2021-08-14: Midnight Train
- Log: Midnight Train
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Yue Rohay, Ashley Winchester
- Where: Buckeye Station - Market District
- Date: August 14, 2021
- Summary: A queen, a baker, and a double double agent get stuck on a train. Unfortunately, there's no getting off this train they're on. Mild warning for implied suicidal thoughts.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Chibiki-Iwa Express. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
================<* CHALLENGE - A Train You Ain't Gettin Offa *>=================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
A mysterious train that departs from the Thirteenth Platform.
Perhaps you believe the rumours of people disappearing into the cloak of
midnight, or perhaps you're here to debunk the urban legend once and for
all. Perhaps you are here because destiny calls.
The only clue you have is a foreboding black ticket, marked for one Group,
departing from the station you're present at...
Hirasaka, Hirasaka... the one-way train bound for Hirasaka...
will be arriving shortly.
Please wait by the yellow line... until the doors...
Open.
An ominous, tinny voice echoes from public announcement speakers that
Filgaia stations are... not usually equipped with.
And then--
clack-clack
clack-clack
It appears.
A shooting star racing through the wilderness, drawing to an eerily silent
stop at the platform you're standing on. It is a train unlike any you've
seen - unlike the carriages and locomotives of Filgaia, the rumoured,
legendary Chibiki-Iwa Express has silver, rectangular cars, painted with a
black stripe.
The sliding doors open. The lights are on within, revealing surprisingly
mundane rows of seats flush against the walls. There is an almost
supernatural compulsion that draws you within. But just as soon as you start
inspecting--
The doors will... now close.
Please step away from the doors...
There is no opening the doors.
The doors hiss to a flush close. No! The train shifts... it might be too
late!
Is there truly... no gettin' offa this train you're on?
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Secret==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's dark here, on this lonesome platform. Only a single light, adorned with the presence of a single moth, buzzes bright into the darkness.
A young lady with long silver hair stands on the platform. Dry wind coils through the station for a moment, sending her long hair aflutter and threatening to steal away the tattered piece of paper held in one gloved hand. But her grasp is tight on the black ticket--
'Hirasaka, Hirasaka...' announces a speaker that... isn't actually there, once you look for it. Avril turns her head slowly.
"Hirasaka... why is that familiar..." she murmurs.
In the distance there is a low mournful wail. Look, and you'll see the lights.
tak tak
tak tak-a-tak
The train glides to a slow stop at the station, its doors opening with a creak of metal.
She feels like she's seen a train like this before. Wordlessly, and without hesitation, Avril steps aboard the train.
...Almost as if she's in a trance.
'The doors will... now close...'
She has enough time to blink and whirl about, but already--
Already it may be too close to escape the trap into which she has walked.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Train You Ain't Gettin Offa.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
A woeful, cursed... or perhaps blessed? Existence that ferries the souls of the dead, as it were... the specifics are perhaps beyond the scope of this one person to determine, but it is unmistakable. The existence of the black tickets, the appearance of the train on a moonless night, shrouded in fog and cloud...
It carries with it the unmistakable stench of death.
And with it...
A figure in a black robe droops its head. Something about this ferriage to the cold deep speaks to her... a kind of clarity within it all, a reunion--
Her head droops again.
Chestnut brown hair spills out; the quiet jangle of chains. A familiar tattoo on her cheek -- the mark of the Rohay family.
... just what is Yue doing here?
Those who are so attracted to the stench of death are unwittingly attracted to this train, one supposes.
Then she lifts her head and...
... looks at Avril.
"... what are you doing here? It is surely too early for you to depart to the afterlife."
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
There's already someone on the train by the time Avril gets there.
She'd recognize him instantaneously, a young man with an unruly set of bright blue hair that sticks straight up like the crest of a particularly azure rooster. He seems...
To be asleep?
LATE LAST NIGHT, Ashley Winchester stumbled, tiredly, into a train station near Guild Galad. Finally, they had clearance to head back to Meria, and the return was long overdue. Now he was just a quick train ride and a sojourn across the sea, and he'd be home at last. Home sounds really nice, Ashley Winchester would think as he sinks into a couch, not noticing that the train is absolutely empty of anyone but himself. He yawns and closes his eyes, soon falling fast asleep as the one-way train to Yomotsu-Hirasaka shuts its doors and speeds off. Hopefully, he thinks in the brief, liminal moment before drifting into dreamland, this train doesn't get swallowed up by a weird dimensional gate like the last couple.
...Perhaps Ashley Winchester should not be riding trains. Regardless, he is here and he is sleeping quite soundly indeed.
DG: Ashley Winchester has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Train You Ain't Gettin Offa. DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Train You Ain't Gettin Offa.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
================<* CHALLENGE - A Train You Ain't Gettin Offa *>=================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
A mysterious train that departs from the Thirteenth Platform.
Perhaps you believe the rumours of people disappearing into the cloak of
midnight, or perhaps you're here to debunk the urban legend once and for
all. Perhaps you are here because destiny calls.
The only clue you have is a foreboding black ticket, marked for one Group,
departing from the station you're present at...
Hirasaka, Hirasaka... the one-way train bound for Hirasaka...
will be arriving shortly.
Please wait by the yellow line... until the doors...
Open.
An ominous, tinny voice echoes from public announcement speakers that
Filgaia stations are... not usually equipped with.
And then--
clack-clack
clack-clack
It appears.
A shooting star racing through the wilderness, drawing to an eerily silent
stop at the platform you're standing on. It is a train unlike any you've
seen - unlike the carriages and locomotives of Filgaia, the rumoured,
legendary Chibiki-Iwa Express has silver, rectangular cars, painted with a
black stripe.
The sliding doors open. The lights are on within, revealing surprisingly
mundane rows of seats flush against the walls. There is an almost
supernatural compulsion that draws you within. But just as soon as you start
inspecting--
The doors will... now close.
Please step away from the doors...
There is no opening the doors.
The doors hiss to a flush close. No! The train shifts... it might be too
late!
Is there truly... no gettin' offa this train you're on?
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Secret==========================================
======================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express - Round 1 *>======================= ==================< Results - A Train You Ain't Gettin Offa >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Secret(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Immediately as she seems to come round to herself, Avril is met with a familiar face.
"Yue? Why are you here? ...Is this a train?" Avril glances down at the black ticket in her hand, and remarks, "I had only just picked this up where it had been lying in the street. And suddenly, I have found myself--"
The doors slide shut with a clatter. Even this may not rouse Ashley Winchester from his slumber.
"...Ah!"
tak tak
tak tak-a-tak
It's too late to escape now...
Avril glances about herself, in search of answers, or a secret way out. "What manner of train is this? And... Ashley, is that you?"
DG: Yue Rohay has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Train Hopping *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
As if on clockwork, numerous ghosts bar your passage forward through the
passenger cars. They do not speak when spoken to, save to eerily chant a
song that cloys at the senses:
...Wa yo re ...
...KA ne TA ra SO...
...TSU NA mu...
Truly, how persistent! If they insist on barring your passage inside...
Then the ladder leading outside is your only path. You'll have to make
multiple leaps across the gaps on the roofs of the train cars and not tumble
over and fall into the mysterious abyss that this train to the afterlife
runs on.
Easy, right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Slow=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue's expression indicates that she's not terribly surprised about this turn of events. She hasn't even motioned to get off the train, and doesn't look unfamiliar with her surroundings.
"... this is a train where the dead go to their final rest," Yue explains in no uncertain terms. "And also... where people whose fates are inextricably ensnared with death are drawn to. Like you, I and Ashley here..."
A pause, as the ghosts start to gather around them. She moves quietly and shakes Ashley on the arm. "... are you awake? We need to move."
She's uncharacteristically bold and decisive, unlike her morose and sorrow-griped self outside. "We should use the ladder outside to evade them. They can be persistent."
The Veruni slides outside, climbing up the ladder and pointing towards the gap between the train carriages; as she does so, she ties her hair back quietly and leaps.
DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Cute Scrunchie toward her party's challenge, Train Hopping.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ask not what Ashley dreams of. Hope only that it is a good dream, a dream of bread and baking, or of a day spent in a warm, unfamiliar, but pleasant meadow alongside a beautiful woman whose name and face he will not remember when he awakens. Don't even consider the possibility of the demon tormenting his sleeping mind. That would be much too cruel, to have no rest even in one's dreams.
"Mmmnnuh?" Ashley asks as he's shaken awake. He yawns, rubbing at a scrunched up eye. "MMmn. Miss Yue? Miss... Avril? Is that you? What are you guys doing here...?"
On this... Ghost train?
GHOST TRAIN!?
"Aw man," Ashley groans, rushing to his feet, "Again? What is with me and trains...!?" The ghosts gather. Ashley... does not have his gun loaded. This is a problem. He does however have a magical boomerang that he whips out as if it were second nature, which seems inexplicably to be capable of both ping-ponging into ghosts and... stunning them in place.
Equally inexplicably: the ghosts turn blue for a few seconds while they're stunned.
"Right behind you!" Ashley shouts and scurries up after Yue. At least when he's atop the carriage, he can have a moment to rack a fresh cartridge into the bayonet...!
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Magic Boomerang toward his party's challenge, Train Hopping.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Is that so?" Avril asks, astonishingly calm and collected about this whole business. "I wonder... is it because I am still here after so many years? Or might it instead be..."
Ashley awakens in this moment as Yue rouses him, and Avril's attention directs his way. "Ah, are you awake? It appears we have both become trapped here, Ashley. This appears to be a ghost train, headed to the afterlife. ...Unfortunately, I am afraid I have no intention of passing on just yet. Perhaps there may be something we could do before the train reaches its final destination?"
This might mean moving on to another car, for instance--
Particularly since there are ghosts gathering around them now and they do not look quite friendly.
"Oh," says Avril, in those moments as the ghosts begin to chant and before they are stunned into silence by the well-timed boomerang. She pauses perhaps for a moment to regard the spirits before similarly hurrying out the door with the other two.
Well, more than a moment: she's produced a certain Medium, which shimmers with a white light as Avril calls upon the Guardian. They might need Lucadia's grace in the next few moments.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Train Hopping.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Train Hopping *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
As if on clockwork, numerous ghosts bar your passage forward through the
passenger cars. They do not speak when spoken to, save to eerily chant a
song that cloys at the senses:
...Wa yo re ...
...KA ne TA ra SO...
...TSU NA mu...
Truly, how persistent! If they insist on barring your passage inside...
Then the ladder leading outside is your only path. You'll have to make
multiple leaps across the gaps on the roofs of the train cars and not tumble
over and fall into the mysterious abyss that this train to the afterlife
runs on.
Easy, right?
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Slow=============================================
======================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express - Round 2 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Train Hopping >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Magic Boomerang 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Cute Scrunchie 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(30)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Fright(2)|Secret(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
'Again'? Yue doesn't quite inquire into when the last time Ashley got on a cursed train is, but his boomerang is indeed effective, as if there's somehow a universal combat rule where ghosts have to be weak to boomerangs to be stunned that they may be vanquished by arrows of light. ... maybe.
"It is possible to escape," Yue reassures the two, again as if... she's been here before. A pause, as she considers Avril's words.
"Drifters often cheat death... but your case -- and mine -- may be exceptional," she explains. "Maybe the train takes offense to that." So why was she already here, as if not even baited?
Avril powerfully jumps with Lucadia's power, and Yue gives chase after; there's a moment as she looks to the former(?) ice queen, her lips curled to a quiet frown.
They arrive on the next carriage, leading them to...
DG: Ashley Winchester has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>=========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - The Guest that was a Ghost *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The eerie chill of death visits you once more, coalescing into several enormous ghosts composed of little more than white rags formed into a vaguely humanoid shape. Just as your team readies themselves for battle... A cute white-hooded ghost takes arms beside you! It seems like they want to come with! ?????? has joined the party! (Temporarily. :( ) =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Technically this is the third cursed train Ashley Winchester has been on. This is, in fact, the second time he's been on this specific one, but perhaps the rules about being allowed aboard multiple times doesn't apply when you've got three different souls rolling around in your headspace. Like, he might technically count as three ghosts, and that's just far too juicy of a target to not get drawn periodically into the Phantom Train.
Regardless! The party arrives on the next carriage, leading them to...
...An assortment of even more ghosts. Ashley pales mere moments he swings gallantly through the window and rolls to a stop in the middle of the car...
Which, as noted previously, is full of ghosts.
"Aw crackers," the baker whispers. He readies his Bayonet for battle, but then...
THEN!!
One of his canned pastries rolls out of his pack and slowly tumbles towards a particularly well-kept ghost. It pauses, drifting vaguely downward to pop open the can of deliciousness... and takes a single bite of the cinnamon roll contained within.
Its eyes... turn heart-shaped.
"Uh," Ashley starts as the PASTRY-LOVING PHANTOM abruptly switches allegiances and unholsters an oversized, ghostly handcannon. It fires absolutely non-ghostly rockets that drift languidly toward its fellow phantoms.
Apparently they've gained... an ally of sorts?
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Portable Pastries toward his party's challenge, The Guest that was a Ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Technically this is the third cursed train Ashley Winchester has been on. This is, in fact, the second time he's been on this specific one, but perhaps the rules about being allowed aboard multiple times doesn't apply when you've got three different souls rolling around in your headspace. Like, he might technically count as three ghosts, and that's just far too juicy of a target to not get drawn periodically into the Phantom Train.
"Oh man, you've got no idea," Ashley groans in reply. "Last time we were here, I think it wanted to grab hold of Brad or something, because apparently he belonged in the afterlife too? Just keep running, we'll be fine! As long as we can convince the train we're still alive, we should be okay, I think...!"
Regardless! The party arrives on the next carriage, leading them to...
...An assortment of even more ghosts. Ashley pales mere moments he swings gallantly through the window and rolls to a stop in the middle of the car...
Which, as noted previously, is full of ghosts.
"Aw crackers," the baker whispers. He readies his Bayonet for battle, but then...
THEN!!
One of his canned pastries rolls out of his pack and slowly tumbles towards a particularly well-kept ghost. It pauses, drifting vaguely downward to pop open the can of deliciousness... and takes a single bite of the cinnamon roll contained within.
Its eyes... turn heart-shaped.
"Uh," Ashley starts as the PASTRY-LOVING PHANTOM abruptly switches allegiances and unholsters an oversized, ghostly handcannon. It fires absolutely non-ghostly rockets that drift languidly toward its fellow phantoms.
Apparently they've gained... an ally of sorts?
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Is that so? So it seeks all who had ought to have passed on..." she remarks, on the subject of Brad.
It is possible to escape.
"I had thought as much," she replies to Yue. "After all, even if I have been captured by this train, I am still very much alive. Very well," she says to Ashely. "Then, I shall do my utmost to convince it I still live and breathe." Even if it wants to ensnare all who have outstayed their due-by date, it ought to still follow the rules and wait for her to depart, first.
Perhaps in due time she may come to understand that the train will have to wait a very long time for her.
Their passage ahead is without incident, but it does not remain so, not when they plunge into the next car and find it... occupied.
Avril's blade is already in hand. Can someone swordfight a ghost?
She is about to find out.
"--Is that... Is it fighting on our side?" Avril remarks, ducking out of the way of a ghostly arm as she does battle with the ghosts before them. "Perhaps all of them are not quite so hostile to our presence!"
Or... even ghosts like pastries.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Guest that was a Ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Brad... so he's been here before. "Yes... that is the way. To convince those responsible for the ferriage that life still clings to you two," Yue explains. A pause, as she looks towards the swarm of ghosts that await them in the next carriage. No way around it, huh?
But then... a friend drops in, seduced by Ashley's canned pastries.
...
"Do we... still count, Avril?" Yue quietly asks, as she quietly moves towards the nearest ghost and carves at it with her heel -- somehow, feet still work against ghosts. Something about the thrill of the night, perhaps, attracts the undead to fancy footwork...
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Guest that was a Ghost.
==========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>=========================== =================<* CHALLENGE - The Guest that was a Ghost *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The eerie chill of death visits you once more, coalescing into several enormous ghosts composed of little more than white rags formed into a vaguely humanoid shape. Just as your team readies themselves for battle... A cute white-hooded ghost takes arms beside you! It seems like they want to come with! ?????? has joined the party! (Temporarily. :( ) =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Treasure=========================================
=====================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express - Round 3 *>====================== ===================< Results - The Guest that was a Ghost >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(5)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashley Winchester 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Portable Pastries 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yue Rohay 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 45 --(25)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Fright(2)|Slow(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I don't think I trust a train to know whether we deserve to live or die!" Ashley answers with a huff. "'Cheating death...' I don't like it. If death wanted us so badly, it should have played its cards better!" But as it turns out, a grinning skull makes for a poor pokerface, and even death can raise when it should have called.
Ashley doesn't play poker, his metaphors are all over the place. What he does do, though, is bake. That one canister of pastry goodness is not the only one that gets handed out. There's plenty go around, and soon enough it's not just a single ghost that seems to rethink this assault on the living.
Stories say that eating the food of the dead forever consigns you to their realm. So perhaps if the dead eat the food of the living... something equally binding might occur?
Whatever the case, the party fights bravely. Avril, sadly, finds that she can swordfight a ghost, but also that this particular train picked up a fight-club of extremely well-trained swordspersons before departing her station. She can out-fight any one of them, but a dozen of them is a little more intimidating.
And then Yue kicks one of them in its ghostly face. Ghosts can also be kicked, it seems.
"Yue..." Is it finally time for her to go? Is that why she's on this train? Is she, like this pastry-munching ghost, merely here to help out until Ashley and Avril can disembark on their own?
They won't find out yet.
The ghosts are vanquished or are munching on spare pastries. The party is able to move past them, into the next car. Their ghostly friend waves goodbye and chews on another cinnamon roll. Truly, even after death, we are what we eat...!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Gobble... Snarf... *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Hmmm, there's a pleasant and appetising scent wafting in as your team proceeds into this next, slightly nicer and ostentatious passenger car. Dining tables dot the royal red carpet, and you can see ghosts being served all kinds of mysterious and wonderful cuisine. It doesn't look harmful, either... and there's a spare table, with just the right number of seats for your team. Are... are you going to be all right, if you eat this food?? There is only one way to find out... right? =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Treasure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"And yourself as well," Avril says, taking but a moment to look at Yue carefully, her lips pursed as if she were considering something.
"But it is strange, is it not... a 'train that ferries the dead'. I wonder why it is a train?" the once and future Queen muses as they proceed--
And find themselves in the midst of a rather ill-disposed gaggle of ghosts.
Avril is no slouch when it comes to blades, but there is a difference between her courtly style when used against one or two foes and... a fight against a whole bevvy of blademasters from beyond the grave. She finds herself forced onto the defensive, and only due to the intercession of her allies--
"...'Still count'?" Avril echoes, tilting her head slightly to one side as she regards Yue quizzically, once the fighting is done and she's had the chance to catch her breath.
(their ghostly pal remains behind. but perhaps all is in fact well as far as its concerned -- it's got a nice assortment of pastries to go through)
Speaking of food, though...
"Is this... the dining car?" Avril says, gazing at the slew of spectres as they dig into their equally ghostly grub. They don't seem hostile (maybe they're too busy eating). And what's more, there's a an empty table right here by the door they'd entered by. Food rests, waiting.
"..."
Dean would have already dug in. Rebecca may have hesitated.
Avril, though...
Avril's...
...stomach growls.
"..."
"...I wonder," she muses at last, approaching the table, mirror in hand. Is it possible to discern if it's actually safe?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Gobble... Snarf....
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"It could be that there are all kinds of ghost-vehicles," Ashley muses as he shoulders the Bayonet, perhaps unwisely under the circumstances. But then, there don't seem to be any more aggressive ghosts in the next carriage. Perhaps they were all just hungry in the last one? And maybe the reason these ghosts seem so chill... is because they've... got food?
Ashley stares agog at the sight of the delicious food laid out before them. Even if he's carrying a bunch of canned goods, the fact is that pastries alone cannot sustain a human body. Carbohydrates only go so far-- the body needs proteins and minerals. He's heard-tell of a certain scholar who developed an extremely nourishing bread recipe in the search for a portable and easily-preserved source of sustenance for overnight cramming sessions...
But so many things must be sacrificed to make such a thing work. The unholy result uses ground fish of all things as a binding agent for the flour. GROUND FISH!!
It's awful.
Anyway, there's a lot of food here, and Ashley can't exactly gainsay Avril for wanting to eat some. But is it safe...? If they eat ghost-food, will they be trapped here...? One way to find out.
Ashley pulls from his pack... a familiar bakelite box.
"Don't let me down, Booty Call...!" Ashley says as he pushes the 'scan' button. The box bings and beeps, searching the area for treasure. Obviously, if this food is edible, then it counts as a 'found treasure item,' and thus will show up on the Booty Call's radar. And if not, then it's clearly not safe to eat!
Logic!!
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Booty Call toward his party's challenge, Gobble... Snarf....
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"... it is a pretty simple metaphor, when you come down to it," Yue admits. "A train can only travel on the rails set for it... a fine metaphor for the inevitability of death, wouldn't you say? I hear people used to say it was a boat, but... perhaps a river or a rail is one and the same, to the imagination."
Yue doesn't seem to follow up on whether or not they 'still count' among the living... though Ashley seems to have picked up on something.
And... there is an empty table. And Avril's tummy rumbles.
And Ashley has... fish bread?!
The hooded Veruni just sits, not reaching for food... there's no use for food where she'd like to go. "... this is a poor last supper, I must say."
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gobble... Snarf....
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================ ======================<* CHALLENGE - Gobble... Snarf... *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Hmmm, there's a pleasant and appetising scent wafting in as your team proceeds into this next, slightly nicer and ostentatious passenger car. Dining tables dot the royal red carpet, and you can see ghosts being served all kinds of mysterious and wonderful cuisine. It doesn't look harmful, either... and there's a spare table, with just the right number of seats for your team. Are... are you going to be all right, if you eat this food?? There is only one way to find out... right? =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Treasure=========================================
======================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express - Round 4 *>======================= ========================< Results - Gobble... Snarf... >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Mirror of De Soto 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Booty Call 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 70 --(25)--> 95 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"So... there might be ghost Gears, then?" Avril muses. "Or, perhaps, ghost airships?" She might be imagining ghostly versions of the Fahrenheit even now, flitting about in the sky and ferrying the dead from one place to another.
Would Sin attack a ghost airship, though?
"Hmm... so it is because a train can only travel in one direction. I see. Then, perhaps there cannot be a ghost airship." She seems a little bit dejected by this.
But maybe it's still worth a thought. As is the idea of ghosts being hangry. Is that why the others in the car just now as well as the ones a few cars back were so antagonistic? Are they all just in need of a good meal of ghostly grub?
The food on the table seems solid enough. Indeed, even when she reflects their image in her mirror, it doesn't... look like anything but food.
And it even shows up on the radar.
But does that still mean that it's fine to eat the food of the dead?
"'Last supper'?" Avril echoes, picking up a roll. It's cold, perhaps a little bit stale, but it feels like a dinner roll. "Whatever do you mean, Yue?"
DG: Yue Rohay has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Train on your Parade *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
*SKREEEEEEE*
The train comes to an extremely sudden halt.
So... you are the ones who have been causing trouble...
I will not allow you...
...to disrupt my schedule...!!
A powerful shadowy force flings your group off their feet and YEETS your
team out the nearest window!!
... onto cold, metallic train tracks.
You see your shadow, cast by powerful ghostly headlights behind you. A
haunting steam whistle blows.
Uh oh.
(NB: This is an interim card meant to set the scene; resolve this card
without posing, and go straight to the Final card!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Save Point=======================================
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Train on your Parade. DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Train on your Parade. DG: Ashley Winchester has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Train on your Parade.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Train on your Parade *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
*SKREEEEEEE*
The train comes to an extremely sudden halt.
So... you are the ones who have been causing trouble...
I will not allow you...
...to disrupt my schedule...!!
A powerful shadowy force flings your group off their feet and YEETS your
team out the nearest window!!
... onto cold, metallic train tracks.
You see your shadow, cast by powerful ghostly headlights behind you. A
haunting steam whistle blows.
Uh oh.
(NB: This is an interim card meant to set the scene; resolve this card
without posing, and go straight to the Final card!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Save Point=======================================
======================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express - Round 5 *>======================= =======================< Results - Train on your Parade >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail Mirror of De Soto 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 25 --(12)--> 37 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 95 --(0)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Save Point(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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. DG: Yue Rohay has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================ ================<* CHALLENGE - The Suplex of Everyone's Souls *>================ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- So, um. A rampaging ghost train is after you. The doom train has a frightening face, and a headlight whose beam scorches whoever is unfortunate to step into the light. It also has the horrible habit of casting curses and other dark magic to whoever is out of reach of its light. It's extremely obvious what'll happen if you get run over by a train, too. But hope isn't yet lost. It's said that trains -- in particular, ghost trains -- have a long and storied history with martial artists. There have been many tales, perhaps all exaggerated, of a muscle-bound "bodybuilder" straying from his gym and taking hold of a locomotive by its cowchaser and performing... The legendary Train Suplex. Is this the start of a new legend -- YOUR legend? =Dungeon Conditions: Wonder===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue quietly rises from the table, being frustratingly unresponsive to Avril's questions in turn. What did she mean by a last supper? But before long, they've had their meal of rolls, and then...
(At this point, the friendly ?????? ghost leaves, bowing as if the exchange of services have been completed. Guess you'll have to go on your own...)
So... you are the ones who have been causing trouble...
I will not allow you...
...to disrupt my schedule!!
The three are summarily lifted and thrown straight off the carriage, without even the grace to finish their drink! They land on cold, hard train tracks, and the headlights of the locomotive shine before them...
"... ... will you continue to deny me?" Yue quietly asks of the train, shaking her head. "No matter how many times I find myself here..."
She glances aside, lowering her head. "Life is so cheap, that so many people are turned into little more than a statistic at the worst of times... and yet... those most deserving of it cannot help but cling on, cockroach-like, to survival..."
A pause, as the train races towards them. She doesn't stand, and yet...
Even now...
Avril senses a Golem emerging. Yes, it is That Golem... the Golem which embodies -- the shape which is a Friend to All. Kettle-like, wide-bottomed and pointy at the top.
It's Big Shal! Grappling onto the cowchaser with both of her big mitts. Yue quietly shakes her head and glances further away. "Even here, Promme..."
Big Shal could use a hand...!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril reaches towards a glass without looking, her gaze still on Yue. What is meant, precisely, by--
It's not a thought that she gets to complete. The three of them are lifted right off their feet by some spectral force and hurled outwards...
...onto the track!!
The locomotive's lights shine in the distance. The train is coming their way.
"...Yue, are you..." Avril begins to say, the mirror in her grasp once again.
She doesn't move as the train comes barreling their way.
"...You must not wish for such a thing!"
Light, spectral and flowing, has begun to flow around the Queen of the Veruni. This is not her full power. It is not even half of her power. And yet, she still stands before the abyss within her, on the precipice that will see her hurtling into the expanse. The thing within stirs, eager.
And angry.
"...All of us have lives to which we must return!"
The light about her is brighter now, bright enough to partially illuminate this shadow place in which they now stand.
The train is still coming.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Suplex of Everyone's Souls.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I mean, I don't see why there can't be a Ghost Gear. I'm sure there's a story out there of some kind of gear out there inhabited by the spirit of its pilot, clinging to undeath to avenge his fallen squadron...!" It's possible that Ashley has in fact read this story. It is DISTINCTLY POSSIBLE that Ashley just recounted the plot to Heroes of Ghost Steel Vol.III, which you would only have heard of if you were a GIGANTIC YA NOVEL NERD.
But then...
Yue says something that worries him. Ashley has sensed something... off about her for a while now. But this...
It hurts him. His heart aches and his stomach turns. Yue... Why do you want to die so badly...?
Is the pain so awful that nobody can help you bear it...?
That's just-- so sad.
And Ashley isn't the only one who thinks so, it seems.
The party is hurled out of the carriage. Ashley remembers this part. "Start running!" He shouts, following his own advice, running along the ghostly tracks even as BIG SHAL emerges into this strange, tortured space...
To save her friend...!
"I can't... I can't just let you choose to die here, Yue!" Ashley shouts, loading another of those canisters into his rifle. THIS one is marked 'failed batch.' In particular... It ended up too doughy and far too sticky, but that makes it perfect for firing into the ghostly locomotive's gullet to gum up its inner works.
"That golem's not the only one who wants you to go on living! I know it's hard. I know sometimes that it just feels... Feels so much like the entire world would be better off if you just disappeared, that it's too painful to take even one more step... But... There are people who couldn't stand to see you go, too. Maybe it's selfish, maybe it means making you hurt for a little while longer, but for them, for you, for myself-- I can't let myself think it'd be better if you-- or ANYONE would be better off gone!"
Because if he did...
Wouldn't it mean that, in some way, That Guy would be in the right...?
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Portable Pastries toward his party's challenge, The Suplex of Everyone's Souls. DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool An Old Golem Core toward her party's challenge, The Suplex of Everyone's Souls.
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================ ================<* CHALLENGE - The Suplex of Everyone's Souls *>================ |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- So, um. A rampaging ghost train is after you. The doom train has a frightening face, and a headlight whose beam scorches whoever is unfortunate to step into the light. It also has the horrible habit of casting curses and other dark magic to whoever is out of reach of its light. It's extremely obvious what'll happen if you get run over by a train, too. But hope isn't yet lost. It's said that trains -- in particular, ghost trains -- have a long and storied history with martial artists. There have been many tales, perhaps all exaggerated, of a muscle-bound "bodybuilder" straying from his gym and taking hold of a locomotive by its cowchaser and performing... The legendary Train Suplex. Is this the start of a new legend -- YOUR legend? =Dungeon Conditions: Wonder===================================================
======================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express - Round 6 *>======================= ==================< Results - The Suplex of Everyone's Souls >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 50 --(13)--> 63 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Portable Pastries 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 37 --(5)--> 42 Pass An Old Golem Core 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 95 --(25)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Wonder Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has successfully explored Chibiki-Iwa Express!
===========================<* Chibiki-Iwa Express *>============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - It's Too In-Tents *>=======================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Thoroughly defeated (and possibly suplexed), the deathly train takes a
moment, before re-railing itself.
I see...
So the will to live is that strong...
I will let you go... but however...
First I must perform my duty...
The train invites you back into its carriage, and proceeds swiftly towards
its intended destination:
An enormous, ruined Zeboim-era city lying deep underneath Filgaia. Shattered
skyscrapers peak its skyline, ringed with raised highways and offramps. A
nearby rusted road sign labels the city in Zeboim or the Ancient Tongue, if
you can decipher it:
[ HIRASAKA CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT 3km ]
The passengers depart for the fallen city, shrouded by glowing butterflies
that hover about the station, shedding a faint aura of death...
Then, the doors shut, and the train honours its promise as you are whisked
away to the very station you started this bizarre journey. As the carriage
pulls away, there is very little evidence that this mysterious incident ever
happened, save...
... a glowing little butterfly, and underneath it... a folded-up, high
quality Tent. It's certainly very fancy, and will serve you well on the road
if you have to camp it in the rough, but...
What exactly was the train's in-tent to give this to you?
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"... do you know, Avril? A promise must never be broken. So the opposite... once you have broken a promise..."
Yue speaks very quietly, in the moments before light flows around the Queen of the Veruni. The imperiousness of her voice -- that they all have lives to return to -- seems to give the train pause, as if its dominion over death itself is not enough to override her serene grace.
And Ashley entreats her, as he always does -- as he must. Every time, it makes her feel that little bit more twisted... like every time someone urges her to not do so -- that she musn't do it -- she just feels a little bit more humiliated for feeling that way...
...
Big Shal stands forthright, however, and... ... ...
The Legendary Suplex doesn't come. Because Big Shal isn't about to upend the entire train and be mean to a friend! Instead, Big Shal takes hold and...
...
Gives the Ghost Train a headpat. Pat pat pat.
In the end, the three are permitted onboard once more, as the train first performs its duty, bringing the souls of the departed towards a mysterious, Zeboim-era city lying deep beneath Filgaia. Shattered skyscrapers and raised ring highways await in the backdrop, announced by a metallic sign reading:
HIRASAKA CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT 3km
"... it beckons to me, that city," Yue remarks. "A city of a lost age. A person from a lost age. ... Why can it not accept me? I have failed once more."
Yue lowers her head, with a deep grimace.
... and then-- something like a glowing butterfly cascades over her, and--
BONK
A rolled up Tent drops on her head.
Even if life is too in-tents... Yue, why can't you see that?
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"...Once you have broken a promise..." Avril echoes, her gaze grown distant as she gazes through the oncoming train.
She blinks once, twice. A tear, unbidden, rolls down her cheek. For those who break a promise...
And the light burns brilliant about her, shimmering like the northern lights as she draws but a small piece of power from the mirror itself.
It's funny. It really is a gift she had left herself once, a long time ago. A small fragment, to be used when needed. And even now, Avril has not yet realized this, thinking still she draws upon the Ley through the mirror.
The mirror in truth reflects a moon from an ancient sky, drawing in power from the moon of today.
In the end she needs only that little bit, if she needed any of it at all. The train, mollified by perhaps their willinginess to live (or Shal's friendliness) permits them again to come aboard.
"Do you truly mean what you say, Yue?" Avril asks, as the train speeds on towards its final destination...
A city that Yue can no longer reach.
"..."
...? A butterfly?
"...Oh!"
Just in time, Avril catches a rolled up tent. "Oh... I wonder if the others might like this?" she cannot help but muse, even in spite of everything that's just happened.
Because sometimes, you need to calm down when things get too... in-tents.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
A promise must never be broken...
That's a sentiment that Marivel has shared sometimes, too. But what happens if you break a promise? What happens if you try as hard as you possibly can, but just can't make it work out...?
Over the course of an immortal's life, how is it possible to keep every promise that you make...?
Ashley doesn't know. He can't know. Just like he can't not try to selfishly save Yue from her own deathwish. She can desire it as much as she likes, but if he's nearby, then he'll do whatever he can to stop her from acting upon it. It's selfish, undeniably so, but...
Sometimes that's just how people are.
Big Shal 'defeats' the train, and once more Ashley finds himself rolling into Hirasaka Central Business District. The ancient, ghostly city rises all around him, inspiring the very same awe that he experienced months ago, when he'd seen it last.
"...Maybe it's because you've got more connections to the world of 'today' than you think you do," Ashley murmurs softly, perhaps in a voice Yue would have trouble picking out amidst the din of ghosts and the clatter of two, perhaps even three tents.
"...We'll be heading home soon," Ashley says to Avril, then. "If it's anything like the last time... it'll be dropping us off once it's done here. Looks like we all get to go back home today, huh?"