2021-10-12: Through Ice and Snow
- Log: Through Ice and Snow
- Cast: Yue Rohay, Seraph Yvain, Seraph Lanval, Avril Vent Fleur, Pearl
- Where: Zulan Village
- Date: October 12, 2021
- Summary: There's been an avalanche on Mount Zulan; in a search for anyone who might have been caught up in the event, they cross paths with Yue, who is here for her own reasons. As things turn out, no one seems to have been on the mountain (except Yue, perhaps) during the event, but... something else is found. Also Big Shal appears!
DG: A party led by Yue Rohay is now entering Mount Zulan - Snowed In. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - The Redrawn Map *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Mount Zulan towers above you. The top of the peak is covered in clouds and there is a light snowfall coming down atop you. The flurries are more of an annoyance than anything else, though they do make some paths slippery. There is a forest ahead of you, with a path leading upward. Last night, though, had an avalanche. As soon as you start up that path, you find the avalanche changed the landscape entirely. Knocked over trees, snow packs, fallen chunks of ice, and overturned boulders have made a maze. You will need to carefully map your way through the maze. With some luck, though, you might find a way to climb higher up the mountain than expected. With poor luck, you may spend a few hours here. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless, Secret================================
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Mount Zulan is a particularly hazardous mountain, famed for its snowfall and frosty peaks, and uncooperative weather; even today in its most tame, the evidence of an avalanche that's happened just last night can be seen -- maps are now useless with well-established paths now inaccessible, and others having opened.
Yue is here because...
...
...
Yep, she's trying to hide from her mother again, by crossing one world over, and one extra world again into Guard territory, which is horribly unusual now that the Guard-Veruni trucies are now over, and in incredibly hostile environs at that...
...
"... snow, huh ..." Yue huddles into her own coat, teeth chattering slowly. "Of course it had to be snow... at any point, Avril is going to appear in front of me now. No, brain, no, I'm not going to let you conjure hallucinations of her today. Today's a GOOD day, I'm not going to get so miserable I start seeing her while I'm awake. Avril is restricted to nightmare time only, okay? Okay brain? Okay--"
She turns around as she hears footsteps.
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Redrawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
The Seraph Yvain is here because... he was in town for the avalanche! And he's a helper. He helps. A graceful man, he has the typical Seraphic two-toned hair--pale red edged in white. His attire is covering, though one might wonder if it's warm enough for the cold (it isn't, but that doesn't matter). At his back is a wooden-stocked rifle, a bayonet on its end, and his boots do not crunch in the snow. Indeed, he walks overtop of it, not leaving footprints.
The Guard-Veruni situation is complicated. He doesn't know much about it!
But he does know...
"Not a big snow person, hm?" he inquires as he steps closer, and is not Avril. Once Yue acknowledges him in some way, so that he knows she can see him, he steps closer. "Here--you should probably head back, but..."
She is definitely unique.
"Have a drink--it should help with the cold." Yvain has warm cider! (It's not the alcoholic jug.)
DG: Seraph Yvain has used his Tool Cider Jug toward his party's challenge, The Redrawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Incidentally, Seraph Lanval appears in front of Yue, except he doesn't appear so much as he just happens to be somewhere in the field of vision, lying down on his back, and waving his arms up and down, and his legs back and forth, making a very odd watery, icy imprint within the hills.
"I'm makin' that weird shymbol ya shee on shtuff!" Lanval celebrates making a reasonably good facsimile of the radioactive symbol, because of course he has not internalized the concept of snow angels. "Ha ha ha!"
Some things of a vague but potentially course-changing nature reflect off of the beer lens novelty glasses he has on as he starts to sit up and take notice of Yue struggling with the snow - and to see Yvain coming to her aid.
"Mmmmm." He doesn't say or do much else beyond this weird bit of unsolicited merriment.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, The Redrawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril doesn't await Yue when she turns around.
Rather instead, a second figure follows not long behind Yvaine--
"...Yue? Is that you?"
This is not a hallucination, sorry to say, because she turns her head towards Yvaine next. "Is she alright, Yvaine?" Her blue eyes track him as he hands over the jug of warm cider. "Yue, had you become caught in the avalanche? How do you feel?" She has approached, tentatively--
After all, their last encounter (last couple of encounters) (every encounter) had suggested that Yue might not be in the best state of mind.
Also the mirror is in her hands. The fact that it has started to shine with the contained power of the moon (?) (???) might also not be the best thing at this particular moment. With her face lit from beneath like that because of shimmering columns of green-purple auroric light, well... it might not be the only time Yue has seen something akin to that sort of display.
Filgaia shines in the reflection from the mirror, a pale blue sphere. It is a tense moment, perhaps, for the other Veruni--
And then Avril spots Lanval.
"Oh! Lanval!"
...just like that the tension shatters. She waves (like a queen, of course) over at Lanval.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, The Redrawn Map.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
It had been an unusual night for Pearl. Companionship. Kindness. Laughter? They're all new. After a while, she retreated to her own room, saying she didn't want to disturb anyone else. She slept okay, that, night. Until the avalanche woke her up.
This morning, she was up early, rugged up in the clothes she wore for Gagazet, doing what she could with a shovel. Unfortunately, she's reached the limit of what she can do there. Now it's time to go forward and survery damage. Leo Jr bounces behind her, a heavy scarf wrapped around his circumference, and his little red cape fluttering in the breeze.
He's here for moral support.
As she makes her way towards the site of the avalanche, she sees Seraph Yvain and relaxes a little. "Ah, Lord Yvain." She's still not quite shaken it, okay? Titles are familiar. "You are also assisting? She also sees the person following Yvain. She had definitely faced the gurd before, but Pearl does not remember a specific run in. Still, the scarred woman is strangely awestruck."
Then she sees Yue and Lanval ahead and.... She's not sure she knows either of them, but one of them is causing a scene (and one might be about to).
"I think you are supposed to mark them in specific places-" but Leo Jr has bounced forward because Lanval is a strange man doing funny things and he wants to watch. He's a simple bulb.
Pearl is not much help her. She's tended to be a brute force navigator.
DG: Pearl has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Redrawn Map.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - The Redrawn Map *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Mount Zulan towers above you. The top of the peak is covered in clouds and there is a light snowfall coming down atop you. The flurries are more of an annoyance than anything else, though they do make some paths slippery. There is a forest ahead of you, with a path leading upward. Last night, though, had an avalanche. As soon as you start up that path, you find the avalanche changed the landscape entirely. Knocked over trees, snow packs, fallen chunks of ice, and overturned boulders have made a maze. You will need to carefully map your way through the maze. With some luck, though, you might find a way to climb higher up the mountain than expected. With poor luck, you may spend a few hours here. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless, Secret================================
====================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In - Round 1 *>===================== =========================< Results - The Redrawn Map >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Mirror of De Soto 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Yvain 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Cider Jug 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(7)--> 7 Pass Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yue Rohay 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Conditions: Reckless(2)|Secret(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Yue Rohay has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue turns to face Yvain -- her power of Resonance appears to be without issue -- and blinks several times. She's attuned enough, even through the anti-magic prison shackles, that she can sense this isn't a human she's talking to, but a Seraph.
But she definitely wasn't expecting Yvain to... offer her cider. "... I-- no, not particularly. Snow has a particular... ..."
She trails off, because she sees Lanval having fun, talking about 'making that symbol you see on stuff'. "... the radioactive symbol?" Yue muses, perhaps sounding like nonsense to most. Still, he looks like he's having a lot of fun, so...
So...
There's Avril in front of her, and her heart freezes and clenches at the same time as her stomach lurches and turns into a black hole and she scampers away, a few steps back, awkwardly. "Avril-- why? No, you are not real-- no, you are--"
Uh oh, that's the powerful emotion of rising panic!
She gently accepts Yvain's cider and takes a quick swig of it in the particular manner of someone going 'oh gosh i need to escape this situation with alcohol', but... alas! It is non-alcoholic cider!!
... it's tasty and warm, though.
She's distracted by a woman she doesn't recognise, in warm clothes and with a... a... what is that adorable round creature with her? An onion?
Yue freezes further as she watches Avril use the mirror, cascading a display of auroric lights upon her... ... a mirror. Mirrors... broken promises... broken shards...
"I-- was not... here for any particular reason, but... I could... help out," Yue stammers somewhat lamely, as the person who was last seen trying to literally get run over by a train that's also Death. There's totally no ulterior motive to her being in a dangerous mountain. Still, between the lot of them -- warm cider, happy snow angels, a mirror to cast the truth of things, and brute force navigating... they find a way to... ...
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Razor Wolves *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Wolves prowl Mount Zulan and a harsh winter has made them lean and hungry. Several white-furred wolves appear, coming out of the trees and from behind rocks. They snarl, fangs bared -- and their eyes blaze with raw, focused hunger. Then, with a couple of howls, they lunge forward -- jaws open -- and start trying to bring members of your band down for dinner. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Ish that what they call it...?" Lanval asks of the freezing, miserable, lonely, off-center Yue. He scratches his chin. "It ain't a bad look. They should put that on more shtuff."
(they really shouldn't)
It doesn't change that there's been an avalanche, and that someone among them has been about to just come shy of being taken in by the cold, so some shelter is located in which to get some warmth going - it's a pause on a prospective journey along the mountain, but a necessary one for everyone to regroup and/or go draw other 'this is bad and forbidden' symbols in the snow.
Correction. 'Shelter.' It needs quotation marks, it's not very good. It's more like a conveniently placed ramshackle shack. But there's a fireplace, so a place for fire to burn and not burn what's left of the shack down. Lanval is giving Leo Jr something called A Look(tm) every so often but hasn't made any moves against them.
"Mmmm. We'll be shafe here fer a bit, at leasht." Lanval surmises as he considers what other sorts of symbols he feels like drawing in the snow later, like the circle with the big slanted line through it (prohibition) or something. "'m... not feelin' any Hellions nearby."
There's a howling. Lanval's correct, though, they're not Hellions. So, whew, no attack by Hellions. There is the sound of more wolves coming together, though - a nice, whole pack of white-furred wolves. They're lean, and they look like they haven't eaten in a while.
They approach the shack, snarling and baring their fangs as they get their first whiff of something that smells like 'food' in far too long a time - they can't be picky about what they eat any more, as they start to bash at the shack. One finds a door. One knows how doors work. The 'one' in both of these statements are the exact same.
These are normal, natural, run-of-the-mill starving Razor Wolves who hunt in packs and are vicious, indeed. But not Hellions, so yay, they can become part of a normal ordinary food chain! (wait no that's terrible)
Lanval stands up and calmly throws down some Holy Bottle water from an opened shining white bottle, the likes of which startles the first trespasser and gives everyone else time to get their stuff together and fight them off.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Razor Wolves.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain does not see the symbol his fellow Seraph makes as anything other than a nice symbol. Instead he focuses on Yue for the moment, because between the shackles and the talking to herself she is a very Concerning person. "That's fine--snow is something to be given a healthy caution, I think."
He looks back to Avril to answer, "She seems to be all right, just a little out of sorts. Maybe someone to talk to will do her good." He looks back to Yue as if to say, 'Yes?' and then looks over at Pearl. "I am," he tells her. "I thought my expertise might be useful in this matter--I've spent a lot of time in mountains like this."
But regardless of what they should have done, there is shelter for a bit, and then there is... howling. Wolves.
"Ah," he says. "Lucky. Is anyone hungry?" Yes, this is his response to wolves, as he sets out a grill that snaps together to stand up, and sets a fire beneath it before he moves towards the wolves with his rifle and bayonet out to handle them.
(Yes.)
DG: Seraph Yvain has used his Tool Portable Grill toward his party's challenge, Razor Wolves.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Dismay distantly lights in Avril's eyes as it becomes clearer by the second that Yue... is not at all well.
"Oh," Avril breathes.
And then just as suddenly as it had arisen, this soap-bubble moment is disturbed by the needle that is the Seraph, Lanval.
Come to think of it, if Yue is in bad shape (one way or another, this is probably true) shouldn't they try to find some shelter from this before venturing further into the cold??
Fortunately, one provides itself. After a fashion. "Hm..." Avril muses, eyeing a gap in one of the shack's walls. She has in her hand some sticks, which she is assiduously jamming into the gap. It's a strange thing, the mind -- she has the mental image of the text as it may have appeared on a screen or on the pages of a book. She can bring this snipped up perfectly. But the context in which she received it is gone. She isn't even certain when she might have received it, this particular fact...
...that beavers are known to plug gaps with sticks, just like this. It seems to be working pretty well.
Mysterious memory and all aside, Avril considers to herself, beavers are pretty wise.
"So, would you mind telling us about your friend?" she asks of Pearl, glancing the once from her task.
And then there's howling. It's getting pretty close -- enough that the wolves are just about literally at their door.
"Oh," says Avril, drawing her blade. She hesitates only a moment.
"Are wolves edible? ...Hmm, I suppose so," she considers, as if it were merely an academic matter.
And then she steps out into the cold, blade in hand to meet the enemy.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Razor Wolves.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Brute force navigation it is. On the way through, however, the little onion bounces up next to Yue and looks up at her with a 'Pfuu?' which is... well. Pearl has to translate. "...He is wondering if you would like to pet his fronds." Leo Jr nods enthusiastically. Well, rocks forward enthusiastically. He's a bulb.
Avril asks, and Pearl nods. "His name is Leo Jr. We found him in an overgrown ruin, and we're still not sure what he is but he does not seem to mind. He has been travelling with me for some time now." Pearl is bad at telling interesting stories.
When Lanval's shelter is found, Pearl stops. He says it's safe but Pearl's eyes scout the area. "...These are hunting grounds." How can she say that so decisively? (She spent a lot of time with wolves.) When they come charging out, Pearl pulls out her staff and lets fly with Shadow Magic, an orb flying into the sky and shttering into glyphs that fall on the ground, leaving traps for all the wolves.
Leo Jr, however, leaps into the fray to body blow a wolf, because despite his small frame he is dense and layered, and skilled. And he's getting a lot better at fighting around Pearl. He also remains adorable as he careens around the battlefield.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue's not injured per se, at least physically, but... it's not like the Veruni ever looks particularly hale -- always at least a little exhausted, and definitely the mental and emotional struggle is very Real.
"Ah... um, yeah. ... though," Yue looks to Lanval, "They usually put it as a warning sign -- like, um..." She rubs her chin, and can't believe she's making this comparison: "A different... kind... of Malevolence, I suppose?"
She's going to stare at the mirror later tonight and realise she just compared radioactivity to Malevolence.
Later on, Yue lets out a sigh as they arrive at a shack that at least looks like it might be shelter; however, before they even can really get to starting a fire or anything...
She casts a glance at Avril as she starts examining the walls, and-- at the same time, she hears a cute 'pfuu?' and blinks as she squats gently in front of Leo Jr. Pearl translates. "Ah... um--" Would she like to pet his fronds? .... ....
She reaches forward and gets to petting, a few times, but then--
Howling!
Lanval throws a holy bottle, and Yvain asks if anyone's hungry and takes his rifle out -- wow, she definitely wasn't expecting a Seraph to use a firearm, to be honest... Yue looks to the wolves again.
"... they're pretty lean," Yue observes with a frown. "I wonder if the frequent avalanches mean they're threatened for food, much of the time... or did something else disrupt their living space?"
Pearl pulls shadow magic out, and Leo Jr joins the fight!! Yue grimaces and-- bites her lip, hesitating for a moment; one jumps her way, though, and there's a wince as she holds her shackles up, parries it over shoulder and her side, and--
"<Demon Fang...!>"
--announces the familiar technique in Ancient Tongue, scraping her heel across the floor and launching a very common bolt of energy towards the wolf.
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Razor Wolves. DG: Pearl has used her Tool Leo Jr. toward her party's challenge, Razor Wolves.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Razor Wolves *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Wolves prowl Mount Zulan and a harsh winter has made them lean and hungry. Several white-furred wolves appear, coming out of the trees and from behind rocks. They snarl, fangs bared -- and their eyes blaze with raw, focused hunger. Then, with a couple of howls, they lunge forward -- jaws open -- and start trying to bring members of your band down for dinner. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Injure===========================================
====================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In - Round 2 *>===================== ===========================< Results - Razor Wolves >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Yvain 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Portable Grill 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 7 --(5)--> 12 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Leo Jr. 3 Combat Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yue Rohay 15 --(30)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Secret(1) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Yue Rohay 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> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The pack of wolves are starving, and fight as Pearl expects they would. A feral echo of a time and person she is moving beyond, like a glassy mirror made of ice presented before her (this is a metaphor, it is a clumsy one for the environs). Driven by hunger and instinct, one by one, they fall for the shadowy glyph traps that await them. (One only gets bruised in the pride, by Leo Jr., and they're going to have to go to the doctor to get their pride removed.)
As Yue wonders about the environmental concerns that have led to this point and the near-miss she has with one bouncing off her shackles with a Demon Fang flying that wolf's way for their troubles - and that helps further clear the way for Avril to come out there and hold the line against further intrusions, with Yvain firing off a rifle as back-up.
At first, Lanval always thought Filgaia had a bunch of fire adepts with weird wands, and now he's friends with a Fire Seraph who seems to be living up to that particular misinterpretation of gunsmoke ARMs - but it all comes out about the same.
Though there are a few scares and dramatic close calls, nobody comes out of it with any harm. The few survivors are seen fleeing for their lives, and the rest - if they all so choose - is there for the grill, if anyone's hungry. But they are hella lean, even for wolf standards.
"Mmm," Lanval thinks back to Yue's explanation, "yeah, bashed on what I've sheen... that tracksh." He nods once, having a sip from his driking gourd. Somehow, stuff with symbols like that do end up close to water... somber thought.
The ramshackle shack will be stable enough for everyone to rest up, warm up, and then continue along their way - whatever way that may be.
DG: Seraph Yvain has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Leap of Faith *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come to a chasm that is far too wide to jump across. Nothing is in sight to make a bridge. However, as you look down the cliff face on the other side, you spot one source of hope: an open cavern entrance below the far ledge. While you can't jump to the ledge, it is far down enough that you could jump down to it. It would be risky -- and you can't be sure where that cave will lead -- but it might very well let you continue onward. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate, Secret===================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain keeps an eye on Yue, as they continue on. But this doesn't mean he misses out on Pearl's introductions of Leo Jr. again, and he actually smiles as all that goes on. But hunting grounds...
"Sure they are," Yvain says of the wolves, "With the right seasonings they're even pretty good."
Yvain notes Yue's fighting style as they go. It's interesting. But th shack is good enough for a while; if anyone indeed mentions they're hungry, Yvain can handle that shortly. He'll definitely encourage Yue to eat something, even if it's just some jerky he has on-hand.
But eventually, they will move on, and Yvain stays at the back of the group for now, rifle at the ready. Until... they see a chasm. it's much too wide to jump across. That wouldn't particularly stop him, of course...
"Ah, I see--we may be able to reach that ledge," he points out. ...Not that most of the group doesn't have their own various ways of getting places.
"
DG: Seraph Yvain has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
It's a chasm. It threatens to consume all who dare defy the whims of gravity for too long, who thus bear the penalty and obligation of acceleration against the cold, harsh, unyielding judgment of the ground beneath - but it appears to be in a rather bubbly, happy mood... wait.
Lanval sits precariously close, and takes a long drag from a fancy kiseru-style smoking pipe (that is instead blowing bubbles, lots of them). He quietly directs these bubbles down low, large enough to envelop and catch anyone who slips and overshoots the ledge.
This is all nice and peaceful and thoughtful-like, but then he starts sliding down that cliff-side leisurely, like without a care in the world because he has no bones whatsoever! Water gets contained by the shape of the earth around it, and while water scarce gets to choose in the moment, Lanval finds the shape of the cliffside palatable enough to the tastes of whatever measure of quality Seraphim have.
Like a yawning chasm isn't a thing of fear or worry for most anyone else.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"You found him...?" Avril muses, tilting her head to one side for but a moment. "I see. So he was waiting for someone to rescue him..." Her forehead crinkles, briefly, as if something more were on her mind.
"I hope that you did not have to wait for long," she tells Leo Jr., quite seriously.
And then, there are wolves, thus interrupting this line of conversation for the time being.
"They have had trouble here, too," Avril agrees. "Nevertheless, I am afraid that none of us may be their meals," she concludes, blade at the ready as she awaits their advance. Here they come--
"I see," she tells Yvain, in the end. "I do not think I have eaten a predator before. Will it take very long to prepare them?"
Probably not, with a Seraph on the job. In any event there's time enough to rest up, perhaps even eat and/or pet Leo Jr.'s fronds. The world outside is rather the unforgiving one, though...
"This may be difficult," Avril surmises, reflecting on the obvious. She produces after a moment her Medium -- indeed, she has her own means of getting places. "If the Guardian's power can reach us here, though... I believe that we will be alright." The disc shimmers with its own inner light in the next heart beat moment and then, this is the moment when Avril jumps right off a ledge. At least Rebecca isn't here to see this, Guardian's power or no.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Leo Jr let's out a cheerful little 'piriririp!' at Yue's petting, his eyes closing. He's a friendly little fellow. And then wolves interrupt everything, which is rude. He's trying to be an emotional support onion!!
Still, the fight happens. Pearl is curious to see what Yvain can do with wolves, but she also is... arguably the best fed she's ever been, and used to going without besides. She's not going to complain about being hungry unless she's desperate. Sorry, Cheraph.
Pearl shakes her head. "I do not think so. I believe he was 'born' shortly before I found him." Leo is happy to let Avril pet the fronds too, but he is focused on Yue, who he takes time to nuzzle up against and try and reassure. "Fuuuuu..."
Pearl walks her way to the edge of the chasm, and looks down. It's a feasible jump, but no need to chance it unnecessarily. She indicates for Leo Jr to jump up into her left arm, and aims with her right. That's the plan, until Leo Jr squirms out of her grip and jumps into one of Lanval's bubbles because NOVEL EXPERIENCE. "Wait!" Pearl sighs. He must be in the rebellious phase. At least he's not trying to make her cry. She flicks out with her wrist, and a grapnel latches, to hopefully let her swing to the cavern. The angle's not ideal, but she's had worse.She takes a few running steps, and leaps.
DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wrist-Mounted Grapnel toward her party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Pearl tells the story of how she found Leo Jr -- found in an overgrown ruin. Avril wonders if he's been waiting for a long time for someone to rescue them...
... ...
Something about her words makes Yue bristle, so she instead turns to focus on the wolves and... well, rather assumedly, they're going to turn them into some food. Yue quietly watches the fire as the meal is prepared, looking rather bothered with... something, but doesn't really speak up.
She does accept some jerky from Yvain, though, with a quiet, 'thank you,' under her breath.
Eventually, their issue becomes a chasm. Lanval creates safety bubbles, and Avril... uses the Guardian's power. There's a quiet bite of her lip, as she realises that Avril's clued her in to something she can use--
First, she pulls a scrunchie -- polka-dot pink on white -- and ties her hair up into a high ponytail. "The Guardian's power..."
She procures a Stone Medium from her inner breast pocket. Something she shouldn't be able to use... she looks towards little Leo again, giving him another pet, before--
"... assist us," Yue announces, focusing on the Medium -- and it shimmers long enough as the brief image of Aru Sulato, Guardian of Ice, erupts into sight in the valley beneath them and... an ice slide is formed, from the cliff they're on to the open cavern underneath.
"Waiting to be rescued..." Yue murmurs, before she slides down her own ice slide, making use of the bubbles Lanval's created to help her stay on-course.
DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool Cute Scrunchie toward her party's challenge, Leap of Faith.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Leap of Faith *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come to a chasm that is far too wide to jump across. Nothing is in sight to make a bridge. However, as you look down the cliff face on the other side, you spot one source of hope: an open cavern entrance below the far ledge. While you can't jump to the ledge, it is far down enough that you could jump down to it. It would be risky -- and you can't be sure where that cave will lead -- but it might very well let you continue onward. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate, Secret===================================
====================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In - Round 3 *>===================== ==========================< Results - Leap of Faith >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Cute Scrunchie 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Yvain 20 --(5)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 12 --(0)--> 12 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Wrist-Mounted Grapnel 3 Agility Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yue Rohay 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)|Secret(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Yue Rohay has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
"Not long," Yvain answers. "We'll save most of it for later--no sense in wasting. But I can get a little bit of it here..." He just makes a little. It's fine. They can return to this shelter and pick up the meat later, and perhaps some other people will be hungry.
None of them have to give up though! The discussion over Leo Jr. is an interesting one, but Yvain has little to say about it; Lanval's bubbles are very helpful. Lanval himself tumbles down to the place they're looking for gracelessly as ever, while Avril and Yue's powers get them where they need to go--with a Leap and with a lide. Pearl, too, takes a useful route down.
Yvain, on the other hand, just teleports. It takes more energy than the other routes, but when he shows up in a pillar of flame, it's not so bad.
"Does anyone see any people here, for that matter?" Yvain asks as they regroup. "I didn't hear any reports of anyone missing from the village, but we may as well keep an eye out."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - Timber *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come across a gap in the mountainside. A chasm, which stretches out a little further than you can be sure everyone can jump, poses a risk of stopping your journey -- or injury. Fortunately, the slopes of Mount Zulan at this height are dotted with pine trees. You see one of them nearby. If you can cut it down (and do so in the correct direction), then you could make a bridge to cross that chasm. Be careful, though, to not knock it off so that it falls into the abyss. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
He was likely born just before. Avril nods silently, regarding Leo Jr. in a manner that can only be called 'pensive'.
When she pets his fronds, it will be done delicately.
Avril has but a moment to look Yue's way before they both head over the edge. Her gaze follows then, even on the descent...
Lucadia sees her down gently. She alights on the snow beneath. Her gaze turns up towards the sky as she clasps the Medium against her chest.
"You... had also been awaiting someone," she speaks, seemingly to no one at all. Only then does she shake her head and turn towards the fire Seraph. "I have not seen anyone," she answers Yvain. "It seems we can get through here," she continues, gesturing to the pathway leading through the gap here.
The tunnels are dark and cold. Avril hunches her shoulders, her expression resolute as they proceed the winding tunnels. But in time, there is light.
And the gap of the chasm again meeting them for the second time. Here they've found themselves on a ledge, studded well with pine trees, however; an obvious solution presents itself.
Baring her blade, Absolute Zero's swordedge vanishes, leaving only a hilt. Instead, she pulls the trigger. Light erupts from it in a line, dancing first of its own accord then of Avril's alone as she lashes the laserbeam whip at a nearby pine, again and again.
"We should create a means to cross," she explains only then.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Absolute Zero Beam toward her party's challenge, Timber.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"I haven't sheen anyone either," Seraph Lanval says as he lies on his back at the ledge like he didn't just collapse all the way down there. He's like that, a lot of Water Seraphim are honestly like that, it's fine. "Leasht 'till all of ya showed up." It doesn't answer what he was doing here, this far out from Filgaia or the others of Fox Company, but he does eye how Yue calls upon a Stone Medium and gets an answer from the sight of Aru Sulato.
VERY FAR AWAY
An obnoxious, youthful voice tries to challenge Aru Solatu to a fight, from afar. It's good that it's afar. He also gets an avalanche on top of himself, and these events may or may not be related. Whoever it was.
BACK TO HERE
"Mmmph." Lanval, now up on his fee,t looks to the pine tries and just happens to lean up against a really tall one. "That'sh a good thought," Lanval says as Avril lashes at her current chosen one, as he leans back...
...
This is how he contributes to a Brute challenge. It is technically pushing.
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Timber.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"... I... passed by a village on the way here, but there were no signs of panic, no. I gathered that they knew very well how dangerous the mountain is, and even their children do not wander nearby," Yue explains to Yvain.
She hears Avril's words for a moment, before shaking her head and trying to not be too gripped by the presence of snow and ice all around her... snow...
She shivers for a moment, though it's not really because it's cold. Avril suggests that they can cross if they create the means -- and it seems like the pine tree is rather convenient for it.
Yue is unaware of any vegeta-ble squirrels challening Aru Sulato to a fight, and unfortunately cannot help; she taps her chin gently, and looks towards the nearby trees. "I suppose..."
The Veruni quietly focuses for a moment, and quickly spins in place -- and a moment later, a bright white line shines across the bottom of the tree trunk as it starts to very slowly slide in one direction... as if it were some kind of raid mechanic.
It's important when you're an Antagonist, you know, to make your attacks avoidable.
DG: Yue Rohay has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Timber.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
It's a safe landing, and Leo Jr bubbles down comfortable. Pearl is... she doesn't look pleased. "Warn me if you're going to do something like that." Leo Jr looks down at his feet. "Pfuuuuu..." Pearl just shakes her head disappointedly. "Let's go."
And now they have to make a bridge. Pearl grimaces. "...I can assist with moving the objects." She's not sure she's confident enough in bridge building. She reaches into her pack and pulls out a pair of gloves, with metal clows. She seems to regard them with distaste as she puts them in, but they'll grant grip and strength. Things she needs. She start to push the trees into position as people cut through them with lasers. We all have our strengths.
Meanwhile, Leo Jr is focusing very hard. Something has his attention, but what? He's concentrating and...
Oh, he's grown a tulip. It's very pretty, and looks like it could be plucked without effort.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain hasn't been informed about the whole Veruni matter. There's a lot he still needs to catch up on! So nothing unusual seems to him to happen about all that. Instead, he goes on with the conversation as normal, grinning faintly at Lanval and then looking to Yue. "That makes sense. The locals would know, after all. Well, even if we don't find anyone in need, it's still been a nice trip, hasn't it?"
He looks to Leo Jr. and says, "...The young have to go their own way sometimes, hm?"
But for the challenge, Yvain presents a lantern, which sheds red radiance over the snows and pines. "This should reveal the weakest points--so we know where not to anchor our new bridge."
Then he notes, "...Ah! What a lovely tulip."
DG: Seraph Yvain has used his Tool Lantern of Revelation toward his party's challenge, Timber.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - Timber *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come across a gap in the mountainside. A chasm, which stretches out a little further than you can be sure everyone can jump, poses a risk of stopping your journey -- or injury. Fortunately, the slopes of Mount Zulan at this height are dotted with pine trees. You see one of them nearby. If you can cut it down (and do so in the correct direction), then you could make a bridge to cross that chasm. Be careful, though, to not knock it off so that it falls into the abyss. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
DG: Pearl has used her Tool Wolf Claws toward her party's challenge, Timber.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== ============================<* CHALLENGE - Timber *>============================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come across a gap in the mountainside. A chasm, which stretches out a little further than you can be sure everyone can jump, poses a risk of stopping your journey -- or injury. Fortunately, the slopes of Mount Zulan at this height are dotted with pine trees. You see one of them nearby. If you can cut it down (and do so in the correct direction), then you could make a bridge to cross that chasm. Be careful, though, to not knock it off so that it falls into the abyss. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
====================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In - Round 4 *>===================== ==============================< Results - Timber >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Absolute Zero Beam 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Yvain 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Lantern of Revelation 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 12 --(13)--> 25 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Wolf Claws 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yue Rohay 65 --(30)--> 95 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Secret(1)|Slow(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Yue Rohay 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
She glances Yue's way. "Perhaps no one had been in the mountains, then. That would be good news," Avril opines, fidgeting a moment with a stray lock of silvery hair that's made its way over her shoulder.
There's not much in the way of a bridge up here. How do the locals do it? Perhaps they don't.
Avril's whip cuts once, twice, sending the tree (once Lanval grants it that final push?) to bridge the gap. But it's just one tree, and surely, no one wants to try balancing on it to cross such a deep chasm. Fortunately, Yue is on the case.
As are Yvain and Leo Jr., lending their own expertise in positioning the rest of the felled trees. Avril's had landed in a good position (did Lanval affect this...?) and with some effort, the others can be arranged and anchored in place in similarly secure fashion. If there had been no bridge before crossing the gap, there is one now...!
It's then that Avril notices that the sproutling has sprouted. "Oh, how lovely! I did not know you were a tulip," Avril remarks, evidently well-pleased by this display. Well, she does like flowers...
DG: Pearl has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =============================<* CHALLENGE - Roc *>============================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come up to a high place on the mountain, near where a mountain inn once stood. When you get a glimpse at the inn, you can see that it is badly damaged -- the roof is caved in, one wall has a gaping hole, and it seems a fire may have erupted inside several months ago -- and will need repairs. It offers a place to rest. But a final obstacle remains. There is a piercing, avian cry through the air. Then, you hear the beating of wings, but they are terrifically loud. A black and violet bird descends, almost the size of a Gear -- with huge wings and a great beak. A roc sweeps down, and slashes with ferocious talons and claws! It seems it made its nest nearby. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
"Peffu!" Leo Jr responds to comments on his flower! Pearl shakes her head. "I do not think it's been the same flower twice..." Still, Leo Jr is not disappointed by that. He bounces along, his tulip bobbing as they walk. Pearl is happy to set the way. They walk through the snow to see...
"A burnt out inn? Up here? What could have happened?" It seems so unlikely. How long ago was it? Where there-
She stops, and then suddenly leaps back before a black and purple bird plummets from the skies before sweeping out at them with talons, barely missing the group. "A Zu, here?" She blinks, no, it's similar but... "A roc?"
Her staff is out again, readying to cast when.... Leo Jr leaps onto the end of her staff, with very precarious balance. "Fuu! Fuu!" Pearl's eyes widen. "Really?" He rocks ever so slightly. "Alright..."
And then she spins with a dancer's grace and launches Leo Jr airborne, up above the Roc, and he plummets down, large leaves growing around him like a barrier. At the same time Pearl fires out rings of darkness to trying restrict the Roc's movements.
DG: Pearl has used her Tool Leo Jr. toward her party's challenge, Roc.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Avril and Yvain both compliment Leo Jr on his flower, and-- there's a quiet huff from Yue as she remarks, "I--it's nice, I suppose..." while looking away. ... it's okay. That means she likes it, even if she can't admit it right now.
But by the end of the journey, they come up to... something she isn't expecting to see--
An inn!
Well, it once was an inn. It's clearly been abandoned for a very long time, and even if they can take shelter here for a time, there won't be anyone...
"... to be honest ... it might just have become too dangerous to keep running an establishment," Yue comments. "I do not particularly see..." A pause. "Mmm. Perhaps a fire from the kitchen? Hard to tell..."
But then-- an enormous black and purple bird plummets from the skies! There's a grimace from Yue as she readies herself, but--
A Friend cometh!!
There! Up there, up in the skies! It's a bird! It's a plane! No-- it's incredibly round, and kettle-shaped! No, you fool, that shape can only mean one thing...!!
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkX6vwLQ3uE )
Did you see her (did you)
Did you hear her (did you)
She's mighty and she's huge
She's our robot
Always there for us
Standing for justice love and friend-ship
More than just a machine
She's
! ! B I G - S H A L ! !
Through the stormy clouds, a Friend-shaped object descends... on wings!!! A Big Shal-sized pair of plane wings strapped to her back, upon which sit two powerful jets! The new and improved... Big Shal (At the Airshow)!
... she descends slowly, and--
--gives the Roc a headpat, with her shiny chrome body, her comfortable mitted gloves, and winning thumbs up!
Then Big Shal turns, looks at Leo Jr, and sprouts a little flower atop her kettle head too.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval wins by doing nothing (helpful)!!
...anyway
Lanval looks upon the remains of the burnt out inn and closes his eyes with the thoughts of another place that - at one point - was a place of rest... and then became so much worse. A place far off from here, on another part of the continent, but a place. Both his eyes open up half-lidded as there's that piecing, avian cry where the former assassin speaks more plain about what it is.
"It'sh big." Lanval says. Then it draws nearer. "Watch out fer the biiiiiig!"
That's its name now. It's a Big, and presumably it doesn't like that name because it's diving down with all the sharpest, nastiest bits an avian creature can ever hope to achieve in order to fill the hollowness within its very... bones.
Seraph Lanval's eyes light up to a brilliant aquamarine as he throws a hand up to tap upon his own native Seraphic Artes. Said hand is carrying a Holy Bottle - and he's channeling its entire contents into shining globules of water thick with the small joys of life as much as it is water in all forms great and... not.
DG: Yue Rohay has used her Tool An Old Golem Core toward her party's challenge, Roc. DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Roc.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
"...A lot of settlements in the mountains don't survive," Yvain says at the question of what could have happened. He says this even as the great bird plummets from the skies, not flinching in the face of its sweep. He narrows his eyes as it moves away. He would rather be talking about the cute flower on Leo. Jr, especially in the wake of Yue's quiet huff.
But instead, he sets down the grill, as before, but rather than setting it up, he simply jumps towards the Inn and puts it down in there--a statement of intent. That hearth will, for a little while, be warm again. ...Once they finish this battle.
He marvels at Big Shal's arrival, and this prevents him attacking for a moment--but when Lanval calls about the Big, Yvain moves into action too. He begins to channel fiery energies over the group to support and sustain them in the cold, taking an indirect approach to this particular battle.
...Big Shal gets buffs too...
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Oh... I see," Avril muses, regarding the bobbling flower steadily. "Then, will you let me know should he sprout a windflower? I should like to see one again myself," she says. "Finding one on Filgaia is difficult, and here... I do not believe they are quite in season yet."
There was an inn up here, she realizes along with the others. Approaching the burned frame, Avril soon has set a gloved hand upon it and remains silently thus for a moment. "This fire... it was not long ago," she says, a few pieces of burned wood flaking away as she removes her hand. "No, not days ago, but weeks, perhaps?" She's still looking the wreckage over when the creature descends from the heavens--!
"Was this the perpetrator?!" Avril wonders, blade already in hand as Lanval barks a warning. But lo, what is that there??
"...Big Shal!" Avril cries out, just as the Golem finishes her descent. It's excellent timing, in fact, as if it were almost a scripted line...
But she doesn't stay on the sidelines long. Avril, blade in hand, rushes for the Zu as it makes its grand entrance. The light catches her blade's edge fleetingly as she swings.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Roc. DG: Seraph Yvain has used his Tool Portable Grill toward his party's challenge, Roc.
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =============================<* CHALLENGE - Roc *>============================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come up to a high place on the mountain, near where a mountain inn once stood. When you get a glimpse at the inn, you can see that it is badly damaged -- the roof is caved in, one wall has a gaping hole, and it seems a fire may have erupted inside several months ago -- and will need repairs. It offers a place to rest. But a final obstacle remains. There is a piercing, avian cry through the air. Then, you hear the beating of wings, but they are terrifically loud. A black and violet bird descends, almost the size of a Gear -- with huge wings and a great beak. A roc sweeps down, and slashes with ferocious talons and claws! It seems it made its nest nearby. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
====================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In - Round 5 *>===================== ===============================< Results - Roc >================================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yue Rohay 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass An Old Golem Core 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 25 --(13)--> 38 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Yvain 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Portable Grill 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Leo Jr. 3 Combat Effects: Rally -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Yue Rohay 95 --(25)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Weaken(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Yue Rohay has successfully explored Mount Zulan - Snowed In!
=========================<* Mount Zulan - Snowed In *>========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Old Maps and Papers *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You climb your way up to dilapidated inn. As you thought, the inn is badly damaged and will need repair. Some looking it over tells you that you will need to report back -- and once the mountain has been made safe again, Zulan can send up carpenters and other craftspeople to fix this place up. You look into a back room, which once served as an office. A sealed lockbox here has several stacks of papers and maps. These are the records of the inn, documenting the business that it did. This will be worth extra money from the townspeople; these records will help them in getting back to business, once the mountain is made safe. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The clash with the Zu is swift and efficient. Which is to say, as Lanval and Yvain support, and BIG SHAL comes in with a headpat. It seems Pearl and Avril are the only ones going with lethal force, as the Roc is unable to get past the wall of defenders.
And then Leo Jr lands with a thud on the bird's head, which causes it to squawk and then finish it off.
Pearl looks down at the downed monster... it's a serious threat. The correct call would be to kill it but... "...Lord Yvain?" Outsourcing the decision to someone else might be better than relying on her instincts.
Whatever decision they do or don't come to, Pearl moves into the inn and looks around. Repairable, then. Ducking into a backroom, though, there are papers. Fnancial papers. That's... useful information. "...I think I found something."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Yvain looks to the downed monster, too. And then he looks at Pearl. "...Seems to me that it's this bird's lucky day," the Seraph answers, and turns away from it.
"We'll need to make sure its nest is removed if this inn is going to be rebuilt--but I suspect it'll want to find somewhere safer in any case, now that it's found it can't hunt here."
Was the Zu responsible? Maybe. It's hard to say. But Yvain doubts it.
"Hmmm... Yes, I think they will be able to rebuild this place."