2022-07-07: To Paradise and Back
- Log: To Paradise and Back
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Ethius Hesiod, Cyre H. Lorentz, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Great Sea
- Date: July 07, 2022
- Summary: Avril comes at last to the Island Closest to Heaven, as she once promised. While she is not the only one, together their ragtag band perseveres against the many hazards present... and presents a poor soul with finality.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering The Island Closest to Heaven. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Scrapped Beat *>=========================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The journey to the Island Closest to Heaven is a remarkably arduous one,
notably marked with incoherent accounts. Drifters who've attempted the deed
in the past have conflicting stories, as if recalling a half-remembered
dream. Another reports hearing a heavenly voice in their daze.
Whatever the case may be, perhaps such reports aren't so far-fetched when
you approach the island. The fog is hazy, and the air bears a strangely
pleasant scent someplace between floral and petrichor. Radar and binoculars
all reveal an ethereal and beautiful ivory city ahead, shrouded in moss and
overgrowth.
Then a voice echoes out:
"... this is our neo-Arcadia. If you have a will strong enough... seek me,
within this broken paradise."
-WHOOOOOOM-
The seas, however, have the opposite idea of a warm welcome. A Gear-sized
enemy crab humanoid crashes out of the waves, encased in extremely hard
metal and bearing enormous claw-arms.
(IMG: https://i.imgur.com/VXZaxjS.png )
As far as disembodied voice decrees go, you are welcome, but this Grodine
has... other ideas. It shoves its multi-tonne weight against your craft to
topple you into the ocean! There's no time for a traditional battle --
you'll need to apply a quick burst of power and repel the creature!
But this is why you brought Gears and allies capable of hangling Gear-sized
threats. ... right?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=631TGr3VKys )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Madness:_Wits_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Once, not all that terribly long ago, Avril had been invited to the Island Closest to Heaven. But many things had happened between now and then, and the invitation had fallen rather by the wayside.
...To say nothing of actually reaching the place, at that. Rumors had flown thick about the island's actual existence -- and what dwelled there -- with little about how to reach it, and less still about how to do so accurately or safely. In the end, perhaps, one method might be to return to the source.
Or, in Avril's case, depend on her sense of things, once she had made up her mind to finally attempt to reach the island proper. Getting there required a Gear due to the remote nature of the island alone. But as it happens, this might have been a fairly good idea.
With the island still in her sights and the scent of the land in the air, she is happened upon by a large enemy crab.
A large, mechanical enemy crab.
As someone welcomes her to this 'neo-Arcadia'.
"Who...?" Avril ventures over all open channels, even now going for her Gear's blade as the crab clack-a-clacks its massive claws. There is little time for anything else, not with that monster bearing down upon her.
The blade comes free from where it's magnetically holstered against Skadi's back with a sudden jerk; the Gear takes it in both hands and rushes for the enemy before her. The Skadi zips closer towards the Grodine, seeking a blind spot where it might ascend the monster's shell from behind and take the fight towards its sensitive face without directly encountering the claws.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a risky Brute Action toward her party's challenge, Scrapped Beat.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
SOME DAYS AGO
In Pao Village, on Lunar, a partially drunken Homer (against Ethius' wishes) hits something interesting. A scientific research team from Hyland left for the Blue Star some time ago thanks to acquiring something from people who did not speak their language very well following a remarkably unlikely series of exacting circumstances, and left a map with their contact staying there. It's been a few months, and... Ethius blankly started to chart the days-long course back, as if willing to chance this inconvenience under the auspice it will decisively lead them to what they need to find Demetrioi.
NOW
The Aiguille suffered serious structural damage against a Wels-infested train. The Thames... was short on repair materials for Gears of Kattelox-area origin. But they could install a second cockpit and make that a temporary fix. So they did. Ethius thought it ridiculous then.
This contrivance has allowed Homer to be a co-pilot for the lightweight long-range combat model.
"How do ya think they could've made it this far, anyway," this is oddly the first time Homer - former mayor of Alcidamas Village and currently semi-willful tag-along of Ethius (who tried to murder him dead there) - has thought to ask this, after the point of no return alongside other intereted parties. "Uh. Y'hearin' that?"
"I have heard what you said." Ethius remarks from the piloting seat a ways above. "We completed no less than seven checks of the audio feedback."
"No, no, somethin' 'bout a... new arcade? Somethin' like it. Broken pair of somethin'?"
Ethius can't answer because they are being beset upon by a large mechanical enemy crab. Avril asks something aloud (roughly the same thing Homer was) as the Aiguille moves up in an attempt to assist in pushing the Grodine back, but it is a lightweight model that is not made for moving heavy objects. Its laser shot-staff is held horizontally in its attempt to brace and shove back.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a risky Brute Action toward his party's challenge, Scrapped Beat.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
CRAB.
BATTLE!?!?
An island claiming itself to be closest to heaven is one heck of a boast. The fact that there's yet another place that has been rumored to be a veritable heaven on earth is. . . suspicious. Could it be that there's more than one Demetrioi? If there was, then who brought it here? More space gangsters!?
Yes, of course Cyre has heard... some of what went down in Alcidemas. Honestly though, what actually happened there was both well within his expectations and remarkably less catastrophic than what his worst fears had been. Something like that, he knew that Ethius Hesiod wouldn't be able to leave it alone-- especially after the man outright disappeared right as the Caravan went in to investigate the first time. It was all very classic Ethius-- and Demetrioi weirded the shaman out anyway. The one major concern is who it ended up with, but...
hat's for later. For right now, there is CRAB BATTLE.
The Huracan hovers well over the battlefield. Its flight unit has been upgraded by Shevat for more prolonged use, which gives him the perfect vantage point to...
...Drop demolition charges directly on top of the crab. Because as ever, if given the opportunity to cheat in an adventure, Cyre Lorentz will take it every single time.
"Probably more ancient civilization stuff," Cyre says to the man who was almost dead. "You'll get used to it. It pops up more often than you'd think around here."
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
CRAB.
BATTLE!?!?
An island claiming itself to be closest to heaven is one heck of a boast. The fact that there's yet another place that has been rumored to be a veritable heaven on earth is. . . suspicious. Could it be that there's more than one Demetrioi? If there was, then who brought it here? More space gangsters!?
Yes, of course Cyre has heard... some of what went down in Alcidemas. Honestly though, what actually happened there was both well within his expectations and remarkably less catastrophic than what his worst fears had been. Something like that, he knew that Ethius Hesiod wouldn't be able to leave it alone-- especially after the man outright disappeared right as the Caravan went in to investigate the first time. It was all very classic Ethius-- and Demetrioi weirded the shaman out anyway. The one major concern is who it ended up with, but...
That's for later. For right now, there is CRAB BATTLE.
The Huracan hovers well over the battlefield. Its flight unit has been upgraded by Shevat for more prolonged use, which gives him the perfect vantage point to...
...Drop demolition charges directly on top of the crab. Because as ever, if given the opportunity to cheat in an adventure, Cyre Lorentz will take it every single time.
"Probably more ancient civilization stuff," Cyre says to the man who was almost dead. "You'll get used to it. It pops up more often than you'd think around here."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Demolition Charge toward his party's challenge, Scrapped Beat. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage thinks of Tio again. She thinks a lot about Tio, in her quiet moments. And today she thinks of Tio because someone is speaking who probably isn't Tio. This gets Marivel to frown deeply.
She has been riding on top of the Qubeley's head who is mostly underwater, its tiny hands acting as propellers that somehow exert enough force to get it moving. But of course when the Giant Enemy Crab shows up, the best that it can do is ramming speed at it because it can't get enough force in its drills to actively assault the giant enemy crab.
"It can't be her..." Marivel murmurs. "But curiouser and curiouser all the same."
She cups her chin in thought and doesn't say anything else, letting Qubeley do the hard work. Which lets face it probably won't be too helpful in this particular situation.
She spots Homer and Ethius hanging out too but adds, "Really attached at the hip you two, aren'tcha?"
SHe may be getting the wrong idea at this point.
"Oh is this your first time here? I can share a little bit of history, but only a little bit." Marivel says.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Scrapped Beat.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Scrapped Beat *>=========================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The journey to the Island Closest to Heaven is a remarkably arduous one,
notably marked with incoherent accounts. Drifters who've attempted the deed
in the past have conflicting stories, as if recalling a half-remembered
dream. Another reports hearing a heavenly voice in their daze.
Whatever the case may be, perhaps such reports aren't so far-fetched when
you approach the island. The fog is hazy, and the air bears a strangely
pleasant scent someplace between floral and petrichor. Radar and binoculars
all reveal an ethereal and beautiful ivory city ahead, shrouded in moss and
overgrowth.
Then a voice echoes out:
"... this is our neo-Arcadia. If you have a will strong enough... seek me,
within this broken paradise."
-WHOOOOOOM-
The seas, however, have the opposite idea of a warm welcome. A Gear-sized
enemy crab humanoid crashes out of the waves, encased in extremely hard
metal and bearing enormous claw-arms.
(IMG: https://i.imgur.com/VXZaxjS.png )
As far as disembodied voice decrees go, you are welcome, but this Grodine
has... other ideas. It shoves its multi-tonne weight against your craft to
topple you into the ocean! There's no time for a traditional battle --
you'll need to apply a quick burst of power and repel the creature!
But this is why you brought Gears and allies capable of hangling Gear-sized
threats. ... right?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=631TGr3VKys )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Madness:_Wits_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* The Island Closest to Heaven - Round 1 *>================== ==========================< Results - Scrapped Beat >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(40)--> 40 Fail Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(40)--> 40 Fail Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(27)--> 27 Fail Demolition Charge 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(32)--> 32 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Conditions: Madness|Secret(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril gets it in the eye (receptor array?) with a several-ton blade. This is all well and good: blinded, it has a harder time lashing out.
"...Ethius? And Mr. Mecone?"
Avril catches a pair of voices on the channel.
Speaking of the pair of them, they're currently involved in attempting to force the crab-monster back.
This is when a bombardment from on high occurs, sending a cascade of explosions across the top of the crab. A terrible wound is rent in the mechanical monstrosity!
And Qubeley attempts ramming speed.
The problem really is that all of these things happen approximately at the same time. The blinding. The ramming. The bombing. The grappeling.
The Grondine responds by lashing out wildly, sending Avril's Gear from its perch and into the sea! As it whirls about, the others may be in similarly dire straights. Oh, and recall if you will, the carpet bombing across the crab's back. Damaged and sparking, the Grondine, overtaxing itself as it thrashes about, suddenly explodes.
Things do not, particularly, go well after that.
(but the Grondine does cease to exist as a threat, so, victory fanfare?)
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Momentary Peace *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
"Our Food Court offers a wide range of sustenance. Please enjoy...!"
Veteran Drifters often discover ancient eating venues in ruins, and they
often have expected, but disappointing results: the food is spoiled or
withered into dust, or the mechanisms that produce it long broken to time.
So what is it like to find the exception to the norm? The curious but
advanced vending machines all work, offering a range of strange but
delicious foods that somehow emerge hot and fresh as if it were made today!!
... are you gonna risk eating 500-year old noodles? Where did the
ingredients even come from?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdnQtnJ9TGg )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Madness:_Wits_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, |
| Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The next few minutes are a blur, or maybe even a blackout. It all ends up in the same place, though the exact link between a desperate, possibly lost battle at the approach on sea into ruins is... unclear. But they are there, water-logged, and there's a sense of having taken a fall somewhere in the process. Did they manage to find an underwater part of the facility, kept from being flooded by superior engineering?
There are more pressing questions, as a voice of uncertain origin invites them to the Food Court and its wide range of sustenance.
"Heyyy," Homer calls out, "check it out! One of 'em food-makin' machines. Gah ha ha hah!"
Ethius, who is somewhat slower to come to because he probably hit his head again (incorrect, it's his elbow, it stings), slaps a hand on the broadcasting mechanism of his cockpit. "Do not enjoy it. Don't leave your--"
Too late, Homer's out, and despite his advancing age he knows the idea of good grub when it's promised, which... given the advanced rate of decay of this location may be a condemnation of the housekeeping of those from beyond!!
"C'mon, look at it! It works, 'n lemme tell ya, I've shaken down a lotta vendin' machines in my day," he starts pressing buttons. "'n if they're anything like I hope they are, they ain't the kinda stuff that expire."
"They... do not have the things that don't expire." Does Ethius know that? Maybe he's just trying to get Homer to not do it. Then, out of nowhere, presumably in Marivel's direction with this next phrase: "We are not attached at the hip. His cooperation is necessary." Not appreciated.
"'n so's fillin' my belly! I ain't eatin' the stuff ya keep cookin'!!" Homer laughs as he just starts pushing buttons.
Homer's not kidding, though, these machines look like they work, and instead of confusing text, there are clear images of what they provide! But... this place is ancient.
Ethius, from his cockpit, gets out the Spectral Lens, zaps it up, and has a look at the facility while fighting off the oncoming conniption for Homer's yearning for modern convenience.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Momentary Peace. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Crab Battle... Won...(???)
The less that is said about the interim period between the crabbening and the discovery of a full food court, the better. Whatever it is that they serve here, Cyre hopes badly that there's no shellfish. Not after what he saw of the giant enemy crab from on high.
Some things simply cannot be unseen.
"Ughhhh," Cyre groans, flopping into a handy chair. "You know, for people who were trying to kill each other, you two are on pretty decent terms nowadays," though that does kind of describe a great many friendship among the Drifter community.
Beat.
"Find me... a food, please...!" Cyre calls over to the man at the vending machines. Homer's probably got this. Right? Right. Cyre can just... sit for a bit.
And try to forget about... crab.
Maybe Marivel can help with some handy storytime...?
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Momentary Peace.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It could be better.
It could also be worse. The Skadi appears to have taken no major damage and more importantly, the cockpit is waterproof anyway, so it's more a matter of pride on Avril's part than any significant loss. Still... next time, she will perhaps take more caution with something several times her Gear's size.
In any event, soon they reach land proper and the ruins within.
"How strange," Avril remarks, disembarking to herself take a closer look than the Skadi is able. "I would have thought that such would not be functional after so many years. I wonder how old..."
She trails off, glancing at Cyre for a moment.
And then, hand to her mouth, she laughs lightly. "I wonder..." she says, and she's no longer wondering about the age of the place.
"Might they have become friends?"
It might be a relief (??) for some that she sets about investigating fossilized foodstuffs after, honestly.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Momentary Peace.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"You know," Marivel tells Ethius. "If someone is attached to your hip, literaly speaking, it's usually a 'necessity' because you might not be able to be seperated so if it is a NECCESSITY that you are with Homer, then that makes it EVEN MORE ACCURATE to say that you...are attached...at the hip...!!" She brings her arms back and cries out that last bit of dialogue before extending an audio player out from a hand that plays a tremendous THUNDERCRASH and then an organ plays a DUN DUN DUNNNNN! after.
She puts away the audio player later. She just happened to have that ready.
Nidaime slides an old coin into the vending machine and gets herself a CUP OF NOODLES and kind of pours the hot water in and stirs it around with a plastic spoon. "Don't worry, tis good! Probably!"
She offers everyone some coinage if they are interested in having 500 year old noodles. Marivel is apparently cool with it!
"Now I was not around for the creation of this place, so I may have some of the details wrong. But my daughter Kamui built this place during a time she tired of battle and the endless cruelties of mortals and madmen. So this place was a paradise for her fellow AIs, including--by accounts--a fellow Tio. But that Tio had shut down so..."
She clears her throat. "Well, perhaps we will learn more. This is a sorrowful place so please be respectful and if you try to destroy it, Ethius."
Marivel smiles. "I will consider it a personal attack andI will pit the full breadth of my resources against you, regardless of whether it's reasonable or helpful irrespective of any greater good."
"Because this is a place special to my daughter. I am sure you understand? If we have an understanding, then wonderful! If not, I suppose we shall see. I mean no disrespect but, ah, I recognize history, my dear."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Momentary Peace. Fanfare!
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Momentary Peace *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
"Our Food Court offers a wide range of sustenance. Please enjoy...!"
Veteran Drifters often discover ancient eating venues in ruins, and they
often have expected, but disappointing results: the food is spoiled or
withered into dust, or the mechanisms that produce it long broken to time.
So what is it like to find the exception to the norm? The curious but
advanced vending machines all work, offering a range of strange but
delicious foods that somehow emerge hot and fresh as if it were made today!!
... are you gonna risk eating 500-year old noodles? Where did the
ingredients even come from?
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdnQtnJ9TGg )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, |
| and Secret:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* The Island Closest to Heaven - Round 2 *>================== =========================< Results - Momentary Peace >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 27 --(5)--> 32 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 32 --(5)--> 37 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(30)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Madness|Save Point(1)|Secret(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Marivel Armitage has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Reborn Mechanics *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
A mechanical drawbridge allows citizens to pass from one side of the central
river to the other, but it's currently drawn up. The crank looks functional,
but an obstacle prevents safe lowering: an abandoned boat, lodged right
underneath the bridge supports.
"Please steer clear of the drawbridge. A ship is passing by. A ship is
passing by..."
One of your Gear-piloting comrades should be able to safely remove the boat,
in tandem with the rest of the crew operating the bridge crank.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuRBS8MlSDQ )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, |
| Secret:_Exploration_Up!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Homer is left unsupervised, uncharacteristically, as Ethius will find the various mechanisms connected to be... not attached to anything that appears like a threat or a problem by any measure of imagination. Of non-Ethius imaginations. Who knows what Ethius imaginations find, unless it exists on a binary of 'is melted' and 'is not melted.'
It is so inoffensively a thing that Marivel and Homer can claim their respective food choices without... any issue. 500-year-old noodles are dispensed, and Homer picks an, uh... Marivel might be impressed at the idea of that lumpy, fuzzy thing he has picked. It smells awful, has a squishy, soft consistency that makes it seem ready to fall apart in one's hand, and is of a deeply unappetizing color that is 'formerly purple.' What color it is now is of less import than what it used to be. It was something purple. It's not now.
"'sh really good," Homer murmurs, and that is as far of a food review is he is going to be allowed to have.
The others chime in on the apparent chumminess between two people that by all rights should... not be having this sort of working relationship.
"Homer and I are clear on the nature of my presence here," is his only defense to the lot of them.
Homer makes sure to get Cyre another of the... things... he's eating. Cyre will find it's an acquired taste, if he has it. In that it's a taste one acquires in this moment, as a novel experience. If he doesn't like it or want to chance it, there's... other clear picks to go for.
"Your collective amusement is... heard." As if Ethius is struggling for a word over Avril's laughter over apparent camaraderie. As if there were an emotion there that nearly escaped that he had just caught with his teeth and taken back down, to listen in on Marivel's lecturing and promises of violence should he violate the sanctity of this place.
"My understanding is appr--" Like he botched a rehearsed line. "Yes," flatly.
"Y'want one too?" Homer waves another formerly purple thing.
"Get back in the Aiguille."
"...With or without?"
...
It's a good meal break. It's also a good make Ethius grumpy break. It's a good break! Nothing breaks, though, so it's a good.
It's good good, and... enough of that.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel marvels at Homer's eating habits. Homer, crimelord, is kinda beating Ethius at the charisma rolls here but Marivel is more just being cautious because she knows Ethius can be trusted to do some things but in other things you really need to keep a short leash because he is, in her experience, definitely the kind of guy to take a mile from an inch.
Marivel doesn't get back in the Qubeley though it does trod along after her, Marivel cheats with her gears because they're more Giant Robo 'ride ON TOP of the gear' style gears. So she can kind of cheat like this. She doesn't need to manipulate controls.
Something that might be a bit concerning if you think about it but nevertheless.
A voice says to steer clear of the drawbridge and that a ship is passing by.
IS a ship passing by? Marivel looks out and--
"Ah! There IS a boat. Perhaps someone beat us here today?"
She makes her way to the bridge crank. "Can you move the boat without destroying it? I can likely handle the controls down here but--"
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Beating Ethius' charisma rolls is not difficult at all. He seems to be very good at rolling single digits. (Maybe he cheats... to roll single digits, for some nebulous purpose. Or some other nebulous purpose other than a previously acknowledged one. Who knows. It is just known now that he will not be consuming the formerly purple thing.)
You can hear Homer chew on his surplus... food. He seems to be enjoying it and isn't breaking out in hives so it's probably okay.
'Ah! There IS a boat,' Marivel calls out as the droning about a drawbridge is missed in the process of some other comical argument-filled conversation between the two of them.
"Who is on the boat?" Ethius asks, as he fires up the Spectral Lens anew and... may get an excellent look at the way the mechanisms for the drawbridge work. "I don't have visual confirmation of other individuals," he says while flicking his gaze to the Aiguille's frankly oversensitive instruments.
Homer keeps chewing.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"I think it is quite nice to see," Avril says, smiling gently, without a hint of malice on her face. "It is good to make friends with one's enemies. Do you feel the same, Mr. Mecone?"
Avril accepts the coin.
Avril... ... ... obtains a particularly ancient candy bar from within the machine.
Carefully she unwraps it, and goes to snap off a piece--
"Oh, I see," she remarks mildly, as it refuses to budge. "It has become hardened." The word is fossilized, actually. "I do not think it can be eaten," she says, continuing to regard it with some mild interest. "But it is quite fascinating, do you not agree? I should have thought that it might have rotted away, but instead it is perfectly intact."
Perfectly intact does not usually mean 'indistinguishable from a rock', but whatever floats her boat. Tucking the hardened bar away, Avril returns to the Skadi, no worse the wear for her brush with truly ancient foodstuffs.
They carry on, soon reaching a drawbridge and its on particular color of difficulty. "Oh, is that an intact boat? ...I should think that no one is aboard," Avril remarks, "but I shall confirm. I may need to dislodge it, in any regard."
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Whatever this is... It... used to be purple.
Also it smells terrible and he's kind of a scent-y guy, what with the whole beastman thing going on. "I think I'll go with the noodles," he says, deciding on the safer, but perhaps more boring choice of meals. But, you know, it's better to... not risk getting horrible stomach problems?? "I mean, they might," he answers Avril, "It's probably the friendliest I've seen anyone get with Ethius without him being able to do anything about it." In other words, this is the perfect sort of karma. THE BEST form of payback.
"So your daughter built this place? Must've taken her a while," Cyre adds, moseying back into his machine. "It's pretty damn huge and--" That's a boat. Cyre scratches his cheek and hops down astride his trusty robot. Time to get pushing...!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Reborn Mechanics.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Reborn Mechanics *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
A mechanical drawbridge allows citizens to pass from one side of the central
river to the other, but it's currently drawn up. The crank looks functional,
but an obstacle prevents safe lowering: an abandoned boat, lodged right
underneath the bridge supports.
"Please steer clear of the drawbridge. A ship is passing by. A ship is
passing by..."
One of your Gear-piloting comrades should be able to safely remove the boat,
in tandem with the rest of the crew operating the bridge crank.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuRBS8MlSDQ )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=================<* The Island Closest to Heaven - Round 3 *>================= ========================< Results - Reborn Mechanics >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 45 --(32)--> 77 Fail Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 32 --(32)--> 64 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 37 --(32)--> 69 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 45 --(15)--> 60 Fail Conditions: Madness|Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Gradually... Gradually...." Marivel says. "This shouldn't be hard I..."
A fly lands on Marivel's nose.
She wrinkles her nose. The fly hops about, tickling the top of her nose.
"Ah..." Marivel says. as Ethius tries to get a feel for the drawbridge's mechanisms but they're strangely and unusually complex.
Cyre starts pushing the boat. "Ahhhh...!!" Marivel says.
Avril is at least able to confirm that the boat is, at the very least, abandoned before--
"AHHHHCHOOOO!!" Marivel sneezes, accidentally knocking the drawbridge controls with her arms which causes the drawbridge to collapse down on the boat before Cyre can finish pushing it and there's a horrible and unpleasant sounding SMASHING noise as the drawbridge jams against the ship.
"...aw nertz." Marivel says.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Celestial Gardens *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
A scenic path leads up towards the breath-taking hanging gardens occupying
the entire eastern side of the basin.
"The Garden is open to the public at this point in time.
Please ensure you do not litter, and please enjoy... a walk through
nature..."
What looks breath-taking from a distance, however, is even more so up close:
whatever mechanisms once maintained these gardens have long failed, and in
unexpected ways. The Garden path is choked with vines and roots, far too
large for conventional on-foot means to clear. You'll need Gears to handle
this, and on-foot folk as spotters to find your way.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5DLIpg94_o )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
OH NERTZ!!
Cyre is like, this <> far away from being a kuroneko pancake, and that's just way too close for comfort. But at least the drawbridge is down!! Even if it also means that the priceless artifacts aboard that ship are now forever lost to time and squashedness. "Fengalon's fuzzy face," Cyre mutters, clambering back up, "That was... too close...!"
Is... is Marivel allergic to something? Perhaps to... cats? Or to SHIPS!?
Or maybe... to whatever it is growing in that garden up ahead. It's certainly a lot of greenery. Too much, in fact. Some of it has outright petrified into a barely-living wall of ancient wood.
"This is getting a bit crazy. I'm surprised that this is all still growing here, but... The only way through is by tearing ourselves a path." Would Mariel ever forgive him? Cyre's brow furrows thoughtfully as he pulls a set of <<DEMOLITION CHARGES>> from his gear's handy dispenser. "Well. I can get us started, at least."
There's no choice...! The explosives are planted! Cyre gives them a wide berth and whispers an apology to all the Elw, past and present...!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Demolition Charge toward his party's challenge, Celestial Gardens. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
On one hand, good that there's no people on-board, but one supposes given the span of time they were given for their objective it's unlikely the people Ethius and Homer are looking for are still... here.
"Wasn't us!!" Homer throws up his hands defensively in his cockpit.
"You weren't the one being threatened."
"Oh. Oh! Oh right. Uhhh. Look, mind's kinda racin' right now, so--"
"It's what you ate."
"...'s what I ate."
There is an unspoken agreement between them that Ethius' 'cooking' will suffice.
Meanwhile, they manage to detour over to the garden that has been overgrown with greenery, tangled like... some other places in which there have been interesting overgrowth. The Whorl, the strange metal tree forest...
"So, uh, he's gonna blow it up."
"Yes." Ethius confirms, as he guides the Aiguille aside. The recent issue with the bridge didn't, in itself, stress the machine further, but he can now smell the... formerly purple from where he is.
They may have to withdraw just to get it professionally cleaned.
"Miss Marivel. I may yet attempt to burn through the brush," with her leave, right?
With her leave, right?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Celestial Gardens.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"There is no one present! I shall--" Avril reports back, in the moments before, well...
The good news is that Skadi springs away with a splash into the water before the bridge comes down. So there's that, when all is said an done? "Did the controls function incorrectly?" she asks, of Marivel's attempt to command the bridge, shortly after the Skadi erupts from the water and hovers over to the fallen bridge. "At least we are able to cross."
She may have picked up the optimistic streak from Dean, as well.
Venturing ahead, there is a large problem awaiting them, taking the form of...
"That is quite the overgrown garden. Though, would it not have made more sense if it had overtaken the city...?" Avril wonders aloud. "I suppose something must be caring for it." Just... not nearly enough to matter. In any case they won't be able to get on ahead without... going through the garden. And to do that-- well.
"Cyre, I shall attempt something. Ethius, I would ask," her tone of voice suggests it's not entirely a request "that you hold and await my action."
Which is...?
Avril reaches out and touches a particular stone disc slotted in the cockpit's dashboard.
"Come forth... Guardian of Ice! Aru Solatu!"
There is a tremble in the air. With a gust of frigid air, the Ice Guardian emerges, called forth on a massive scale. Eyeing the fossilized forest before it, it paws at the ground the once before barreling forward as a glacial missile.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Stone Ice Medium toward her party's challenge, Celestial Gardens. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"A CONTROLLED burning right?" Marivel asks. "You are not going to just spew fire everywhere and let fate sort it out, yes?" She exhales out a sigh. "Qubeley, prepare fir extinguishers," She says, more quietly but perhaps Avril has another plan.
That's right, she is going to FREEZE the plants to death.
It's an interesting plan, Marivel places her hand on the Qubeley's side as she waits to see how that pans out.
"Sorry about the bridge by and by." She adds, almost offhandedly. ... Definitely offhandedly.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Celestial Gardens.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Celestial Gardens *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
A scenic path leads up towards the breath-taking hanging gardens occupying
the entire eastern side of the basin.
"The Garden is open to the public at this point in time.
Please ensure you do not litter, and please enjoy... a walk through
nature..."
What looks breath-taking from a distance, however, is even more so up close:
whatever mechanisms once maintained these gardens have long failed, and in
unexpected ways. The Garden path is choked with vines and roots, far too
large for conventional on-foot means to clear. You'll need Gears to handle
this, and on-foot folk as spotters to find your way.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5DLIpg94_o )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Madness:_Wits_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=================<* The Island Closest to Heaven - Round 4 *>================= =======================< Results - Celestial Gardens >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 65 --(15)--> 80 Pass Stone Ice Medium 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 77 --(27)--> 104 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 64 --(22)--> 86 Fail Demolition Charge 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 69 --(27)--> 96 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 60 --(15)--> 75 Fail Conditions: Madness|Save Point(1)|Tire(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Ethius Hesiod is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Command Mission *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The path you've taken through the city takes you into an enormous, central
pillar bearing the auspices of government. Further exploration takes you
through miscellaneous clerical and office areas, until the path inevitably
funnels into a massive, dark chamber lit only by enormous vertical
skylights. Grand podiums ring the chamber, obscured in the dark.
"Thank you for making it this far, Drifters.
This was once our seat of governance.
But when the humans summoned their wrath upon us... that all was for naught.
Now, I have but one more request..."
A shattering peal of thunder breaks the silence, revealing the silhouette of
a large, green mantis Reploid.
Moments later, its true form is revealed, as hazes of static and data cubes
leak out of its form. You've been led here by a figment of the past, a data
projection of a Reploid long since retired.
"Retire me... lay me to rest.
I can already feel... IT... hurry...!"
The static turns violent and red for a moment, and the mantis suddenly
strikes! It turns out that it's still quite capable of great physical harm,
despite being data.
/
_ _ _ _____ _____ __ _ _ __ _ ____ /
\ \ \ /_____\ \_____\ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / ___
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ --*----
\_/ \_/ \ \ \ \ \ \\ \ \ \\ \___/ \
___________________________________________ / \
/
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOVwp2Tq5NA )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Madness:_Wits_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, Weaken:_Brute_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Huh? Oh, sure--" Cyre takes a step back as the Guardian of Ice manifests, Aru Solatu in all its terrible, wintery majesty, surges directly at the petrified wood and, in an instant, flash-freezes it completely!!
...Which is ALMOST good enough to get them through, except that it's all frozen now, and also--
There's still a demolition charge shoved into all that icy wood. It ticks down, beep, beep, beep...
BOOM.
What follows is a veritable catastrophe of ice. Shards and chunks of petrified, frozen wood are blasted out of the way in a big ol' kaboom. The party is duly pelted, but...
Poor Ethius, poorer Homer. Both get positively snowmanned, covered as they are in an avalanche of glacial ice.
...
Well. At least the path forward is clear...?
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Once again, it could have gone worse.
It could have gone much, much better. "Oh," is Avril's remark when the dust (iceflakes) settles, rising from a crouch from behind the massive blade which she had drawn and used as an impromptu shield for the Skadi. "Everyone, I am very sorry! That was most unintentional... ah, where are Ethius and Mr. Mecone?"
A little searching will turn them up. They've been better. But they've probably been worse. Probably.
"Cyre, might you see if you can revive the both of them? Fire magic is not my specialty."
Far from it, frankly.
Once they advance, when they do, they find that the woods had been situated just outside a massive central pillar, overtaking the center of the city. There are entryways large enough to admit Gears, fortunately, but the fact that there are doors large enough to admit a Gear into parts of the central government suggests a thing or two about the society that this island housed.
Some of them were... really big?
It's hard to see much in the dark. Avril keys up her external lights, but...
Oh.
"Are you... the one who called out to us?" she asks, of the mantoid before them. "Then, might you know the reason why the humans--"
No. It's already too late. Avril brings that great blade to bear before her. "Then... as you wish," she tells the mantis.
Skadi intrudes with but a single swing.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Gear Blade - Gambanteinn toward her party's challenge, Command Mission. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Damnit Avril, I'm a wind shaman, not a fire shaman!" Cyre huffs, nevertheless leveling the Huracan's pre-collapse beam cannon at the entombed Aguille and...
Bathing it with a very, very low intensity beam. Basically, he's using the beam cannon like a heat gun. Or a blow drier. This is absolutely not what it was meant to do.
But what it WAS meant to do is to shoot the heck out of things. And as it happens, there's something up ahead that needs to be shot the heck out of. Or rather...
To be retired...
"You... were calling us...?" Cyre asks, furrowing his brow. A construct of pure data. A... A living memory. "Wait a sec, can you tell us more about this place--"
No. Something is wrong. Something else is taking control...? "It's gone berserk!" Or, rather, gone MAVERICK. Cyre hisses a curse and points the beam cannon directly at the wireframe construct. All across the Huracan, a series of capacitive energy storage devices suddenly discharge, funneling a tremendous amount of power directly into the beam cannon. Its barrel glows white hot as the ancient weapon feasts on the Huracan's energy supplies-- this is the reason the Huracan mounted the weapon, among all those who were present when it was claimed. It actually has the ability to fire it at max power...!
And so a wave of white-gold light washes out, a shining current of energy aimed at the heart of the mantid maverick. But will it be enough to bust this virus...?
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Capacitor Discharge toward his party's challenge, Command Mission. Embolden! Party Combat boosted! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
The Aiguille gets, as advertised, snowmanned and frozen solid. The mechanical failure is communicated as such through boring channels and vernacular that doesn't deserve immortality in written word.
"Hey, uhh. The map--"
"You had it last." Ethius says. "We are already here--"
"Yeah, the map. The map," Homer speaks up, "while we're, uh. Thawin'. You're not gonna be happy."
"I am not happy."
"Less... more... different 'n usual."
There's a beat.
"What is it about the map," as if Ethius is grasping the very possibility that Homer might have something of worth to say about the map.
"'m pretty sure... it's upside down."
The Aiguille's chassis will thaw a bit faster, but not in time to catch up to the present trial that awaits the others.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel moves forward. Well, this could have been worse.
The person who called them clearly has some kind of recognition capabilities. She cups her chin thoughtfully as she says, "A data construct. Fascinating. Haven't seen one of these in ages."
Retire me... lay me to rest.
"No," Marivel says. "I refuse to do it." She crosses her arms. "Kamui's lost enough I--"
I can already feel... IT... hurry...!
Marivel steps back, suddenly cautious. "...Wait, is this...new? Impossible. He was killed. Some kind of...post-death plan...?"
She draws out her microphone. "No, perhaps...just a recording..? Interactive memory..."
She steps backwards again.
"......"
She curls her hand into a fist. She closes her eyes. She just...breahtes.
And breathes.
She pushes out the visions of the ones who cried out to her begging... Begging for an end to the pain.
She brings out her microphone and whispers, "Inspire."
And a lightning bolt comes crashing down upon the Mantid. She can't look directly at them.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Command Mission. Fanfare!
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Command Mission *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The path you've taken through the city takes you into an enormous, central
pillar bearing the auspices of government. Further exploration takes you
through miscellaneous clerical and office areas, until the path inevitably
funnels into a massive, dark chamber lit only by enormous vertical
skylights. Grand podiums ring the chamber, obscured in the dark.
"Thank you for making it this far, Drifters.
This was once our seat of governance.
But when the humans summoned their wrath upon us... that all was for naught.
Now, I have but one more request..."
A shattering peal of thunder breaks the silence, revealing the silhouette of
a large, green mantis Reploid.
Moments later, its true form is revealed, as hazes of static and data cubes
leak out of its form. You've been led here by a figment of the past, a data
projection of a Reploid long since retired.
"Retire me... lay me to rest.
I can already feel... IT... hurry...!"
The static turns violent and red for a moment, and the mantis suddenly
strikes! It turns out that it's still quite capable of great physical harm,
despite being data.
/
_ _ _ _____ _____ __ _ _ __ _ ____ /
\ \ \ /_____\ \_____\ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / ___
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ --*----
\_/ \_/ \ \ \ \ \ \\ \ \ \\ \___/ \
___________________________________________ / \
/
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOVwp2Tq5NA )
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* The Island Closest to Heaven - Round 5 *>==================
=========================< Results - Command Mission >==========================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur 80 --(10)--> 90 Pass
Gear Blade - Gambanteinn 2 Combat Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod 104 --(X)--> X
Effects:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz 86 --(10)--> 96 Pass
Capacitor Discharge 3 Combat Effects: Sacrifice and Embolde
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marivel Armitage 96 --(10)--> 106 Pass
My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 75 --(35)--> 110 Pass
Conditions: Madness|Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Marivel Armitage is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has successfully explored The Island Closest to Heaven!
=======================<* The Island Closest to Heaven *>=======================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Jump! Jump! *>==========================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The data projection flickers rapidly. It warps and twists, as its hold on
its general shape starts to unravel. An uncomfortable and rapid succession
of reds and other colours swarm through it, eventually stating:
-= DELTA PROCESS TERMINATE =-
The mantis' head slumps, before 'collapsing' onto the floor.
"Free... at last. Thank you...
Beware, Drifter... its malice still exists in this world.
Before you go... please... take one last gift from us..."
The data projection slowly dissipates into motes of light. The quietness
that reigns over the chamber is interrupted only by the hiss of a door in
the back.
Exploring the chamber beyond, you discover... a data chip with the powerful
secrets of Double Jump.
How does that work? How does one simply jump again in mid-air, as if
flagrantly defying the established laws of gravity? And what horrors does it
mean, when one realises that many ledges are designed such that they're
initially inaccessible, to be returned later when one is enlightened to this
technique? How many digs, how many countries would one have to return to?
Choose carefully if you want this burden or not...
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"I know," Avril tells Cyre.
She does not explain her reasoning further.
She knows that tone of voice. There can be no salvation, only an end. She swings once, but even this is not enough to end matters: she has one of the mantoid's arms, which dissipates in cubes of light, but it is very much still alive, and still animated by whatever fell power has so corrupted it.
"Cyre, Marivel! As one!" Avril calls out, falling back just far enough. One strike might be enough--
No. It will take three strikes, all at once. Lightning strikes. Light burns.
And the massive blade takes it through the middle. Its image shudders and sparks, transfixed by her sword. "Do you... have you known Kamui?" Avril asks of the mantoid, but...
Perhaps Marivel might be able to answer that question better than the data projection, which speaks its last. The malice... still exists in this world.
"The 'malice'," Avril echoes, as she takes in the now-emptied chamber.
Beyond, the door hissing open once the projection is slain, they'll find no answers. Only a single chip.
A single chip, possessing a grave power.
That of... the legendary Double Jump.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"It's likely that one is a friend of Kamui's. Perhaps one that she had forgotten." Marivel tells Avril. "....Please don't tell her. Some memories she is better off not having."
The irony of saying this to Avril doesn't seem to occur to her.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
In the wake of the assault...
-= DELTA PROCESS TERMINATE =-
"Delta...?" Cyre murmurs aloud, "Is that what... 'IT' was?" The Mantis cannot answer, gone to not-so-eternal rest as it has. The shaman's lips draw into a flat line as the memory dissolves again into so many motes of light. He whispers a quiet prayer, before turning towards that door. The shaman dismounts, hopping over to investigate, only to find...
A... data chip...?
"...Huh," he says, adding it to his inventory BY HAND, THE FOOL. "Ow!" Cyre winces, bleeding just a bit on the chip's floor lego-sharp edges. "Gh. Hope that doesn't come back to bite me later...!"
Like with an infection!
Or backtracking!!
"...Marivel, so uh," Cyre gestures, "Do you know something about... what all that was? And do you want me to, you know."
More gesturing.
"Do funerary rights??"