2021-12-04: That Which Calls
- Log: That Which Calls
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Ida Everstead-Rey, Zed, Gwen Whitlock, Pearl
- Where: Biroclef Ridge
- Date: December 04, 2021
- Summary: Avril has been mysteriously drawn to the Galahad Ruins, which others have noticed. Together, the group of them press on into the depths of the mysterious mega-sized ruin, in search of the source behind this mystery.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Galahad Ruins. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Mysterious Markings *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The ruins called Galahad were built in a more ancient time, far enough in Lunar's past that even most Seraphim were not present for the first stone set in its foundation. Most humans have treated it as a sort of shrine, a place to set their offerings; the sheer scale of the place makes it difficult to explore on foot. However, you've come in Gears, which as it so happens, are perfectly scaled to tackle the ruins! But the first mystery you face -- not long into the ruin proper -- is one that size and scale in and of themselves are no solution for: the odd ancient markings on the walls by each of the potential exits. Are they directions? Warnings? ...Something else? BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhCWksrYAUM =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Overzealous=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"...So this is the place to where you wished me to come?"
So rings out the remark from the Gear that stands in the entryway to the Galahad Ruins.
"I see."
It had almost been like a dream. Someone -- or something -- had beckoned her, and of course, she had heeded the call. It had just so happened that she had learned from those in the towns closest to the ruins that said ruins were quite large in scale.
Was it something she had left, here? Or was it something else? The past may be again calling, and she has only little reason to not pay it heed.
Skadi steps into the entryway, lights flickering on as Avril regards from within the Gear the markings near the many doors that branch off from this point. "Have I seen these before?" she wonders, before stepping towards the one to the north -- the one that calls her.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Markings.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Taking a Gear cross-world is no small undertaking. There's the matter of fuel economy to consider, as well as the attention it inevitably attracts--but the people near Biroclef were glad to have aid in battling Hellions, and Ida couldn't have helped as effectively without the Dragoon. On another such outing, her radar picked up Skadi's signature--Skadi, alone, venturing towards a different ruin. Whether she realizes it or not, Avril's picked up at least one tail.
Ida isn't being subtle--she can't, in a machine this big--but she does keep a respectful distance, making no attempt to hide her Gear's IFF signal or reactor signature. As they approach the ruins, Ida takes a moment to sit in awe of the cyclopean scale involved. This is something more like Shae Ving, or the great caverns beneath the desert on Ignas, but it was made with local materials and--presumably--local labor. It's here, on the front stoop of this ruin, that Ida finally opens a channel to Avril, and the others who came along.
"Avril?" Ida says. "Are you all right?" Her voice is even and level, but worried. Her right hand moves towards a control panel, releasing the seal on a part of the Dragoon's hip armor. A panel unfolds, revealing a quartet of drones; quadrotors hum as the breadbox-sized machines take to the air. Spotlights flicker to life on their undersides, playing across the stone as they study the markings.
"It's Ida. What are you doing here?"
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Reconaissance Drone toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Markings.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
There is in fact a huge shadow present. It is, in fact, one of the largest of the group's shadows, as you can't really get much bigger than 'giant Hyadean super robot' without transgressing upon the domain of the impractically large and the Super Dimensional even further beyond that.
Why is Zed here? Why has he brought his robot? What is Surtr's opinion on the nature of these ruins, because we all know that he definitely has more going on in his electronic brain than Zed does in his?
Avril asks something of someone unseen. Surtr pauses and glances behind himself, long shadow hiding at least one smaller gear. Then it asks: Sorry, were you speaking to me?
...
The answer to the previous series of inquiries, then is a resounding ...Who knows!?
(The answer is probably ADVENTURE, though)
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mysterious Markings.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen was, of course, making a delivery.
There are some thoughts on the ethics of using technology to courier items on a planet those technology had followed a different path. Gwen has had them.
Then, she realized that if she didn't jump in, someone else with less thoughts about ethics would. .... nevermind that the amount of people who have access to these portals are incredibly limited.
Which makes any appearance of any Gear especially notable. Ida's Gear is no exception, because it's... Ida's Gear. Gwen knows Ida. Same with Zed.
"..... Heeeeeyyy, you guys decide to have a party n' not invite me?" It's Gwen, nosing in, with the grin on her face evident in the tone of her voice. "That's one pretty big front step, though. N' I don't see no bell t'ring."
Hearing Avril move forward, Gwen's tone changes. "Hey, Avril. Lemme go n' scout ahead." She has some inkling on Avril's quest for answers, and if Avril is being guided by some voice or light.... it would be better if it not turn out to be a false hope.
"I'll just give Halcyone a boost. It won't take long." She's already inserting her right hand into a compartment into the dashboard, the blue-green suddenly lighting up with a quick boost of power.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Portable 'Battery' toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Markings.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Sometimes, shadowing something is easy. Other times it's several stories tall and the only difficulty is keeping pace. It would be easier through other means but there are far fewer pyreflies in Glenwood, and her own reserves are limited. But a grappling hook and good timing can do wonders.
As they stop, headed towards the ruins, and a third Filgaian Gear, Pearl grimaces, and departs off out of sight. Once there, she raises one arm above her, casts it out to the side, and spins into a pirouette, water forming around her feet.
And then a Sea Serpent crests above the rocks she used to hide, before it snakes out into the view of the gear havers. The woman atop it, in an elaborate green and yellow tunic with a chest embellishment stands up atop the serpents head. Her short silver hair is blown in the wind as she cups her hands and shouts- "I am not here to cause you difficulty! I too wish to examine these ruins!" This is not false- Now she's here, she DOES want to explore them. After all, if Glenwood had somewhere that needed something this large to explore it, she was curious. Maybe that might hold the secret she needs. Maybe something the other could use. Who knows.
Leviathan, for their part, rises up to get Pearl closer to the faces of the gears- Is that where the drifters hear from? Who knows. There is a low rumble from their throat, and Pearl kneels down. "I... do not think that likely." She says quietly.
She pulls a sphere from her pack, red and glowing, and crushes it. "...You are wiser than I, my companion. Do those old runes mean more to you than me?" Perhaps the mana sphere will give them an edge, but... Pearl's not great at this.
DG: Pearl has used her Tool Mana Sphere toward her party's challenge, Mysterious Markings.
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Mysterious Markings *>====================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The ruins called Galahad were built in a more ancient time, far enough in Lunar's past that even most Seraphim were not present for the first stone set in its foundation. Most humans have treated it as a sort of shrine, a place to set their offerings; the sheer scale of the place makes it difficult to explore on foot. However, you've come in Gears, which as it so happens, are perfectly scaled to tackle the ruins! But the first mystery you face -- not long into the ruin proper -- is one that size and scale in and of themselves are no solution for: the odd ancient markings on the walls by each of the potential exits. Are they directions? Warnings? ...Something else? BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhCWksrYAUM =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Overzealous=====================================
=========================<* Galahad Ruins - Round 1 *>========================== =======================< Results - Mysterious Markings >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Reconaissance Drone 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Mana Sphere 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Portable 'Battery' 2 Wits Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Ida? Gwen?"
She's realized, it seems, who it is before Ida even ID's herself.
"I am quite all right. I had felt myself drawn to this place, and so..."
There is a pause, as an unfamiliar party addresses her. The Skadi turns around, facing at last those who have come after her.
"...Who are you?" she asks, of Surtr.
The drones whirl about, evaluating each marking in turn. Before long, they come to a consensus -- while Gwen opts to check out each and every one of the potential entrances herself.
And then there enters a sea serpent.
"Is that not...?"
There is a pause on her part, as she regards summoner and Aeon alike.
"Are you a summoner from Spira?"
The drones have settled on their answer, and it is the same that Leviathan urges towards...
Which is the same door that Skadi stands before: the north door.
"It is not possible that I had ever traveled here before. I wonder... does Lunar possess its own Ley?" Avril wonders aloud to her found co-travelers. "Is that what is calling me, now?"
DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Galahad Ruins *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Platforming Perils *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Mostly, these ruins are in good shape; making your way around without undue hindrances from decrepit masonry is a rarity. Mostly. The floor here mostly isn't; except for a few sections where pieces of floor tiles still stand (the support pillars must be really something) you're otherwise looking at a steep drop to the floor below. Unless, of course, you make your way across the distance using what sections of floor are still standing. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Has Avril never actually met Surtr!? Apparently the answer is 'no she has not!' The voice that reverberates out of the flame-colored colossus is deep and pleasant, like the crackle of a well-built hearth and absolutely does not sound like a Zed at all. I am MUSPEL-01 Surtr, offspring of JOTUN-01 Ymir. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
But of course, Zed is also present, which is plainly obvious because he's showing up in the skit window. "Surtr's a pal! He's a good friend. Also an awesome robot. I'm pretty sure Dean would explode if they met though?" In a good way, but still, Deansplosions can be dangerous things!
Into the dungeon the party('s giant robots and summoned sea snake) goes, but a place like this does not get to be as old as it is without wear and tear. While no colossus has strode these halls in multiple ages, time itself has ground away at the stone and earth. To wit, the floor up ahead is basically only half there, and that's a charitable estimation at best. The whole thing is pockmarked with holes that lead down, down, down into the depths of the ruin, where safety is a scarce luxury and a way out is hardly guaranteed. Surtr... extends its COOL SCARF (because it's Zed's giant robot and thus has been fitted with a gear-scaled version of his own scarf) and hands the lengths to the rest of the team. We will remain here until you all make it across. If needed, we can pull you from the depths.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, Platforming Perils.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
One by one, the drones complete their circuit of the cavern, and flit back to the Dragoon on whirling rotor blades. Their data has already formed a map on Ida's screen--and she takes her lip between her teeth as she goes over the details of the inscriptions, the wear on the floor, the readings she's picked up using her machine's RADAR. "Drawn to this place?" Ida asks. "What do you mean--"
A surge of anomalous activity. Pyreflies, Ida thinks, as she sees the little spheres flitting in her camera-eye. The serpentine Aeon she'd glimpsed briefly at Zanarkand--and their summoner, a woman she recognizes. "...Hello again," Ida says, toggling the external speaker on. "I'm sorry. I don't think I got your name when we last met? Much less your Aeon's, Lady Summoner."
When they last met, Pearl was not in good shape. Ida remembers that much, and doesn't blame her.
The team heads deeper into the ruin. "Watch your step," Ida says, as the Dragoon's floodlights illuminate the floor. "It's in terrible shape." She takes her lip between her teeth. "And me without a proper flight engine." Fortunately, Surtr has a solution. The Dragoon accepts the scarf, wrapping it securely around its forearm.
"Thank you, Surtr," Ida says. "By the way, have you... spoken with Azoth, recently?" She hits the jets. There's no quiet way to do that--a dull roar fills the passage, and it's all she can do to angle them so they won't destroy the floor even further.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Platforming Perils.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"I felt as if I should travel to this place," Avril answers Ida. "As if there were something I must see or do within."
More than likely, Surtr and Avril may have been in the same general location -- but that also, more than likely, it had been under circumstances that had prohibited any sort of general meet-and-green. And thus--
"Oh... I see. Are you also a Hyadean, then?"
It is perhaps a valid question.
"Zed! Is this your friend? ...Oh, I see. I would not wish Dean to explode," she says, as seriously as ever. "Yet, I believe that he would like you, Surtr."
And inwards they go, heading through the north door.
"Hmm... it would seem that these ruins are quite dangerous," Avril remarks. "I wonder, would traversing them on foot be more or less dangerous? Still, it would be unwise to travel without Skadi. I have heard tell that it would take far too long to explore this place on foot."
Surtr makes their offer. "Thank you, Surtr. Perhaps if this should fail, then I may need to request your aid," Avril says, before reaching out with one gloved hand to press a single red button on the dashboard:
TURBO
Her Gear begins to vibrate with a terrible energy, before rocketing forward! ...Hopefully, she's able to stop once she clears the gaps?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Turbocharger toward her party's challenge, Platforming Perils.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
"I am a summoner, yes, but not from Spira." She's pretty sure, anyway. "But it is where I learned the art." She's... not sure how much is getting picked up. She also pauses, thinking about the answer. "...I am unsure how to answer where I am from beyond 'Lunar'. My apologies."
The question from Ida gives her pause for a moment. She can recognize the voices of 'people she tried to kill in case they were strong enough to help her' real well. "My name is Pearl." She responds, forthrightly. That's the person she's trying to be, isn't it. "And my companion is Leviathan, Lord of All Waters." The Aeon lets out a roar of confirmation. A pause. "You are... Ida, yes?" She pauses for a moment. "And Zed?"
The ruins are standing well, unsurprising with so few explorers, and they are not even cramped for Leviathan. The grey haired woman rides a little lower down the neck, setting her back against of Leviathan's dorsal fins. Pearl can hear Leviathan scoff at Surtr's reasurrances, but Pearl is more cautious. "...We should not be arrogant."
Leviathan doubles back, to gain speed, as Pearl clings their scales, before they launch into a spiraling rush over the gaps, before spreading their fins to try and glide the rest of the distance.
DG: Pearl has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Platforming Perils.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The appearance of Pearl and her sea serpent causes Gwen to doubletake and nearly leap from her seat, which.... translates to nothing, since Halcyone is a good gear that does not reveal its owner's surprise. "Whooahhh.... man, that's gotta be worlds more fun to ride, in some ways..."
If only Gulliver could fly, scale walls, and easily transport across worlds. But, right now, he's in the care of a friend, hopefully on some tropical island where they do nothing but drink from coconuts and eat crab every day. Well, less Gulliver and more her friend, since horses prefer plants.
"Spira..." Gwen suddenly feels better that Pearl can't see inside her Gear, if just because of the way Gwen winced in reaction. It's got nothing to do with Pearl (Gwen assumes, she doesn't even know Pearl's name), especially since she's not from Spira, and Gwen wouldn't want to explain herself in any way. "Pearl, eh? Please t'meet ya! I'm Gwen Whitlock, super courier and occasional nosy friend. Y'can probably guess which capacity I'm in here."
Turning her cockpit towards Zed, Gwen's laugh can be heard over her speaker. "I can't even imagine Dean meetin' Surtr. Then again, that's what makes Dean pretty amazin'-- he thinks with his heart n' his enthusiasm." There's worse ways a person can navigate the world. "N' thanks for the boost, Surtr! Lemme see if Halcyone's aiming is calibrated right first..."
Halcyone's left hand rotates, a grappling hook popping out slightly as it aims. "Yeah, that looks 'bout right..." The hook rockets out, impaling on a sturdy-looking piece of wall. "Annnnnddd here we gooo!"
yeah Surtr's scarf will come in handy if this all goes to ruin
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool By Hook or by Crook toward her party's challenge, Platforming Perils.
=============================<* Galahad Ruins *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Platforming Perils *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Mostly, these ruins are in good shape; making your way around without undue hindrances from decrepit masonry is a rarity. Mostly. The floor here mostly isn't; except for a few sections where pieces of floor tiles still stand (the support pillars must be really something) you're otherwise looking at a steep drop to the floor below. Unless, of course, you make your way across the distance using what sections of floor are still standing. =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
========================<* Galahad Ruins - Round 2 *>========================= =======================< Results - Platforming Perils >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Turbocharger 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 15 --(18)--> 33 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pearl 15 --(18)--> 33 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 23 --(5)--> 28 Pass By Hook or by Crook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 23 --(5)--> 28 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(2)|Overzealous(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Block Puzzle Blowout *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There are certain constants to be had in ruins. Monsters are one. Traps are another. Perhaps block puzzles are yet another? Laid out on the floor before you are a series of multi-colored blocks: white, black, red, and blue. There are spots on the floor on the opposite side, similarly colored. The goal is a simple one: move the blocks to their respective spaces, and the door will open. But the blocks are heavy, even for a Gear. Who made this, and why? ...Honestly, you should just get to pushing. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Tire========================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
My species is something of an ongoing question. I am a creation of the Hyadean people, of their technology. Does that make me Hyadean? I was not born on that world, nor do I have memory of it. Surtr muses aloud as, one by one, his companions make the journey across the haphazard floor. I contain a sizable amount of Living Metal, but my intelligence is something novel. For general discourse, refering to me as Hyadean would not be incorrect, I suppose.
"I think we should definitely introduce them," Zed agrees, like he were talking about arranging a playdate, or maybe acclimatizing a lion to a cat. "I think they might have met before though...? But like, not in a way that they could really talk."
We have not seen Azoth in quite some time, Surtr answers Ida. I hope that they are doing well. They seemed to be somewhat... brooding, last we met them. Ida is probably quite glad for that scarf wrapped around her gear, though. Her thrusters disturb a precariously perched patch of pavement, sending it plummeting into the depths. She would be soon to follow, if the scarf had not at that moment gone taut and tugged her back to safety.
"Yep, I'm Zed! I uh, thought Schturdark was Lord of All Waters though? I guess I remember hearing something about turtles and snakes being pretty close though..." Speaking of Leviathan, it seems that the giant sea serpent runs into some trouble. It nearly makes the traversal, but at the very last comes up short... At least, until a deafening roar of thruster-burn erupts at either side. A pair of massive, jet-propelled steel forearms have grabbed hold of Leviathan's pectoral fins, giving it just enough additional momentum to make it the rest of the way.
Pardon the impromptu assistance, Surtr rumbles. The rest of the party manages to make it across just fine, whether by hook and line or by TURBO THRUSTER. Soon, all that's left at the bac end of the room is... Surtr himself. "Uhhh, Gwen, can you like, fire that thing back this way again? We'll use it to get across!"
And with that, the party makes it safely over to the other end of the room. All is... well?
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Hm? Oh yeah, sure! Just be careful, it works for my Gear, but I don't know if Surtr is heavier or lighter than Halcyone."
Thankfully, it works, regardless of Surtr's weight, so they do not need to leave Zed and Surtr behind! Which would be a massive crime.
The next area, rather than being a test of navigation or one of agility...
... is one of blocks.
".... block puzzles," Gwen groans. "I got an idea, though..." By now, her Gear's hands have reverted to their three-pronged default status. "N' you get to see the neat trick Halycone can do, too!"
Halcyone moves over in front of one block and lowers itself to the ground, like, well, a headless chicken going to lay an egg. Or the world's most overcomplicated forklift. The arms extend out and clamp to either side of the block, attaching on either side of the heavy block with great force. "And now...!"
There's a minute of Gwen grunting and heaving, as if she herself was the one lifting the thing.
She is not.
The block does budge, though.
"Ehheh... I thought I could cheat." Raising up slightly, Halcyone applies its hands to the side of the block facing it, and pushes, pushing the block far more easily than by trying to lift the damn thing.
"... Yeah, uh, I can... lift things, with a Gear, it sounds a lot more mundane when I just say it, tho? It seemed amazin' when I was liftin' cargo..."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Hit the Lever toward her party's challenge, Block Puzzle Blowout.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"A creation... then, that would make you rather like a Golem, in a sense, would it not? Golems are creations of the Elw and the Veruni, while you are a creation of the Hyadeans." Zed is right that Dean would love this.
"Though... a Golem is not..."
Or rather, they are possessing of feelings and drives, they simply express them in different manners.
"Very well. I believe you have the right of it, Surtr. Hyadean it shall be."
"So you think so as well. Then perhaps we ought to make a formal introduction," she says to Zed.
"But not from Spira," Avril echoes, furrowing her brow in the depths of Skadi's cockpit. "My apologies. I had not been aware that it was possible for anyone outside of Spira to summon Aeons," she says. When Pearl says that she isn't able to precisely answer where she's from other than, Lunar, though...
"..."
It may be for different reasons, but it is not a conundrum unknown to Avril.
Skadi skids to a stop, coming up just short of crashing into a far wall. "...There. Is everyone else all right?" she calls out, turning to face the obstacle over which she had just passed.
Ahead of them stands a chamber within the ruin, one filled with blocks of particular colors. "Red, black, white, and blue," Avril remarks, gazing upon the puzzle laid out before them. "There is something familiar about these colors. But I cannot remember what it might be." Gwen applies a little technological might to the problem of pushing the blocks, a conundrum that after testing Avril finds are not about to move so quickly, and instead, the Skadi retreats to a position next to the entrance they had come in by.
"Aru Solatu," she invokes, laying a hand on the stone tablet slotted into the magic engine's port within the cockpit. "Please, hear my call--"
There is an outburst of freezing ice as the Ice Guardian, if at a slight delay, makes themself here manifest. Frost soon slicks the floor before and about the stone blocks but does not touch them -- they may still be pushed, and may even slide more easily for the presence of the magical ice.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Stone Ice Medium toward her party's challenge, Block Puzzle Blowout.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's heart leaps into her teeth as the floor gives way. The Dragoon clings to its lifeline, and doesn't let go until it's safe on the other side, both feet on solid ground. Ida takes a few minutes to compose herself--noting the spike in her heart rate, recorded on the monitors--before she speaks. "Thank you, Surtr. As I was saying, Azoth is grappling with... difficult existential questions. I've tried to do what I can, but I feel he might benefit from the perspective of a fellow constructed intelligence." A fellow war machine, she doesn't say--but she wants to. Azoth isn't the only one who has secrets to keep.
"He's old," Ida continues, transmitting to Surtr alone. "And he's lost so much of himself. Sometimes it feels as though I hurt him far more than I help."
Ida clears her throat, remembers Pearl and Avril are here, too. She takes up Avril's observation as though she weren't just confessing details about her doubts and fears. "Oh, that's easy enough. They're used in Althenan iconography--the colors of her four Dragons." Trust Ida to know facts about dragons. "With that in mind, I think... a smaller, more controlled charge is necessary." The Dragoon stops a good distance from a red block, while Ida runs some rough calculations through the computer. The machine's small onboard fabricator--newly-installed (and supplied) by Shevat--spits out an appropriately-sized brick of explosives, which it places on the ground. By her calculations, the charge should get the rock sliding across the ice.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Structural Demolition Charge toward her party's challenge, Block Puzzle Blowout.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Our creators called us Jotunn. I am a refinement of the technology, an evolution in a different direction: Muspel. It is no surprise that we seem similar to the Golems-- the Golems of the Elw were what we were designed to combat. That explains why there are gigantic, humanoid Hyadean weapons walking around, at least! I suppose that would make me a Hyadean Golem. Which would mean Dean would probably go b o n k e r s if allowed to properly converse with this Super Robot Friend.
...Which is probably a good thing? Probably??
"We'll figure out a time, then!! I think it'd be good if he knows that there are ways to save some of Surtr's little brothers and sisters too," Zed answers Avril. Brothers? Sisters?? Context!??
While Surtr is likely quite a bit heavier than the Halcyone, he does also have some rather sizable thrusters. Therefore, he makes it over just fine! And into a room... full of blocks.
Surtr doesn't have any specialized equipment for this sort of thing, sadly. Just big ol' burly super robot strength. I see. I would be glad to do whatever I can for him, Surtr rumbles publicly, but then in a proper tightband adds: Age does not always bring wisdom. Even a mountain erodes with time. Perhaps the parable of my progenitor might help. Or perhaps it would bring more pain than succor.
Blocks are shoved. Shove, shove.
DG: Zed has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Block Puzzle Blowout.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Zed doesn't remember her then. Not unsurprising, she has visibly changed... a lot. Not even counting the assassination attempt. Surtr is more relevant, as Leviathan is given an unfortunately needed boost to clear the gap. There is a low rumble, but Pearl nods to the being. "My thanks." She can feel her heart pumping, adrenaline from fear. It's such a strange experience, and one she is not fully comfortable with.
There's a pause, as Leviathan rights themselves and Pearl responds to Avril. "It is not simply a matter of being born in Spira. One must have the potential to even speak to the Fayth. Perhaps it is a matter of bloodlines, perhaps it is something else. It does not mean that all the Fayth will accept you either. Leviathan is the only Aeon that has chosen to accompany me." She has no qualms about sharing Yevon's secrets- or Althena's, for that matter. "But the manner of my training was unusual. It has not been the path I was expected to walk."
Leviathan slithers over, looking at the boxes. "It is as she says. I imagine it is simply a matter of matching them. But these... are not my specialty. ...Leviathan, would you provide your strength?"
Leviathan's strength comes not in the form of pushing, but a blast from their mouth that is designed to do the pushing of the blocks for them. The frozen nature of the ground might be an advantage- it can provide some extra solidity to the impact. Leviathan lets out a roar.
Pearl shakes her head quietly, in the manner of one not getting into a theological debate despite being atop one of the 'divinities' in question.
DG: Pearl has used her Tool Battering Waves toward her party's challenge, Block Puzzle Blowout.
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Block Puzzle Blowout *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There are certain constants to be had in ruins. Monsters are one. Traps are another. Perhaps block puzzles are yet another? Laid out on the floor before you are a series of multi-colored blocks: white, black, red, and blue. There are spots on the floor on the opposite side, similarly colored. The goal is a simple one: move the blocks to their respective spaces, and the door will open. But the blocks are heavy, even for a Gear. Who made this, and why? ...Honestly, you should just get to pushing. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Tire========================================
=========================<* Galahad Ruins - Round 3 *>========================== =======================< Results - Block Puzzle Blowout >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(8)--> 28 Pass Stone Ice Medium 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 33 --(8)--> 41 Pass Structural Demolition Charge 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 33 --(8)--> 41 Pass Battering Waves 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 28 --(8)--> 36 Pass Hit the Lever 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 28 --(8)--> 36 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(1)|Overzealous(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
".... I think I saw something like that, somewhere. Maybe it was a picture in a book, or a mural. It's kind of neat, how both our worlds have mythos surroundin' dragons, but they're both so different."
And some ways, alike enough. Perhaps that's why Lombardia has found her place here, so long ago?
Avril helpfully uses the element of ice to allow Gwen's pushing to go even smoother. "Thanks, Avril," Gwen says, bobbing her gear's cockpit in the imitation of a nod. "You got the red one then, Ida? Good, I'll focus on this one and any leftover. Between explosives n' the ice, it might cost us less fuel than us pushin' em' all in."
"Surtr, you'll like Dean, I bet. He's the sort of person who just becomes your friend instantly. Kinda like Zed, in some ways, come t'think of it..." Gwen's Gear makes the final push, and the courier looks on, satisfied, and moves onto the next block not already picked by Surtr or Pearl with Leviathan. "And now-- wait. Little brothers and sisters?"
.... Gwen is now imagining little mini-Surtrs running around at a family picnic, as two adult-sized Surtrs look on. A checkered blanket. Like the illustration she saw in that one book, just with people instead of human-scaled Surtrs.
".... Um," Gwen clears her throat, dismissing the image. "If y'need help with that, I'm game, even if I may be less able t'help than Dean with his knowledge."
Pearl explains how the Fayth work as Gwen works on the next block, a certain twinge of childish jealousy, while tempered with the mature reasoning that such bonds, like anything, come with their ups and downs. "I hear ya. I think a lot of us could say the same, on the front of unexpected paths. But, that's what makes life interesting, eh?"
With Leviathan knocking the final block(s) blocks in place, the door on the other end opens. "Woohoo! Go teamwork!"
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Galahad Ruins *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Case of the Creepy-Crawlies *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It takes a while before it actually shows itself. As you move from chamber to chamber within the ruins, you always have a sense that there's /something/ in the shadows, just out of your machine's range of vision. Whatever it is, it's highly elusive: even your cameras only catch brief glimpses of it. Even knowing that something is lurking, it might still come as a surprise when it suddenly lunges at you out of the crevice of a rock right in front of you: an absolutely enormous Hellion centipede! Be careful, they're venomous! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Bad Luck=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"He was ripped to pieces," Ida says, flipping back over to tightband. "Deliberately. There were others in his line, but they were deleted--I don't know why they didn't delete Azoth as well, and neither does he. Whatever they did to him scattered his memories as well as his component pieces. That's why he's trying so desperately to find them." Half of it. The other half is something she needs to keep close to her chest.
It occurs to Ida, some time during the moving of the blocks, that she didn't tell Pearl her name. Pearl, a survivor of the Cult. Her brow furrows beneath her helmet.
The door opens. It leads into a broad, high-ceilinged gallery, so large that even the Gears' floodlights have a difficult time illuminating it. A familiar smell lingers in the air--a cloying stink that matches the rough emotional "frequency" of Lunar's ambient Malevolence. "Malevolence," Ida murmurs. "Keep your guard up--"
And then something skitters at the edge of her screen. "Gah!" The Dragoon stops in its tracks, whirling to catch the whatever-it-is, but it's already too late. "Something's out there," she says. But no matter how much she scans the chamber, there's no sign.
Avril sights it next, a hundred yards deeper in. Then Leviathan, fifty yards deeper. It's moving terribly fast, like a great snake, except scuttling, and--
"Look out!" It erupts from the rock face before them, Malevolence-tinged venom dripping from sharpened mandibles. The Hellionized centipede is over a hundred feet long, and armored like a tank. It rushes Skadi, going right for the Gear's waist-joint; Malevolence-laced gas starts spraying from pores along its back. Armor integrity warnings light up on the Dragoon's screen. "Avril!" Ida shouts. She whips up a polymer panel, slams a fist into the button beneath. Her backrest twists apart behind her. Hyadean tissue erupts outwards, interlacing with her own. Lightning shoots down her spine.
The Dragoon's entire stance changes. It whips a long rod from its equipment rack with humanlike grace, holds it as it telescopes outward, deploys an electrified spear-point. Flame erupts around the weapon as Ida channels Moor Gault's power, driving the thing at the Hellion's midsection.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Dragon-Spine Uplink toward her party's challenge, Case of the Creepy-Crawlies.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Then it is not as simple as I believe. I understand," Avril answers Pearl. "Then what is important is that you have forged this bond with Leviathan. There are precious memories you now both share which no one can seize from you," she tells her. "I am glad."
Only the fact that she is within Skadi's cockpit hides the fact that she is, yes, smiling.
It's not a surprise that Avril's mind has turned first to Golems, as if happens. "...I see. Yes, that would explain much. I wonder if the Elw were able to communicate with their Golems after a fashion." As for the Veruni, though...
Perhaps, for them, it is not a concern either way.
"Brothers? Sisters? ...Save?" Avril pauses for a moment, as if coming to some sort of internal conclusion. "Yes. I believe he would like to know that. I think that you and he will become good friends, Surtr."
It really isn't as if Surtr will have much choice in the matter.
They're the colors of the Dragons sacred to Althena. "Oh! Now I remember," Avril says. "It has been some time since I have been around this part of Lunar, I suppose..."
One chamber soon leads to another -- a long gallery that leads further into the recesses of the ruins. "I wonder what the purpose of this was," Avril remarks, in those few moments before something is most certainly amiss.
"We are being followed," she says, shortly before Ida speaks of Malevolence. "A Hellion?"
Something is moving, at the edges of what they're able to see.
Until there it is, right in front of them!
"Permit me," Avril says, drawing the blade from where it rests 'sheathed' against Skadi's back. The thing is massive, more metal stab with a handle than any cutting edge.
And yet this, too, is a blade. She lunges for it, wielding the weapon with both of the Gear's hands, as if it were a large battering ram instead of a sword.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Gear Blade - Gambanteinn toward her party's challenge, Case of the Creepy- Crawlies.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
To be fair, Zed's most vivid memory of Pearl involves her punching him right in the skull! So while she's not doing that, his ability to remember her properly is somewhat impaired. This is the downside to having a bonkler-brain. One of them. One of the many downsides. "Yeah, Dean is great!" Zed chirps, "And-- yeah. So. The... One of the people who designed these guys, she got picked up by Odessa. And now they're using the technology to build war-machines. So whenever one turns up, I've been trying to get there and rip out their cores-- the bits that are their brains. If they're retrieved safely, they can be reinstalled somewhere else! Somewhere they won't be exploited and used."
Golems! They are friends, not weapons!!
(This is why Zed and Dean. One of the reasons.)
I see, Surtr continues his tightband communication, Not much unlike my progenitor, then. Always searching for what they had lost... I cannot imagine what that must be like. To know something is missing, but to have no inkling as to what. At some point, one must... let the past go, to move on.
For their own good.
But then, there's a chittering in the dark. Ida points it out, and Surtr moves to engage in a manner one might not expect.
Begone! The colossal gear roars-- and not just in a fancy, figurative sort of way. Its armor shifts, revealing a dozen heavy-duty speakers. All at once, they blast the Muspel's voice, only to continue blasting what can only be described as a JAUNTY SUPER ROBOT THEME SONG thereafter. Surtr reaches for its hip, unsheathing a long blade. With a series of clicks, it unfolds, revealing seven branched segments... which all begin emitting a catastrophic inferno of blue-hot flame. Zed grins as Surtr surges forward, lifting high his massive, flaming sword, "Blazing Branch - Laevateinn!"
With a thundering bellow, Surtr swings a singular, lightning-swift vertical cut...! RAGNAROK REND!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Super Robot Boombox toward his party's challenge, Case of the Creepy-Crawlies.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"OH!" Gwen gives a single laugh at her own expense as Zed jogs her memory. "Man, I'm sorry, Surtr, I was just imaginin' little versions of you runnin' around. But I guess, in a way, it is kinda like that, eh? I guess I've been helpin' out n' I never realized the full context." Zed's mentioned something to this effect before, after all-- Gwen just didn't feel it in the same way.
Which makes Gwen grimace, then, not realizing the other conversation going on concerning another friend of theirs of the robot kind. ".... I hope we find and rescue all of them," she offers then, softly.
When they enter the next area, Halcyone's lights brighten in vain, its owner trying to adjust to the not-so-mundane darkness.
"... Odd," Gwen comments idly. "I thought I had my headlights checked..." It hits her a moment later like someone pressing a cold, rough hand to the nape of her neck, as Ida, more attuned to such things, names what it is. ".... Right," the courier says softly, her cheer snuffed out like a pinched candle wick.
It's odd how, in these situations, Gwen feels more in harm's way in her Gear than without it, as beloved as Halcyone is.
Ida sounds the alarm. "Let's get some light in here, I'm positioned to the back of you guys so don't look my way for a sec!" Opening a sidehatch in the cockpit (newly installed due to Ragnell's influence), Gwen sticks out her bare right hand and points upwards, firing a bright blast into the air above.
Which likely makes Surtr's posing and theme song, as well as Ida's Dragoon stance, look even more epic. Dramatic lighting!!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl continues to be a little baffled by 'how friendship works' as she hears about Dean. Unlike everyone else, the cameras can make out her look of confusion. "Does he somehow know who will befriend him immediately, and then ignores those who will not? It seems unlikely that every friendship would be instant..." She's not great at this, huh. The talk of brothers and sisters that need saving... "Do they force your... siblings to fight?" She would not be surprised, but this is a sentient being, and there are... echoes, if distant.
"...Yes. Leviathan allowed me to break free of the chains that bound me. I would do anything to repay them. Hence why I am here. Looking for a means to give Sin a final ending. Perhaps Meribius and Glenwood have something Spira lacked." She pauses. "...and I am now a heretic in the eyes of Althena. Someone who saved me offered me help, so I am trying to be worthy of that."
She looks up at the charging centipede, and Leviathan moves but not fast enough, the claws raking into their side releasing pyreflies from their body. "Leviathan!" The sea serpent roars, and Pearl reaches into her pack for a blue gem, and casts it into the air, releasing a water spell-
Onto Leviathan, whose wound seals as water runs over them. They rear up, as Pearl looks foward. "These are our sinspawn... Do not underestimate them." She communicates to the companion of her soul. They stand almost on the tip of their tail, and sudennly let out a breath that becomes a pressurized burst of water so tightly compressed that it seems like a laser from an ARM. The red and white light surging through it only serves to add to that impression, as it aims to carve into the creature.
DG: Pearl has used her Tool Water Gem toward her party's challenge, Case of the Creepy-Crawlies. DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Case of the Creepy-Crawlies.
=============================<* Galahad Ruins *>============================== ================<* CHALLENGE - Case of the Creepy-Crawlies *>================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- It takes a while before it actually shows itself. As you move from chamber to chamber within the ruins, you always have a sense that there's /something/ in the shadows, just out of your machine's range of vision. Whatever it is, it's highly elusive: even your cameras only catch brief glimpses of it. Even knowing that something is lurking, it might still come as a surprise when it suddenly lunges at you out of the crevice of a rock right in front of you: an absolutely enormous Hellion centipede! Be careful, they're venomous! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Bad Luck=========================================
========================<* Galahad Ruins - Round 4 *>========================= ==================< Results - Case of the Creepy-Crawlies >=================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 28 --(15)--> 43 Pass Gear Blade - Gambanteinn 2 Combat Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 41 --(15)--> 56 Pass Dragon-Spine Uplink 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pearl 41 --(15)--> 56 Pass Water Gem 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 36 --(23)--> 59 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 36 --(15)--> 51 Pass Super Robot Boombox 2 Combat Effects: Sacrifice, Embolden, ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Fright(2)|Overzealous(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Hellion is easily as massive as most of the Gears here, as fast as Leviathan, and armed with toxic, Malevolent weaponry. Against a less-coordinated, less-experienced team, it would surely have the advantage--but this crew isn't caught off-guard, and acts decisively. Skadi's blade slams into the Hellion's carapace just behind its head, cracking chitin plates with a hideous, organic CRUNCH. The strike doesn't penetrate, but it blunts the creature's momentum, and forces it to rear back, scuttling around to pick another victim.
Gwen's flare illuminates the battlefield, revealing how truly massive this chamber is--and how enormous the Hellion is, and how alarmingly fast it's scuttling. It whips its body forwards, envenomed mandibles digging into Halcyon's armor--but then Surtr's blade comes down, glancing off its plate and cleaving through a half-dozen of the creature's limbs. It reels back, chittering, spits corrosive venom right at Surtr--
Only for Leviathan to surge forward like the tide itself. The venom washes away before it can strike home. The beam of water slices through the Hellion's carapace just behind its head. And then Ida stabs the the thing right in the wound Leviathan made. Moor Gault's flame coils down the Gear's arms, burning away the miasma clinging to the beast. In the cockpit, Ida grits her teeth and holds onto the spear, enduring the onslaught of raw emotion...
And then the flames consume the Hellion whole. Or so it seems.
A perfectly ordinary cave centipede falls to the floor, and scuttles away to safety.
DG: Pearl has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Charlotte's Web This Ain't *>================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You press on towards the furthest reaches of the ruins. The lighting, before now ever present within the halls, grows dim. Is something about this section limiting the lights' ability to stay lit? Perhaps it has something to do with that enormous spider web that zigs and zags its way across the chamber ahead of you. ...If that's the size of the web, maybe you don't want to meet the spider that spun it, frankly... There's some sort of further chamber in the back. You can see something glittering in the limited light. To get to it, though, you're going to have to negotiate the woven threads of spider silk without getting entangled in them. Which are, at this scale, more like steel than silk -- getting caught would be unpleasant. Not to mention that it might alert the spider... =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Fright=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
That's purification, is it? She had never seen it in action before. Impressive.
As the group move forward, they see the giant web, and Pearl looks around. It is too dark to see the webs resident, but it is likely bigger even than the hellion centiepede, and that web is thick and likely tougher than most gear armour. It would be easy on foot for Pearl, but then they wouldn't get whatever lies ahead. Leviathan moves their head to indicate the thing glittering in the light to the others, trying not to make a noise.
Leviathan snakes close to the ground, and Pearl presses herself flat against them, as they try to find a gap big enough low to the ground. This could be a tight fit, even at the widest points.
DG: Pearl has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Charlotte's Web This Ain't.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
We are learning machines. When we are born, we are blank slates. What we are taught thereafter shapes our development. For those of my kin used as weapons... It is all that they have ever known, no matter what capacity they might have for growth. You cannot 'force' such a thing to fight. Battle is all that it has. All that it is. This is... unjust, I believe.
And that's the story of the Malebranches.
But then, there is a spider web! It's... a kind of enormous one. "Hmm," Zed thinks, which is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. Surtr's scarf snakes out gently... and nuuuudges some of those threads gently out of the way. Another leg of the scarf wraps around the rest of the team, ready to try to pull them out of the web if the worst comes to pass.
...Could they deal with a giant spider if it does show up...? Probably, but not without a lot of hurt.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Mecha Scarf toward his party's challenge, Charlotte's Web This Ain't.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Is that how friendships work?
"I am not certain, to tell you the truth. Dean is... Dean," Avril answers Pearl. "I suppose he can see something that everyone else cannot. Something that others might ignore. It is a dangerous thing, to have faith in others... I sometimes wonder who or what it is that protects him," she muses. "This world is beautiful and full of kind people... but it also has ugliness and cruelty. Someone like Dean, who reaches out a hand nevertheless is..."
She trails off, as if lost in thought herself for the moment.
'She got picked up by Odessa'.
That's really all Avril needs to know. "Then... No, I understand. I wonder..."
Avril trails off, though.
Asgard is a Golem. But, how was he made? And he's the only Golem, she suddenly realizes with a start, who can speak. Is it a connection? Or because they were developed along similar lines? Or...
"So you who have broken your chains seek to break the chains of Spira. It is almost poetic, is it not?" Avril remarks, as Pearl explains what happened to her -- and what path she had found towards her present. "I wish you luck. It is no easy feat to undo what history has forged."
She would know, herself -- she herself is an inheritor to a legacy over five thousand years old.
There is slime on her blade when it is all said and done. Avril shakes it off as best as she can, then slips the oversized sword into place against Skadi's back, where magnetism will hold it.
But ahead, ahead is an overlarge web. There is at present no sign of the spider that may here lurk. Suffice to say, though, it would be better not to cross paths.
"...There is an entrance over there. Perhaps if I were to push through... would that not create a path?"
Zed might have a dangerous idea. Avril has arguably a just as dangerous one when she again presses the TURBO button.
There may be a sudden blur, here.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Turbocharger toward her party's challenge, Charlotte's Web This Ain't.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
With the Hellion purified, Ida's thoughts turn back to the topics at hand--namely, Astrid. She still doesn't know what to make of her, and what she thinks of Odessa and the war. And yet--despite everything she's done--Ida can't help but feel for her. What would she do if she spent centuries under a Primarch's influence, and then awakened in a world where her people had suffered great and terrible loss?
"Desperation drives people to do terrible things," Ida whispers. "Astrid is in an unenviable situation. I just wish I knew more about what she wants, if she wants anything beyond... him."
The Dragoon stops just inside the room. Ida peers at the monitor, studying the layout of the strands. "I think our centipede had a friend," she says. "Be extremely careful." Moving slowly, carefully, and gracefully, the Dragoon starts to pick its way through the webs. Its right arm grips Surtr's scarf tightly, while the left is held out for balance. Manipulating the Gear through the Spine is always at least a little disorienting, though; the weight, reach, and center of gravity are all different, and it's hard to process data from two bodies at once.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Charlotte's Web This Ain't.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"... Ida..." Gwen's awed voice comes over her gear's com, as she watches the ordinary cave centipede scuttle away. "You purified it..."
Hearing Avril's words about Dean, Gwen smiles a private smile, isolated as she is in her cockpit. "... That faith... I think, seeing that spark makes us all want to be brighter for knowing it. As well, as to protect it, regardless of how well it can protect itself." She pauses. "Sorry, I'm babbling. Pearl, I admit, that's... wow. You're a strong soul. No wonder Leviathan took a liking to you."
She still feels that need, to protect those sparks. In this world and--
Astrid's name tries Gwen back, her grunt registering over the line. ".... I wish she would have just... given up, after what happened in the Molten Scar." But she didn't, as she clearly kidnapped Ida for her purposes once again.
".. Huh, there's something here."
They construct their plans for getting past; Gwen agrees on not upsetting the spider if they can help it. "Fast seems to be the key, looks like."
Gwne deploys her grapple again, hoping the second time proves as fruitful as the first.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool By Hook or by Crook toward her party's challenge, Charlotte's Web This Ain't.
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Charlotte's Web This Ain't *>================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You press on towards the furthest reaches of the ruins. The lighting, before now ever present within the halls, grows dim. Is something about this section limiting the lights' ability to stay lit? Perhaps it has something to do with that enormous spider web that zigs and zags its way across the chamber ahead of you. ...If that's the size of the web, maybe you don't want to meet the spider that spun it, frankly... There's some sort of further chamber in the back. You can see something glittering in the limited light. To get to it, though, you're going to have to negotiate the woven threads of spider silk without getting entangled in them. Which are, at this scale, more like steel than silk -- getting caught would be unpleasant. Not to mention that it might alert the spider... =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Fright=============================================
=========================<* Galahad Ruins - Round 5 *>========================== ====================< Results - Charlotte's Web This Ain't >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 43 --(0)--> 43 Pass Turbocharger 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 56 --(5)--> 61 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearl 56 --(0)--> 56 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 59 --(5)--> 64 Fail By Hook or by Crook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 51 --(0)--> 51 Pass Mecha Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< 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 Galahad Ruins!
==============================<* Galahad Ruins *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Black Dragon Statue *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Having pressed on past the arachnoid-related peril, you arrive at last into what seems to be the furthest place in the Galahad Ruins and find the thing that had caught the limited light: A largish statue of a dragon, carved out of nearly featureless black stone; only a few striations of white stand out against it. It's been polished to a gleam; even the undoubted ages it has sat down here have done little to affect its appearance. This is a treasure and would be worth a great deal to the right collector. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
It's very close, and there are tense moments of the web being tapped ever so gently, or people JUST sliding out of the way. The crew make it through okay, though. No one is eaten by a spider today.
"...It is not an unfamiliar existence to me. Some humans can take another and make battle all they have ever known, at the cost of what was there before." She's not going to claim she understands exactly Surtr's situation. "I think you are correct. It is a cruelty I am learning the extent of."
And participated in.
Most of Pearl's scars are covered now, but the ones on her face reflect that 'ugliness'. Not for their appearance, but how she acquired them. What she did not to acquire more. "I am aware. Those who reach out risk themselves, and yet they continue to try. It is... difficult to understand." She pauses. "...I am not so naive to think it is a task I can accomplish alone. I simply hope that I can contribute in a way that matters, and repay Leviathan their faith when the time comes to fight. But I know these parts of Lunar better than the Spirans do- I should use my advantage." The talk of Astrid, though... that's beyound her. Far beyond her. And Gwen snaps her out of it. "...Strong is not the term I would use." But what term she would use does not come to the tip of the tongue.
Thankfully, the glint in the darkness turns to be a Black Dragon Statue in immaculate form, large enough that a Gear would require two hands to carry it. Unfortunately, Leviathan has none. "...It is undamaged. Perhaps it would be of worth to you, but the church may claim it if they see it before you acquire a buyer."
Pearl pauses, as Leviathan raises her out of the dungeon, looking at the assorted forces. "...If I may impose, once we are free of these ruins, would I be able to... ride one of your gears? Simply as a passenger on the outside until we reach the nearest town. It is taxing to manifest Leviathan for so long, and otherwise I will have to make camp." She's... slightly nervous to ask. But she'd much rather a bed than a bedroll. Being with the fiends has made her realise that comfort is a good thing.