2021-12-21: Why Can't You
- Log: Why Can't You
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lan Lilac
- Where: Macalania Woods
- Date: December 21, 2021
- Summary: Lan and Loren talk about the battle at Macalania Outpost.
=============================<* Macalania Woods *>============================== Macalania Woods - a shining maze-like forest overseen by strange, ancient, birdlike Beastmen who speak in bizarre riddles and weave light like silk. The crystalline forest is cold and colder still, the deeper one goes into it. The twisting paths are easy to get lost in, but they also lead to the mountains near Bevelle. Macalania is a distant, remote region -- and full of its own dangers. BGM: Final Fantasy X - Macalania Woods
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Unsettled By Nature *>======================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
North of the Thunder Plains lies the Macalania Woods; in order to reach
Macalania Lake and the temple there, a traveler has no choice but to
traverse the woods.
Something has upset the balance here, however -- the power of the Fayth have
warped these woods, turning them into a labyrinth filled with foul fiends.
A rustling and gurgling before you take more than a few steps upon the path
that leads into the woods is your warning -- you are soon beset by Fiends!
These lot are a goopy wobbly sort, called 'Flans' by the Spiran natives.
They move at first as if they were in truth evading something else, until
they spot you.
Then their immediate plan shifts accordingly. Their goal? Perhaps it might
be best put as 'taking your life'. Get ready.
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It was, to put it frankly, an abysmal showing.
No, he hadn't been court-martialed, or indeed had so much as a word of reprimand spoken to him regarding, but the point was: none of that mattered. What cut more deeply than anything a superior officer could have said or done was the way he'd overheard engineering grumbling about the state of his Gear, or others about the fact that he'd been overcome. Or, oh yes, the fact that he'd taken out a bunker wall in his defeat.
Time was, this sort of talk -- in conjunction with the nature of the incident -- would have utterly devastated him. These days, it's just served to leave him in a state of decidedly low morale. After all, while it's hardly the same thing, it was also far too close to home.
At least no one was hurt. Other than Seren (...sort of?) and him, that is.
So that's why he'd signed up -- why he'd gone and taken a surveying role out beyond the outpost's perimeter. Normally it's the sort of thing that would be better suited to a scout, sure, but he has field experience and the technical skill to get the job done better than some of the scouts assigned to Macalania (many of them are fresh out of Jugend and thus basically still children) could do. Besides -- and he'd barely admit this to himself -- he needs the opportunity to do something productive and sort himself out, and the tight quarters in Macalania are not a good place to do that.
So it goes, he guesses as he squats near one of the strange trees in the forest and plants another data probe. Something about the forest here is making navigating it a pain in the ass for patrols, so--
Something rustles in the underbrush not far from him. His first reaction is to freeze.
And then he rises to his feet, drawing as he turns towards the sound of a disturbance. Emperor help him, if this is another intruder, he'll--
But it's just Fiends, as it happens, so at least there's that potential crisis sorted. Sifting Ether through the Tuner looped about his wrist as he withdraws from melee range after swinging at the mustered Flans, his being is suffused if momentarily by shimmering light. It's some measure of protection against the assault his Fiendish foes are bound to bring about, however the next few seconds tilt.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Ether Tuner toward his party's challenge, Unsettled By Nature.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Truth be told, it was a pretty abysmal showing for Lan as well. They'd done well for the most part, but... in the end, the Earth Element had been much too much for their combined forces. They'd had to beat a hasty retreat, and even finding some strong medicines on their way out hadn't been much of a consolation prize.
But Lan isn't the type of person to let defeat get her down for too long. She's rested, relaxed, and ready to get back to the important business of 'doing whatever she can to stop Solaris from making any progress'. And saving Filgaia, but that's really not something she has a lot of clues about at the moment.
Solaris, on the other hand, always has something that needs done about it.
The Flans advance on Loren, blurbling oozily...!
Until a shape dashes out from behind a tree trunk, pulls back a powerful leg, and launches one of them into low orbit with a powerful kick. Lan shakes some errant Fiend goo off of her sandal and somersaults over the rest of them, landing next to Loren as if she intends to fight side-by-side with him or something, like this is one of Gwen's ten-gella novels!
"Hi Loren!" she pipes up, taking a brief swig from her water bottle before getting back into stance. "How come you're out here alone?"
Lan, it should be noted, is also alone.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Clear Water toward her party's challenge, Unsettled By Nature.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Unsettled By Nature *>======================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
North of the Thunder Plains lies the Macalania Woods; in order to reach
Macalania Lake and the temple there, a traveler has no choice but to
traverse the woods.
Something has upset the balance here, however -- the power of the Fayth have
warped these woods, turning them into a labyrinth filled with foul fiends.
A rustling and gurgling before you take more than a few steps upon the path
that leads into the woods is your warning -- you are soon beset by Fiends!
These lot are a goopy wobbly sort, called 'Flans' by the Spiran natives.
They move at first as if they were in truth evading something else, until
they spot you.
Then their immediate plan shifts accordingly. Their goal? Perhaps it might
be best put as 'taking your life'. Get ready.
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
===================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet - Round 1 *>=================== =======================< Results - Unsettled By Nature >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Ether Tuner 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(17)--> 17 Fail Clear Water 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Maim Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
Things, quite swiftly, go from something he can probably manage, even solo, to something rather more complicated.
A shape has dashed out from behind a tree trunk and with a single kick, sent one of the Flans catapulting upwards through the canopy. Loren never does actually hear it land. And of course, the possessor of that particular shape is...
"Why are you here?!" Loren belts at her, which is all the invitation a Flan needs to lash at him bloopily. "--Gah!"
They're Fiends, but as Fiends go, they're not particularly fierce ones. Even him, with his level of skill...
Suffice to say, when the dust settles, he's still standing as Pyreflies buzz off for parts unknown.
"I'm working," he tells her, sheathing the sword.
...It's not very kind of him, runs that fleeting bit of self-awareness after. But he's not really feeling kindness in this particular moment, not when he's looking straight at another potential problem.
"...Just do me a favor and get out of here."
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Swooping Season *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The Sky Trail takes a pilgrim (or explorer) higher among the trees in the
Macalania Woods. The upshot is that it gives one a great view -- not just of
the distant lake area, but of the woods themselves. It is theoretically
possible to plan out the best path to take from here.
Theoretically, because there is one downside to the Sky Trail -- it makes
you a target for flying Fiends, which come at you in a dive. Fighting them
up here could be a problem, especially if the trail were damaged or if you
fell off. It might be better to evade them and keep moving.
And hey, maybe you'll get a chance to plan out that best path!
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Between the two of them, it's short work.
She didn't really expect him to be glad to see her - not after the last time they met. Even so, Lan frowns when he tells her to go away. "No. And I know you're working. You don't wander around forests for fun, even when they aren't full of Fiends."
Lan also knows he's working because she's found and destroyed several of the brand new technological doodads that someone has left in the area, and so far Loren is the only Gebler personnel she's run into today.
But with him being alone as far as she knows, this is as good a time as any to check in and catch up - or have an awkward, tense conversation. Because even after taking time to recover, Lan is still a bit upset about the other day, too.
Besides, if they're keeping an eye on each other they're basically in some kind of spy games stalemate, right? Unless Loren wants to stop and plant more of those whatsits right in front of her, or leave Lan alone to sabotage his efforts?
"Come on, I want to get a better view. You've been on the sky trail before, right? It's like a catwalk, but for trees." And made of trees.
The unfortunate thing about being off the ground, however, is that now you're just exposed to all-news kinds of irritating creatures. Like bats, and birds, and large fat bats with one big eye and that's not a bat at all. An Evil Eye screeches at them before using its Gaze attack. "Look out!"
Lan tris to jump over the beam - think fast, Loren!!
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Swooping Season.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
His reponse is merely to grunt and shrug his shoulders. It's not always like this between them. But sometimes, it is -- the collision of their interests. The collision of their respective natures and scars.
So he's not surprised when she more or less refuses to concede to his request -- that she says she wants to get a better look at the area from the sky trail.
He already knows he might as well argue with a mountain.
"You never understand how to take a hint," he sighs. The sword at Loren's hip stays holstered.
He follows after her.
"I know what the sky trail is," he says, as they approach where the pathway begins. It's not long until they're high among the trees.
"Hey... that thing you conjured, with all those crystals--"
He doesn't get to finish the sentence, not when that Fiend comes diving down from the trees about them, all horrible eyeball and wings and Gaze attack. "Shit," Loren more or less vocalizes, trying dive out of the way of that beam as it begins to burn through the air between it and him. But as it happens, a high-rise pathway may not be the best place for acrobatics.
Particularly if you're not that good at them to start with.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Swooping Season.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Swooping Season *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The Sky Trail takes a pilgrim (or explorer) higher among the trees in the
Macalania Woods. The upshot is that it gives one a great view -- not just of
the distant lake area, but of the woods themselves. It is theoretically
possible to plan out the best path to take from here.
Theoretically, because there is one downside to the Sky Trail -- it makes
you a target for flying Fiends, which come at you in a dive. Fighting them
up here could be a problem, especially if the trail were damaged or if you
fell off. It might be better to evade them and keep moving.
And hey, maybe you'll get a chance to plan out that best path!
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret=========================================
===================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet - Round 2 *>=================== =========================< Results - Swooping Season >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 5 --(17)--> 22 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Secret(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Lan Lilac has posed.
First step, jump over the beam. Second step, don't fall off the walkway. Third step, counterattack. Lan sprints toward the Fiend, counting down the seconds until it'll be able to fire again, and spikes it out of the air with a two-fisted hammerblow. The Evil Eye bounces off of the walkway, flapping angrily, before Lan finishes it off with a powerful stomp.
It disappears into pyreflies, but she swears she can still feel fiend bits on her sandals. "Eeeewwww," she complains loudly, shaking her foot out like someone who's stepped in a puddle, before turning to look back after Loren. "Are you okay? ...What about it?"
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - First Strike is the Best Strike *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Luck is, as they say, on your side. You've spotted a single Murussu, a
heavily-armored Fiend. It hasn't spotted you yet.
This is your chance to engage it and take it down before the tables can turn
in its favor!
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It... doesn't go well.
Not for Loren, at least. Disoriented by the thing's Gaze, which he catches solidly right in the face, he wanders aimlessly for a few steps more before stumbling and landing face-forward onto the walkway.
This is probably for the best, given a number of potential alternate fates that might have come about.
This is also the position Lan will find him in, or near enough to it -- he's in the process of levering himself up and onto his feet when she looks back.
"I hate those things," is his remark on the situation, shaking his head vigorously. Great, he's also getting a headache. Patting down his pack as they continue along, he hunches his shoulders. "...Is that safe? Fighting a Gear in that. That thing," he continues, gesturing vaguely with his left hand as if to somehow sketch in the air the shape of the crystal cloud she'd been floating within. "One bullet and you'd be--"
He has gone silent as they approach the other end of the pathway, spotting the large Fiend that is perched there. Slowly, he turns towards Lan and lifts a single finger to his lips.
Shh.
And then as quietly as he can, draw his blade and advance, each moment marked by the dull and distant thud of his pulse. If this thing turns around it's going to get messy. It would be best if they could handle it quickly.
He lunges forward, as soon as he feels like he can close the distance, light through the trees glinting off his blade.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, First Strike is the Best Strike.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She returns to his side as Loren gets himself back onto his feet with a grimace. Wordlessly (for once), she offers her water bottle over so he can at least get the taste of tre bark out of his mouth.
Once they're back on their way again, he asks that question. Lan looks out at the crystalline forest for a quiet moment, rolling the taste of his awkward worry around in her mouth. "You can't see the shield, can you?" she realizes after a moment. "It's... the first defense is the crystal. But if that's not enough, or I'm not fast enough, there's still a wall."
Of course, she doesn't say, if she's knocked unconscious in it, that's several new types of dangerous. "I just... I wanted to keep up with--"
He notices the Fiend before Lan does, and motions for quiet. Her next footfall on the bark is silent, the girl hanging back as he creps forward. Loren draws his sword, and Lan draws her seldom-used bow from its place on her back. "..."
Behind him, Lan waits for Loren's attack... before letting loose a single arrow at the Murussu, imbued with water and starlight.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Clear Water toward her party's challenge, First Strike is the Best Strike.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - First Strike is the Best Strike *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Luck is, as they say, on your side. You've spotted a single Murussu, a
heavily-armored Fiend. It hasn't spotted you yet.
This is your chance to engage it and take it down before the tables can turn
in its favor!
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
===================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet - Round 3 *>=================== =================< Results - First Strike is the Best Strike >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 22 --(17)--> 39 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 22 --(5)--> 27 Pass Clear Water 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 40 --(30)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Overzealous(2)|Secret(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
Worry might be the right word for it, even if he'd never admit it as such, at least not without extreme methods applied to pry it out of him. "Is it some sort of," he fumbles for the word for a moment, "Guardianist thing?" His own connection to the Guardians is rather fleeting, and only abetted by the stone Medium.
He still doesn't like them all that much, even if he owes Moor Gault whatever sanity he now possesses. How could he? Going face to face with something that might as well be a god, with none of the warmth and compassion of Emperor Cain...
She just wanted to keep up with..., she starts to say, and it might be a conversation best saved for another time, as there is trouble on the route ahead.
Loren takes point. Taking advantage of the moment, he lunges once he's close. But--
One foot lands on a board that shrieks in protest. The Murussu wheels about with fiendish speed, and it's all Loren can do to pivot his killing blow into something more defensive as it comes for him in fury. Something -- bat-winged, organic-almost, its core glowing with a faint purple light -- unfolds at his left wrist, and just in time. A glinting claw rebounds off the Devil Arms shield.
The Murussu bellows its rage then, bearing down on Loren. It never sees the single arrow flying for it on wings of starlight and trailing with all of water's fury.
It screams as the arrow takes it right in the eye, then erupts into a storm of Pyreflies.
Loren glances over at her as the shield at his arm folds itself up, and that there is a particularly complicated expression on his face just now. How is someone supposed to feel after being saved like this? Grateful? Frustrated? ...Disconcerted?
"..." He sheathes the blade, and turns to keep moving forward.
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Mischief Makers *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You become aware that not terribly far off is a small patrol group made up
of some of your group's foes or rivals. By your estimates, they're likely
headed this way. They're not so close that you might want to hide or move --
yet -- but it won't be long before they reach where you are.
As you take a look around you, you note that there is a rare sign present
here, indicating the way a traveler on pilgrimage should travel to reach the
lake.
What if... you could change the sign and alter other elements on the trail,
thus misdirecting the patrol entirely? That would get this group out of your
hair and hopefully lose them somewhere in the depths of the woods. But
you'll need to make your alterations quickly.
(GM Note: Pick whoever you like to comprise the enemy/rival group in
question!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
There it is again... that Devil Arm. It looks so gross... even if she should be thankful that it's saved Loren several times by now, Lan really can't help but feel uneasy when she sees it.
Maybe it just reminds her of a worse time in their complicated relationship.
She hurries to follow after him, stowing the bow away again on her back. "..." It must sting even now, Lan realizes. And she knows there's nothing she can say to make him feel better. ...Which is dumb, because didn't he and the Elements and Lydia beat back her party of Drifters? Grown men and women who specialize in doing dumb, dangerous things and somehow still winning the day?!
Just thinking about that makes her remember it more. The rush of wind, the thrum of magic in her veins. How his voice had sounded when...
"...Hey, Loren," Lan ventures as she catches up with him and reaches out to rest her hand on his shoulder. The words don't want to come out, but she forces them to. "You-- said we could all just die." Her fingers curl, exerting a little more pressure. Not enough to hurt. Just because. Because it hurts to hear your friend talk like that. "It reminded me..." Of his sword raised against her, of the rush of tons of stone whiffing past her, deep under the earth. "...Why?" she starts over. "I thought you'd gotten better--"
The fingers on his shoulder squeeze, but Lan isn't angry - she's dragging him back along the path, stopping in consternation at the last fork. Because surely he saw them at the same time Lan did - a Gebler patrol, coming towards them in the distance. And Lan knows that Loren won't protect her from his own people.
It's a bitter feeling.
"Do you have a pen?!" she whispers sharply, digging into her pocket. There's nothing but a square of paper, but Lan takes it out anyway and unfolds it, quickly affixing it blank side out on the guidepost. "Quick! Write something that will make them go down the other way!"
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, Mischief Makers.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's kind of petty and childish. It was just dumb luck in the moment, here and now, and there's no reason for him to take it as badly as all that. But his better nature just can't win when that recent loss is then layered against recent hurts, and other insults, and that still very-much-present coiled feeling at his core that no matter what, he just won't be able to make up the difference for whatever it is that he's lacking. It's useless against that sense that there's something about him that's lesser than his peers, that he's broken on some fundamental level.
The best he can do is wad it up inside himself and push on ahead, which in this case means literally stalking on along this path.
Lan's hand settles on his shoulder. Loren makes a questioning sound, half turning his head to glance back at her.
'You said we could all just die', she tells him. It reminded her of...
He's silent for a good moment more, glance off at the path ahead. "...I took Drive. That's all," he says to her.
You took Drive and it still wasn't enough says the serpent coiled in the depths of him.
But it doesn't get much further down that particular track than that. Her hand squeezes his shoulder, and he sees them too. Had there been a patrol scheduled through...? Well, it wouldn't have mattered for his business, he was supposed to rendezvous with one of the junior scouts (some kid who looked all of fourteen at best, are they really graduating them that young now?) once he'd finished up this area, and if someone else was doing followup on the recent intrusion incident...
She's started messing with the sign. As if ignoring her, his gaze has moved further up the path towards the fork.
He pulls out a single nutritional bar from his kit and tosses it onto the ground, treading on it heavily. This, he picks up and, glancing back at Lan, shakes his head. "Forget the sign," he hisses. "Just get moving!" This he accompanies with a jab of his right thumb, back in the direction he'd come, before he wings the damaged bar for one of the alternative paths at the fork ahead. Maybe that will do the trick. One of their basic field supplies, clearly fresh but damaged, lying in a path going a different direction than this...
He hesitates, then steps off the path and crouches down behind one of the odd trees, as if to wait to make sure they take the feint.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, Mischief Makers.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Mischief Makers *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You become aware that not terribly far off is a small patrol group made up
of some of your group's foes or rivals. By your estimates, they're likely
headed this way. They're not so close that you might want to hide or move --
yet -- but it won't be long before they reach where you are.
As you take a look around you, you note that there is a rare sign present
here, indicating the way a traveler on pilgrimage should travel to reach the
lake.
What if... you could change the sign and alter other elements on the trail,
thus misdirecting the patrol entirely? That would get this group out of your
hair and hopefully lose them somewhere in the depths of the woods. But
you'll need to make your alterations quickly.
(GM Note: Pick whoever you like to comprise the enemy/rival group in
question!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
===================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet - Round 4 *>=================== =========================< Results - Mischief Makers >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 39 --(5)--> 44 Pass Soylent Nutribar 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 27 --(5)--> 32 Pass Paku-Paku 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 70 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Overzealous(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Lan Lilac has posed.
He took Drive. That's all.
Loren knows how Gebler soldiers are trained, and how they'll react, better than Lan does. He went through the same training they did, after all. In another lifetime, maybe he would have followed someone else's false signs down the wrong path.
Lan looks around quickly, weighing her options, before just... jumping straight up, and disappearing into the leaves overhead. It's not a moment too soon either, because as soon as the branches have stopped rustling the patrol comes through. "...What the hell is that?" a woman with sergeant's stripes murmurs, crouching down next to the trampled-looking mess. She comes to a swift conclusion, standing up again to address her soldiers. "Eyes open. Bright, Derwent, change of plans - we're heading this way." The patrol proceeds down the left hand path, not bothering to take the garbage with them.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Shiva's Wrath *>=========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Even in the coldest parts of the year, the Macalania woods never get more
than chilly. This is a truism that is put to the test as you venture further
along the trails, as the temperature continues to steadily drop.
And then proven entirely false. Ice rimes the trees and trail, turning
flowers and Fiends alike into statues wrought in frost. Snow piles in
enormous drifts the further you press on along this transformed part of the
forest path. Everything has been touched by Winter's hand.
It is bitterly, bitterly cold.
Between the sweeping swathes of slick ice that now coat the trails and the
thick piles of snow that catch and grab at one's legs, passage will be
difficult through this part of the woods.
Unless, of course...
You prove yourself to be one of those who fight further.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The amount of hot water he'd be in if they ever worked the truth behind this one out would be considerable. She's not likely to be pleased when she doesn't find one of their number in danger elsewhere in the woods. But fortunately, this is likely to be a victimless crime. Even if they did somehow trace the trampled bar to him -- dubious -- it's easy enough to write off as an error, perhaps even one that occured while he was 'fleeing danger within the woods'. He is, after all, solo today.
And it isn't even as if there's someone watching over his shoulder at all times.
Loren still only breathes when the group vanishes down the other path, waiting perhaps a few minutes more to be sure they're definitely gone. "Hey," he says, in the direction of the canopy into which Lan diverted herself. The patrol might have gone the other way, but they shouldn't hang around here.
Perhaps that fact may effect silence for a time between them as they venture onwards, the woods seeming to grow ever colder. Involuntarily, Loren begins to shiver. It's a cold one today, it seems.
Or, as they round the bend, perhaps an extra cold one. Damn. They must have gotten too close to where the woods meets the lake, which means he's definitely gone in the wrong direction.
"...What did you say you were trying to do here, anyway?" he asks Lan, glancing her way. "I think beyond here is just... the lake."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's a few seconds more before a leaf flutters down towards him, followed by Lan. Her feet touch down almost silently, her weight made negligible by magic. "..." She's quiet as they walk on.
Soon, though, Loren isn't the only one shivering. The chill in the air feels strong enough to rival Mt. Gagazet - although that might just be because this time, Lan isn't wearing a coat. Without thinking about it too hard, she steps closer to him; too bad Loren can't radiate heat the way Azoth can.
Too bad Azoth doesn't have the choices Loren does. And yet, Loren keeps choosing to do things that are wrong.
"...W, why did you take Drive," she asks, instead of answering him.
Her sandals sink into snow. She threads magic through her ribbon again and steps out onto its surface, arms wrapped tight around herself. "...You were like that 'you' again. The one who was sick, and losing everything, and angry. ...I was scared."
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Shiva's Wrath.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
She doesn't answer his question.
'Why did you take Drive', she asks him instead.
Loren looks at her as if she's grown another head. "Why-- shouldn't I have? It's for emergencies like that! Without it, I..."
He had still lost the battle. And she tells him what he'd sounded like. "But that's normal," he protests, as she begins to forge on ahead. "It's like that for most people who take it. It doesn't mean anything. It's just," he says, trying to think about how to explain things like aggression and altered states and mood, and how things like that are just a normal part of a person's psychology, how the drug just wakes them up a little bit.
But all of that dies on the vine. She was scared, she says.
"You what?" he voices.
"--Hey! Where are you trying to go?! You're not really trying to go back there, are you?!"
He moves to hurry after her, across the ice and snow.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Shiva's Wrath.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Shiva's Wrath *>=========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Even in the coldest parts of the year, the Macalania woods never get more
than chilly. This is a truism that is put to the test as you venture further
along the trails, as the temperature continues to steadily drop.
And then proven entirely false. Ice rimes the trees and trail, turning
flowers and Fiends alike into statues wrought in frost. Snow piles in
enormous drifts the further you press on along this transformed part of the
forest path. Everything has been touched by Winter's hand.
It is bitterly, bitterly cold.
Between the sweeping swathes of slick ice that now coat the trails and the
thick piles of snow that catch and grab at one's legs, passage will be
difficult through this part of the woods.
Unless, of course...
You prove yourself to be one of those who fight further.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
===================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet - Round 5 *>=================== ==========================< Results - Shiva's Wrath >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 44 --(101)--> 145 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 32 --(101)--> 133 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(15)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Slow(2)|Stupify(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lan Lilac is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Loren Voss has been fully Exhausted by Macalania Woods - Disquiet! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
========================<* Macalania Woods - Disquiet *>========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Free to a Good Home *>======================
|Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
You try your best against the obstacle that the heart of winter has dealt
out unto you, but it's too much in the end: the chill and the ordeal are too
much for you. You're forced to turn back so that you can rest and recover.
But not everything is bad. Once you retreat back out of the immediate
frostbite danger zone and take a load off, you find that you have sat down
on something rather hard.
That something turns out to be a small pile of common spheres.
Did someone leave these here? Did the Fiends put them here somehow? ...There
are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers, but hey, free spheres.
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
...It works about as well as one would expect. The ice is as smooth as glass: one wrong step is all it takes for him to slip, and given the haste with which he's moving, it's no mere misstep. He falls backwards, sprawling on his back, and as if to add indignity to defeat, he goes sliding slowly backwards along the frozen patch, still clearly stunned from the drop onto solid ice.
"Wait--" Loren shouts, getting up quickly onto his hands. But even this is a doomed course of action: the attempt to get back onto his feet fails outright and he slides and sprawls to land hard onto the frozen patch again.
"Can't you... can't you do something else? Anything!" Loren calls after her, lifting his face from the ice. Something peaceful. Something less dangerous, something that keeps her out of Solaris' crosshairs.
That keeps her out of his, as well.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"But what made that an emergency? Nobody was hurt. And even if they had been, you weren't going to help them like that." The words are bitter on her tongue, like medicine, like tears. "Why would you make yourself like that on purpose? It wasn't even a surprise to you?"
She won't look at him. Not until she hears his footsteps falter and he crashes down onto the ice. Lan turns just enough to look back at him, her hands clenched into bloodless fists. "I don't know where I'm going anymore. I just wanted to walk with you." But not anymore, is the implication. Not now.
Has she ever looked at him quite like this, with such naked hurt? With tears freezing on her lashes? Why can't she do something else, he asks?
"Why can't you?" Lan asks, sharp as the pain in her heart, before she turns and walks away, disappearing into the snow.