2022-07-17: It'll Be Our Secret
- Log: It'll Be Our Secret
- Cast: Ruth Pauling, Eleanor Klein, Margaret
- Where:
- Date: July 18, 2022
- Summary: On a trip into the Lost Woods, Eleanor and Ruth are joined by Margaret and her Hounds. They have a short adventure and make some interesting discoveries.
DG: A party led by Ruth Pauling is now entering The Lost Woods. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Familiar Scene *>=======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At its edges, along roads and settlements, the Sylvara Great Woods seem
normal. But for those seeking treasure or secrets, there are a number of
small pathways that lead in further. As you follow one of these, the mists
grow thicker and light is sparing beneath the thick and high canopy.
You emerge from the path into a narrow clearing. A small pond can be seen,
and a few birds chirp by it. There are three small paths: one to the north,
another to the east, and a final to the west. You come from the southern
path.
Whichever one you take, after a few twists and turns, leads you back to
the... same clearing. Surely, there must be some way to continue, if you can
find the right path.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Stupify:_Wits_Down! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The Lost Woods is Filgaia's gateway to the two distinct realms of Lunar, and is also just a beautfiul and scenic stroll (if eerie and dangerous, even after a dozen plus trips through).
Its greatest challenge: a conventional map is all but useless to get through where the Live Reflector is. It's deep within the strange mists that permeate the deeper part of Sylvara's Great Woods, and... sometimes even getting in there can take hours of trial, error, and heated argument against the forces of nature by the march of footsteps.
It's a nice morning. (Was a nice morning? It is indisputably morning, for now.)
Ruth, clad in the likeness of who she once was, affords one small advantage - her keen sense for others in distress, useful for locating other travelers that might be lost. She's among the first of the (currently) gathered to step out into a narrow clearing to that familiar sight of the closest thing the Lost Woods has to a 'waiting room.' The small clearing with that pond, those few birds that sing their song about it, and the three paths to the north, east, and west respectively.
She lacks guidance for what's to be done next, and instead kneels down on the distant side of the pond to watch the birds frolic for a bit.
DG: Ruth Pauling has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Familiar Scene.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
It is a beautiful clearing, actually. Eleanor Klein walks into it after Ruth and takes a moment to smell the flowers, looking down and around with a smile. "Sylvaland is so beautiful," she reflects. Why is she here? More on that later. For right now, let it be enough that she is here, and for guidance, well...
Eleanor pulls a weathered green book from her things, which is in surprisingly good shape for its age. It is inscribed on the spine with words few living could even begin to puzzle out, let alone read, but Eleanor opens it and looks within thoughtfully. "...Long ago, there was a forest like this. The path required a mystical sense rather than a conventional directional one..."
She closes her eyes, and listens. "Ah. It's like music, if you listen..."
Eleanor smiles, and puts away the book. "...This way," she suggests. "I think I know the trick."
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Book of Mudora toward her party's challenge, A Familiar Scene. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"I'm telling you, you should have taken better MAPS!"
'Taken them where'
"Are you having a joke with me?!" Margaret shouts at -- hey, it's Margaret! Except that it looks like she's been in the lost woods for a while because she has evidently reverted partially to savagaery, her bulk-purchased ladies' business suit having been adjusted to be worn as a shoulder-cape, the button-up blouse retied in bandeau fashion, and with her skirt torn elegantly -- no, wait, it just got torn like normal fashion.
She is with several of the Hounds of Hell, none of whom have been previously defined with names, although they seem in a similar level of disarray. "Look! They know what they're doing!" Margaret says.
crickle-crack-SNAP
Gee it's like they ran across the entire clearing in 3 seconds using magic.
"Hello!" "Can we follow you?" "We're lost."
"We're just out on a holiday camping trip and we've lost our way," Margaret lies, but winningly.
DG: Margaret has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Familiar Scene.
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Familiar Scene *>=======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At its edges, along roads and settlements, the Sylvara Great Woods seem
normal. But for those seeking treasure or secrets, there are a number of
small pathways that lead in further. As you follow one of these, the mists
grow thicker and light is sparing beneath the thick and high canopy.
You emerge from the path into a narrow clearing. A small pond can be seen,
and a few birds chirp by it. There are three small paths: one to the north,
another to the east, and a final to the west. You come from the southern
path.
Whichever one you take, after a few twists and turns, leads you back to
the... same clearing. Surely, there must be some way to continue, if you can
find the right path.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Stupify:_Wits_Down! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The Lost Woods - Round 1 *>========================= =========================< Results - A Familiar Scene >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 0 --(16)--> 16 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Book of Mudora 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 0 --(16)--> 16 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling 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> Ruth Pauling has posed.
'It's like music, if you listen...'
If one listens, and really, Margaret doesn't give the option, there's the sounds of the Hounds of Hell being lost and frustrated. That's the sort of music that's... popular with young-uns, today. (Maybe Eleanor can back them up on this, she counts as part of the young-un generation.)
Ruth looks up as the birds fly away from the sudden intrusion of so many footfalls in the span of three seconds, her eyes hidden under shadow but a little smile there to the Hounds of Hell's array of reasons and excuses.
Eleanor points it's 'this way,' and there's no reason to doubt her. The Lost Woods do not shoo her presence, and as long as the others keep line of sight on her it's going to be hard for the Lost Woods to pull some of its Lost-Person-Making tricks on the rest of them.
Ruth stays close with the Hounds without saying much of anything. There may be the sense that the hitchhikers have another hitchhiker of exponentially higher sketchy value, but it's not October, so it's probably all right.
DG: Eleanor Klein has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Stalfos *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At its edges, along roads and settlements, the Sylvara Great Woods seem
normal. But for those seeking treasure or secrets, there are a number of
small pathways that lead in further. As you follow one of these, the mists
grow thicker and light is sparing beneath the thick and high canopy.
You emerge from the path into a narrow clearing. A small pond can be seen,
and a few birds chirp by it. There are three small paths: one to the north,
another to the east, and a final to the west. You come from the southern
path.
Whichever one you take, after a few twists and turns, leads you back to
the... same clearing. Surely, there must be some way to continue, if you can
find the right path.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Well, Eleanor hears it. It's fine. Eleanor thinks this music is very nice thank you! ...But not so much the in of the Hounds. On the other hand....
SNAP they're here. Margaret's winning lies get a 'hmm' and then a smile. "Of course you can come with us," she says, once she's satisfied that they are not Odessa agents. Though even if they were, sometimes that wouldn't be a dealbreaker, if they were really cute like Ragnell.
"Just keep up; the forest will try to separate us..."
"So what's the occasion?" Eleanor asks. Since they said it was a holiday! And if she realizes they're lying, she seems content to let them lie except for teasing them a little. ...She might legitimately be asking though; she's that kind of nice. However...
Two piles of bone occupy the next clearing, and then abrubtly rise, becoming skeletons animated by a dark miasma. Bleached white bones, eyes glowing a balfeul blue, they begin to approach Eleanor leading the way. Two stay back--and fire bullets at the group with Odessa-issued rifles.
"Stalfos!" Eleanor calls sharply, and dives for cover, pulling her ARM and prepping behind a tree.
"They'll reassemble themselves if you don't scatter their bones when you defeat them! Travelers, stay behind Ruth and me!"
DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Stalfos.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Odessa agents have budgets.
Margaret does not.
"We deserved the break from our hard work in our legitimate salvaging operation, as well as having some other things come up dry," Margaret tells Eleanor.
"Yeah, uh, we're uh, we're kind of an office group," says another Hound from Hell.
"Aye," says another, with a deep and painfully Glenwood accent, "We're from the Aquvy town of Houndstooth, where we have a traditional process of manufacturing game tables."
"No, get it right," says a third to the Glenwoody guy. "We're importing the idea. It's exotic, Alf, it's *Lunarian*."
"Ahem! That is... we're Lunarian... refugees, who are sharing our native games with the people of Filgaia," concludes 'Alf,' who grins.
Margaret marches onwards and when there is a manifestation of evil skeletons, her eyes narrow.
One of them shoots at her. She leans mostly out of the way but the musket ball passes through her side and carries with it half of the tattered remains of a damaged inexpensive department store brassiere which is probably why she did the bandeau top. "Oh you have made a brutal bloody mistake, my skeletal friends," she says, before drawing HER TWO HANDED SWORD and
sort of streaking up into the sky
(The other Hounds bring out brass instruments, with the trumpet player moving fastest - he holds up a muffler and then *TWONK* it's actually a blow dart with some kind of blue-smoke explosive charge!)
- and Margaret streaks down at a skeleton knee first, smashing her sword into another. "TWO HUNDRED AND TEN *redacted* GELLA I PAID FOR THAT AND YOU *SHOT* IT" she screams.
DG: Margaret has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Stalfos.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"Is that so," Ruth asks in a soft, restrained voice that doesn't betray the little smile she's holding. She turns her head a bit at the mention of the 'Aquvy town of Houndstooth.'
"I knew someone from Houndstooth," she adds, "he would speak at length about the town's silk trade."
uh oh busted???
Before this exchange can get any more damning or awkward, there are Malice-filled skeletons. Some sort of process overtakes Ruth where she's moving to cover behind a tree as one Odessa-issued ARM's shot splinters it.
In Ruth's gloved hands is a Crest Graph adorned with Muse and Geo, held up and invoked in short order later to rain large spheres of water to do as Eleanor instructs - to scatter the bones about the rapidly muddier clearing.
She hasn't pulled her sidearm nor that large rifle at her back.
DG: Ruth Pauling has risked with her Tool Splashcrest toward her party's challenge, Stalfos. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Stalfos *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At its edges, along roads and settlements, the Sylvara Great Woods seem
normal. But for those seeking treasure or secrets, there are a number of
small pathways that lead in further. As you follow one of these, the mists
grow thicker and light is sparing beneath the thick and high canopy.
You emerge from the path into a narrow clearing. A small pond can be seen,
and a few birds chirp by it. There are three small paths: one to the north,
another to the east, and a final to the west. You come from the southern
path.
Whichever one you take, after a few twists and turns, leads you back to
the... same clearing. Surely, there must be some way to continue, if you can
find the right path.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The Lost Woods - Round 2 *>========================= =============================< Results - Stalfos >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 16 --(5)--> 21 Pass Splashcrest 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 8 --(5)--> 13 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 16 --(13)--> 29 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Stupify(1)|Tire(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling 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> Eleanor Klein has posed.
...That's another true fact. Odessa agents wouldn't be outfitted so... poorly. But as they explain what they're doing, and why, she waits pleasantly through it, continuing to lead. "Oh? That's lovely. I do so like games," she says, and looks meaningfully to Ruth. (The look doesn't actually have any meaning. She's just playing a little.) But soon, tehre is EVIL, and that evil--
Eleanor goes '!' at the redacted quality of gella. That is a word she is not allowed to use! But she does not gasp or faint, it's just notable to her. She manages to avoid being hit, herself.
In fact, their assault against the Stalfos works well; Margaret's two-handed sword starts scattering te one, even as explosives go at the other. Eleanor helps out with a few shots of her ARM here and there. And Ruth uses her Crest to scatter the bones and ensure that they won't get back up once they're all done.
...But Margaret and her Hounds' ratty equipment doesn't get any less ratty...
"Hmm. I underestimated you," she says. "But then, if you had the means to travel from Filgaia and out here..." She smiles. "My name's Eleanor, by the way. This is my friend and comrade, Ruth."
She looks to the scattered bones, and frowns for a moment. "...I suspect they'll reform eventually... We'd better go."
DG: Margaret has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Timber! *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Much of the Lost Woods is not mapped, which makes the streams and rivers
that run through it a mystery. The result is that many of them have no
bridges or other safe crossings. You come to one such creek, which is a fast
moving one, with steep banks. Swimming it would be dangerous; leaping across
is precarious.
Fortunately, a tree grows close enough to the creek that toppling it -- at
least, in the right direction and carefully -- would create a bridge.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"Oh, well," says Alf to Ruth, "Just so's you know, we're from the northern Houndstooth, not the western one, might just be a little mixed up." The Hounds of Hell found Houndstooth abandoned, named after a large piece of stone nearby that made a local landmark, with a grayish and black pattern evocative of - well - hound's tooth on clothing.
"Will they? How wretched," Margaret says as she sheaths her sword. "And yes! Charmed. I'm Margaret, this is Alf, this is Luis, and he's also Luis but he prefers to go by L2 because of that."
"I joined later," offers L2.
Minions no more...
As the group moves further, Margaret remarks to Eleanor, "You know, I think we've done some adventuring together in the past. At least I think I recognize you. But you've changed, haven't you? Grown, evolved... developed..." She lowers her voice and leans over to say, "Engaged or *actually* married...??"
"Hey, I hear water," says Luis.
"Oh boy! I love water, which is rare here on Filgaia," says Alf. L2 elbows him in the ribs.
Down a little path... And it is actually something of a pickle, because it's almost more of a narrow river *channel*. The opposite 'bank' from the superficially fordable area is a sort of cliff, or earth heap, about five meters high. It has a big ancient tree at the top - just leaping across could well hit loose earth and dump you into the deep, swift channel.
"I could just skip ahead here, with my magic ring," Margaret muses, "and take a rope with me, except that while I do have a magic ring, I *don't* have a rope."
"Octorock," Luis affirms. (Alf does the pantomime of one.)
"Though..."
Margaret's head, and the camera's gaze shortly thereafter, turns towards a stout alder tree, forty feet high and perfectly positioned to get toppled partway over! Why, it might even be doable WITHOUT cutting the tree down. Though it might not like the uprooting process.
"So how are we gonna do that?" Luis muses. Margaret walks over to start making something out of a willow sapling, humming to herself.
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Some People in Cheap Purple Suits toward her party's challenge, Timber!. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth's head turns at the differentiation of 'which' Houndstooth, but is no longer in the place to debate it as she turns her eyes to the lingering Malice that the scattered bones harbor, her right hand going over her heart - and prominently displaying the Granasian rosary wrapped around her forearm. She needs a moment to kneel down and offer prayer, such as it is, as introductions are made.
Ruth doesn't react too strongly to being called a friend and comrade by Eleanor. It's true, but it's also much different from the sorts of relationships she nurtured in the handful of years before now - and likely the years before all that.
She comes up the rear towards the current show-stopping issue over the lack of a bridge, hovering somewhere not far off from Alf as she holds another Crest Graph in her hands. This one has Muse and Fray, which she sets down near the large tree as it emits a pleasant, relaxing, depressurizing mist that may make the incoming physical labor a bit more tolerable.
"I have a bad shoulder," Ruth admits. Not so bad that she can't hoist around a heavy rifle on her back, apparently.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Mistcrest toward her party's challenge, Timber!. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Oh, how lovely," she says. "I'll call you L2 if that's what you prefer," she says, though she is a little dubious on that as a nickname!! It is nice to meet them. But as they move along, Margaret remarks--
"Oh, I'm sorry that I didn't recognize you," she says. "But... I suppose that's true, I--" Smile, and leans in, "Engaged. We haven't set a date yet, but we're very happy." Pause. "Different engagement from the last one, if I was engaged when we met before. ...I suppose that's a lot of engagements in a short time, but--"
Water! Ah, yes. "Yes, water! Which is--well actually it's not very rare in this part of Filgaia," she says, and doesn't have a chance yet to explain how she's changed, but it surprises her that Margaret, too, has noticed it. Is it obvious...?
"Hmmmm," Eleanor says of the problem. "Yes, that would leave your friends behind," Eleanor agrees with Margaret. But then the camera's gaze turns, and Eleanor's eyes shine. Ruth says she has a bad shoulder, but--
"I don't!" she says, and walks right over to the tree. She... does not look like she should be able to do anything about it. As Margaret starts making something, Eleanor rolls her shoulders and then sets hands on the tree. The red bracelet at her left wrist sparkles, suddenly--
HEFT!!
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Power Bracelet toward her party's challenge, Timber!. Fanfare!
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Timber! *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Much of the Lost Woods is not mapped, which makes the streams and rivers
that run through it a mystery. The result is that many of them have no
bridges or other safe crossings. You come to one such creek, which is a fast
moving one, with steep banks. Swimming it would be dangerous; leaping across
is precarious.
Fortunately, a tree grows close enough to the creek that toppling it -- at
least, in the right direction and carefully -- would create a bridge.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The Lost Woods - Round 3 *>========================= =============================< Results - Timber! >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 21 --(20)--> 41 Fail Mistcrest 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 13 --(12)--> 25 Pass Power Bracelet 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 29 --(20)--> 49 Fail Some People in Cheap Purple Suits 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 40 --(15)--> 55 Fail Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling 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> Margaret has posed.
Cooling, soothing mist fills the area. "That's rough," Luis tells Ruth. "You ever try willow bark? I mean, she's getting the switch ready there, she can totally give you some for an infusion."
"Wait," L2 says. "The switch?"
"Yeah," Alf says. "The switch."
"I'm concerned about the switch," L2 says. "Tell me about the switch."
"Oh, well, when we have something like this where we have to move something huge, like, this is just the old practice, if you have someone snapping your backside during it, you can get a like... burst," Alf explains.
"It's fun," Luis says. "You will have fun."
"I'm not any less concerned."
"If it's any consolation," Margaret shouts over her shoulder, "We draw lots and so you have one chance in four of being the one who's DEAR ALTHENA WHAT IS THAT!"
The Hounds of Hell gawp and then cheer as Eleanor draws upon her furious power and then
With a heroic rustle-snap CRACK -
BREAKS the roots
TILTS the tree
BENDS it to her will
CREATES a bridge
And even leaves about forty percent of the roots firmly in the ground.
Margaret, swishing her fresh cut willow switch in the air as she walks back, says, "Oh, good, that solves that then."
"Did you want the bark?" she asks Ruth, as they're moving to cross over the creek. (L2, for some reason, opts to make sure he's going up behind Margaret.)
DG: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Statues and Hidden Caches *>===============
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next clearing that you find has a statue overgrown with moss. Much of it
is unrecognizable; moss has stained the stone green, and its features are
worn away, only to suggest a woman in a dress. She may be elven, but it is
hard to say, as the ears are mostly worn away and the hint of a point could
only be seeing things.
The statue has a small, sealed door on its base. Made of sturdy stone, the
door looks like it should hold a cache -- or maybe a way underneath.
Breaking the door may damage whatever is behind it, but perhaps some method
can be found to open the door.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
"...I would like to have the bark." Ruth has to take a moment to respond, fixated upon the bridge as has been formed in front of them by methods breathtaking and causing her left shoulder to flare up just looking at it. "Thank you."
Aside from the occasional wriggling shadows of the hostile denizens of the Lost Woods, none approach them. As if they may be stepping somehwere they may not wish to go...
The 'they' being the denizens, as coming out into this clearing there's a feeling of sanctity. Faded, but present, as if this particular clearing once held greater reverence in an age long since gone by. A statue overgrown by moss serves as the centerpiece, which is something person-shaped - feminine, going by the dress and the shape. The ears... are either rounded or weathered to be rounded. (There was an argument over wealthy Picto Box owners some years ago on Windfall Island as to whether a dress was blue and black, or white and gold. This is an argument that does not need to be relitigated by proxy, as it left only one Picto Box owner standing.)
More eye-catching is the small, sealed door that looks in better shape than the rest of it - as if some sort of ancient sorceries have prevented the moss from encroaching upon it. It looks like it should hold something underneath... it's large enough that it could be a path, but may instead be buried treasure. (Unless it's a bunch of those green, blue, and red elongated hexagonal crystals again.)
There are the presence of (worn, unreadable?) engravings about, along with blatantly obvious pressure plates, pottery, and square weighted blocks about, all arranged to some sort of pattern or logic indecipherable at first glance but one must exist. There's no direct 'switch' on the statue itself, and breaking into it may be counterproductive if it damages something - either treasure or delicate ancient mechanisms within.
Ruth, for her part, stops abruptly at the periphery of the clearing. "I'll keep watch," she offers.
DG: Ruth Pauling has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ancient Statues and Hidden Caches.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor, as it turns out, does not hear about the switch. She is busy focusing. Whether or not she would agree that it could be fun is irrelevant, because--
"Yess," Eleanor says as th tree goes over, and dusts her hands. "That's the power of the Power Bracelet," she says, pleased. She does not take Ruth's bark. It is Ruth's bark now.
But the denizeens... Hmm. There's that feeling; Eleanor feels it. "This place is... holy, maybe." She doesn't talk about what the dress could be colored. But....
Engravings, pottery--Hmmm.
"I know this script," Eleanor says, and pulls her Book once again, gently and reverently. "I believe what we need to do is..."
She starts to translate, carefully.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Book of Mudora toward her party's challenge, Ancient Statues and Hidden Caches. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Margaret presents Ruth with the stripped off willow bark. "Try toasting it a little first," she says. "I find that makes it stronger *and* it tastes better. I'll show you if we end up making camp." And then they move forwards, up, left, right, down -
And they are faced with a statuary space.
Margaret gazes at the elven woman statue. She is absolutely thinking it looks like her, isn't she? Absolutely.
"Alright, boys," Margaret says, sweeping around the switch she cut with a 'whish!' of authority. "Look at where everything IS before we start MANGLING it. This might be a lockout but it could be a chance... maybe this is a tomb of some kind? Some kind of fashion reliquary?"
"Have you ever heard of an ARM that was a dress, Miss --" Margaret pauses, thinks, and then says, "I want to say Klein? Or do you prefer Eleanor? I'm so sorry, this is rude of me."
The Hounds pop a squat and loiter after inventorying the puzzle details. Margaret is the brains of the operation, it would seem.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Luis says, "Hey Cap'n!"
"You make me sound like a naval figure," Margaret says, but lightly.
He holds up a cheap-looking book. "I was readin' this section in the book by this Spencer guy! It says usually these things got like a logic to it, something that'd make sense to like, distant heirs and stuff. So what do you think would be the interest here?"
"Beauty perhaps...? Oh! Complimentary colors!"
"Oh, for makeup, obviously," Alf says. L2 nods along.
DG: Margaret has used her Tool How To Rob Banks - A Beginner's Guide toward her party's challenge, Ancient Statues and Hidden Caches. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Statues and Hidden Caches *>===============
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next clearing that you find has a statue overgrown with moss. Much of it
is unrecognizable; moss has stained the stone green, and its features are
worn away, only to suggest a woman in a dress. She may be elven, but it is
hard to say, as the ears are mostly worn away and the hint of a point could
only be seeing things.
The statue has a small, sealed door on its base. Made of sturdy stone, the
door looks like it should hold a cache -- or maybe a way underneath.
Breaking the door may damage whatever is behind it, but perhaps some method
can be found to open the door.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The Lost Woods - Round 4 *>========================= ================< Results - Ancient Statues and Hidden Caches >================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 41 --(13)--> 54 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Book of Mudora 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 49 --(5)--> 54 Pass How To Rob Banks - A Beginner's Gui 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 55 --(25)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Eleanor is able to read what the script says, and from there, Margaret is able to delagate and allow for solutions to be found, implemented, and pushed to the live servers (what?).
Everything ceases as the ground shakes, and the statue's pedestal sloooooooowly rises in a prolonged, awe-inspiring sight with the final placement of a block... and with that, the compartment opens up to reveal that it is a passage.
There is a triumphant, yet faint, series of chimes as the statue ceases movement, and the air of sanctity leaves the clearing - as if some sort of long-standing goal had been achieved and thus there remains no longer need to keep vigil. It's about this time Ruth catches up with them, but it may be coincidence at best.
The passage leads to a room with an excessive number of those strange elongated blue hexagonal crystals. (Sometimes one can find large piles of green ones, but this many blue - and only blue - is something of a novelty.)
Eleanor will find there's a panel in the room that, if she investiages, reveals a message recorded in perpetuity - the name of the owner, that this is their secret room, and to keep it between them... OK?
Interestingly, there's only one way in. When they take their leave, though... they don't leave out into the same place they came in.
DG: Eleanor Klein has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Bones *>=========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Your destination is in sight. One final obstacle lay between you and the way
out of the woods -- such as the ancient Live Reflector that works with your
Reflector Key.
It is an enormous skeleton. The underbrush has grown around the draconic
skeleton, making it hard to pass through. However, the plants seem to shy
away from the ribs and bones, and thus getting inside of it would allow you
passage through, like a grisly tunnel. However, only the head of the
creature is outside of the thorny brush.
You need to open its closed draconic jaws (or, perhaps, blow the head off
the thing entirely) to continue.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Klein is correct," Eleanor answers Margaret, "But outside of formal situations I prefer Eleanor. It's not a problem--you graciously forgave my memory lapse, after all."
She looks aover to the group amiably at the matter of makeup, perhaps some kind of fashion reliquary, and it snds nice. "Wise to keep track," she says around her bookreading. But the question... Hmmm. "I haven't," she says, "But there's ARM armor, so I see no reason you couldn't form that into a dress."
The passage slowly rises up, and there are chimes. Hmm. Ruth catches up, and Eleanor explores down. Blue crystals... 'Rupees', they're called. Eleanor gathers up a number, and pauses, touching her fingers to the panel.
"...I will," she murmurs to the person she has never met and will never meet, but whose life she knows a little right now. And as they step up the stairs... ah!
"We've moved," she says. And before them is an enormous draconic skeleton. Unlike those you might expect from certain kinds of dragons, this one has no Malevolence; but it would make a tunnel...
"If anyone has ideas," Eleanor says, "I'm happy to hear them. I think I can force the jaws open, but I'd rather not break it if I can help it..."
Her Power Bracelet glints in the morning light.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Power Bracelet toward her party's challenge, Ancient Bones. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"I do own an armored dress but it's a tricky topic," Margaret muses, before -
Well, there's no Ultra-Sexy Elf Dress for the Future that Margaret can steal, but there are those blue crystals. Alf snaps out a canvas bag and begins scooping crystals into it. Through that private room - Margaret thinks to herself, bring a couch down here, perhaps a lamp, and...?
Emerge they do.
"I wonder how it got here," Margaret says.
The Hounds look at each other.
"So like," Luis says, as the other two start moving forwards, "you don't mind if we kind of... REMOVE the obstacle, do you?"
Alf has at least four sticks of dynamite, just, like, in his coat.
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Some People in Cheap Purple Suits toward her party's challenge, Ancient Bones. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth only picks up a single blue crystal in her stay there, as if absentminded or otherwise not all that caring about material wealth. When they leave to an entirely different place, they see the remains of a truly enormous creature of many years ago. As Luis asks about whether they remove it or not, or Eleanor suggesting they rather not break it, Ruth comes up to it and kneels before it with eyes closed.
She sets down a Crest Graph a ways off the future intended dynamite setting site, bearing the same Muse and Fray combination as what she set before the tree before it was UPROOTED. In the tranquility, there is tension. The skeletons they arrived at prior were filled with Malice, with an unrelenting desire to do them harm. If this were a much larger one suffused with the same power...
"There's no anger. No fear." Ruth says. Nothing to hurt. Nothing to be hurt by - just the final proof that this creature once lived, as she stands up, backs away, and lets the pleasant mists fill the space while Eleanor and the Hounds hash out what they want to do.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Mistcrest toward her party's challenge, Ancient Bones. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Bones *>=========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Your destination is in sight. One final obstacle lay between you and the way
out of the woods -- such as the ancient Live Reflector that works with your
Reflector Key.
It is an enormous skeleton. The underbrush has grown around the draconic
skeleton, making it hard to pass through. However, the plants seem to shy
away from the ribs and bones, and thus getting inside of it would allow you
passage through, like a grisly tunnel. However, only the head of the
creature is outside of the thorny brush.
You need to open its closed draconic jaws (or, perhaps, blow the head off
the thing entirely) to continue.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The Lost Woods - Round 5 *>========================= ==========================< Results - Ancient Bones >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 54 --(5)--> 59 Pass Mistcrest 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Power Bracelet 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 54 --(5)--> 59 Pass Some People in Cheap Purple Suits 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ruth Pauling 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Stupify(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ruth Pauling has successfully explored The Lost Woods!
==============================<* The Lost Woods *>==============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Ancient Plinth - Magical Boomerang *>==============
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You have come near the Live Reflector -- or perhaps a different destination.
Today, the path snakes through the woods, and then leads to a small
clearing. You know well that you might never find this place again; these
woods have a way of changing the route when you next visit.
You find a small stone plinth, built on a square of stone that is largely
overgrown by grass and vines. The plinth has a red, polished wooden
boomerang there. It glints with an arcane light -- and when thrown, will go
far longer than most and always return.
You may wish to apply for the Magical Boomerang as an Agility Tool!
Alternately, it can be sold for money.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor does not reveal how it got there. It's their secret, after all. But neither does she stop Margaret from taking some of the blue crystals. She has some for herself too, naturally. But when they arrive at the site...
"...Good," Eleanor says to Ruth, and then--considers Luis. "Well," she says, "That would be rather simpler than lifting it..." She considers. "Wait, I have an idea."
"Let me have some of that dynamite?"
Eleanor steps forward with it, and with her Power Bracelet, and reaches out to set a hand upon the jaws. Then she focuses on the dynamite--
She doesn't actually ever light it. But it suddenly glows and disappears into sparkles, and infuses her with explosive power to drive the jaws apart and give them a walkway!!!
On the other side...
"Ah!" Eleanorsays, "Have a look at this!" There is a boomerang! She can sense the magic in it already.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Alf gives it up.
b-BOOM
DODONGO DISLIKED SMOKE.
As they move forwards, L2 asks, "So uh, how did you get that bracelet...?"
But soon enough--
"Oh, goodness, that looks TERRIBLY well balanced," Margaret says (she means it positively). "Do you mind if -- Listen, I could tell this is some kind of... relic, and it's red, which can mean a lot of things including romance. Do you think it's alright if I give it a practice toss?"
* THAT MEANS SHE WANTS IT
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth takes up the rear as she faces to the remains whose jaws have been forced and locked open. There's a growing numbness in the world around her that creeps along the periphery of her senses, a buzzing in her mind that is never quite silent as the lot of them come to that small clearing with the enshrined red L-shaped piece of enchanted material. (It's called a Boomerang.)
Eleanor gives out a call of surprise and delight, where Margaret shows eagerness and excitement in getting to throw it. Amusement, joy, it's a dull register of something that is parsed as noise.
Ruth still smiles through it, sitting again in the periphery of the clearing like a part of her recognizes a form of sanctity that she doesn't feel that motivated to violate.
"I'll keep watch," she offers in order to allow Eleanor and the Hounds as much time as they want to play with it as she takes in the quiet ambience of the Lost Woods and the faint thrumming and light of the Live Reflector a ways off. From her metaphorical perch, she lets a relatively peaceful morning pass as it will.
It's been a little easier to let herself live through moments like this.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"I found it here actually," Eleanor answers. "Well, not here here, but on another trip into these woods. It has the same sort of runes as that boomerang, if you'll notice." She extends her wrist to show off the same. But soon enough--
"By all means," Eleanor says to Margaret, "Feel free! I think a romantic boomerang rather suits you!"
She smiles back, and then to Ruth too, as she inclines her head. "I'll be right along, Ruth." She seems happy to see her... living.
"Now, show me what you can do with it!" she says of the boomerang.