2022-07-21: Bibliophilia
- Log: Bibliophilia
- Cast: Loren Voss, Marivel Armitage, Ratatoskr, Kamui, Yulie Ahtreide, Margaret
- Where: Xenobia's Library
- Date: July 21, 2022
- Summary: Perhaps the presence of a particular unprecedented library can't possibly be passed over?
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Xenobia's Library. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Second-Floor Window *>======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Xenobia's Library is a large tower. Getting here was not trivial, for it
involved a long hike through treacherous foothills that few ever cross. Now,
the imposing tower stands before you, with ancient Yevonite sculptures
carved on the outside. There is a long pathway leading up to a set of
stairs.
Unfortunately, this set of stairs has fallen into disrepair and crumbled.
The door is flat against the building, which makes it hard to enter.
However, by climbing the statues and decorations, you can reach a window on
the second floor.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Rumor had circulated in from their informants a littler further afield than Macalania regarding a particular library situated somewhere within the Calm Lands. As the story went, the library was quite ancient -- and quite remote.
And of late, quite the location of interest among particular Drifters. This presented certain challenges.
...Which, naturally, had led to a particular medical officer getting a Special Mission Because He's Good At This*.
Taking along any of the recent graduates was likely a bad call for something like this, naturally; they'd probably let something slip, even if there are those who already know who Loren is and could hazard a guess on whose auspices he's here for. It's the principle of the thing, after all, which means that--
"Tch. Of course the door's blocked."
--Loren is here on his lonesome. With the stairway in disrepair (to put it mildly), he's had to search for alternative ways in.
"Just... a little more..."
It's a precarious thing, balancing atop the head of a gargoyle while you strain to reach a nearby window, the sill of which is barely, just barely, just out of bounds. "Nhhgh--"
(*Allegedly)
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a risky Agility Action toward his party's challenge, Second-Floor Window.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
A bat flies over and drops down next to the gargoyle head that Loren is balancing on, hanging upside down from the nearby window sill. It peeps at Loren and then lets out a little bat yawn. And he's reaching...reaching...just barely.... He's almost there! It preens its neck by twisting its head for a moment before turning back to Loren.
"Hey Loren," Marivel squeaks. "You look like you could use a paw!"
She continues kind of hanging upside down though.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Second-Floor Window. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
One of the statues and decorations, curiously enough, has a much different make and coloration from the rest of those posted here. They resemble something of a blood red-clad squirrel-like humanoid creature with a horn, and very sharp teeth, and... glowing eyes?
wait
"What're you doing? What're you doing!" Speaks up Ratatoskr, incredulously, from a moment of silent pondering (a moment he will never live down) to watch Loren struggle to reach a nearby windowsill. "Oh. You want to get inside too..."
Any sort of Odessa agent being here is not a good sign, even if it's one who seems to wander off, do his own thing, and have people forget who exactly has his leash anymore. This is less horrifying than it sounds, but not by much.
"...So many of these statues and carvings resemble other things you see about the Yevon way... at least one or two resemble what was seen in Tamasqus--"
Etc, etc, etc.
Somewhere around this point, there's a flash of light from something in Ratatoskr's hand that'll see him reappear around or near the window to try and reach out and get there himself. Will he stop talking?
(no)
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Teleporter Fragment toward his party's challenge, Second-Floor Window. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui is continuing on her habit of being weirdly antisocial and distant, but at the very least in this point in time... she's here, at the moment, dressed in her ancient robes and regalia. This place seems to have drawn her interest independent of everyone else, but...
Mom is here too.
She looks towards Ratatoskr as he comments about the statues and carvings... yes, there's Yevonite carvings here. The date is... inconclusive.
"Is it in here...?"
Kamui gently glides along the staircase as her Foot Parts allow her to just leisurely hover across the gap. She looks at Loren, perched atop a gargoyle. "Hmm. You don't look the part of a predator of the night."
DG: Kamui has used her Tool Fourth Armour - Foot Parts toward her party's challenge, Second-Floor Window. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
As a Drifter, it pays to keep an ear out for new discoveries - places to investigate in search of treasure and other exciting finds. The location of interest today is a tower to the east of the Calm Lands. A library, it's been said, and one that has only recently entered the public eye. This means it's a good time to get in on the ground floor and make some big earnings!
...That's what Arnaud said, anyway, and he's the expert of the group so Yulie's not about to second-guess him. She needs to get herself out and about again, anyway - she doesn't want to let her skills get rusty in case trouble heads her way again. And trouble does have a tendency to seek her out.
And so, that leads to here and now, where Yulie finds herself at the foot of the tower on the back of a rented chocobo.
"Stay here for a bit, okay? I'll be back." She says, dismounting and reaching up to give the large bird a pat on the head and a bag of greens to munch on while she's gone.
Her attention then turns to the tower itself, and the number of people - some of whom seem vaguely familiar, but it's hard to tell from down here - who already seem to be in the process of scaling up to the second-floor window. This was originally just going to be a brief scouting outing to figure out what she's up against, but she's not about to pass up a good opportunity like this.
"Hello! Do you require the services of a Paladienne? I can accompany you..." She calls up, and begins to climb... though, finds herself sliding back down. "Ah... sorry, I'll be a minute..."
This sort of thing has never been her specialty.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Second-Floor Window.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
EARLIER:
"Alright, everyone, we need some hot cash infusions here to leverage the gil to gella exchange rate," says Margaret "#3 Contributor to Currency Flows Between Planets" the Black Pearl of Somewhere or Other. "Everyone pick a job."
"Oh, library! That's easy. Dibs," says Margaret.
NOW,
Margaret's lips are pursing to the side as she watches their host, such as he may be, start wiggling through a window. Her lips pucker. She puts her hands on her hips as a bat attacks him; she contemplates the bloody squirrel monster and the revelation of history muipeating.
"You know, I think we do need a little divine aid,' she remarks to Yulie.
Margaret then raises the hand with a ring on it with a saucy little flourish and snaps her fingers - pap! Flash! Through the air, she dashes! She tries to flit past Loren's window situation to get into the relevant space, but is stymied, briefly, at the size of the aperture. Fortunately, she does not instantly fall back.
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Ring of the South Sea toward her party's challenge, Second-Floor Window. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Second-Floor Window *>======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Xenobia's Library is a large tower. Getting here was not trivial, for it
involved a long hike through treacherous foothills that few ever cross. Now,
the imposing tower stands before you, with ancient Yevonite sculptures
carved on the outside. There is a long pathway leading up to a set of
stairs.
Unfortunately, this set of stairs has fallen into disrepair and crumbled.
The door is flat against the building, which makes it hard to enter.
However, by climbing the statues and decorations, you can reach a window on
the second floor.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Xenobia's Library - Round 1 *>======================== =======================< Results - Second-Floor Window >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Teleporter Fragment 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kamui 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fourth Armour - Foot Parts 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Ring of the South Sea 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Almost-- there--
There is familiar chatter nearby. Damn, it's that... squirrel-like Metal Demon he's encountered before. What's brought him here, Loren considers fleetingly, leaning back for half a moment more before making the attempt again, his attention briefly disrupted. No good. He has to focus on this one. One good reach should do it. Maybe if he jumps while he reaches he'll be able to cross the distance and haul himself up over the gap.
"Gah--!"
He'd ignored the bat, because it was a bat.
Until it called out to him. Startled, he slips from his perch atop the gargoyle and begins to plummet!
Fortunately, it's in this moment that Margaret streaks towards the door. She might just collect an unexpected passenger en route.
Below, Yulie meets with perhaps expected difficulties ascending the side of the library. But not to fear, between the others present who have made their own unorthodox ways (just opening the front door by ignoring the gap, or teleporting on up ala Ratatoskr) she might be able to get a hand herself.
And if not, persistence will -- eventually -- get you everywhere.
DG: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Hidden Alcove *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room you enter is circular, with very highwalls. They're filled
with shelving and books, and reach up so high that you can't see the top
before darkness overtakes them. There is no door or clear path forward,
until you spot it: a small crawlway built high up on the shelving, which
leads into a room behind the bookshelf.
Reaching it will be quite dangerous, though. It is several stories up -- and
your only handholds are the bookshelves and the occasional oversized volume,
which may give way.
When you manage to get within, you find a stone room. There is a pedestal
with a single book on it; it is open to a page, which is filled with notes:
'Spiran magic owes much to the Blessing of Althena. The fact is, simply,
that they are one and the same. I believe that I can influence the direction
of Spiran magic, though. I have the chance to make magic that is independent
of the Betrayer Goddess's influence. Independent of Vane. While Sin must be
my focus, I could yet seed the traditions of the Vile Tribe. For instance,
take the suffix -ra and -aga from our language. These imply degrees of
intensity and power. If I encourage their mages to apply them to common
names for spells, then the Vile Tribe's influence shall be manifest here. As
the humans deserve.'
Behind the pedestal is a glowing blue teleportation tile, leading deeper
into the dungeon.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Vault:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr, unfortunately for all, breaks further ahead. There are no sounds of flying dart traps or crushing weights or annoying deathly rattles, which... is semifortunate.
Demifortunate?
The window and its hallway has a few large volumes to stub one's toes on, but up ahead is a circular room with walls that go high. How high? Very high. So high, one can't look all the way up before darkness overtakes them, but that just may be sorcerous mood anti-lighting. (That is an actual thing. Some wizards make it a fashion statement to shade out ceilings. Some wizards don't want to be reminded they need their roofs replaced.)
In lieu of an obvious way forward, there's a crawlway built high up on the shelving that'll lead to another room behind the bookshelf, but that's... at least several stories up. Four, maybe five. There are no stairs. No other sculptures to humorously balance upon while awaiting being besieged by a bunch of curious Drifters and other acquaintances.
Just the shelves themselves to climb on, and a few oversized books that are either jutting out or just don't fit that neatly into the bookshelves themselves.
Ratatoskr's holding that odd crystalline device in his hands contemplatively. His eyes are as bright as they've ever been.
So like a child half his age of nineteen-to-twenty-five, he activates it and disappears in streaks of warped light to aim far higher up that bookcase and indulge, as you do.
DG: Ratatoskr has risked with his Tool Teleporter Fragment toward his party's challenge, A Hidden Alcove. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Ascending to the heavens...
CHANCE!
Margaret finds a younger man in her arms. (The impact is probably a little bone jarring, but not, this is important, to Margaret.) Margaret looks at Loren and seems to float in the air long enough to get him a sparkling wink before
fwit!
In she goes. "Down you go lad," she says, setting Loren on his feet and resisting the urge to dust him off as she tosses her hair back, before they find themselves in -- "Oh! It's right here? Well, that was easy," Margaret says, hands on her hips.
"It's not that easy, is it," Margaret asks, rhetorically.
Ratatoskr flits off with the power of the Ultron, seized, no doubt, from the ruins of the Utwig. "You know," Margaret says, "I think he's actually skipping through space with that thing, I'm just sort of -- flitting. It's like an elastic band going snap!, so to speak. - Wait, I think there's some sort of entranceway up here. Hold on, there's these rolling lad-"
One of them collapses into mold and ruin as Margaret says, "ders". She raises her hand with the magic ring on it to cradle her own face.
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Ring of the South Sea toward her party's challenge, A Hidden Alcove. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Ah, sorry." Marivel says. It's not exactly anti-sorry but it is a casual sort of sorry.
Marivel twists around and poufs back into Marivel's form. She promptly clambers down into the library.
"This is lovely, I needed to investigate this territory a bit more thoroughly so I was waiting for enterprising drifters so I could learn a bit more about what is hidden here and--
--she takes another QUAFF of BLOOD in order to return to her bat form whereupon she abuses that ability to sneak across the bookshelves and its crawlspaces--
--when the book is found...The Vile Tribe is spoken of. Marivel doesn't know what the Vile Tribe is but the note about the Betrayer Goddess of course gets her attention. "Hm..." Perhaps she shuold try ot find Xenobia?
Yeah if she was easy to find she probably would have by now.
"Wonder if there's anything of use," Marivel mutters, being a bit of a jerk about it because this isn't what she's looking for.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, A Hidden Alcove. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
One moment he's falling, certain for an awkward and embarrasing stop at the library's base.
And then he's simply in someone's arms. A certain someone's, which might be far more awkward than if he had simply fallen off the gargoyle in the first place.
Loren, in silence, covers his face with both hands and doesn't say a word after that wink, not even when Margaret deposits him within.
"...I'm not going back to jail," he tells her, once he's had a moment to compose himself. Well, more than a moment.
It might take more than a few moments, honestly.
"...Huh. Seems like it," he finds himself remarking, on Margaret's observation regarding Ratatoskr. "Looks like there's something above. Maybe--"
There was a ladder here. It's gone now.
"...Hope the shelves are more stable," he says with a grimace. Well, nothing for it but to climb up.
The hard way.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Hidden Alcove.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui quietly stares towards the chatter happening around her, shifting as they arrive at a circular room whose walls go very, very high. There's no obvious way forward, and no stairs... but... this is the kind of thing she's designed for.
"It is possible," she murmurs to Margaret on her theory of teleportation. She watches Marivel quaff some blood, and glances upwards again.
"... maybe it's up there ..."
Without explaining herself, she effortlessly starts wall-climbing upwards, running vertically up through the shelves with her Foot Parts firing off once in a while to sustain her momentum against gravity.
DG: Kamui has risked with her Tool Fourth Armour - Foot Parts toward her party's challenge, A Hidden Alcove. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Margaret says they need a little divine aid. That's invitation enough for Yulie, so with a nod her way Yulie redoubles her efforts. Thankfully, things are a little easier in the wake of the others' successes, and soon enough she's able to climb up to join everyone else. She takes a moment to catch her breath and dust off her coat and skirt before looking around at everyone. Her gaze settles, just briefly, on Ratatoskr and Loren, but she doesn't comment on them out loud.
"Hello... I'm Yulie - Yulie Ahtreide. Though I think some of you may know me already... Thank you for having me!" She greets with a polite bow.
With introductions out of the way, it's time to continue forward. Soon, they find themselves in a circular room with very high walls.
...Very high walls, and no stais or ladder or anything to aid in their ascent. Yulie's face falls a little as she looks this all over.
"When I heard this was a library, I didn't really expect this much climbing..." Yulie admits. But, she's not going to back down after coming all this way. She takes a deep breath to steel her courage and then slowly and carefully starts making her way up. She does feel a little envious of Kamui and her cool wall-climbing skills, though...
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Hidden Alcove.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Hidden Alcove *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room you enter is circular, with very highwalls. They're filled
with shelving and books, and reach up so high that you can't see the top
before darkness overtakes them. There is no door or clear path forward,
until you spot it: a small crawlway built high up on the shelving, which
leads into a room behind the bookshelf.
Reaching it will be quite dangerous, though. It is several stories up -- and
your only handholds are the bookshelves and the occasional oversized volume,
which may give way.
When you manage to get within, you find a stone room. There is a pedestal
with a single book on it; it is open to a page, which is filled with notes:
'Spiran magic owes much to the Blessing of Althena. The fact is, simply,
that they are one and the same. I believe that I can influence the direction
of Spiran magic, though. I have the chance to make magic that is independent
of the Betrayer Goddess's influence. Independent of Vane. While Sin must be
my focus, I could yet seed the traditions of the Vile Tribe. For instance,
take the suffix -ra and -aga from our language. These imply degrees of
intensity and power. If I encourage their mages to apply them to common
names for spells, then the Vile Tribe's influence shall be manifest here. As
the humans deserve.'
Behind the pedestal is a glowing blue teleportation tile, leading deeper
into the dungeon.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, |
| Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Vault:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Xenobia's Library - Round 2 *>======================== =========================< Results - A Hidden Alcove >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 20 --(12)--> 32 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 12 --(12)--> 24 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Teleporter Fragment 3 Agility Effects: Stalwart and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kamui 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fourth Armour - Foot Parts 3 Agility Effects: Stalwart and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Ring of the South Sea 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(30)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Suffer(1)|Vault(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Upwards and onwards, the lot of them!
Whatever method of fell Metal Demon science created Ratatoskr's teleportation device, it doesn't embed him in the wall outright, and he's not so far ahead that a rapidly ascending Margaret or wall-climbing Kamui will lose sight of him. (Kamui is good at making sure her wall kicks don't scuff the books or the shelves.)
The other three will have a slower way up. Yulie and Loren both can momentarily share concern about the difficulty in climbing these things (Loren gets a wobble scare at least once, Marivel has to deal with a falling book, and so forth), but they'll be able to make the climb and get to the crawlway in time to find...
There's a stone room, and a pedestal with a single book... already open. (There's also a weird magical bookmark in place to prevent the pages from being turned, implying someone else was going through this, stopped, and never came back. Oh well.)
It's an interesting insight into Spiran magic and its likenesses to the Blessing of Althena... or rather, that they are the exact same thing!
Everyone will get a chance to see it, which is great, because the alternative was everyone would have to hear Ratatoskr read it out loud and that... would be exceptionally grating.
"You know..." They probably don't, he doesn't, but he's politely standing off to the side when he's done and not trying to hoard the book for himself. It's not an ancient bullet casing or whatever, it's fine. "There was that whole Crusade... and it seems like at least someone among those of Spira had a grudge against Althena..."
"Or against humans." Ratatoskr tilts his gaze upward. "Back then, in the Photosphere... everyone else was always 'the humans' this, 'the humans' that... everything was 'the humans,' but there's more than 'humans' in Spira too."
Putting aside his speculations, there's a glowing blue teleportation tile a ways off, and now it's someone else's turn to charge off ahead and whisk everyone along on some new dangerous leg of the library, with more books in which to stub toes on.
DG: Margaret has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Spider's Web *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a room that is between the stack rooms. Here, unlike much of
Xenobia's Library, one can kind no shelves filled with books. Instead, there
is a chasm -- a canal, really, that leads down into darkness -- and a bridge
over it. The stone bridge has broken away, though. Instead, there is a
massive spider's web -- with huge, thick strands of sticky webbing that make
a bridge across.
There is, also, a book on the ground. A bookmark is tucked into a page,
conveniently; it seems some explorers had made use of it. A trio of
skeletons in the webbing suggests their fate. The page shows a drawing of an
immense spider and a note: 'During the War of the Magic Emperor, Lady
Xenobia was known for an arachnid companion: Lolikea, an enormous
spider-like creature that she used when attacking Vane and Meribia during
that conflict.'
Crossing the gap means crossing Lolikea's webbing. It is terrifically sticky
-- each step is an enormous effort, and it is too easy to end up unable to
pull free. You may well need to blast some of the webbing away -- or using
your might and tools to pull friends free.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"Oh for the love of Althena, I CAUGHT you and that was an INNOCENT, FRIENDLY wink," Margaret tells Loren when he says he's not going back to jail. "If I've violated your purity customs or something I'll pitch a coin in the box for the seraph."
THE SECRETS OF SERAPH BOOZE AND GUNS??
Margaret throws up her hands. "I'll admit it! I'll admit it. I'm a big enough girl to admit it and I'm growing as a person. I have a scar there. That's why I have the makeup over it. ALRIGHT? ALRIGHT?" She looks at Yulie --
Pauses -- and smiles at her, "I think we have met, but it HAS been a little while. Here, why don't we make our way up. Did you come for the cash call or are you with - what's her name - Maribelle? The, you know," Margaret makes a 'pouf' sound with her mouth and then does a twisty bat-shadow-puppet gesture with her hands, "her."
Either way Margaret will rise, inevitably, and at the site of the book and its peculiar bookmark, she frowns. This is getting spooky, fast. Ratatoskr speaks and Margaret puts a hand on her hi, lips quirked to the side. "Depends how you draw the circle around 'humans'," she says. "No one considers me to be 'not a human,' but there are, of course, certain signal distinctions from which I benefit."
From this reading room, there is another path - Margaret, perhaps flustered at her personal confession to Loren "Easy to Talk To" Voss, marches ahead, which means she finds the book first. Beyond her is... well, the webbing. "I'm not going to show you this," Margaret says, looking at the book and then at the others, "But this is speaking of how 'during the War with the Magic Emperor,' this so called Xenobia had an arachnid companion, Lolikea. Essentially a large spider."
Her lips purse. "Attacking Vane AND Meribia! Wasn't she ambitious."
Margaret looks forwards, across a gap in the structure. Past the remnants of a stone bridge stretches...
"That's clearly some sort of... what do they call it on Filgaia, bakelite? Or no, no, I think it's like that stuff your people had, what do you call it? Flexible?" Margaret says, marching ahead and sticking one foot onto the shiny, new-looking material!
Whereupon she sticks.
Margaret looks down. "Hm." Pull, pull. "Uh, hm." A quick rummaging of her goods and Margaret finds a small phial in a kit that reeks of makeup and perfume sachets, which she drizzles on. "Ah! Do any of the rest of you have nail polish remover?"
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Field Grooming Kit toward her party's challenge, The Spider's Web. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Did you forget my name? I'm hurt." Marivel says. "You haven't been spending your finite time with other witches, I hope, that are teaching you to be saucy."
She glances to Kamui for a moment. She has let her be for the moment (because she has some antsiness about letting any agent of Solarian know that she's capable of caring about anyone even if the agent involved is Loren).
Her eyes slant towards Yulie for a moment before adding to Kamui, "Be careful," quickly so Loren doesn't notice..! Well that's the idea anyway.
Loren isn't going back to jail?
"You're a criminal, Loren?" Marivel asks. "For shame. I thought I could trust you."
Hm.
It's spider webbing and... it's the only way forward.
She poufs back into humanoid form. She could turn back into a bat but--
--that's not in the spirit of things! Marivel tries walking across the sticky webbing!! Hopefully this doesn't result in COMEUPPANCE.
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Spider's Web.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Just-- just shut up!" Loren snaps, without looking at Margaret. Or Marivel, for that matter. When he's flushed, his ears also turn red. How embarrassing. Maybe there's more than a few reasons for him to scramble straight up a bookcase, once the opportunity presents itself.
(There might be a faintly sympathetic glance Yulie's way. They've had the opportunity to suffer jointly in this regard before, as it happens; he remembers the one time in the overgrown jungle that had pretended to be a long-lost research facility.)
"Like...wise," he heaves out, vocalizing such sympathies as he heaves himself up and over the top of one bookshelf at last, after a few too many near misses. He lies there for a moment before continuing his ascension.
It's fairly interesting stuff in this one book, here, but there's one problem for Loren--
"What's the Vile Tribe?"
--it's that his degree of ignorance about Althenian theology is abysmal. Didn't he stay here on the moon for months? How did he miss out on this?
(to be fair he was going through some stuff at the time)
"...So you're saying that's one of the reasons behind that war?" he says, glancing Ratatoskr's way. "Huh. But I don't remember hearing something like that."
It's because it wasn't. At least not publically.
Margaret has found another book, though.
Loren visibly wilts. "A giant..." Oh, he hates it. He absolutely hates it. "It's not... here, right?" He might have begun to look over his shoulders, as if expecting something to come up from--
But nothing's there.
Not behind, anyway. If he'd wilted before, he looks positively ashen now.
"It's in here somewhere, isn't it," he says, flatly. "...You mean acetone? No."
He has taken a moment to take a breath, to steady himself, because this is not a great time to have A Moment. This means that a particularly smooth, calming stone is in his hand.
"Hold still," he says to Margaret, at last.
He means it, because he's going to collect dust and compact it into a razor-sharp piece of volcanic glass. It should cut through even a giant spider's web.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, The Spider's Web. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
As some others engage in his thought, Ratatoskr's got his arms all crossed and is trying to put his Pretending To Be a Scholar Cap on. "Maybe... maybe... but then again, almost everyone on Spira I could reach treated it like they'd never met!" It is a mystery as to why so many avenues of communication completely went silent!
To Margaret's thoughts about human vs. not a human and the gradients involved, he scratches his chin. "So many of us," he means the Hyadeans, "look very different... but we're all considered the same thing. Did that carry through, then, to humans...?"
He doesn't exclaim the thought out loud as a follow-up, but yes. Moving on.
Following Margaret, there's another noticeable book on the ground and also a busted bridge that may be more sticky spider silk than stone now, but never mind that for the moment. Ratatoskr sees the word 'War' and he's on it. He is enlightened, even with a handful of terms he's yet to fully internalize, and also the sight of three deceased to take his time to try and identify them by what remains - if not by word, by what they bear.
'It's not... here, right?' Loren wonders aloud about the spider. Compared to Loren, he doesn't seem that disturbed about the prospects of it being here. He wonders if they could talk. (He'd still fight it even if they couldn't.)
As pertains the matters of web-walkin' and web-slicin', at some point Ratatoskr draws out that relic gunblade ARM for sake of helping cut some strands loose.
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Derelict Relic toward his party's challenge, The Spider's Web. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui doesn't seem to show interest in the book, despite it having large revelations about Spiran history and how that relates to the rest of Lunar's own history; there's a quiet murmur of: "In the end... I followed the same path Althena did."
Ratatoskr's comment draws her attention. "... it's easy to flatten the object of your hatred into a singular idea that can apply to a whole group. Whether it's nations, or borders, or ideas about race or species or identity or belief..."
A pause.
"Written history is ultimately an ill-fitting container that ill describes the lived experience. Yet it is taken as truth, as gospel, if only because there exists no better source... everyone is desperate to leave something behind, yet the understanding taken in by future generations relies on those innocent, or sometimes malicious, snippets of half-truth, half-lies, half-misconceptions."
A longer pause, as she actually deigns to now address the current situation:
Kamui glances to Marivel, who seems to be content to let her be for now -- but she doesn't miss that 'be careful', and nods towards Yulie's introduction too. Yulie Ahtreide...
"I'll use fire. Please stand back."
The X-Buster snaps into sight as her hair literally turns into streams of red-orange gradients of flame; she's sheathed in the red-orange spectrum of her weapon's charge--
"Speed Burner, Charge Shot."
--and then she roars to the other side, wrapped in a wreath of fire as she seeks to just break through in one forward dash.
Now that's using her head...?
DG: Kamui has risked with her Tool Kamui's Head toward her party's challenge, The Spider's Web. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Yulie nods. It probably has been a while. As for why she's here... Yulie pauses a little.
"It was the money, yes. I know her, but we didn't come here together by design..." She admits a moment. Paladiennes need to make money too! Especially ones with three other friends to feed - even if they probably are doing their own things to make money at the same time.
She may also share that sympathetic glance with Loren. One doesn't easily forget that place.
'Humans'... Yulie doesn't comment on 'human'. It's something she feels like she has a tenuous grasp on some days. She doesn't want to think about whether or not she counts anymore. She's quiet for a while longer, at least until they come to a somewhat worrying room.
She'd almost prefer more climbing over this. ...Almost.
"Ah... here, let me try something." Yulie says, rummaging through her things before pulling out a blue gem - crystallized elemental power. She draws the power from it, directing it forward in a splash! Water coats the webbing, making it a little more visible. To Margaret though...
"Sorry... not on me." Yulie apologises.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Magic Gem toward her party's challenge, The Spider's Web. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Spider's Web *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a room that is between the stack rooms. Here, unlike much of
Xenobia's Library, one can kind no shelves filled with books. Instead, there
is a chasm -- a canal, really, that leads down into darkness -- and a bridge
over it. The stone bridge has broken away, though. Instead, there is a
massive spider's web -- with huge, thick strands of sticky webbing that make
a bridge across.
There is, also, a book on the ground. A bookmark is tucked into a page,
conveniently; it seems some explorers had made use of it. A trio of
skeletons in the webbing suggests their fate. The page shows a drawing of an
immense spider and a note: 'During the War of the Magic Emperor, Lady
Xenobia was known for an arachnid companion: Lolikea, an enormous
spider-like creature that she used when attacking Vane and Meribia during
that conflict.'
Crossing the gap means crossing Lolikea's webbing. It is terrifically sticky
-- each step is an enormous effort, and it is too easy to end up unable to
pull free. You may well need to blast some of the webbing away -- or using
your might and tools to pull friends free.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Xenobia's Library - Round 3 *>======================== =========================< Results - The Spider's Web >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 32 --(24)--> 56 Fail Worry Stone 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 24 --(29)--> 53 Fail Magic Gem 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Derelict Relic 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 12 --(29)--> 41 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kamui 0 --(17)--> 17 Pass Kamui's Head 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 0 --(17)--> 17 Pass Field Grooming Kit 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 50 --(15)--> 65 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Madness|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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: Margaret has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Reshelving Exercise *>======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a long room, where the walls are covered in shelves, and there are
also some smaller shelves in the middle of the room. The shelves are all
filled with books, but there are some conspicuous gaps. Additionally, there
are four desks in the room, with a chair at them. There are several books on
each desk.
Tellingly, there is a door at the end of the room. The door is locked by
some sort of spell, but it dawns on you that there are exactly enough open
spaces for the books on the shelves. If you place each book back into its
place, it may open the door. But, you will need to place each book into the
correct place on the shelf.
A selection of the titles include, but are not limited to:
- "The History of Vane, Vol. III"
- "Yevonite Practices After the Hidesi Reformation"
- "Theories on the Civilization of Ancient Zeboim"
- "An Account of the Bevelle-Zanarkand War, Written in the First Century, As
Recorded by Orseila of Bevelle"
- "The Life of Dragonmaster Dyne"
Unfortunately, you can't keep any of these books.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"I've been experimenting with alcohol again lately," Margaret answers Marivel as she painfully washes her boots with nail polish remover, walks a few feet, oh it gets stuck again. She scowls to herself and looks at the little bottle of polish remover.
"Hm? Is that what your people calls it?" Margaret asks Loren. "It's not an acid at all, though. Well, a weak one, but so are a lot of things. They tell me if you rendered a human down, leaving outside the bones, they'd be acid inside. It's all a bit beyond - hah! Well played!"
"But do be careful," Margaret tells Loren, "because I think this is how we can cross. As for the Vile Tribe... enemies of the Goddess. They're extinct or something, I think, or they were defeated and horrible things done and now they don't exist. I could be wrong about this because it's not my field and I've been drinking, as I said."
At this point Ratatoskr is able to move forwards. Between his SQUIRREL STRENGTH and mighty blade he doesn't get that stuck. Margaret then blinks several times, halfway across, and looks at Kamui as she speaks... great wisdom, honestly. Her ears wobble a little. Looking back to Yulie, "Don't worry about it, really. I'm fairly sure the Guard's abolished nail polish by now. Anyway," splash, "I forgot I can do -"
SHE DOES THE THING SHE DID SO MANY TIMES!
"This."
Anyway, nobody hangs around the spiderweb because nobody here wants to meet Miss Muffet. The next space is long, widening slightly, to allow for an interspersing middle ridge. "It's like the library is fissioning," Margaret says, suspiciously.
"I suspect a book puzzle," she continues, trying to place a cheap guide to robbing banks into one nook and failing.
Margaret keeps diddling around with books as the obvious little alcoves SUGGESTING books that might fit but AREN'T THERE, together with the books on the reading desks, are rather clear. Mabe. When she checks the spine of one, she says, "Hang on. Hang on though. Zeboim, isn't that one of YOUR things?" she says, waggling that book at Marivel threateningly.
DG: Margaret has used her Tool How To Rob Banks - A Beginner's Guide toward her party's challenge, Reshelving Exercise. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Yulie... shudders a little, at Margaret's comments on acid. She doesn't know if it's meant to be taken literally or not, but either way it isn't a pretty thought! She nods back to her, though, as she says not to worry about it.
It isn't easy, but the manage to escape the web room, and find themselves in a long room this time. The walls are covered in shelves, but there are also some smaller shelves present as well. There are empty spaces on some of the shelves... which presents a puzzle!
Yulie breathes a sigh of relief. This is a little more like what she was expecting.
"I guess... we need to put the books among ones with similar subjects...? Or maybe the sorting system is a little more complex..." Yulie comments, consideringly. After a moment of thinking, she reaches into her coat and draws out... a Wonder Staff! It's easily recognizable as a common form of magical tool, often found in dungeons. She casts a quick spell over it and it takes on the elemental attribute, causing the head to glow with light. She waves the staff over the shelves, trying to shed light on any labels that might be there - easily visible or long-since faded.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Wonder Staff toward her party's challenge, Reshelving Exercise. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage is getting a bit frustrated at having to skip all these interesting looking book.s She starts reading up on Dragonmaster Dyne and gets like a page in before she has to go ahead and put the book in the proper spot. "UGgh fine. Maybe this place doesn't have what I'm looking for anyway."
She exhales out a sigh. "Well, maybe the Goddess's lands will have what I'm looking for. Seems a bit more suitable anyway."
She turns to look at Kamui for a bit and gestures with her hand.
Words don't come to her.
No better not get her hopes up. Marivel brings her hand back. "Oh well don't let me stop you." Marivel says to Margaret. "You are old enough to drink in my books."
She is not someone who is going to enforce Heavenly Edict.
"It's an interesting thing to call yourself. Most people don't refer to THEMSELVES as A Vile Tribe unless they are sort of reclaiming the term."
"Well there was that one lady but I haven't been able to talk to her but she seemed upset anyway. Best to let her chill out."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Reshelving Exercise. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Somewhere in all this hemming and hawing about what book goes where, Ratatoskr can be seen already putting away a book about the History of Vane, Vol. III, as if the power of a sudden oncoming wave of disinterest compels him to some sort of psychic link understanding of this locale's equivalent of the Dewey Decimal System.
(and not at all because of the faintly glowing screen of one of the few surviving Hyadean datapads in one hand that might've already given him a decent idea from previous collected records of questionable veracity or integrity, shh)
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Corrupted Records toward his party's challenge, Reshelving Exercise. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"It's... not an acid," Loren says, scrunching up his forehead. "It's neutral, like-- well, yes, what do you think's in your stomach!" he declares to Margaret, throwing up his hands after pocketing his stone. The summoned blade cuts, yes, but the best he can do is perhaps unstick Margaret after a manner of speaking.
Which may be just as well, since they still do need to cross.
"Enemies, huh... I wonder if they were the ancestors of the Spirans." Loren is... probably wrong about this, all considering, given the text in the book. But who can know for certain?
In any case, passage across the webbing is made slowly, with care, but in time they arrive in a separate section of the library.
Which is in need of a little cleanup, apparently.
"So... what, the door won't open up until we sort out the books? That's weird," Loren remarks, gazing at the books in need of shelving.
He turns to pace the stacks, pulling out a bar of something, unwrapping it, and picking off a few sticky bits of it to toss off occasionally as he investigates the organizational schmema. Hey, he's gotten lost in libraries before. "It's got to be by subject. Trust me. But then there'll be a secondary scheme at least. Is it sub-subject level? Or is it going to be alphabetical? By author?"
He's going to need a full view of things before he can work this one out.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, Reshelving Exercise. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Things get a bit awkward again.
Kamui looks to Margaret instead. The Vile Tribe... "Were they not just driven past the boundary? That was a very long time ago, though." She shrugs. Lunar history isn't her strong suit, so to say, but...
Once they're past the spiderwebs, there's a locked door, and... several books on the desks around it, as well as spaces on the shelves for the books.
"..."
Margaret waves the book at Marivel, and squints for a moment. "The First Century, huh... that wouldn't be that far off from Kasim's time."
Kamui pauses for a moment and just... ... she just sits down and starts reading. She doesn't bother to go help solve the puzzle. Did something take her interest?
DG: Kamui has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reshelving Exercise.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Reshelving Exercise *>======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a long room, where the walls are covered in shelves, and there are
also some smaller shelves in the middle of the room. The shelves are all
filled with books, but there are some conspicuous gaps. Additionally, there
are four desks in the room, with a chair at them. There are several books on
each desk.
Tellingly, there is a door at the end of the room. The door is locked by
some sort of spell, but it dawns on you that there are exactly enough open
spaces for the books on the shelves. If you place each book back into its
place, it may open the door. But, you will need to place each book into the
correct place on the shelf.
A selection of the titles include, but are not limited to:
- "The History of Vane, Vol. III"
- "Yevonite Practices After the Hidesi Reformation"
- "Theories on the Civilization of Ancient Zeboim"
- "An Account of the Bevelle-Zanarkand War, Written in the First Century, As
Recorded by Orseila of Bevelle"
- "The Life of Dragonmaster Dyne"
Unfortunately, you can't keep any of these books.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Xenobia's Library - Round 4 *>======================== =======================< Results - Reshelving Exercise >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 56 --(3)--> 59 Pass Soylent Nutribar 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 53 --(3)--> 56 Pass Wonder Staff 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 12 --(0)--> 12 Pass Corrupted Records 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 41 --(3)--> 44 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kamui 17 --(23)--> 40 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 17 --(23)--> 40 Fail How To Rob Banks - A Beginner's Gui 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 65 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Reckless(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Margaret has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Byblos *>============================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come to a large, octagonal-shaped room. This lay at the very heart of
the tower, and has tall shelves on each side. These contain a number of
tomes, like the rest. However, there are alcoves built into the shelves,
with a small stand for a number of important books. First, though, there is
the matter of the center of the room. A pedestal rests there, with an open
book upon it.
As you approach, text on the page glows red: BYBLOS
The fiend that appears is demonic. Pyreflies swirl into the form of a
horned, fur-covered creature. The horns are like a steer's, but the muzzle
is bear-like, and it has huge claws. Byblos throws forth blades of air --
and then swings down with huge claws, striking at everyone that comes close.
"The master..." the fiend bellows, "...will BROOK NO INTERFERENCE!"
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"I mean maybe Vile means something different to them," Margaret says. "Like if it - OH! What if it means something in Al Bhed? Do any of you know Al Bhed?" Margaret seems to have had a brilliant idea, probably from cooking cheap eggs with Magilou until the crack of dawn.
Which means that she's able to confidently answer Loren: "Eggs." She smiles at him, one hand on her hip.
"It's a reasonable sort of security, I suppose, and if you didn't deduce the logic - which might be exclusive to this Xenobia and her cronies --" A pause then, as she tells Kamui, "That's right. I think. I missed some spaces in my education, when I was -"
A burning orange grove.
"Younger. Oi!" Margaret says, to Loren. "That's how you get ants!"
Ratatoskr and Kamui seem to be participating gently. Kamui in particular is discoveirng the joy of reading and Margaret is not going to take that away from a young lady like that. Fortunately, books do get moved around - "You could come back later, I suppose," she tells Marivel before they shelve the biography of the Dragonmaster, and -
A door opens. Into another chamber!
"Alright," Margaret says with a clap of her hands. "Miss Marivel, that's the book you're looking for, I be" Her lips purse as if she just bit into a lemon when the text glows. She looks at Yulie as if to say 'what can you do' with a shrug of her shoulders, before the visage of the thing appears and --
It attacks without self-introduction!? A screaming blade of vacuum-propelled air - perhaps some sort of FANG from a DEMON -- whips through the Drifters' impromptu formation! "THE MASTER WILL BROOK NO INTERFERENCE!" the creature bellows.
"We're just here to learn about acceleration magic!!" Margaret protests.
Byblos rumbles at Margaret, "And what, pray tell, would THAT be, interloper?!"
"Wonderful," Margaret says, turning away from the Fiend to make a sort of -- splendid-engulfing-heart-hands gesture at everyone while tapping her foot on the ground. A strange tingling feeling runs up their spine - the thrill of the open road! A crackle around the ankles - the swiftness of a fine steed!
* THUNDER ROAD
* A glamorous magic reduces global cooldown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJh0nVhB5sY
DG: Margaret has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Byblos.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Mm, I've never heard of a Vile Tribe--some of their ancestors seemed to clearly come from Filgaia directly, but perhaps others fled the Goddess upon learning the truth of what she had done. Still... tis strange that they would call her a Betrayer Goddess. I'd be rather surprised if any of this Vile Tribe particularly cared about Ana or I. Perhaps they consider it a general betrayal of Filgaia? Mm... But they don't seem to be particularly affiliated with the Guardians either. No, whatever this 'betrayal' is--perhaps it is a new treachery. Once you betray your closest friends, tis easier to betray again."
She looks to Loren. "Isn't that right?"
But she reaches for her microphpone. She's been here once before so something tells her she ought to expect--
BROOK NO INTEREFERENCE
"Yes." Marivel murmurs. "Well then. I would be ever so happy if you could tell me more about your master but I doubt you would be so inclined...!"
She extends her microphone into the air.
"APORT!"
And a bucket of bookmarks comes crashing down upon Byblos!
She glances to Kamui. "Presuming they mean the first century of arrival, and hadn't started over after the war with a new 'first century'."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Byblos. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
"They may not identify as the Vile Tribe, much like how Metal Demon is a term conjured by a third party, or..." Kamui pauses. "Mavericks, I suppose." There's a very meaningful pause, and then they emerge towards another chamber and...
Kamui's name visibly changes to Viewing Cutscene.
There's a dizzying overhead drone zoom from the room beyond, eventually zipping forward to take a dramatic shot at the Byblos emerging out of the book in a swirl of Pyreflies.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECNRH3-j5WY )
"The master, huh..." Kamui immediately leaps out of the Demon Fang's path, and starts... starts...
She doesn't start fighting. Instead, she mysteriously starts running around the room and standing on these circles as domino circles light up on them. Some say mechanics are for cars, but Reploids really, really appreciate mechanics.
Then she's trapped, because she's suddenly on a circle with TWO domino dots and she can only light up one of them. Oh no!
To make matters worse, an ominous whirring sound erupts as a golden arrow surrounded by four cardinal ones appears above her. Kamui looks up towards it.
"..... ah."
DG: Kamui has risked with her Tool Fourth Armour - Arm Parts toward her party's challenge, Byblos. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He doesn't miss that look -- or comment -- directed his way. "Spare me," he deadpans, to Marivel.
Margaret tells him what's in her stomach. The look on Loren's face is something to the tune of 'I can't believe I walked right into that one' and 'I can't believe you even said that'. It's a face of great, terrible displeasure, however you color it.
Pacing the shelving gives him some insight into how it's organized here. "Alphabetical by author, but chronological for histories -- I think -- and by subject for everything else!" Loren calls back. There is a pause. "--Why do you care? You don't live here!"
Ah, people who have live-in servants really are the worst.
The door opens at long-last, permitting passage into the chamber beyond. "Seems like we're getting somewhere," Loren remarks, readjusting the bag slung over his shoulders as something within it wriggles. He glances down at it and scowls. "Oh, for..."
What's in the bag may remain, for now, a mystery. They have quickly a more pressing matter at hand.
"Seriously?" is his response as the FIEND appears from nowhere, a last-ditch protection from the lady who established this library. "Fine! I guess we're doing this!" Margaret isn't the only one to cast forth a protective effect upon those gathered here to scope out the depths of the library and face off against a demon: threading Ether through, around, and under the wires looped around his left wrist (hidden, barely, under his shirt sleeve) Loren casts forth a widespread shielding effect: spells and claws alike might find themselves deflected for a time, should Byblos try his luck against the interlopers.
If anyone notices a white muzzle (with a coal-black nose) work its way out from the corner of the bag to breathe deeply of the ambient Ether around Loren, well. That's up to them.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Ether Tuner toward his party's challenge, Byblos. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr never gets around to seeing the books he does want to read when they all get neatly shelved, but if he feels upset about that he can just yank the books out and leave them on the floor for the next group of library travelers. If he's of the mind to do that.
Talk about things come up like the Vile Tribe and who (or what) they are (or were), their beef with Althena, and Kamui mentioning the Metal Demon being a term conjured by a third party -
"I'm not offended!" Ratatoskr interrupts the meaningful pause, but he doesn't get much chance to ask or share any of his musings when Byblos appears and swings him into one of the opposite walls from taking a brunt of slicing wind against his everything, leaving a small trail of quicksilver following him as an ominous ring surrounds Kamui.
His wounds knitting up and also feeling uncomfortably energetic from the Thunder Road as he dashes somewhere to Kamui's position atop one of the domino dots by... mistake?
"Come on...!" Ratatoskr calls out as he starts firing off laser blats straight from the head and - once sufficiently survived(?) of whatever's about to come his way, launch in there with a flurry of limbs and blasts of compressed air.
DG: Ratatoskr has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Byblos.
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Together, they're able to put the books back into the right shelves and, in response, a door opens! Yulie quickly follows everyone through, where they find themselves in a large, octagonal room. There are many books here, of course - but most noticeable is the open book in the very center which soon produces a demonic Fiend!
"A-ah, wait, hold on...!" Yulie pleads... but, the Fiend, Byblos, has no intention of stopping. Yulie draws out her three metal, bladed rings, holding them out in front of her as a barrier intercepts the incoming blades of wind.
"...O-okay. I'm going to try something - be careful, everyone." Yulie says. This is... a pretty risky place to try something big. She's not entirely sure she has fine control over the Guardian Programs yet, but... they need something to turn the tides here.
"Linking to the Material..." Yulie murmurs to herself. The device on her wrist reacts, unfurling to its full form and glowing faintly. "Ready to operate: Code M!"
In response, something begins to form in the air above her. It's... slower, than it usually would be. A draconic form, scaled in body but with large feathered, armored wings and a horn jutting out of its back aglow with red-orange energy. It gives off a sensation faintly reminiscent of the Guardian Moor Gault, but if there's something essential missing from it. The way it moves... can only be described as 'laggy'. This isn't the way it's normally supposed to function... but its power is still evident as it rears back and unleashes a pillar of flame directly at Byblos.
DG: Yulie Ahtreide has used her Tool Marduk Gaze toward her party's challenge, Byblos.
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Byblos *>============================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come to a large, octagonal-shaped room. This lay at the very heart of
the tower, and has tall shelves on each side. These contain a number of
tomes, like the rest. However, there are alcoves built into the shelves,
with a small stand for a number of important books. First, though, there is
the matter of the center of the room. A pedestal rests there, with an open
book upon it.
As you approach, text on the page glows red: BYBLOS
The fiend that appears is demonic. Pyreflies swirl into the form of a
horned, fur-covered creature. The horns are like a steer's, but the muzzle
is bear-like, and it has huge claws. Byblos throws forth blades of air --
and then swings down with huge claws, striking at everyone that comes close.
"The master..." the fiend bellows, "...will BROOK NO INTERFERENCE!"
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Xenobia's Library - Round 5 *>======================== ==============================< Results - Byblos >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 59 --(23)--> 82 Fail Ether Tuner 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yulie Ahtreide 56 --(0)--> 56 Pass Marduk Gaze 4 Combat Effects: None -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 12 --(0)--> 12 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 44 --(0)--> 44 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kamui 40 --(0)--> 40 Pass Fourth Armour - Arm Parts 4 Combat Effects: Rally and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 40 --(23)--> 63 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored Xenobia's Library!
============================<* Xenobia's Library *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Rune Edge *>===========================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You select an alcove -- and the others have thick stone doors slam shut,
blocking access off to their books. The tome that you pick has a foreword of
interest:
'I found that Spiran weaponcraft is far more advanced than what is common in
Meribia, Glenwood, and even the Frontier. They are adept at applying
mystical qualities to their weaponry, coming from their independent
development of the Blessing. This likely came from the machina I found in
the aftermath of the War they fought before my arrival. That appears to use
an entirely different type of sorcery, which is rooted in the ruins I found
underneath Zanarkand. I have used this principle to craft weapons that can
convert magic into offensive power, directly.'
What follows are plans to craft Rune Edges: weapons that can draw on one's
magical energies to deliver more powerful hits. With the assistance of a
craftsperson and a mage, these weapons could be made for those present.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
STORM OF BOOK
BORNE FROM BROOK
OF OUR FAITHFUL READERS
Kamui bears the burdens of battle.
Ratatoskr bears the burden of offense, firing upon the Fiend with profound force. He - and Kamui - must bear brutal clawing as well. Yulie advances inwards and is able to sustain a pillar of flame - "AUGH! YOU WOULD BRING FLAME INTO A LIBRARY!? EXTINGUISH ALL SMOKING MATERIALS BEFORE READING, WRETCH!"
and in turn, bears her share. The rain of bookmarks slows the creature, though, as Marivel's spell bears down-- and it is Loren Voss who bears the greatest act of all.
The, uh, bear.
Sword, flame, saber, and microphone combine, litten by laser beam. Soon enough the fiend discorporates into its component Pyreflies, and Margaret wipes her forehead with one arm. "Speaking of my stomach, this is working up an appetite. Which of these should we take first?"
However decided --
The tomes are perhaps not what Marivel Armitage seeks.
But Margaret leans over anyone's shoulder to read second hand. Worse, she's one of those people who reads subvocally to herself. Is this why she invented speed-up spells? But --
"Is this..."
"Could this--!!!!"
* Few greater treasures could come to a bunch of support-cast wizards -- could they?
<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.
Together, they pull it off! Code M, it's job done, dissipates into its constituent nanomachines, which soon return to whence they came. Byblos is reduced to pyreflies!
"If you're hungry, I could cook something for everyone once we're out of here, as thanks for letting me come along..." Yulie offers.
Soon enough, however, they find something that draws her attention - plans for magic-based weapons! Yulie frowns a little, drawing out her three bladed rings again and looking them over.
These are... the exact same bladed rings she left Ciel Shelter with. She's probably long overdue for an upgrade.
...Look, when does she ever need to attack physically, anyway!?
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Margaret and Loren summon helpful and protective energies to assist, and Kamui doesn't miss the cloudbear poking out of the corner of his bag...
Ratatoskr shouts immediately that he's not offended, and Kamui blinks a few times. He ends up standing side by side with her, though, as they bear the brunt of the attacks, but Yulie soon summons a Guardian whose nature... Kamui can quite easily detect.
What is going on there? Meanwhile, her mother drops a bucket of bookmarks on Byblos... ruined! All ruined!
She also comments about the first century. "... mm."
Kamui lowers her head after the battle is done, looking around. But it doesn't seem like any book appeals in particular to her. "It's not here either... I'm running out of time..."
A quiet frown. "I have to find it, no matter what."
She just disappears in a blue beam of light right after, without even leaving a commendation for anyone. Geez, rude?
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
There happens to be a sample Rune Edge right there (it's not in the best shape, it's been there a while), which Ratatoskr scoops up and gives it a look while overhearing Margaret's subvocal reading. He gives it a few cursory swings like an overenthusiastic child, and it is before the final sentence he strikes the edge of a decorative stone sculpture...!
He winces as the blade bounces off and sends him staggering backwards.
'I have used this principle to craft weapons that can convert magic into offensive power, directly.'
"Into offensive power? Into offensive power!" Ratatoskr chides, repeats, and looks it over, and... "oh, that makes sense..."
For all of his genuine interest in the fighting techniques and methods of the people of the two worlds, there's a whole kind of it he can't ever use. The Rune Edge is useless in his hands!