2022-04-14: The Power of Block
- Log: The Power of Block
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Rixia, Seraph Lanval, Lydia Seren, Layna Manydays
- Where: Block Puzzle Dimension...?
- Date: April 14, 2022
- Summary: Wherever you go, there are block puzzles. Especially when you wander right into a dimension chock full of them.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering The Block Puzzle Eternal. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - A Walk Around the Block *>==================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It might have happened in a number of ways. A strange door at the end of an alleyway in some city or another. A mysterious chest found within the twisting confines of a dungeon. Or even a sparkling rift that, when walked through, transports one to another place altogether. It is brightly lit here, enough that it may be painful when compared to where you had been just prior. But as your vision adjusts, you can see that you have entered a space where the normal laws of physics and matter do not apply. A place where anything could happen or be. A strange place. A place where block puzzles of all shapes, sizes, and varieties exist floating in midair, as far as the eye can see. It looks like you can easily jump to others if you so choose. In fact, as an investigation about your immediate location will reveal, you are standing atop a block puzzle /right now/. The fact that you have appeared standing on the edge of this particular puzzle means that you will need to take a walk about to the other side in order to set about trying to solve it. This presents its own challenges vis-a-vis balance of course! Gravity is strange here. It's probably fine. BGM: Wild Arms 5 - How Long Will This Puzzle Box Continue? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV7m4PAdUUs =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
For Avril, it happens while exploring the twisting depths of the Lost Woods. One turn on her trek through the twisting forest had set her facing down a mysterious ruin she had never encountered prior. And how strange, it had tucked within it a switch, along with a block, that once pushed atop said switch...
Suffice to say she had found a chest, apparently with its contents intact. Upon opening it, though--
"Ah--?"
She had been drawn into its depths by a mysterious force!
A shimmer of light presages her appearance in this other world. Avril hovers above the ground for but a moment before landing... in a very strange place indeed.
"Where...? Oh, are those puzzles? Then, am I also standing atop a puzzle? But I see nothing to solve."
She regains her bearing quickly, at least, producing the Medium she so often carries with her as she begins to trace her path around the space where she has landed.
Oh dear. It looks like she'll have to step over the edge at this point. "I trust you," she tells the Medium, before making that first big step around.
Hopefully, gravity works out?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, A Walk Around the Block. DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering The Block Puzzle Eternal. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - A Walk Around the Block *>==================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It might have happened in a number of ways. A strange door at the end of an alleyway in some city or another. A mysterious chest found within the twisting confines of a dungeon. Or even a sparkling rift that, when walked through, transports one to another place altogether. It is brightly lit here, enough that it may be painful when compared to where you had been just prior. But as your vision adjusts, you can see that you have entered a space where the normal laws of physics and matter do not apply. A place where anything could happen or be. A strange place. A place where block puzzles of all shapes, sizes, and varieties exist floating in midair, as far as the eye can see. It looks like you can easily jump to others if you so choose. In fact, as an investigation about your immediate location will reveal, you are standing atop a block puzzle /right now/. The fact that you have appeared standing on the edge of this particular puzzle means that you will need to take a walk about to the other side in order to set about trying to solve it. This presents its own challenges vis-a-vis balance of course! Gravity is strange here. It's probably fine. BGM: Wild Arms 5 - How Long Will This Puzzle Box Continue? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV7m4PAdUUs =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
For Avril, it happens while exploring the twisting depths of the Lost Woods. One turn on her trek through the twisting forest had set her facing down a mysterious ruin she had never encountered prior. And how strange, it had tucked within it a switch, along with a block, that once pushed atop said switch...
Suffice to say she had found a chest, apparently with its contents intact. Upon opening it, though--
"Ah--?"
She had been drawn into its depths by a mysterious force!
A shimmer of light presages her appearance in this other world. Avril hovers above the ground for but a moment before landing... in a very strange place indeed.
"Where...? Oh, are those puzzles? Then, am I also standing atop a puzzle? But I see nothing to solve."
She regains her bearing quickly, at least, producing the Medium she so often carries with her as she begins to trace her path around the space where she has landed.
Oh dear. It looks like she'll have to step over the edge at this point. "I trust you," she tells the Medium, before making that first big step around.
Hopefully, gravity works out?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, A Walk Around the Block.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Rixia happens to be here, and she definitely didn't go to the Lost Woods, because she doesn't know there even is a Lost Woods! Or an Elw Teleporter! Or that the Blue Star is anything but a desolate, ravaged planet, at that!
What she IS here for, however, is...
A SHORT WHILE AGO
"I'm ready to go on an adventure!" Rixia puffs up as she walks into the Guard's office. She's got her uniform straightened out, it's looking new and pristine, she has her father's gunblade and a mix of other miscellaneous supporting supplies, and--
"Oh, Rixia. Good timing, you need to follow this basic training..."
NOW
Rixia is still in her Guard's uniform, except a bright orange vest and a yellow hard hat with a lamp has been laid atop it. (Fortunately, the hard hat is cut out so that her fox ears are poking out of it.)
A badge on her chest reads:
HELLO I'M
Rixia
AND I'M NEW TO DIGS
PLEASE TAKE CARE OF ME!
She's curled up into the fetal position on a lone floating block. "W-what happened... this was supposed to be my romantic, cool first adventure..."
ANXIETY 97
DG: Rixia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Walk Around the Block.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
For Lanval, he doesn't really need an excuse to just happen anywhere. He's currently lying face-down atop a particularly colorful blue block, because he likes that color. This does not explain why he hasn't been seen lying face-down on other distinctly blue things throughout the story, but sometimes you have to take the L when it comes to matters of plot holes and inconsistent characterization, or...
"Mmmmm." Lanval grumbles as he rolls upright, and sees that Rixia is having issues on a lone floating block. He thinks very hard about how to deal with the situation, as Avril walks over the edge behind him, and it strikes him! All he needs to do is help give Rixia a way off that platform, and the vibes in this place will improve vastly and he will be able to leisurely lounge and/or roll across the required distance. How does he achieve this?
He makes a wet failed whistling sound and calls forth...
tHe HoLlOw AiR-fIlLeD fLaT-bOdIeD hOrSe!1!1
...Somewhere near where Rixia is in a heap, there is... a horse? In a weird color, with a plastic-like feel, with a completely flat body lacking legs, and a painted-on smile that never, ever goes away. This will clearly be a wonderful idea.
p.s. Lanval technically does not have a brain
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bouyant Steed toward his party's challenge, A Walk Around the Block.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia... was already in the Block Puzzle Zone, having been here for hours when OS took over the body and immediately approached the nearest anomoly for study and then jumped in before Lydia was able to take back over. Lydia has already drawn a large hammer and smashed blocks all over the place and in the wrong locations before flopping onto her back and staring at the floating blocks above her until Avril and Rixia arrive.
"YAAH! You'll never take me alive, puzzle cops!!" Lydia shouts, hopping up to her feet, easily swinging her hammer above her head before she realizes one of these people is Avril and Rixia is...
Lydia lowers her weapon. "Uh?" She squints and stares directly at Rixia's badge.
And she notices she's in the fetal position and oh no it's someone who is adorable no bad Lydia you promised no more of this--
ANXIETY 80
"Hahahaha don't worry! This is a cool adventure! It involves puzzles, the best adventure of all??? I GUESS?" She looks towards Lanval as he arrives.
She blinks a few times.
And then she uses her ICARUS WINGS to fly over to Rixia's block.
"Sorry for assuming you were a cop, you were wearing a cop's uniform but then I realized you were the Guard who are probably mostly ok except for the crazy people but it's fine because I mean you seem like you've had a rough time but it's otherwise all good hahahaha hahahaha."
Lydia is weak to the beastladies.
"My special Puzzle Ability is the ability to hit blocks so hard they go across to the other side of the puzzle lane. Just remember to have me Press O to time the shot and be careful to not knock a block into the unyielding abyss or we might never get out of here ha ha ha ha...! Nothing to worry about!"
Wait was that just a tutorial??
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
At the time, Layna had been taking her beloved Gear the VALS-4 Corsair - a big, bulky, bright red Gear with golden trim - out for a spin. It's important to keep her talents honed, after all, for you never know when you might need them! In the process, her Gear's sensors begin to go wild. Usually, this means treasure or trouble... and as Layna loves both of these things equally, she followed the signal immediately.
And that's how the gathering is soon joined by a giant humanoid machine. This probably isn't going to help anxiety levels any!
"Ahoy there! Strange place, aye?" Layna comments with a laugh. "Never seen quite so many blocks in one place before."
She urges the Corsair forward. Fortunately, giant, Gear-sized blocks rise up to support the machine. Unfortunately, the Gear is made to be Big and do Big Things. It is not made for Fast, so it might take a while for it to catch up.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Walk Around the Block.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - A Walk Around the Block *>==================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It might have happened in a number of ways. A strange door at the end of an alleyway in some city or another. A mysterious chest found within the twisting confines of a dungeon. Or even a sparkling rift that, when walked through, transports one to another place altogether. It is brightly lit here, enough that it may be painful when compared to where you had been just prior. But as your vision adjusts, you can see that you have entered a space where the normal laws of physics and matter do not apply. A place where anything could happen or be. A strange place. A place where block puzzles of all shapes, sizes, and varieties exist floating in midair, as far as the eye can see. It looks like you can easily jump to others if you so choose. In fact, as an investigation about your immediate location will reveal, you are standing atop a block puzzle /right now/. The fact that you have appeared standing on the edge of this particular puzzle means that you will need to take a walk about to the other side in order to set about trying to solve it. This presents its own challenges vis-a-vis balance of course! Gravity is strange here. It's probably fine. BGM: Wild Arms 5 - How Long Will This Puzzle Box Continue? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV7m4PAdUUs =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Icarus Wings toward her party's challenge, A Walk Around the Block.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ===================<* CHALLENGE - A Walk Around the Block *>==================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It might have happened in a number of ways. A strange door at the end of an alleyway in some city or another. A mysterious chest found within the twisting confines of a dungeon. Or even a sparkling rift that, when walked through, transports one to another place altogether. It is brightly lit here, enough that it may be painful when compared to where you had been just prior. But as your vision adjusts, you can see that you have entered a space where the normal laws of physics and matter do not apply. A place where anything could happen or be. A strange place. A place where block puzzles of all shapes, sizes, and varieties exist floating in midair, as far as the eye can see. It looks like you can easily jump to others if you so choose. In fact, as an investigation about your immediate location will reveal, you are standing atop a block puzzle /right now/. The fact that you have appeared standing on the edge of this particular puzzle means that you will need to take a walk about to the other side in order to set about trying to solve it. This presents its own challenges vis-a-vis balance of course! Gravity is strange here. It's probably fine. BGM: Wild Arms 5 - How Long Will This Puzzle Box Continue? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV7m4PAdUUs =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
====================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal - Round 1 *>==================== =====================< Results - A Walk Around the Block >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rixia 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 0 --(25)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Icarus Wings 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Bouyant Steed 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(2) Effects: Cleanse|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.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's less of a step, a little more of a hop. For a moment, Avril feels the odd gravity of this space tugging her in a very different direction.
And then everything reasserts itself properly -- well, relative to the orientation of the puzzle, that is. Up and down don't exist, except in orientation to the puzzle. Striding here a time, Avril approaches at last the face of the puzzle proper.
"...Oh?"
Some of the pieces are floating in the air above the puzzle pane, as if they could somehow be brought down to earth (or, well, the puzzle) by a concerted effort. But more to the point!
There's a fox lady up there (Avril can see the ears after all).
"Are you all right?" she calls out, standing on the puzzle plaza. "You are not at all hurt, are you? ...Oh?"
She recognizes that horse, after all. "Lanval, are you present, then?" She turns, as if to sight him, and instead brings into view the sight of a familiar enough Gear and an even more familiar cyborg. "Lydia?"
She does her best to get the Gear and Lydia's attention. "If you would, might you help us for a moment? It appears this woman is struck on this block," she explains, gesturing. "What is more, I believe it is the answer to solving this puzzle! Layna, might you move that block lower? Oh, and Lydia, if you could help her..."
The bouncy horse helps, too. It might be a good thing to hold onto if Rixia should slip -- or if she just needs some emotional support right now, while a metal giant moves her block towards the puzzle in need of a solution.
This is... probably not the most ideal first Dig experience for a previously-sheltered newbie.
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Hitting Block Bottom *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ascend, descend: whichever direction you choose to head, it seems there are further fiendish puzzles awaiting. There may well be points where it might start to seem a little bit exhausting. When, in fact, will this puzzle box end? But then you spy something below you: a platform floating in the void... without puzzles? It could be a useful place to regroup and plan your attack on... the other puzzles in this place. Though, reaching it may be the most difficult puzzle of them all. It's rather further below you and the only path you can see is by hopping from floating block to floating block. All the way down. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Aye, this I can do!" Layna replies, she'll help as directed, and soon enough the puzzle is solved! With that's done, she assesses everyone present.
"Good to see you all again, aye? Hope your fortunes have been well, Avril, Lydia." Layna greets. Lanval, of course, she sees all the time. "And... ah, is that new blood I see?"
With that said the cockpit opens and Layna emerges, standing on the edge of the hatch with her arms folded in front of her and her hair and coat fluttering in the breeze dramatically and a confident grin on her face.
It is important to note at this point that there is no actual wind here. It must be artificial.
"I am Layna Manydays, Captain of the Ruby Empress! Not to worry, lass, we'll take good care of you. Just follow our lead, aye?" Layna greets, before returning to the cockpit of the Corsair. ...Rixia may recognize the name as that of a notorious pirate.
With introductions out of the way, it's time to turn their focus back to the situation at hand.
"Hmm... I spy a lone platform on the horizon! That could be a good place to chart out our plan of attack, aye?" Layna recommends. The Corsair's arm extends, pointing out in the indicated direction. With that, the Gear takes a leap into the void below, where a floating block is waiting for her. And then, on to the next...!
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hitting Block Bottom.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Rixia hasn't seen a lot of things in her life, but she sure is experiencing a whole lot of it right now. W-why is there an extremely cursed, shiny horse floating in midair? Is this some sort of hazing ritual?? There's a big cyborg lady with sharp teeth and WINGS flying over to her!!
"W-what's a cop? Who're you?" Rixia asks with effectively blobby, round eyes on the verge of tears. "W-wh, wh, wh, what is that giant metal carriage??" she exclaims further in shock as the VALS-4 Corsair comes into sight.
Ohhh, someone's having an extremely not good time.
Rixia wipes her tears and takes out her little manual. "Press O... is that A or B? I don't understand at all," she tilts her head haplessly. "What's an R1 and how's that different from a Right Bumper...?"
Avril asks if she's all right, and she whines for a moment, before puffing up to say, "I-I'm fine! This should be, this should be no problem for me!" Even if her knees are trembling.
She's definitely still reeling from having a dozen things happen to her at once. "I can't believe it told me to just jump off the ledge if I get stuck... is this some kind of awful hazing ritual?"
She's definitely not touching the shiny rubber horse, though. It's just scary! But Layna introduces herself, and it seems like Avril and Lydia both know her... are these all the rumoured 'drifters' they're talking about?
Layna Manydays... isn't that a notorious pirate? Gulp... she's in trouble if she brings that up. But she says she'll show her the ropes. Well, okay...
Layna also brings up the lone platform, and she stares over the looming abyss. "No one told me there'd be falling to my death in basic training...!" She closes her eyes and jumps, uwaaah!
DG: Rixia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hitting Block Bottom.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Yes, it would seem so. I hope she is not in much trouble?" Avril wonders aloud, taking the moment to regard both the mystery woman's current predicament as well as her manner of dress. Isn't that the armor favored by the Guard? Would that then make her a lost trainee?
Perhaps that means that this space extends beyond Filgaia? Now isn't that fascinating...
Still, by one manner or another, Rixia is plucked from her predicament, and the perplexing puzzle is put to rights. But where from here?
Layna, it would seem, has already spotted the answer with the benefit of her Gear's size. Which may be another moment when Avril regards Rixia critically.
"That 'giant' that you see, it is but a Gear. A machine, shaped like a person. They are dangerous, but useful, should you be the one in possession of one. ...Now, shall we head below?"
This is probably a scary situation for a first timer, Avril considers.
"Do not worry. You need but take my hand," she tells Rixia, extending one hand towards her when she joins her atop that floating block.
"Oh, Lucadia--"
This is probably the moment in which Avril leaps into the void. It's okay. The Guardian's power will see it is but a quick Jump to bring them closer to their destination.
...Probably.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Hitting Block Bottom.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Yer playin' on conshole?!" Lanval has a bit of an outburst as he rolls upright, supporting himself on both his hands (well, one hand and his drinking gourd). "'ve been really enjoyin' thish native Linux port fer the game, lemme tell ya! Ha h--"
** RECORD SCRATCH NOISE ** No. -mgmt
(Continuing on...)
"Mmmm. Y'know, never really thought 'bout it," Lanval says he rolls down along near Avril's position, holding up an arm and waving as if to confirm that yeah, he's present to her - and over to Layna. "She'sh all right," he says about Rixia, finding out she's not going to trust the... thing. (This may be a wise decision.) He gives Lydia another friendly wave as she sees to help Rixia through the whole 'being stuck/scared' and 'buttons tutorial' nonsense, and Avril goes to set up a jump.
"Mmm. Tell ya what, 'm jusht gonna go along. If anybody takesh a fall, well." He lays down, gets out that kiseru-style smoking pipe, and... takes a nice, long drag before exhaling... bubbles, lots of bubbles. Bubbles that become large enough to provide temporary platforms or passage but... their movements and slightly different colorations and shapes may also be part of a further puzzle with deadly consequences!
Oh no.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Hitting Block Bottom.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"I have no idea!!" Lydia says, being extra cheerful to pave over her inherent awkwardness. "It's okay I jumped off the ledge like 6 times already and it's not so bad! I only threw up the first time! The other times I just kinda dry heaved-- It's okay though it was off the side so..."
What's a cop? "Oh cops are people who try to imprison you for doing rad stuff. Never trust a cop--!" She remembers Rixia is like in a Guard uniform. "Unless they're part of the Guard I guess? hahaha...ha."
She floats after Rixia, determined to be bffs with this lady whose name she doesn't even know. "Anyway I'm Lydia, Lydia Seren. Seren's my last name but I'm not really part of the Seren family anymore because I got adopted by cool people."
"And that's Layla, who is a merciless pirate lady who nobody should mess with because she'd wreck your day up she's one real badass MFer."
"Lanval, is a cool beer elemental but he's also cool even when he isn't drunk. Yeah he's real cool. And Avril..."
She looks at Avril for a long moment.
"...."
Another long moment.
"...Avril is the coolest of us all." Lydia says seriously. "Once a guy tried to kidnap me and she lopped his hand off!"
She beams. "She made it look so easy just sorta like a flick of the wrist and woops there goes his hand, hahaha!"
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Icarus Wings toward her party's challenge, Hitting Block Bottom.
========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Hitting Block Bottom *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Ascend, descend: whichever direction you choose to head, it seems there are further fiendish puzzles awaiting. There may well be points where it might start to seem a little bit exhausting. When, in fact, will this puzzle box end? But then you spy something below you: a platform floating in the void... without puzzles? It could be a useful place to regroup and plan your attack on... the other puzzles in this place. Though, reaching it may be the most difficult puzzle of them all. It's rather further below you and the only path you can see is by hopping from floating block to floating block. All the way down. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
===================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal - Round 2 *>=================== ======================< Results - Hitting Block Bottom >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rixia 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 25 --(17)--> 42 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Icarus Wings 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Save Point(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: Seraph Lanval has left your party. DG: Lydia Seren has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Stumbling Block *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you ascend one particular rise across an oddly-oriented block puzzle (it's facing down (you think, anyway)), you are forced to grapple with the reality of the space you're currently within. Which is to say, you're forced to take into account the fact that you are standing within a block puzzle infinity, a multitude of colorful and unusual puzzles swirling about a glowing core as if they were so many stars in a galaxy. How did this place come to be? Come to think of it, how did reality itself come to be? What /is/ reality? ...Places like this are a little too conducive to thinking deep thoughts. Perhaps too deep, for this particular moment. Get a hold of yourself, there's still puzzles to be had! But it still is pretty, isn't it? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Wonder==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Lanval says Rixia's alright, and she's always trusted his judgment when it comes to people. If he trusts her, then she will to.
As Rixia laments the risk of falling to her death, though... Layna laughs heartily.
"Aye, it's real thrillin', ain't it? Nothin' like the spice of danger! Sometimes the best way to train is to just throw yourself right into the deep end!" Layna replies, and then pauses for a moment. "...Metaphorically speakin', in this case. Don't actually go doin' that here, unless there's something solid below."
She does beam internally at Lydia's assessment of her character. She's clearly doing something right!
And thus, it's time for the party to begin their trek. Avril volunteers to lend Rixia a hand, and if Rixia takes it she'll find herself Jumping right along with her, cutting the distance they both need to travel by half - it'll be smooth sailing from here. Lydia, of course, can fly, and thus can just kind of clear the entire gap no problem. Lanval, similarly, will float lazily on.
It's Layna who has the biggest issue. Not as many of the blocks between them and their destination are actually... Gear-sized, so she'll often find herself having to balance the Corsair on one foot, on either a single block or one of Lanval's helpful bubbles. But, eventually, they'll all find their way to the platform!
"Alright, so... who wants to decide what we tackle first?" Layna asks.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
The next area seems... to be another block puzzle, but with a block...that's upside down? No the whole puzzle is upside down.
5rAnd there's blocks everywhere. And they're so many colors. Lydia's eyes glass over and she says, helpfully, "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa."
"aaaaaaa there's no end to it...! So many colors....More colors. It's like some evil puzzle rainbow..."
She's starting to zone out! This could be bad!
Or maybe, you know, just taking a moment to enjoy the....
COOooOOloOOlOoooRs. Woaaaaah.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
SOMEWHERE NOT FAR BEHIND
"Mmmm, thish ish a mighty one, fer shure," Lanval rises up as he stands before a block. "'m gonna make shure it doeshn't passh." He takes a big ol' swig from his drinking gourd, and his eyes light up with mirth, and he bellows a great laugh as he pushes himself up against a block in MORTAL SUMO COMBAT.
(the block is pull-only)
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Stumbling Block.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Avril tells Rixia that she need not but take her hand, and while she does, she says, "What are you going to--doooooooooooo???" as they sail through the air through the power of Jump. Rixia looks particularly groggy as she shakes her head, the winds knocked out of her (proverbially). Ooh, she feels a little like throwing up...
Fortunately, there's some bubbles to cushion their fall, but where's it coming from...?
Lydia explains what a cop is. "Um... well, I don't know about imprisoning people, but the Guard gave me these nice clothes that are warm and aren't caked in mud or have holes, and also gave me money and food, so they're pretty okay in my book. Also, Mister Leo's a Ronso, and he said he'd help me find my father."
A pause, as Lydia introduces herself, and she answers, "Oh, I'm Rixia... I don't... have a surname, I guess. Surnames are for rich folk where I come from. Like the Ausas." Layla, a merciless pirate lady! So she was right! And Avril, who-- ehh?
"D-don't cut MY hand off," she sulks. But Lydia also points Lanval out, and... "I... don't see a Lanval. Did he go missing somewhere?"
Still, Avril's explanation of a Gear catches her... "A-are iron giants just a normal thing for you? I've never seen one before..."
Before long, they're faced with a myriad of block puzzles, a swirl of colours and unusual patterns. ... it almost feels like she's back in Rui's observatory, looking at the stars. How did she get here?
Still, it seems like they're taking a break after that scary jump so...
"I--I need a drink... so I'm gonna mix drinks and change lives," Rixia decides, as she takes a little case out and takes out her tumbler and jigger and a mysteriously convenient bag of ice, and puts some cocktail glasses out. "Who wants some?"
TODAY'S COCKTAIL
Margaritas!
with Meribia Silver Tequila
Pendrago Grand Marnier
a squeeze of fresh lime juice
shaken with ice
DG: Rixia has used her Tool Mixed Drinks to Change Lives toward her party's challenge, The Stumbling Block.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
This is probably not the best first experience for a newbie. Then again, what's that saying about throwing someone into the deep end--
But absolutely nobody said that was good advice.
"I am Avril Vent Fleur," she says, once they've had one hell of a rapid descent to the blocks below. "'Avril' shall suffice. ...Then you truly are from Lunar. I see. I hope this has not been too much of a shock." Still, there's not really much option otherwise, unless Rixia would like to just curl up and take a nap in the back of the Corsair.
"They are common on Filgaia." Avril pauses. "The Blue Star, as it is sometimes known. But they are not very often seen where you are from." Not often outside of Spira, as a matter of fact -- and a smattering of other places.
Once they're below, they have that moment to regroup, to pick their path and--
There are a lot of block puzzles in here. There may be entirely too many block puzzles, swirling about them into the infinite, like stars in the sky.
"...How pretty," Avril remarks, gazing into the distance as if struck. It takes her a moment before she shakes her head and, roused from her reverie by Rixia's little mixer...
"If it is alright," she says. No longer is she the only one of her trio who can drink, but-- rarely has she the opportunity to indulge.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Stumbling Block.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
In the end, Lydia points them toward the next puzzle - one which seems to be... upside down??
This provides a perfect view of the surrounding area. ...Almost too perfect a view, actually - they can see for miles - or perhaps into infinity.
"...Dang." Layna comments, in surprise. "Uh... hold on. I'm gonna get my Gear working on this."
With that said, Layna presses a few buttons on her Gear's dashboard. It's a mining Gear, and as such it has equipment for scanning the surroundings and projecting a map of the environment. She can do that now - and hopefully, that'll give them a less distracting way to get their bearings.
...And then, there's drinks.
Layna is, suddenly, right there, as Rixia begins mixing drinks. Did... did anyone even see the cockpit open??
"Drinks, huh? Aye, that sounds great right about now." Layna says. She'll accept a drink and knock it back... before sending Rixia an approving nod and a grin! "You know what? You're alright, lass - and I bet you'd make a damn good bartender."
...Though, doesn't the Guard prohibit drinking...? Well, Layna will keep that tidbit to herself for now.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Fortunately, the Corsair's mining computer doesn't actually need Layna present in the cockpit to continue scanning, so it will continue its work while Layna slacks off - er, appreciates the offered drinks.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Mining Radar toward her party's challenge, The Stumbling Block.
========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - The Stumbling Block *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you ascend one particular rise across an oddly-oriented block puzzle (it's facing down (you think, anyway)), you are forced to grapple with the reality of the space you're currently within. Which is to say, you're forced to take into account the fact that you are standing within a block puzzle infinity, a multitude of colorful and unusual puzzles swirling about a glowing core as if they were so many stars in a galaxy. How did this place come to be? Come to think of it, how did reality itself come to be? What /is/ reality? ...Places like this are a little too conducive to thinking deep thoughts. Perhaps too deep, for this particular moment. Get a hold of yourself, there's still puzzles to be had! But it still is pretty, isn't it? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Wonder==========================================
===================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal - Round 3 *>=================== ======================< Results - The Stumbling Block >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 10 --(9)--> 19 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 42 --(9)--> 51 Fail Mining Radar 1 Wits Effects: Fanfare and Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rixia 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Mixed Drinks to Change Lives 3 Wits Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Wonder Effects: 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> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Oh nice! I'd love some!" Lydia says, collecting a cocktail glass. She pours out the margarita out into the abyss, leaving the ice in, and puts that and the cocktail glass in her mouth and chews it down quickly, gulping. "Oh man that tasted great. Thanks Rixia!" She glances to Avril. "Don't worry, Avril only cuts the hands off of bad guys." She gives Avril a thumbsup because she thinks she's helping.
Maybe the real block puzzle was the margaritas we drank along the way. IT doesn't occur to her that the Guard prohibits drinking so it's strange that Rixia is drinking.
Though maybe the way Rixia described her situation--it isn't too much of a surprise after all. "Mister Leo's a great guy." Lydia admits. "I mean, aside from the time he started a war I guess but aside from that he's a pretty great guy, I think."
She beams. "Thanks for the cocktail!"
She dusts herself off. Layna manages to find some more BLOCKS with her radar hwich might not be helpful, but maybe the little drink party will get everybody to relax a little and adapt to the colorful circumstances.
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - That Old Block Magic *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Did someone build this place and all the puzzles within it? Or did it pop into existence somehow, some fevered dream born of a divine mind? Whatever the truth, you appear to find no real answer. Only more puzzles. Upon this particular arena, you have blocks, yes, but the blocks are of a rather... elemental nature. Which is to say: there's a stony block, a block of suspended water that sloshes when pushed, a literally light-as-air nearly-invisible block composed of somehow-entrapped winds, and a fire block. It's made out of fire; good luck with it. It seems you have to complete some sort of elemental weaknesses/elemental strengths arrangement with this particular quartet. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Now powered by delicious drinks, the party continues forward. Well, 'forward' is a little hard to define in a space like this, but perhaps deciding that the direction they're moving is 'forward' will help ensure that reality follows suit.
And so, they eventually come to the next puzzle. This one, it seems, is more a puzzle of the mind - there are a series of blocks, each one with a clear elemental affiliation, and buttons marked with elemental glyphs only activate when pressed by a block of the opposing element.
Layna frowns, considering the situation before her. She has wind and water magic, and she can touch up her spells with fire... but she doesn't really know the weakness cycle, since she mostly just punches her way ahead without thinking about it.
...Which is why the Corsair then points dramatically toward Rixia!
"Alright then, lass - I hope you've been doing your homework! You're familiar with the element cycle, aye? Recite it for me! It's important for anyone to know when Digging!" Layna says.
...She is a pirate, after all, and sometimes pirates know when to make other people do their dirty work. It might be a little mean.
"Those windy blocks are hard to spot, but they're still showin' up on my radar... I can point 'em out if you need the help! And, uh, you should probably let the Corsair here handle those fiery ones, if they're as hot as they look." She comments, once the time comes to actually start pushing.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Mining Radar toward her party's challenge, That Old Block Magic.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
People are suddenly very interested when Rixia takes out the drinks! That's the best part of drinks! They make her feel very cool and appreciated and like she's worth something! ... she wisely leaves that part unsaid. "Of course, of course," she hands one to Avril, then Layna too.
"Haha! I've been a bartender since I was thirteen, and living out of bars since even before then," Rixia boasts to Layna. "Kind of the norm for how dad lived."
... she might ... have also missed the memo on how alcohol is forbidden by the Guard, yes, which also might explain just how *new* she is to the Guard in general.
"It's... been a shock," Rixia does admit, but she also admits that the drinks cut the edge off everything. I mean, she's not going to admit that drinking is a coping mechanism for her, but she doesn't have that much! Honest! She hasn't thrown up and whited out... that often! "I--"
Then Avril delivers another shock. "What are you talking about? The Blue Star's a desolate world, right? Like... you can see how lifeless and everything it is up there!"
Lydia eats her glass! She whines a little to say, "Heeey, those are expensive...!" A pause. "I guess if you enjoy them, I can't say no as your bartender, though."
Then she says Leo's a great guy, but... started a war? "Huh... he did seem kind of disturbed about something. But he also said he'd help me find my father, who went to Spira three years ago. That's what I want to do -- go to Spira and give him an earful for leaving me!"
Still, they proceed onward, and now... there's a puzzle of the mind! With elemental glyphs! And now she's suddenly put on the spot!!
"U-uh, elements??" Rixia stammers, sweating and flailing. "Um, hot and... cold? Oh, mud too... er..." Oh no, someone didn't do their homework... "Ahaha... how about another drink instead?"
Don't bribe your teacher with booze, Rixia
DG: Rixia has used her Tool Mixed Drinks to Change Lives toward her party's challenge, That Old Block Magic.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Lydia is helping, yes.
"I only do so when it is necessary," Avril says, helping in her own way.
(This may not be helping.)
Still, a little drink (or two? --No, Avril has only had the one) helps clear the head a bit, especially when faced with the whirling expanse that is the space in which they've all found themselves. However, it means that Avril is not able to provide much insight into where, precisely, they had ought to head next.
Rixia claims that what Avril says cannot be. "It is not as desolate as it appears from Lunar," Avril says, resolute. She shakes her head as she continues, "There is a mighty force that hides our worlds from one another. To us, Lunar seems but a lifeless expanse of dust and stone, even when gazing upon it through a telescope. Someday, perhaps, you might see Filgaia for yourself."
Others lead the way forward to the next puzzle across this dimension, and there they are faced with a rather curious puzzle. Kneeling before the water block, Avril tentatively prods it. It sloshes a little.
"...I wonder. Might it perhaps be that water and fire oppose one another and thus air and earth do similarly?" she muses, standing. "Or, could it be something else entirely? Water defeats fire, but fire scorches earth. Earth slows wind, and wind evaporates water..."
She is silent for a few moments more.
"But, earth could entrap fire, could it not? And perhaps, water might wash earth away...?"
There are a lot of possible solutions to this. Too many.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, That Old Block Magic.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia is very helpful.
"Oh sorry. I can pay for it... How much is a glass? I finally got my MERIBIA money back."
Her eyes sparkle. "Finally I can buy and sell goods again..." A tear drips out from an eye and she wipes it away with a finger. It's silver colored.
"Oh I'm full thanks though." She adds at the idea of having another glass. Maybe she's actually feeling embarrassed about having eaten the first one. She just sort of did that automatically.
Her cheeks pinken as she pushes a water block against another water block.
"I think this is right." She says.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, That Old Block Magic.
========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - That Old Block Magic *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Did someone build this place and all the puzzles within it? Or did it pop into existence somehow, some fevered dream born of a divine mind? Whatever the truth, you appear to find no real answer. Only more puzzles. Upon this particular arena, you have blocks, yes, but the blocks are of a rather... elemental nature. Which is to say: there's a stony block, a block of suspended water that sloshes when pushed, a literally light-as-air nearly-invisible block composed of somehow-entrapped winds, and a fire block. It's made out of fire; good luck with it. It seems you have to complete some sort of elemental weaknesses/elemental strengths arrangement with this particular quartet. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
===================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal - Round 4 *>=================== ======================< Results - That Old Block Magic >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 51 --(0)--> 51 Pass Mining Radar 1 Wits Effects: Fanfare and Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lydia Seren 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rixia 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Mixed Drinks to Change Lives 3 Wits Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Stupify(1)|Wonder Effects: 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> Layna Manydays has posed.
"That so, huh? Yeah, your experience comes through." Layna replies with a nod. "...Kind of have to wonder how you wound up in a profession like this, though."
...Apparently, it has something to do with her dad. Layna frowns a little, at that.
"Aye, show him what-for." She agrees. She lets Avril handle the explanation about the Blue Star.
And then, to Rixia's response about the elements...
"...Good enough, I'll take it!" Layna decides, once again appearing for a drink. ...She's easily bribed...
But then there's the matter of what the actual solution to the puzzle is. It's true, really - different places have vastly different ideas of how the weakness chain actually goes. A scholar of magic and the elements could probably put a theory together about why that is, but Layna is... not that.
In the end, though, they do manage to find a solution that works, and the way opens!
DG: Rixia has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Block the Box *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Just when /will/ this puzzle box end? This may be a question looming large in your mind by this point, as you reach yet another arena within this strange realm. Like others, you see before you a tiled arena within which there are blocks, and-- Some of the blocks appear to be moving? This is probably nothing good. Fortunately, not all of the blocks are so afflicted: you have time to try to entrap these wriggling pieces with the ones that still obey the expected rules of inert matter. But is this yet merely a prelude to something terrible? (GM: Hold off on resolving this one until you see the next card!) =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Weaken=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Mental note... make note of the elements... that seems to be important?? Rixia's never really paid attention when Rui lectured her about the eight fundamental elements, thinking that all just sounds so stuffy when she can look up at the stars instead...
Before she can think about it much longer, though, the blocks start moving on their own! "W-what now? I thought we did this correctly!"
Rixia sighs again, heeding Ashiya's warning -- but she's got to do something. She focuses, and--
A rather peculiar-looking gunblade of Ronso design appears in a small, ephemeral sparkle of datacubes. That's... not something you'd expect from a backwater ex-dirt farmer from Meribia.
"C'mon, there's gotta be something that can help here... aha," Rixia perks up. She's... she's scrolling through a holographic menu?? Coloured blue with white borders?
>> junction --status-atk stop
The weapon flashes for a moment, and a bizarre ripple is felt in the air as it literally rips apart a small section of the ambient Ley in the surroundings into it; a haze wavers over the blade, and she taps the cube with it-- which immediately stops.
"Awesome!"
DG: Rixia has used her Tool UP3 Violating Executable toward her party's challenge, Block the Box.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Just when it seems like everything's going right... the blocks start moving again!
"...What the hell? Did we get the answer wrong?" Layna says to herself with a frown, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms in front of her. She watches with interest, though, as Rixia produces a rather interesting weapon... that's not the sort of thing you'd expect a fresh-faced digger to have. But, they've got things they need to worry about right now.
"I like the way you think, lass. If it's gonna say we're wrong, then we'll just have to make it reconsider. The right answer is what we say it is!" Layna says. And so, the Corsair winds up a fist... and punches a particularly aggressive block right in the face(well, they're all face, really)! Right as the Gear's fist makes contact, the pile-bunker built into the wrist thrusts out to add an additional burst of force.
Of course, punching the blocks won't solve everything, because they're still moving... so, Layna will use the Gear's sheer size and strength to grab and push back to haul and pin it in place.
The Gear is made to be Big, after all, and now is a good time for Big.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Pile-Bunker toward her party's challenge, Block the Box.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia quirks her head as Rixia draws out a gunblade.
Gunblades, notably, are super cool. They're swords but also guns. That's like all the coolness in weaponry you need. Lydia gawks as the gunblade unleashes a wave of ambient Ley energy and she says, "Woahh!! What is that?? It looks cool!! Can I take it apart?? I'm an engineer! I can probably put it back together again, maybe!"
FInally there's something Lydia can hit with a giant mallet. So Lydia wears back with Tiebreaker and swings it real hard for one of the blocks, hoping to send it SLAAAAAAAAAAAMMING into a corner with other blocks.
"Heh heh... these blockheads can't stop us!"
"...Get it?"
".......Blockheads?"
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Tiebreaker V 2.0 toward her party's challenge, Block the Box.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Just when everything appears to have been handled perfectly--
No. No it is no so handled, not anymore.
"Hmm," Avril muses. "I wonder if it might have been the other way?" She manages to keep her calm, more or less, in spite of such a situation; might she be perhaps used to things like this?
"Oh, perhaps we could trap the water block between the fire and earth block," she remarks, glancing over at Lydia. Yes, a hammer would do swimmingly! But they also will need...
She's turned her head to raise one silver eyebrow at Rixia's weapon. Are such things sometimes found on Lunar, as well? --But even if it were a Filgaian weapon--
Now is not the time for such things.
"Be careful. I feel something amiss," Avril says, and at last withdraws a particular button from her person. If Lydia knocks it towards those two blocks and if Layna helps to wall it off... won't they still need to try to hold it back from above?
She presses the red button determinedly.
From above, there is a loud 'woosh'! A large block is falling!
Oh wait, it's sprouted limbs and a head. It's not actually a block, is it?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, Block the Box.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Block the Box *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Just when /will/ this puzzle box end? This may be a question looming large in your mind by this point, as you reach yet another arena within this strange realm. Like others, you see before you a tiled arena within which there are blocks, and-- Some of the blocks appear to be moving? This is probably nothing good. Fortunately, not all of the blocks are so afflicted: you have time to try to entrap these wriggling pieces with the ones that still obey the expected rules of inert matter. But is this yet merely a prelude to something terrible? (GM: Hold off on resolving this one until you see the next card!) =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Weaken=========================================
====================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal - Round 5 *>==================== ==========================< Results - Block the Box >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(0)--> 19 Pass Remote Golem Override 4 Brute Effects: None -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 51 --(0)--> 51 Pass Pile-Bunker 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Tiebreaker V 2.0 4 Brute Effects: Efficient and Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rixia 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass UP3 Violating Executable 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Weaken(2)|Wonder Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Rixia has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Block of the Ages *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- ...Yeah, it might be. The ground trembles hideously under your feet, and here the entire puzzle arena lurches as something foul begins to rise from the depths. It's large, it's terrible, it's... cubic. The side facing you convulses and bulges outwards, presenting to the lot of you a hideous face! And as you gaze upon its visage, you know without a doubt what it truly is. This... is the spirit of the block puzzle. It is the one whom you must now strike down. (GM: If everyone DIDN'T manage to entrap the wriggling pieces from the Climax (eg, the card failed) then they're adds in this fight! Enjoy fighting miniature versions of the spirit of the block puzzle as well!) =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Suffer============================================
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
"W-wait, wait, let me get away first before you hit that thing--" Rixia whines as she hurries away from the giant, Big Gear Fist. ... yup, she definitely has developed a real phobia of Gears in a hurry. And then it EXPLODES! Exploding Gear fists! This is too terrifying!!
Lydia gawks over her gunblade, though, and Rixia's first instinct is to puff up in pride-- until she asks if she can dismantle it. "N-no! This is my father's gunblade! There's only one of it!"
It's a Ronso weapon in design, but there's something... weird about it. Lydia can positively detect the nanomachines running through it. Rixia herself, however, doesn't seem to know... which isn't surprising.
But a giant mallet solves problems, and Lydia's joke-- Rixia does snigger a little. "Oh, I get it! Blockheads! Yeah, they're totally squares!"
She straightens up when Avril cautions that something's amiss, and-- eh? There's a second Gear! "I--is that an enemy too, or--" No, that's just the friendly (?) Golem that Avril's overriden...
Which... uh oh. The ground trembles, and the puzzle arena rises and a cubic enemy... takes offense at being called a square! A face comes out of it.
"Oh no no no no nooooo," Rixia whines, face turning blue. "It's gross! What is this?! Waah!"
The spirit of the block puzzle takes offense at being called a blockhead, and squishes Rixia flat with one of its cubes.
...
...
When the cube is lifted, all that's left of Rixia is...
"Wait... why are my hands-- oh NO! They're square too! My face-- MY FACE IS A CUBE TOO" Rixia has become a Minecr**t caricature of herself! Be careful!!
DG: Rixia has used her Tool Rui's Old Astrolabe toward her party's challenge, Block of the Ages.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia gives the weapon a long look but doesn't comment on it immediately because, well, some things you don't just blurt out. Even if you're Lydia. Who always blurts things out.
But it's also because something big is coming. A giant...cube. WITH A FACE. And... wow. Wow.
".....D...do you think it's mad because I called it a blockhead?" She asks.
She starts channeling her SUMMON POWER intending to strike the giant block with the power of gravity so it maybe sort of...tips over onto its face? That's what her goal is anyway.
"Ack!! Rixia was just repeating what I said!"
Her eyes widen in true terror when Rixia becomes a Minecraft. "No...! You can't!! Change her back before something terrible happens!"
Like Dream Chasers getting sued by Microsoft!
DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Rachiel Medry Is Doing Her Best toward her party's challenge, Block of the Ages.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
For a moment, it seems as if they have prevented the worst from happening. The wriggling cube has been contained, and all should be well.
Yet, that feeling of Avril's hasn't subsided. It's as if the hairs on the back of her neck are now standing on end, like something is about to hap...
...pen.
"Rixia! Look out!"
She says it before the block even starts to tip over. But it's already too late. "No--"
Rixia is fine, though. If a touch voxelized.
"...That's enough," Avril tells the demon block, drawing what looks to be a hilt from somewhere on her person. With a flick of her wrist, a blade appears on its end.
She does not turn it upon the block monster. Instead, rather, she stretches out a hand before her. Glittering chunks of ice appear in the air about her, hovering with a promise of destruction to come.
"There shall be no mercy!"
When they are let fly, they are as missiles.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Block of the Ages.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
They manage to pin the blocks into place, but... soon enough, something else starts to arise from the puzzle arena. It's another block... but this one grows a face. Layna stares, blinking.
"You know, of all the things I thought might happen today, this? Not on the list." She observes... but then, a grin crosses her face. "But if it's got a face... that means we can make it hurt, aye? And I've got a lot of block puzzle-based frustration to let out."
The fact that Rixia has been turned into a cubic representation of herself is also worth avenging, so Layna charges in. She leads with the other fist this time before following it up with the first, unleashing a powerful one-two combo.
As she does, the Corsair's right hand begins to glow as the Pillager Gauntlet returns some stored, stolen material to the Gear for recovery.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Pillager Gauntlet toward her party's challenge, Block of the Ages.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - Block of the Ages *>======================= |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- ...Yeah, it might be. The ground trembles hideously under your feet, and here the entire puzzle arena lurches as something foul begins to rise from the depths. It's large, it's terrible, it's... cubic. The side facing you convulses and bulges outwards, presenting to the lot of you a hideous face! And as you gaze upon its visage, you know without a doubt what it truly is. This... is the spirit of the block puzzle. It is the one whom you must now strike down. (GM: If everyone DIDN'T manage to entrap the wriggling pieces from the Climax (eg, the card failed) then they're adds in this fight! Enjoy fighting miniature versions of the spirit of the block puzzle as well!) =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Suffer============================================
====================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal - Round 6 *>==================== ========================< Results - Block of the Ages >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 19 --(101)--> 120 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 51 --(101)--> 152 Pass Pillager Gauntlet 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lydia Seren 10 --(101)--> 111 Pass Rachiel Medry Is Doing Her Best 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rixia 10 --(101)--> 111 Fail Rui's Old Astrolabe 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 80 --(15)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Suffer(1)|Weaken(1)|Wonder|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Avril Vent Fleur is too exhausted to continue! DG: Layna Manydays is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lydia Seren is too exhausted to continue! DG: Rixia 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 Avril Vent Fleur has been fully Exhausted by The Block Puzzle Eternal! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=========================<* The Block Puzzle Eternal *>========================= ===============<* CHALLENGE - Chance Find: Two Hundred Rupees *>================ |Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The blocky visage before you shudders terribly and then begins to slowly turn red, dissipating into so much mist before your eyes. And then the arena quakes. You've won against that /thing/, yes, but at what cost? The place upon which you now stand is coming apart! You're forced to beat a hasty retreat, fleeing to a nearby puzzle. Which is, in its own time, an easily solved one. A short distance away with a melodic chime, a single treasure chest appears, along with a shimmering tear that will take you back to reality. When opened, you find within a small prize -- 200 Rupees, an old currency once used in the Deku Islands region. It's a fair sum, comparatively. All's well that ends well, perhaps? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
The battle is short and violent! It's like a square dance. Lydia's SUMMON POWER channels gravity onto the block and... it rolls over to one side, but it shows a six on that side and becomes stronger!! Is that how it works? It's not a 'die', you know, but it certainly wants to see you 'die'. How dicey.
Avril warns Rixia, but it's too late! But she fires accurate and unerring ice from Absolute Zero, which strikes hard against its side! It's not an exaggeration to say the ice has been cubed. Or the cube has been iced...?
And finally, Layna comes in for the finishing blow -- a one two combo, followed by theft from the Gauntlet! Layna acquires... some cubes. Well, of course, what did she expect, triangles?
Alas, even as the yonkaku falls, everything is not according to keikaku. The arena quakes and trembles, spelling your doom, forcing them all to flee! Flee!
... when all's said and done, though, there's a treasure chest. It's one of those lame treasure chests where you open and the suspense-building music doesn't play. No 'da-na-na-naaaa' chime. Yep, it's 200 rupees--
"Money!" Rixia exclaims, still a voxel. "Wow, I could eat meat for a week with this kind of money! Maybe buy new socks! Amazing!"
Ah...
Do you remember, the days of being level 1 and being excited at a simple money chest? Good times.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Just had to get one last in, huh...?" Layna says, grimacing as the arena begins to fall apart. They're all forced to retreat to a different puzzle, which generates... a treasure chest! Not a particularly big or fancy one, but inside is 200 rupees!
Layna can appreciate any society that uses shiny gems as their money. She is a pirate, after all.
And Rixia seems... super excited about it! These days, Diggers don't seem to get out of bed for anything bigger than doomsday artifacts or world-altering secrets... It's a little refreshing, then, to see someone get so excited over money. Layna leans back in the cockpit, folding her hands behind her head. This is a satisfying conclusion!
"Well! I'd say you passed with flying colors today, lass." Layna says. "Good job! Keep showing that kind of enthusiasm and you'll go far, aye?"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
For a moment, a decisive victory seems to be within grasp. For but a moment.
But it is not to be.
"We must retreat!" Avril calls out, returning her blade -- well, Absolute Zero had been a blade -- from whence it came. The arena where they had been standing returns to so much dust and debris.
There is a block puzzle awaiting them here, as well.
"Are those not rupees?" Avril remarks. Hasn't she seen something like them before, back in...
"Would you care to keep them, Rixia?"
A way back awaits them, but will it take them to where they had been before?
(Well, generally yes. Just not Avril!)
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "Money!" with Rixia. "Yessss...!" She's not level 1 but she is greedy as heck. But it sounds like Rixia needs it more but nhhmmm money nmhhh.... "...Alright! Consider it your signing on bonus for becoming an adventuerer! Make the most of it! Next time you have to split it!"
She gives Rixia a big thumbs up.
"...."
"....Uh but... you're still like a cube person. Are you okay?"