2022-02-18: Ride the Lightning
- Log: Ride the Lightning
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Lulu, Ethius Hesiod, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Thunder Plains
- Date: February 18, 2022
- Summary: Passage through the Thunder Plains is always interesting, but what turns up this time across may just take the proverbial cake.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Thunder Plains - Wild Road. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - But We Just Got Here! *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There is no other way between Macalania and Guadosalam on foot save for the Thunder Plains. Wracked by an eternal storm, the route is a treacherous one, but fortunately the presence of the lightning towers makes the passage somewhat easier on travelers. Once a lingering battle here between Yevon and Althena's forces had made the passage impossible for the average Spiran, but the way is now clear-- Or rather, would be clear if there weren't a crowd of pilgrims and merchants blocking the transition area into the Thunder Plains proper. There has been a disagreement about which group gets to head in first with the guide and everything has ground to a standstill. Unless you can resolve this somehow, you're probably not going anywhere in a hurry, either. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The times in Spira may change -- all the moreso, of late -- but one thing remains constant:
To travel north to south and back again, one needs to cross the Thunder Plains. There is no functional alternative route.
Today is a dryer day near the borders of this particular end of the road, and thus it means that the number who are queuing to enter the Thunder Plains for passage have particularly... piled up. In fact, it would seem that the line has become a little larger than usual.
Unruly, too.
If it weren't for the timely intervention of a burst of brilliant light, as a matter of fact, the situation here might have gotten a little ugly: those shouts just moments ago were getting a little heated. A little personal.
"...What did you say about my mother?" one of the previously-arguing merchants dares hazard.
"Silence," says Avril, turning her head to gaze at the man in a manner that 'frosty' would scarce be an apt descriptor. The source of that flare of light just moments ago is in her hands: a round mirror, the glass of which is emitting flowing streamers of atmospheric-like light.
He grows silent again, at least for now, but it seems likely that some Avril may well need a hand in this manner, icy demeanor and show of force aside. Eventually, the shock will wear off, after all...
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu, for her part, has a few more supplies to obtain before she and the others of Yuna's party travel to Shevat for another lead. Thus... the Thunder Plains. But she wasn't counting on the log lines. She also wasn't counting on Avril's presence to silence them with that mirror of hers. The shock from one terrifying woman might wear off.
The shock from the second, who is also a notable Guardian, will take a little longer when paired with the first: Lulu steps up after Avril and arches an eyebrow at the others. "This is a walkway, isn't it?" she inquires. "Not a place meant for loitering. ...You'd do well to get out of our," it's 'our' now, "Way."
She carries a doll under her arm. But she is very... unflappable. And not to be messed with any more than Avril is.
"Come. Let's keep going."
DG: Lulu has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is a person that happens, and the string of events in which he's been happening, while physically possible with plenty of leeway as to the hows, has been particularly arcane with the 'whys' and no answers are yet forthcoming. Maybe they never will, it's been half a decade by now. Having scoured so much of the two worlds, an answer might not even exist! aaaaaaaa
What is current and true, is that somewhere in all of this, Ethius is knelt down somewhere near the crowd at an elevation level that can be considered 'hella rude,' and there's arguments starting to flare up among the crowds.
"Excuse me, miss," Ethius is about to address one when Avril calls for silence and it's a rather striking voice that has him going quiet.
He needs to remember how rude and impolite he is beyond the language lest he forget to remind the unnamed 'ma'am' that they are currently in possession of an unactivated explosive device of 'Althenian' make from the Crusades.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage doesn't usually go to the Thunder Plains because she particularly dislikes being electrocuted but when you're an ancient vampire noble you usually find a way to make do even in areas that are distressing to your physiology.
Here, she is holding an umbrella.
But she also happens to be working as a merchant here, lifting the umbrella just after Avril says SILENCE in such a way that reveals her previously hidden face!
"OH AVRIL," She says. "What a wonderful opportunity this is...! You seem to be in a hurry, Avril..! Would you like to purchase some of my wares?"
She wiggles her fingers encouragingly. "My prices are much cheaper than the other merchants here, heh heh heh...! For example, are you looking for..."
She reaches into her pouch and draws out a mysterious looking key!
"This DUPLICATOR Key? It will let you open up any specially designed treasure chests that require a Duplicator Key! Naturally I can't point you to one of these treasure chests, but sometimes one of these consumable items can be used to open not just a treasure chest--but DOORS, indeed...!"
"And the small small price.... Is of course...a share of your blood. A naturally occuring and replenishing resource! So very cheap. And you don't have to worry...! I only use sanitary methods... I'm a trustworthy merchant...!"
Come. Let's keep going.
"W-wait...! This is a deal of a lifetime... Or an unlifetime kya ha ha ha!"
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, But We Just Got Here!.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - But We Just Got Here! *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There is no other way between Macalania and Guadosalam on foot save for the Thunder Plains. Wracked by an eternal storm, the route is a treacherous one, but fortunately the presence of the lightning towers makes the passage somewhat easier on travelers. Once a lingering battle here between Yevon and Althena's forces had made the passage impossible for the average Spiran, but the way is now clear-- Or rather, would be clear if there weren't a crowd of pilgrims and merchants blocking the transition area into the Thunder Plains proper. There has been a disagreement about which group gets to head in first with the guide and everything has ground to a standstill. Unless you can resolve this somehow, you're probably not going anywhere in a hurry, either. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Exhaust=========================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 1 *>=================== ======================< Results - But We Just Got Here! >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(21)--> 21 Fail Mirror of De Soto 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 0 --(21)--> 21 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|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.
The silence maintains, at least for a moment more.
"Now, see here, lady--"
It may be at first unclear who, precisely, the rancorous merchant is speaking to: his rival, Avril, Lulu?
But that is before a new challenger takes the stage. All at once, Avril's demeanor shifts, icewater breaking through the previously-frozen blockage before it. "Marivel? Are you..."
She trails off. The crowd, too, leans in as if to listen further to what Marivel has to say. A key... that can open special locks? That can open the way to treasures??
"Miss, whatever she's offering, I'll do double!" the argumentative merchant pipes up. Is Marivel about to make a sale, potentially?
"Wait, what's she on about?" voices the merchant which whom the other had been arguing prior. She seems ready to intrude, herself, except...
Except she meets Ethius' eye and glances, down, at said unexploded ordinance. Her face undergoes a great many contortions and she says nothing more.
CRISIS AVERTED
Avril, never one to fail to take advantage of a key moment, takes the opportunity to head into the Thunder Plains proper.
DG: Lulu has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Battlefield Debris *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You've come across the remains of one of many battlefields left by the conflict between Yevon and Althena's faithful. Much of the debris has been buried by mud or claimed by others, but some weapons and other items still look salvageable. It's the weapons that are the problem. Said weapons are, of course, largely metallic. The storm that rages across the Thunder Plains is, of course, still very much in play. If you want to claim anything left behind here, you're going to have to do it /quickly/. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Marivel!! Lulu is pleased to see Marivel as a rule, but Marivel appears to be busy with her... sales. She has some interest in the Duplicator, but she isn't the target, and she isn't buying at that price actually. Lulu just nods Marivel's way and acknowledges her accordingly, before she looks to Ethius, noticing his... presence... and the crowd again as they prepare to argue. Her eyebrow arches higher.
But then the business goes on, and when Avril takes the opportunity, Lulu walks along with her in silence. She expects others to join them. But soon enough, they are on a battlefield... And there are many weaponsa nd other items that could be quite salvageable.
Lulu's not worried about it. She stows away the little knight doll under her arm in favor of a Moomba absolutely glowing with power. She kneels down to let it hit the ground, where it toddles forward, crackling with electricity, wreathed in water, blossoming with ice, and blazing with flame. It picks up a little dagger, and holds it up.
Lightning rod! The doll will be fine. Lulu continues forward.
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Moomba Quartet toward her party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"What,,,! No I can't sell to merchants! If I sell to merchants they can resell my goods for MONEY and then nobody will ever give me their blood for them...!"
When Avril moves to the next area, Marivel, despite not having moved from her original spot, has reappeared in front of her. "Now Avril... I have to ask is something bothering you? It IS strange to not take me up on one of my amazing offers. Is Dean still the bestest jellybean? He hasn't...been seeing other golems without me has he...?"
She presses her hand on her cheke and mimes being totally offended by the very idea of her fellow giant robo nerd leaving her out of giant robo adventures, but she's just goofing around.
Marivel pauses to give Lulu a nod.
"Ethius already gave me his blood once so you know it's a good and safe idea." Marivel continues.
Lightning crashes down like right next to her.
Marivel jumps with a yelp, turns into a bat, and floats over to Lulu's shoulder because where else is a vampire bat going to sit in this situation?
"Or perhaps the friendly witch wishes to bargain...?" She winks. "Special deal for immaculately styled witches...o/~"
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Some days you can get rid of a bomb, turns out. It is one of those days!
Now for the hours that make up beyond that part of the day.
"I had been hoping to visit this part of the Plains." Ethius remarks, straightforwardly for once, as lightning strikes down once upon the metallic weapons that have embedded themselves across the newly laid scars upon the Thunder Plains.
This isn't new or novel to him, so he doesn't flinch other than close his eyes as to not be blinded and otherwise be sure he's not the tallest object in the vicinity. (These knees, they are for crouching, for stealth!)
"It is true that I previously allowed my blood to be borrowed from given extreme circ--" Thunder strikes again. Ethius is going to be polite and let it finish, but-- (no)
(ahem)
"Given extreme circumstances." He takes a hard look at a distance for any weapons of peculiar metalwork or design, with an eye more for Althenian weapons. "Nonetheles--"
Lightning interrupts him again.
That's when the gnarled-looking staff comes out, is SLAMMED into the ground, with distant trailing jingling of bells as the raindrops and even the lightning stops, for a brief moment. As if there were an entreaty for the elements to stop, listen to what the bearer of the staff has to say.
They don't say anything, they just walk up and take a weird-looking sword with uncanny nonchalance given the scenario.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Staff of Audience toward his party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The merchant looks dejected, and may just have to remain thus! But the story of unruly merchants is of no consequence to the tale at hand.
Avril and the others, after all, have moved right along.
"It has been some time, has it not?" is what Avril says to the Marivel that reappears before her. She pauses here and here alone, perhaps in tandem with Lulu. "...Is something bothering me?" She blinks, just the once. "Why, no, I had thought it best we move along. There is a place where I am headed." She does not immediately offer up further information about where that might be, or what she might be doing there.
"Dean is well, thank you. Though I do not think he has had the opportunity to encounter any Golems lately," she admits with a slight smile.
There is a glance Ethius' way when Marivel says she's taken his blood before.
Well, perhaps it's more than a glance. He attempts to explain himself but never quite gets there, courtesy of the rolling thunder. She gazes at him steadily.
"...I see," she says at last, glancing away from him just long enough to regard the battlefield before them, where many glinting things lie.
"...Lucadia, if you might?" she voices then, the Medium in hand.
There is something small in the muck and mire that she has fixed her eye upon. It is no weapon.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Battlefield Debris.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Battlefield Debris *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You've come across the remains of one of many battlefields left by the conflict between Yevon and Althena's faithful. Much of the debris has been buried by mud or claimed by others, but some weapons and other items still look salvageable. It's the weapons that are the problem. Said weapons are, of course, largely metallic. The storm that rages across the Thunder Plains is, of course, still very much in play. If you want to claim anything left behind here, you're going to have to do it /quickly/. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 2 *>=================== ========================< Results - Battlefield Debris >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 21 --(5)--> 26 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Staff of Audience 4 Agility Effects: nothing -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 21 --(5)--> 26 Pass Moomba Quartet 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Poor merchant.
As it turns out, all of their efforts work out just fine. But really, Marivel doesn't have to worry because she's on Lulu's shoulder; Lulu is protected by her doll. All of them are protected by Ethius's sudden use of the Staff of Audience, and he sure does get his sword. And then the rest of them are also kept safe by Lucadia's power, and Avril gets what she was after.
For her part, Lulu says to Marivel on her shoulder, "Sorry. I don't part with my blood before at least the third date."
She accepts the compliment, though.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Fanatic For Dodging *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You meet all types out on the road. Never has that been so clear as the scene you see before you now: a man stands in the raging storm and as a bolt comes raging down, narrowly avoids its strike. Another follows moments after; again he evades it. To what end would someone willingly entertain dodging the bolts? He pauses upon noticing you watching. "Hey! You should try it too! C'mon! Or are you too /scared/?" he taunts. His words are punctuated by a jab of a pointer finger. "Show me your moves!" It would seem that you are being dared to join in on this endeavor... =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Exhaust============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
That sword will never see the light of day again, but they just might as the storm eventually comes to grips with the fact it has been suitably crank called. This will have no long term consequences whatsoever.
It seems that the rest of the journey will be something peaceful-like, by Thunder Plains standards. Sure, it's going to rain, it's going to thunder, and it's going to strike them with lightning! And maybe an Iron Giant will stop by and give them a miserable time, as all Fiends are wont to do. There are some lost souls here that are not brimming with hatred of all that lives.
Some of those lost souls are very much alive. But all such living lost souls...
There's a young man from further up north who is just narrowly avoidin glightning strikes. Again and again, in a row, like it's nothing, and this particular lost soul with no destination other than FUNNNNN stops when he sees the lot of them draw near.
"Heeyyyyy! You all there! You should try it too! C'mon! Or are you too scared?" Oh no.
"I double dare ya!"
Beat.
"I double dog dare ya."
Ethius pauses mid-stride, looks to the others, and--
"I triple dog dare ya."
"...That vernacular goes uncontested to this day," Ethius says with his hand to his forehead, takes note of the elevation level, and deliberately moves along a downward slope about the perimeter where that current living lost soul is watching expectantly.
Somewhere in all this Ethius has the terrible idea to fill the Hot Air Sack with Symbologically filled hot air and just drift over some more difficult grounded terrain at an attempt to make use of a shortcut, which is risky but... well.
Dare they all entertain him?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, A Fanatic For Dodging.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril seizes what she was after. It is but a single silvery chain-link bracelet, battered by the elements. "I wonder if it might fit...?" she muses aloud, investigating her prize. Despite lying on a battlefield for months, it still shines, after all. "The engraving here is quite fine."
But they do not get very far along the thunderfield itself before a very particular (peculiar) person presents themselves before them all.
"He is dancing," Avril remarks, after a moment's study of this phenomena. "Is he not afraid of becoming struck?" She tucks the bracelet away and approaches, only for the man to call out to them.
"Too... scared?"
She is silent, considering this.
"Is this, perhaps, some custom?" She looks to Lulu and Marivel in particular, perhaps for guidance in this matter.
If she looks Ethius' way, it is only fleetingly, as if she were trying not to draw undue attention to him.
She then looks the man right in the eyes. "...Very well."
She approaches where the lightning seems unduly friendly and draws forth the Medium. "But should I succeed, you must cease this at once."
Somewhere, Rebecca may have just had a chill...
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, A Fanatic For Dodging.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Hm..... Perhaps it was my imagination. I am a mite oversensitive these days...! Because no impressive and fancy drifters are buying my wares, you see..." Marivel says though something in Avril's overall response seems to reassure the Crimson Noble but she doesn't push it. "But you're right! It has been so very long. Have you had any luck with the amnesia?"
She stretches out her wings and then kinda flops over onto her belly just riding like that.
"Which date are we on?" She asks wryly--but doesn't seem offended by the refusal. It is a pretty funny rejoinder.
Marivel then looks towards the ... people who are practicing dodging lightning bolts.
"....Huhhhhh...." Marivel says.
"Nope.No thanks. Nah. Only children give in to triple dog dares. FRANKLY..."
She gestures with a wing. "I should bend you over the knee for acting so reckless! Isn't that right Avril?"
Avril accepts the challenge.
"...Well," Marivel says. "Some adults do too, I suppose."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, A Fanatic For Dodging.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
A sword. A bracelet. Nice treasures to take away from the Thunder Plains. But Lulu... does not need them. She simply keeps walking for now. Walking, and chatting with Marivel. "Hmmmm," Lulu answers Marivel, without actually answering her. She seems amused regardless; it is good to see her friend Marivel around.
But the challenge...
Silently, wordlessly, inexorably, Lulu puts away the glowing Moomba that is so awash with power. In its place, she pulls a small, orange-and-yellow doll, with plate armor and a tiny sword and shield. She shows the Onion Knight to the man attempting to goad them into jumping with a stony expression. The fully activated, completely restored and empowered Onion Knight, for which Tidus had to jump two hundred times in a row. Its little sword glints in the lightning-light. Its impassive face stares, little eyes boring into the soul.
Lulu's not dodging more lightning for shit.
"Apparently," she says to Marivel. But she doesn't hold it against anyone.
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Moomba Quartet toward her party's challenge, A Fanatic For Dodging.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Fanatic For Dodging *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You meet all types out on the road. Never has that been so clear as the scene you see before you now: a man stands in the raging storm and as a bolt comes raging down, narrowly avoids its strike. Another follows moments after; again he evades it. To what end would someone willingly entertain dodging the bolts? He pauses upon noticing you watching. "Hey! You should try it too! C'mon! Or are you too /scared/?" he taunts. His words are punctuated by a jab of a pointer finger. "Show me your moves!" It would seem that you are being dared to join in on this endeavor... =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Exhaust============================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 3 *>=================== ======================< Results - A Fanatic For Dodging >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 26 --(21)--> 47 Fail Moomba Quartet 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 10 --(21)--> 31 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"Society has yet to transcend the triple dog dare," Ethius speaks with only the faintest hint of resignation, as they undergo a dodgy test of youthfulness that frankly all of them are well beyond, some of whom are at least hundreds of laps' worth of beyond this.
As Lulu lets loose the Onion Knight, a truly miraculous thing happens.
A dark cloud - a cloud of darkness, perhaps, seems to take note of its presence and the storm clouds above them thin out to where the lot of them can see the faintest hints of sunlight, and with Avril's suggestion the foolishness stops, the young man looks to the sky, agape, as that cloud of darkness flees from the Onion Knight.
He comes down to his knees and bows his head. "I completely understand, ma'am, have a good day," the lost soul becomes a different sort of lost soul who does not know what to do with the rest of his evening, as Ethius quietly waves a hand to the rest to just follow towards where he's at.
This sidequest will never have to be done again ever until someone pulls the card again.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Tower Defense *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You're heading along on the road when someone calls out to you for help! It soon becomes apparent why they needed your assistance -- a large group of Fiends has gathered at one of the lightning towers and they are beginning to attack it! This just can't stand. It'll be no good for anyone if one of these towers are damaged to the point of being nonfunctional. You'll need to work to drive them off or destroy them! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Hm?" Avril muses, cocking her head Marivel's way. She shakes her head. "I am afraid I do not have much money presently. A Duplicator sounds as if it must be quite expensive. Is that not so?" Still, this isn't the only thing that the Crimson Noble asks regarding. Indeed--
"I am afraid I have not."
Perhaps it is just as well.
'Isn't that right, Avril?' Marivel soon asks her. Avril is already approaching where the lightning strikes and invokes the Sea Guardian to prepare to dance the light(ning) fantastic.
Of course, such a thing isn't really needed. Rebecca may breathe a sigh of relief.
"It seemed the best way to put an end to this," she explains simply, when all is said and done. "I have not come to harm."
A voice is calling to them. It is not the wayward young man, making an about-face on his new direction in life. No! Instead, it is young warrior, calling for aid.
They are out of breath, as if they have run a distance at quite a sprint, and once they can catch their breath, they explain the reason why:
Fiends -- Iron Giants among them -- are assaulting one of the lightning towers. They had gone running for help, and had been fortunate enough to find (armed) fellow travelers in this particular crew. And...
There's really not much more to say than that, now is there.
"We must hurry," Avril says, drawing upon her Medium in one hand and ARM in the other. There are so few functioning towers. If more were damaged, might it stop travel across the plains utterly?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Tower Defense.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Back in ancient times..." Marivel says. "You would need to at least quadruple dog dare..." She shakes her head sadly at how society has fallen (she is also bullshitting).
"Do not take this the wrong way but I'm envious. I suppose if I had amnesia, I would want my memories back as well though so it's a little awkward like that.--Well, maybe I should avoid getting memories back should it happen to me. Give the 'restart' a bit of a chance..."
"You must be in quite the hurry." Marivel says. "What is the rush?"
She flips forward, twisting her body back into the form of a humanoid Marivel as she sees the Iron Giants beating on a tower.
"Certainly don't need this place more dangerous." Marivel says. She extends her hand and curls it upward before sending a blizzard flinging towards the Iron Giants!
She looks towards Lulu who hasn't...answered her question!
"Hmmmm.....!!"
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Tower Defense.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
A dark cloud fades away... and there is sunlight. The young man bows before Lulu's doll, and she inclines her head, as if this is her and Avril's due. Maybe just hers. It's hard to say.
Either way, Lulu continues along when that's done. She nods to Avril, and proceeds. She does not mention the dog dares, because, well.
She grew up around a pair of brothers. She has heard all the dog dares. Even that one.
"Forgetting isn't really escaping. It's just giving yourself less notice of what's going to catch up with you." To Marivel, naturally. Buuut... Fiends. Hmmm.
"Hm hm," Lulu answers Marivel. "I'd say we haven't had one yet. But I didn't think I was your type."
She reaches out her hand, and a horribly glowing Cait Sith reaches out along with her. The Iron Giants are suddenly faced with Death spells.
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Ominous Cait Sith toward her party's challenge, Tower Defense.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius, over there, is quiet at talk about amnesia even not as the direct subject. A part of him gnaws ever closer that 'it' has to be within reach after... whatever it is he's doing. "Awkward or not, I would presume a certain urgency if they were of value."
But yes, a more pedestrian issue comes up to break the existential talk about blood trade, amnesia, and exorbitant levels of dog dare that do not exist (that's why it's a 3D universe, it's a triple dog universe).
(whether it's three times as good as a 1D universe, who knows)
For Ethius' part, there isn't much of a contribution outside of the expected channels - a satchel removed from something intended to keep them dry, a Symbological activation, and throwing it out there to toss some status effects that might make the prospect of Death more appealing.
which is mean
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Tower Defense.
========================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Tower Defense *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You're heading along on the road when someone calls out to you for help! It soon becomes apparent why they needed your assistance -- a large group of Fiends has gathered at one of the lightning towers and they are beginning to attack it! This just can't stand. It'll be no good for anyone if one of these towers are damaged to the point of being nonfunctional. You'll need to work to drive them off or destroy them! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire=============================================
===================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 4 *>=================== ==========================< Results - Tower Defense >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 31 --(8)--> 39 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Powder Grenade 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lulu 47 --(0)--> 47 Pass Ominous Cait Sith 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 31 --(0)--> 31 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 65 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< 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.
"I would not say," Avril replies to Marivel, continuing to revolve around the pivot point that is her memory, "that I am in any particular hurry. Nevertheless... I must regain my memories."
There is too much to do that cannot be done so long as she continues to have forgotten.
They come upon the grouped Fiends as one. Ice and voluminous status spells lead the way, after which Avril follows. Though she avoids too serious an injury as she dodges and weaves their many strikes, neither does she succeed in dealing harm to them: in the end the most she accomplishes is to keep their eyes on her.
Which is when Death, perhaps welcomed by many horrible spells, takes them.
"Thank you," Avril says, once Pyreflies take flight. "I would not wish this route to become impassable."
DG: Marivel Armitage has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - One Million Needles *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There it is! At last, the other side of the Thunder Plains. The rain is already beginning to thin out and the cracks of lightning have become far less frequent. It won't be long now before you reach the border to one of its bordering regions. Something green hops into your path. It looks like a little ambulatory cactus, its limbs bent at odd angles. It tilts towards you, inquisitive. You realize it's not alone. It... has an awful lot of friends all of a sudden, doesn't it. Wait, aren't these things known for a particular attack? oh no =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright============================================
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Mm I guess that's fair too," Marivel considers. "Though if I'm being honest... Most of what I'd forget... is never going to catch up with me." She winks at Lulu. "I'm a bit different from most that way."
Lulu does say they haven't had a date... yet. But also tells her that she didn't think she was Marivel's type.
"Well..." Marivel says. "I mean, yes, there's just something about blue hair but, you know... relationships are rarely about gunning for 'your type' but are more about whom you are fortunate enough to find..." She pauses a bit, as if searching for a word.
"To find syzygy with." Marivel adds. "A few dates are a far cry from an eternal bond besides...!"
"Though we do have an eternal bond of sorts." Marivel adds. "But I'm sure you understand my meaning."
She looks to Avril, listening to her. Strange. Not in a hurry, but seeing it at as important?
...Ah, Marivel thinks she understands.
"Best to enjoy the journey while you have it," Marivel agrees.
In the distance, the other side of the Thunder Plains. Rain is thinning out. Marivel points it out. "Ah there it is--" Marivel says. "It seems we're almost done."
But then... something green hopes into the past and hits Marivel with 10,000 needles!
"Ack!!" Marivel shouts as she attempts a SKILL DRAIN on the fiend! "I hate these things! It's like a thousand tiny stakes all at once!"
And more are coming!!
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, One Million Needles.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu is not sure what she would do, bereft of memory. She doesn't dwell on it much at the moment; they have things to do. Besides, Marivel has a point, and Lulu considers it in turn. "True," she allows after a moment. The things she would say to other humans about memory and living in the past do not apply the same way to the immortal... something she would do well to remember.
Blue hair! Yes. Lulu doesn't have that. She thinks about it though. "That's also true," Lulu allows after a moment. "...yes, I do understand your meaning." She doesn't contest the bond, though.
But the Thunder Plains are almost over, and Lulu sees--ah, yes. The green. Marivel gets hit. It sucks!
Lulu brings out the Cait Sith again, but this time, she starts throwing out poisonous spells of great power instead of more Death spells. They blast and seethe and crush!!
"Seems it's passable for someone, at least..."
DG: Lulu has used her Tool Ominous Cait Sith toward her party's challenge, One Million Needles.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"That... I intend," Avril answers Marivel, quite simply.
If only this journey could not end.
"Is that not the other side? It seems the storm is clearing," Avril remarks as she pauses atop the stone desert that is the Thunder Plains, gazing towards the near horizon. "We should be able to reach it soon, so long as..."
She had taken no more than a step before stopping, a sudden shudder overtaking her entire body. "Something is--"
It is already too late. It has come. Avril turns, sighting the small green plant-like monster, and then turns again to regard its many, many companions.
"...here," she finishes nonetheless, drawing her blades as needles begin to fly. If it cannot be avoided then let them cut a path home!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, One Million Needles.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Marivel gets hit by 10,000 needles, and there's a brief widening in Ethius' eyes as he points at the pile of needles with a dash of Marivel and quietly counts them. (Maybe letting Marivel drink blood from him has had unfortunate side effects, they should throw grains of sand at him later to be certain as to whether a certain unfortunate habit has sprung in its wake.)
He recalls normally five hundred or so tends to be the limit, but some have gone up to... seven hundred and some odd number. Fifty?
There is another satchel hurled before long towards the oddly-balanced, strange-moving cactus Fiend team to just dust them all in dust and consider it an approximate value of 'solving this' at 'one.'
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, One Million Needles.
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - One Million Needles *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There it is! At last, the other side of the Thunder Plains. The rain is already beginning to thin out and the cracks of lightning have become far less frequent. It won't be long now before you reach the border to one of its bordering regions. Something green hops into your path. It looks like a little ambulatory cactus, its limbs bent at odd angles. It tilts towards you, inquisitive. You realize it's not alone. It... has an awful lot of friends all of a sudden, doesn't it. Wait, aren't these things known for a particular attack? oh no =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright============================================
==================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road - Round 5 *>================== ======================< Results - One Million Needles >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 39 --(3)--> 42 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 15 --(3)--> 18 Pass Powder Grenade 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lulu 47 --(3)--> 50 Pass Ominous Cait Sith 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 31 --(3)--> 34 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(1)|Tire(1)|Wound(2) Effects: ==============================< 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 Thunder Plains - Wild Road!
=======================<* Thunder Plains - Wild Road *>======================= =======================<* CHALLENGE - Hypogaean Gaol *>======================= |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You advance, to your destination on the opposite end of the Thunder Plains. You're almost out of the storm, and after that, the rest of the way will be easy-- Except the ground buckles before you and caves in at rapid speed! You narrowly miss a tumble into the sinkhole that's opened up. But that's strange. There seems to be a... structure below. Some sort of arrangement of chambers. Like stone cells? This could be worth investigating, though perhaps not /right/ this moment. At a later date, you might want to come back here and see what rests below the Thunder Plains. (OOC: Congratulations! You have unlocked a dig for Act 4! Please send a +request to Staff to let them know about it.) =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
That seems to be that on that matter. Which is just as well because of a cacti army.
Cait Sith unleashes poison magic! One of the cactuars turns uh...
...Green? ... ... ... Well, greener? ... .... Well it doesn't look quite as good at least as it bowls over and spews out a bunch of needles out of its mouth.
It then flops onto the floor.
Avril's blade makes short work of another, cleaving a cactuar in half! Another cactuar makes an :O expression in response or--
--maybe it was always like that? Ethius throws a satchel out into that cactuar's mouth and--
*EXPLOSIONS*
Cactuar pieces start rainng from the sky but more relevantly--
--the ground starts buckling.
"Ethius...! You must've set off some kind of chain reaction! You need to be careful with outside tech...!"
A sinkhole opens up and-- Marivel peeks in. There's some kind of...structure there?
"...Or maybe we shuold keep being reckless because...this might explain a few mysteries... I guess that should be a lesson. Always be reckless!"