod          2   Combat  Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         29 --(17)--> 46                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Yeah, though it's a pretty sad state for her memorial to be in." Fei admits to Citan. He doesn't understand the Solarian so he's oblivious to the sass until Emeralda gets defensive. He can certainly pick out his and Elly's name.

The fight isn't too bad. They're old mechs and by this point, everyone in this group--except for Elly's strays--are pretty accustomed to fighting killer robots on foot. Gryndille is a familiar memory to Fei even now.

After some well placed ether assaults from Fei and Emeralda, Team Gebler is able to get a grenade into that armored plating and detonate it, resulting in the mechs exploding adorably.

The otheres fall down quickly to Emeralda's ether strikes.

Fei wipes some sweat from his brow and he says, "Tahnks for the help Henri. Jurg. Elody." Pause. "Apfel."

He smiles. "It's okay to be scared. It's a pretty strange situation--but despite it all I think you were all pretty brave just now."

DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Burning Down the House *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You follow a concrete road until it ends in a large, two-story facility. The
 glass doors are open, leading to a large atrium, with rows of chairs and
 tables in a cafeteria. A sign on the wall blinks, periodically: FOOD
 DISTRIBUTION CENTER

 You see a large number of robots inside. Some whirr to life, looking up at
 you with dusted and cracked oculars. A machine inside a nearby kitchen also
 spins up, with effort -- and loud, worrying clanking. A mechanical voice
 says, in the Zeboim language, "Greetings! We will begin preparing food
 and--FIRE CONTROL INITIATED."

 The doors you entered from are sealed shut, as steel blast doors come down.
 Flame suddenly begins leaping up from a window into kitchen, and across the
 countertops. There is a hiss -- and a spray of dust, but no water -- from
 the sprinkler systems. It seems the automated kitchen has a maintenance
 emergency -- and the fire control has sealed you inside a room that is soon
 to burn down.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust, Weaken====================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Yes... without question, it has been some time since anyone has set foot here," Citan replies, regarding the statue in those moments before--

    In those moments before the security drones arrive and make the situation immensely more difficult.

    It's a tense moment, particularly given the deserters that Elly has gathered to her side. For an instant, Citan even wonders if they might--

    But they are soldiers of Solaris, and they are not about to fall so easily. Between the lot of them, they're able to dispose of the sentinels.

    "...I do not think we should remain here," Citan remarks, after kneeling a moment to inspect one of them. "We cannot discount that there may be others." Glancing over at the 'strays', he translates what he just said, perhaps to ensure that they're all working as one group on this.

    Fortunately, there's an open facility a short distance off, easily visible from the park. It's not a hard guess that this would be a good place to head to get their bearings (and if needed, use as defense against more of the sentinels should they arive on the scene).

    It's a cafeteria.

    It's an active cafeteria. "Is this all truly automated? How fascinat--"

    Ominous clanking is only the first of their problems. The fire, the failed sprinkler system, the automated steel blast doors... take your pick.

    "This is not good!" Citan says, glancing this way and that before settling on the left-most door. "This one is buckled!" he shouts, pointing at it; he has the manual in his hands again, taking but a moment to reference its content before jabbing a single finger for a point above where the steel warps.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Acupressure Guide toward his party's challenge, Burning Down the House.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

"-No,-" Emeralda says, having gotten at least some of that. She's not sure what he called Elly in relation to her - 'sister' never came up in the labs, either officially or overheard, and she doesn't know it.

But she doesn't explain further, either because she doesn't have the words or because she doesn't want to. She does put her Etherstone away once the sentinel drones appear to have been deactivated. "Let's go in there," she says, pointing.

She didn't quite point where Citan went, but close enough. The building she was pointing at doesn't have an obvious entrance from outside, anyway.

It's ...a cafeteria? And the robots are still active - well, the less damaged ones, anyway. Poor robots, Emeralda thinks, and then wonders where that came from.

"They have food here?" Part of Emeralda really, really wants to see what food they have. In Zeboim, she says, "Could I have some please?" just in case they need instructions. Though the one in the kitchen appears to be moving anyway.

And then, well. Fire. Maybe you can't keep oil that long. Or there was a spark from damaged wiring. Not that Emeralda knows.

"Fire!" she yells instead, because that's what you do in a fire. Despite the impending danger - despite the fact that she, along with the others, now has to try to lever a jammed door open, in her case with the bar she used before, she feels reassured.

This is familiar to her. Not familiar in a long-ago, half-remembered sort of way, but familiar in the sense that she has been accompanying people on adventures in ruins for two years now and she's used to it occasionally trying to light her on fire. It is a reminder that, sometimes, no matter where you go, things are the same.

She needed that right now.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, Burning Down the House.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Nobody died. (Well, not recently.)

It's almost a miracle. Elody seems astounded when they reconvene. Apfel hands Elly back her bag as they speak together, nodding along and then reaching into the bag to -

Give the remaining grenades back to the others.

"-And here you had just taken them away.-"
"-I suppose it's different, now.-"
"-I'm sorry, van Houten, I just - I - Albrecht was the Ether -"
"-Please, don't worry about it. Just try to breathe steadily. I think we're keeping a good pace... I'm sure we'll find a way out soon.-"

They look to Fei, and the lads smile. (Elody goes 'tch' and puts a hand on her hip while looking to the side, which is her equivalent of a smile, because some people are just like that.)

Forth. Through. Into the food distribution center. When the robots begin to speak, Elly says, "Oh! They seem friend," and stops halfway through the sentence when it becomes clear that they're not, exactly, friendly, at all.

AT WHICH POINT: Fire!!! Jurg glares at the flames: a sheet of icy water appears and... immediately becomes steam, making him swear as the situation was made actively worse!

Henri, after standing still for two seconds, low-rolls his grenade towards the door, as if it were an extremely high-tech bocce ball. A blue light is shining steadily (no flashing or flickering) on the top, which is when Elly gets out the unfolding-latticework of the Ether Doubler, for realsies this time.

The space within it suddenly sparkles with a morass of reddish-orange plasma. Elly aims the grip of it, as if it were an extremely improbable pistol, and says, "Emeralda! Push the bomb in that crack there and -- scoot over!"

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Ether Doubler toward her party's challenge, Burning Down the House.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei grimaces as they head into a cafeteria. "It's strange though isn't it? Why did they just leave everything like this behind? It feels more like they FLED the city than just...died in a war here." He crosses his arms thoughtfully. "I mean, a lot of the tech still works and most of the stuff that doesn't work so far is because they were just not maintained or didn't have access to..."

The cafeteria becomes a FIRETERIA and Fei yellps wordlessly in surprise.

He rushes forward to try and spray some ice-flavored ether at the fire to try and pin it down so someone can use one of their bombs or somethign to blow a way out of there!

"You can do it, Em!" Fei shouts, shortening the name even more to keep things quick as she sends a second spray but it's a losing battle. This place is going up like a tinderbox.

"Why is everything so flammable???" Fei asks the world.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Bart Jr Doll toward his party's challenge, Burning Down the House.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Burning Down the House *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You follow a concrete road until it ends in a large, two-story facility. The
 glass doors are open, leading to a large atrium, with rows of chairs and
 tables in a cafeteria. A sign on the wall blinks, periodically: FOOD
 DISTRIBUTION CENTER

 You see a large number of robots inside. Some whirr to life, looking up at
 you with dusted and cracked oculars. A machine inside a nearby kitchen also
 spins up, with effort -- and loud, worrying clanking. A mechanical voice
 says, in the Zeboim language, "Greetings! We will begin preparing food
 and--FIRE CONTROL INITIATED."

 The doors you entered from are sealed shut, as steel blast doors come down.
 Flame suddenly begins leaping up from a window into kitchen, and across the
 countertops. There is a hiss -- and a spray of dust, but no water -- from
 the sprinkler systems. It seems the automated kitchen has a maintenance
 emergency -- and the fire control has sealed you inside a room that is soon
 to burn down.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust, Weaken====================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 5 *>=========================
======================< Results - Burning Down the House >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       61 --(3)--> 64                 Pass
Bart Jr Doll                        3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      41 --(3)--> 44                 Pass
Reinforced Bar                      2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   49 --(3)--> 52                 Pass
Ether Doubler                       3   Brute   Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         46 --(28)--> 74                Fail
Acupressure Guide                   2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              70 --(20)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Exhaust(1)|Fright(1)|Injure(1)|Tire(2)|Weaken(2)|Wound(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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: Emeralda Kasim has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Sweet Child o' Mine *>======================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You come to the northernmost side of the city. Here, there is a large plaza,
 built in front of a large cylindrical tower. The tower has a pair of hangar
 doors on it, with the words ACCESS ELEVATOR stenciled upon them. This may
 allow access to upper areas -- or even Zanarkand itself. However, your first
 task will be to get the elevator open and functioning... and the doors are
 closed. Blasting them open is likely to damage the elevator.

 Fortunately, there is a console -- and some other mechanical equipment --
 that may help.

 Shortly after you start work on it, though, you are given a distraction.
 There is a large holographic projector. It first shows an image of a woman
 sitting at a desk, in a suit. She is already speaking in Zeboim. "--e have
 breaking news. We now take you to a press conference by Governor Alfred Bedd
 of New Kasim City, regarding the Risen Populations and the Ferocious
 Incandescent Enigmatic Natural Disaster phenomena that have gripped our
 colony since its establishment."

 The feed changes -- showing this plaza, but some thousands of years before.
 There are more towers, stretching high; there is the sun in the sky. There
 are also pyreflies, both recorded and real, passing through. On a stage, a
 balding man in a suit stands. His most notable feature is the spiraling
 green of his irises.

 "People of New Kasim City!" he declares. "I know these last ten years have
 been hard. Torn from our home of Filgaia, forced to know it has burnt, we
 chose to not follow Althena! We accept no gods but our own... and we will
 not cast aside the technologies of our ancestors!"

 He throws his arms out. "We will not turn to Althena. We reject the gifts of
 magic she has given us. Our scientists are at a loss to explain the power of
 the Witchlights that cause the dead to rise -- and the rising tide of FIENDs
 into our lands. It has become clear, that if we are to survive, we must
 spread across these lands. New Kasim City can only be the start... and
 cannot be the end! We must have more settlements."

 He clenches a fist. "We will use our machines to master this new land! We
 will spread our people wide... and we will build strong communities across
 the land! I dub our new nation Spira -- after my daughter, left behind on
 Filgaia!"

 The feed cuts. A few seconds later, it begins to replay. While interesting,
 it is quite distracting.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "I wonder... had something happened?" Citan remarks at Fei's musings, taking the moment to look around himself. It's been some time since he's had a chance to investigate machinery like this with any leisure.

    Which is not even remotely what he's about to get.

    "-Wait! With a fire of that strength, you will need to---"

    It's a little too late. The spray of water turns to little more than steam, prompting the doctor to wince. The door, meanwhile buckles a little more -- barely -- which then prompts Citan to frown. "Did I err?!" he utters, which is the moment in which Emeralda intrudes, applying force to the weak point and opening up the crack in the door that much wider.

    Fei moves in the meantime to apply himself to keeping the flames at bay (added strength which may improve the attempts by the ex-soldiers, should they try again) while Elly...

    "-Clear away from the door!-" he says, since Elly has Emeralda handled and Fei is already far away enough.

    There is an explosion.

    Then, freedom!

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

The door that the group gets open is actually a different door, simply because it was closer by the time they'd walked in and looked around. It opens up back outside into a plaza, but this plaza has a tower within easy walking distance.

"There," Emeralda says, pointing. "That looks important!" And that's what they're looking for. Plus, it also looks high, and like it might have things in it. Are those hangar doors? They sure look like it! And the ACCESS ELEVATOR is easy to spot, even if you don't read Zeboim to make the letters out.

Emeralda tries to open the doors. They do not. "Oh," she says, with a long sigh. She takes a step to the side to look at the controls a bit better, and eventually pokes a button. This also does not open the doors.

But it does turn on a holographic projector behind them. It's aimed at the plaza so they're seeing the mirror image version of it, but it's perfectly visible nonetheless. And audible, as Emeralda jumps, spinning around.

"Look, there's an outside!" That answers her question from before. "And - oh, it's the mayor, she said. He wanted to talk about the... the Ferocious... I don't know that word. The Ferocious something something Natural Disaster."

Emeralda isn't really messing with the door anymore. She's just watching. "He says... he says they're from Filgaia... and that they won't follow Althena. He says that they're attacked by F I E N Ds," which she spells out in Zeboim so it doesn't make a useful acronym in the modern language, because she doesn't know what two of the words mean. "And that he wants more cities..."

As she speaks, Emeralda becomes paler, and quieter. Almost withdrawn. She's shocked. And he says something at the end that she doesn't translate at all.

'After my daughter, left behind on Filgaia...'

She sinks down to a crouching position, hugging her knees. She isn't helping with the door at all anymore, or really doing much else. She seems lost in thought.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei steps out, following after Emeralda. He will naturally translate with a brief 'Ferocious Incandescent Enigmatic Natural Disaster? Really? Come on that's a bit of a stretch' interruption.

But he listens. Only ten years since, it sounds like. He manages to get through the bulk of it though is distracted by the end by Emeralda getting pale, and quiet, and withdrawn.

"Emeralda?" Fei asks. Fei my be an idiot, but it's not hard to imagine what's upsetting her. She fears--she feels--she has been left behind as well. That surely must be it. He looks towards Elly. He looks into her eyes, just for a moment. Wordless communication. They've worked together--and loed one another--long enough that this isn't difficult to do even without their respective empathic capabilities.

Emeralda needs us.

We're right here... If only...

Fei crouches down by Emeralda, by one side. He hugs her. Like in Disney Pixar's Inside Out, he is just going to quietly hug her. He does not ask her to cheer up or be strong but she isn't going to go through this alone.

And he hums that melody from his vision.

Citan will recognize it of course. That melody from that music box.

Fei hums it, the way one might hum any sort of lullaby to a sad, tired, and scared child.

The promise may be faraway.

But it isn't forgotten. All the dreams, courage, and love.

The Contact could die a hundred deaths but some things last beyond even that power.

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Something like 'ACCESS ELEVATOR' is one of those things that, oddly, Citan is able to more or less read in Zeboim. And even if he didn't, it's one of those things that is absolutely clear regardless of language. It's something about the typeface. Or the color.

    "Perhaps we might be able to figure out where we ought to head next if we use this?" he suggests.

    But the doors do not easily yield. "Ah, Emeralda--"

    If he had meant to imply that she be more careful, it's... a little late for that. She's already pressed a button.

    Which has turned on a display nearby.

    It's one thing to read the script. It's another to put together the words by ear, and still another to keep up as the man -- the mayor, as Emeralda identifies him -- continues to speak. "From Filgaia... and they are not followers of Althena? The mural in Hoel had suggested she had brought people from Filgaia to Lunar. So it is true! But, had they turned against her? Or..."

    He folds his arms over his chest, as if in thought. "'F I E N Ds'," he repeats, using the Zeboim equivalent of the acronym. He glances over at Fei and Elly, as if to ask for their own input.

    "...Ferocious Incandescent...? I see."

    But although he might be lagging behind in terms of language comprehension in this case, there is one thing he's noticed. "...He has spiral eyes, like the Al Bhed," he remarks, regarding the man on screen more critically.

    And then the man says something that Emeralda doesn't translate. Citan's knowledge of the language is partial, yes. But between what he was able to catch and understand, and Emeralda's reaction...

    "...Fei," he says, and he indicates towards Emeralda with a single nod.

    Fei already knows what to do.

    "...That song..." It's been such a long time since he had heard that melody himself. For just a moment, the doctor closes his eyes.

    An ill omen...

    "...I will see if I am able to get the elevator working," he says at last, his voice quiet. He moves towards the access elevator and retrieves from a pocket a single soft toolcase and sets to work.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Just The Right Tool toward his party's challenge, Sweet Child o' Mine.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sweet Child o' Mine.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows How To Use toward his party's challenge, Sweet
Child o' Mine.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

A holographic recording...

A vision of the way things were.

Elly and her little group of strays all look towards the recording. As Fei begins to speak, Henri seems to realize it, and is giving what appears to be a summarized version of what Fei is saying to the others.

Elly looks towards Fei for a moment. She steps forth, then - and she squats down, on the other side of Emeralda. Fei's arm is already there, but Elly adds her own hand, coming out to rest gently on Emeralda's knee as she stays right there, barely any space between them.

After a few bars of what Fei is humming, Elly smiles. She listens closely.

And as for the Strays:

"-Henri. Why did you tell us that? You know this... this is,-" Elody begins, audibly cracking faintly under the revelations thus revealed. "-This isn't... This kind of, thing... This has to be some old fake, or just... like, they're talking big. Right? Like they tried to colonize this place, like the Althenians. They didn't... They couldn't have, actually...-"

Henri straightens up. He is a thin man, but he takes a deep breath, as if to stick out his chest with pride. "-Because,-" he says. "-Albrecht died for this.-"

"-The Zeboim... I thought they just had a stagnant technology level that left a lot of wreckage... some advanced equipment, which were just getting the lambs in trouble, but -- they came HERE?-" Apfel says, with an awe that may presage a career in Drifting. "-By the Emperor. I wonder, how...-"

Jurg spits on the floor.

"-Hey, Elodie. Remember how she told us, if all else failed, to look for the Al Bhed lambs?-"

"... -Yes.-"

"-You feel it too, don't you.-"

"-Hnfh.-" With this, Elody and Apfel move to assist Citan, which mostly means he has minions for once. Willing minions!

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sweet Child o' Mine.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Sweet Child o' Mine *>======================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You come to the northernmost side of the city. Here, there is a large plaza,
 built in front of a large cylindrical tower. The tower has a pair of hangar
 doors on it, with the words ACCESS ELEVATOR stenciled upon them. This may
 allow access to upper areas -- or even Zanarkand itself. However, your first
 task will be to get the elevator open and functioning... and the doors are
 closed. Blasting them open is likely to damage the elevator.

 Fortunately, there is a console -- and some other mechanical equipment --
 that may help.

 Shortly after you start work on it, though, you are given a distraction.
 There is a large holographic projector. It first shows an image of a woman
 sitting at a desk, in a suit. She is already speaking in Zeboim. "--e have
 breaking news. We now take you to a press conference by Governor Alfred Bedd
 of New Kasim City, regarding the Risen Populations and the Ferocious
 Incandescent Enigmatic Natural Disaster phenomena that have gripped our
 colony since its establishment."

 The feed changes -- showing this plaza, but some thousands of years before.
 There are more towers, stretching high; there is the sun in the sky. There
 are also pyreflies, both recorded and real, passing through. On a stage, a
 balding man in a suit stands. His most notable feature is the spiraling
 green of his irises.

 "People of New Kasim City!" he declares. "I know these last ten years have
 been hard. Torn from our home of Filgaia, forced to know it has burnt, we
 chose to not follow Althena! We accept no gods but our own... and we will
 not cast aside the technologies of our ancestors!"

 He throws his arms out. "We will not turn to Althena. We reject the gifts of
 magic she has given us. Our scientists are at a loss to explain the power of
 the Witchlights that cause the dead to rise -- and the rising tide of FIENDs
 into our lands. It has become clear, that if we are to survive, we must
 spread across these lands. New Kasim City can only be the start... and
 cannot be the end! We must have more settlements."

 He clenches a fist. "We will use our machines to master this new land! We
 will spread our people wide... and we will build strong communities across
 the land! I dub our new nation Spira -- after my daughter, left behind on
 Filgaia!"

 The feed cuts. A few seconds later, it begins to replay. While interesting,
 it is quite distracting.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 6 *>=========================
=======================< Results - Sweet Child o' Mine >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       64 --(24)--> 88                Fail
Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows 1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      44 --(24)--> 68                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   52 --(24)--> 76                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         74 --(12)--> 86                Pass
Just The Right Tool                 2   Wits    Effects: Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              90 --(0)--> 90                 Fail
Conditions: Collapse|Stupify(2)|Tire(1)|Weaken(1)
Effects: Cleanse
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 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> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Citan works at the door, assisted by translation. It's a fussy door, more complicated than the others. This must be an important place to be blocked off like this - and if the broadcast (now repeating itself, after a momentary blip of static) is true, now he, along with the others, know why.

It's him - and the team from Solaris - that get it open. It takes some fussing with the wiring, which is extremely old and brittle from age - still working, but not if you work too fast. It's not precisely difficult as long as you take your time and are very careful.

So, exactly the kind of work Citan is good at and nobody else in this group is. The door slides open after several minutes of patient coaxing.

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

'After my daughter, left behind on Filgaia...'

It wasn't Kim talking in the recording, but it struck Emeralda just the same, like a blow out of nowhere. She sunk down, hugging her knees with her arms and very still.

She still couldn't remember everything. She remembered Kim plain as day, of course, and the old Elly a little less well - she had came to visit, but she wasn't working in there day in and day out. But she couldn't remember everything else. No matter how hard she tried, here, in the ruins of a city that bore her name, she couldn't. She didn't know why she had gone to sleep. She didn't know what had happened to Kim. She didn't know what had happened to anybody.

It hadn't bothered her, before. Not while she had family.

'It's hard to remember too far back. It's just a dream. I don't need to know about that.'

'You don't need to -- '

Xantia hadn't understood why Emeralda didn't need to know. She was the only other person Emeralda knew who didn't have her memories in the same way, and it mattered to her. But not to Emeralda. Why? It wasn't because Emeralda didn't care for Kim as much as Xantia cared about her past. She loved him. It was just...

Emeralda did not have a reason. And that hurt, more than it ever had before.

'I promise, I won't leave you alone that long again.'

'But people aren't just their memories. What you know already is precious, and whatever happened - whatever the truth is behind Kim, or Fei... But what I think is important is to remember that the memories you make NOW are important too.'

Neither Fei nor Elly seemed to mind. Emeralda hadn't worried about her past because it wasn't going anywhere. She hadn't worried about the future because it would get here when it got here. She'd just... lived, without focusing much on any time but Right Now.

And that was fine, for years. But it wouldn't be fine forever, and she was starting to run into forever.

'This child... holds our futures and possibilities...'

She was still Kim's child. She loved him with all her heart, even if they'd never spoken as much as she'd spoken to Elly, or Fei, or even most of the Wolves. Fei wasn't him, not really, and she knew it - just as close as existed anymore. But maybe...

Maybe she could find out who he really was. Where he'd come from. What this place was. If people couldn't tell her, she would find out herself. She already liked adventures. It wouldn't be very hard to start learning from them, to enter with a goal. She could become a Drifter for real, not just the play version she'd been.

Maybe she could find out why she was different.

Maybe she didn't need people to take care of her quite so much.

Maybe it was time to grow up.

The music helps, and the contact helps more, but Emeralda doesn't really respond. She is lost in memories, at least for a time - until, suddenly, she flinches.

"It's hot..."

Without any warning, Emeralda's hair changes. It flattens, it grows, it spreads across her back and then fans forward, looking less like hair and more like some kind of metallic shell. It stretches forward and then meets in front, making her look something like a massive green egg. It pushes the others away, but only just; Fei has his arm on the outer layer and Elly has her knee pressed against it.

She only stays that way for about ten seconds, but inside it's a busy ten seconds. Processes shift. Locks on her systems open, adjust, relock in a different format. Emeralda is used to changing her body but this feels different. Not like pushing herself into a new form, ready to snap back to humanity when she releases the tension. It feels like a natural movement, like popping a joint or your back, painlessly - once it's done, you just feel relieved, like some pressure was gone. Not all of it but enough.

The egg parts as Emeralda rises, not cracking so much as the layer breaking back into fine strands of hair, which pull back up to the usual length. But it's not the Emeralda everybody knows, not quite.

Emeralda looked somewhere indistinct between eight and ten for the entire time anyone knew her. Years. It had become noticable that she simply never changed - and now she has. She looks thirteen maybe, or fourteen; taller, with the rangy and unfinished look of someone who just had a growth spurt and isn't quite used to it yet. More mature. Not an adult - but not a child, either.

"I..."

Emeralda swallows. "I thought," she says. "And I thought... I don't have to be afraid of knowing the past." She still can't remember it.

But it's okay to look.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* New Kasim City *>=============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - End of the World (As We Know It) *>==============
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You finally get the elevator doors open. You find that the inside is a
 massive hangar. It once fit dozens and dozens of Gears, but those are all
 long gone. Most of the empty mechanic bays are dusty and haven't been
 touched in centuries. There is an exception, though, on one wall: a large,
 bay, with the Zeboim word "ISSACHAR" stenciled under it. Here, there are
 spaces in the dust that suggest something was removed from it very recently.

 Beyond that, there are glass panes overlooking an absolutely enormous room
 -- cavernous, nearly the size of New Kasim City itself -- and filled with an
 enormous, highly advanced battleship. The name is stenciled on the side:
 HEIMDALL GAZZO

 The facility name is written above the ship: COFFIN OF 100 EYES

 The doors there are sealed. However, there is a large doorway opened,
 leading to an elevator that leads upward... and offers a promise of escape.

 It seems that the removal of a Gear from that bay has disturbed a security
 automaton. A six-legged walker enters, with two gatling cannons, and a large
 crane arm ending in a claw. It turns, spotting you, and squawks in Zeboim:
 "Intruders!" Then, it opens fire -- and punches that huge claw down for you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Is it...?" Elly asks Emeralda, before -- Emeralda's hair moves. Elly's eyes widen for a moment before that curtain falls, changes, pushes her arm off - just so gently - and in that moment, Elly has long enough to look over the 'egg' towards Fei, worry on her face, before...

Something does seem to be warm. Emeralda rises upwards, with grace. With elegance, despite the half-growing contours of her body. Elly looks upwards then - with awe in her eyes.

Somewhere in her heart, in her soul, she feels a first and firm impulse:

Pride. Not the corrosive sort of pride; but a simple feeling, a feeling of seeing someone who has grown.

Elly rises, slowly, and she raises her hands before her; clasping them together. For one moment she feels a pang in her abdomen in a very precise place; a place intersecting her spine. It feels natural. A memory, but:

"You don't," Elly says. "How do you feel?"

As for the strays:

Jurg and Henri see everything. There is a brief translation. Jurg's eyes go wide. Then he laughs; Henri takes it in stride; Elody is thunderstruck when she steps away from the console; and Apfel gives two thumbs sideways and says, with genial incomprehension, "Yeah! Congratulations, girl!"

Then, the doors open...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhYCERJp4s

Enormous. Enormous and empty. A cavern - enormous beyond reckoning. Even the Gebler team gasp, with Jurg audibly swearing. Elly walks in, looking round as they step into this titanic tomb, saying as she does, "How many Gears...?"

But the dust has been disturbed. And the scratches, the scrapes, all of them show that this last space, ISSACHAR: A recent departure.

The dust is nearly a centimeter thick and has not been stirred by the wind in, probably, the lifetime of the Yevon church. The little furrows, the steps, are very clear. And past that, as if to stack wonder upon wonder:

A ship, beyond those viewports; and near those viewports, elevator shafts, and doors, and *working lights, suggesting working machinery*. And blessedly, *no sphere sockets.*

At this one, Henri cries out in his native language, eloquently. "-Is this what the witch was after!? By the Emperor! That thing looks huge! They just left that shit laying around in these places?! What the hell kind of place is Lunar! It's like they blew the capital up to the size of a planet!-"

Elly points at the facility name. "... Fei, what does that say?"

Then the dust stirs.

Again.

From round a Gear-scaled hallway strides...

WHAT IS IT? It is squat, like a Land Crab: it has a crane arm to go with its hexapod structure; and it has gatling cannons which spin up, screeching with aeons of deferred relubrication. In Zeboim it squawks, "INTRUDERS" before stomping forwards, claw raised high--!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97AycmAn7Is

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Is anybody who they once were after a few years? A few months? Heck, a few hours?

Fei doesn't know. He certainly couldn't do what Kim could do. But there's something that Fei can do that Kim can't do.

And that is be here.

Fei's humming slows down and he opens his mouth to say something.

It's hot...

"Ah!" Fei says, "I'm sorry--!"

But his initial thought of what was going on turns out to be not quite correct. Emeralda's hair changes. It flattens. It grows. It... BECOMES AN EGG?

Fei's mouth hangs open dumbly for at least half of those ten seconds.

......

"I think--it's fine...?" If Emeralda were in danger, part of him knows Id would be threatening him.

Fei stands up with Elly. He looks to her, then to Emeralda.

"You don't...have to be afraid of knowing the past..."

Fei closes his eyes for a long moment. He hadn't been able to live up to that. He must've gotten that from Xantia or Elly.

But he smiles. For once, seeing something strong in someone that he does not have does not make him feel guilt. Elly isn't the only proud one.

Somehow, he's glad that the Solarian agents are here to experience this moment. They've been forced away from the world below, seeing something this strange and miraculous...

Well, he's glad that understanding that much about what just happened isn't limited to him, Elly, or even the surface.

"Do you need to take a break?" He asks. "We can take a bit--Ahh...you're taller now so be careful when ducking into places--"

He turns to look around towards the--

Security automaton.

"Excuse me..." He takes in a deep breath and throws himself at the mech, intending to try and

HOLY SHIT LIFT IT UP--

AND SUPLEX IT BACK DOWN ONTO THE FLOOR BEHIND HIM?!?!?!

"We're having a moment!!"

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, End of the World (As We Know It).
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Fei and Elly's smiles makes Emeralda smile back. She doesn't think she got that from anywhere - she got it from everywhere. Even if Fei would never say it, that doesn't mean she didn't learn from it. But growing up doesn't let you put everything you think into words (kind of the opposite, at Emeralda's current apparent age) and so she doesn't say any of that.

"...kind of different?" Emeralda still sounds like Emeralda, mostly; her voice isn't very different, even if she lacks some of the wild exciteability. But then again, maybe she's just tired. She did, after all, just alter her entire self.

The strays saw it. It doesn't occur to Emeralda that this is a problem, at least not until her attention is drawn to them. Then she has to fight an urge to - what? She's not going to hide behind Fei. "Thank you?" She honestly sounds more confused than anything else - but she gives the thumbs sideways right back.

"I don't need a break! We need to - " She looks back, at the broadcast. "We need to see if we can leave. We fell... and we learned things." I learned things. "But that means we need to find a way out."

Which means, into the hangar. It's big, as expected, but it's also dusty. Nobody has been in here. Emeralda's nose bunches up and, after a moment, she sneezes explosively. "I bet nobody has been in here since - " She waves one arm. She must be feeling better.

"It says [Issachar]," she translates for Elly. "And the other says... Coffin of a Hundred Eyes? And [Heimdal Gazzo]." She's not sure about some of these proper names' pronunciation.

She wants to go look at the ship, but she never gets there, because: "-Look out!-" she calls, in Solaris - she remembers those words and she wants to make sure everyone knows that it is aggressing on them before it fires.

Bullets fly. Emeralda draws her hair forward, gripping it with one hand and making a shield out of it. It won't hold for more than a couple shots against rounds that large, so she scuttles toward a metal strut-pillar she hopes can stand up a little better; at the same time, the Etherstone comes back out as Emeralda draws in power. She aims for the guns this time - little fireballs, because if the guns are exploding because the ammunition cooked off they aren't shooting.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Large Etherstone toward her party's challenge, End of the World (As We Know It).
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Citan doesn't see it when it happens, no. Working with Elodie and Apfel to get the door open, the situation behind him fades from his immediate awareness. "-Fascinating. It is not unlike...-"

    The purpose was a very different one. But as he pulls back the plate and peers into the guts of the wiring, it's indeed not very unlike that music box he had restored so long ago. The structure here and here. The precise alignment of circuitry. All the little tells he's learned over the years that are so emblematic of a Zeboim device.

    "-Apfel, was it? Hold this for just a moment...-"

    Right now, between the melody Fei had been humming and this, it feels almost as if time has coiled back in on itself, as if the same moment were echoing across the ages.

    "-There! That should-- yes! It is working!-"

    The doors slide open, and in this moment he turns back towards Fei, Elly, and Emeralda.

    "The elevator is..."

    He falls silent as Emeralda stands up.

    "Ah... I see," the doctor says at last, a strange expression on his face. Time continues to move forward... doesn't it.

    "Happy birthday, Emeralda."

    It's a hangar within. Gears, countless numbers of them if the spaces here are to be any judge, may well sleep silently within. "And these would all be--" Citan utters, as if taken aback by the sheer number of machines that could be resting in here. His mind has already raced on towards what this would mean, for whatever lies ahead.

    This many potentially functioning Zeboim-era Gears. The mind reels at the thought.

    But his gaze falls on something else, a series of letters that as he parses them out puts even that thought out of mind.
    Because it's empty. Recently empty.

    The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Odessa-- except, they had evacuated the site just before the explosion. It's not possible that they had reached this place first.

    But then who?

    His mind is troubled.

    He doesn't have the luxury of terribly much time to consider this, however. The ground shakes. "What in the-- is that a, oh no, it could not possibly be! Everyone, scatter!" he shouts, repeating the last word in Solarian for good measure. They will need some sort of leverage against something of this size--

    "Fei! If it is at all like the Land Crab, then there likely will be a structural weakness where the crane attaches to the body! Strike there!"

    He hopes that flaw wasn't just a one-of, this time.

DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, End of the World (As We Know It).
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool One Woman's Stout Iron Rod toward her party's challenge, End of the World (As We
Know It).
=============================<* New Kasim City *>=============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - End of the World (As We Know It) *>==============
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You finally get the elevator doors open. You find that the inside is a
 massive hangar. It once fit dozens and dozens of Gears, but those are all
 long gone. Most of the empty mechanic bays are dusty and haven't been
 touched in centuries. There is an exception, though, on one wall: a large,
 bay, with the Zeboim word "ISSACHAR" stenciled under it. Here, there are
 spaces in the dust that suggest something was removed from it very recently.

 Beyond that, there are glass panes overlooking an absolutely enormous room
 -- cavernous, nearly the size of New Kasim City itself -- and filled with an
 enormous, highly advanced battleship. The name is stenciled on the side:
 HEIMDALL GAZZO

 The facility name is written above the ship: COFFIN OF 100 EYES

 The doors there are sealed. However, there is a large doorway opened,
 leading to an elevator that leads upward... and offers a promise of escape.

 It seems that the removal of a Gear from that bay has disturbed a security
 automaton. A six-legged walker enters, with two gatling cannons, and a large
 crane arm ending in a claw. It turns, spotting you, and squawks in Zeboim:
 "Intruders!" Then, it opens fire -- and punches that huge claw down for you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
========================<* New Kasim City - Round 7 *>========================
================< Results - End of the World (As We Know It) >================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       88 --(0)--> 88                 Pass
RPS Badge                           3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      68 --(12)--> 80                Fail
Large Etherstone                    2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   76 --(0)--> 76                 Pass
One Woman's Stout Iron Rod          2   Combat  Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         86 --(12)--> 98                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Emeralda Kasim              90 --(30)--> 120               Pass
Conditions: Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim has successfully explored New Kasim City!
=============================<* New Kasim City *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Bohemian Rhapsody *>======================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 You find the elevator leading upward. It rushes you up to the surface; it
 seems that it luckily connects to it, from whenever New Kasim City was
 buried and Zanarkand later built atop it. It rises up, to near the Zanarkand
 Dome. The sun is bright -- almost too bright, after so long below -- but you
 are out.

 But then the nearby buildings shake, as something flies overhead. Something
 buzzes nearby... and you see the distant form of a Gear, having already
 taken flight.
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"I'm sorry, it's called what?" Elly says, about the ship's possible name.

BUT THERE IS A BIGGER PROBLEM

ATTACK

Emeralda's newly enlarged body lets her form a shield more adroitly - a different perspective, taller, faster in some ways. She moves out of the way, firing upon the gatling guns. One of the ancient weapons glows red hot, while the other one begins to fire--!!

Fortunately, its streak of deadly lead across the hangar floor does not hit anybody. The strays were already clustered together and their instincts are similar to Emeralda's. ("-hi-" says Elody to Emeralda, a little flatly, as she pops the safety on her weapon.)

But then Fei does something the crab does not expect. Fei charges with the reckless power of his nature and his training. The claw arm smashes down with human-liquifying force that throws up clouds of dust throughout the hangar-- but it ended up hitting two yards shy of where Fei ACTUALLY was, because the automatics did not expect this.

And then Fei has one of the legs.

S
U
P
L
E
X

It may be closer to a belly-to-back throw of some kind -- surging power makes the defense Gear raise upwards and smash back down, staggering enough to list to the side, claw arm sticking for a moment before it does land on that side.

Rolls to that side.

Rolls, in fact, over.

The legs snap and begin to shift, beginning a process that would have let it right itself.

BUT IT NEVER GETS THE CHANCE, between follow up strikes, the remaining Gebler-issue grenades, and Elly contributing a surging burst of intense fire. The Doctor found a weak spot: and it can be hit for MASSIVE damage.

Soon enough the labor Gear catches fire, too. There are subtle, mostly-contained explosions as the ammo detonates.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMERALDA.

From here, it is a matter of regrouping, of getting into the elevator. "... Doctor Uzuki," Elly says, while they're all going upwards. "You seemed worried about something... Ah!!"

The door opens, admitting the blinding Spiran sunshine. Elly flinches like Marivel with a hangover. There is a huge engine-powered passage as a Gear swoops overhead, then begins rising upwards, a humanoid frame on columns of flame...

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    'Doctor Uzuki, you seemed worried about something," Elly says to him as they ascend to the surface.

    Citan shakes his head, as if to demure, but after a moment more he speaks:

    "One of the hangar bays was empty. Recently, I think, though I did not approach close enough to be certain. I hope that it is not--"

    There is a roar from overhead not long before the light (blinding, briefly) streams in. It's difficult to see what's above them clearly as it glints in the sunlight, but there can be no question of what it is.

    "...ah," Citan murmurs, simply.