2022-07-22: Lake Macalania Recon
- Log: Lake Macalania Recon
- Cast: Loren Voss (GMing), Magilou, Marivel Armitage, Ida Everstead-Rey, Layna Manydays, Seraph Lanval
- Where: Lake Macalania
- Date: July 22, 2022
- Summary: In advance of a particular plan, several individuals head to Solaris-controlled Lake Macalania in order to survey the area (and potentially, even the odds a touch).
DG: A party led by Layna Manydays is now entering Lake Macalania - Solaris Control.
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Quickly and Quietly...ish *>===================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Things have changed in the Macalania Lake region. Even here, a distance from
where Solaris has entrenched themselves, you're able see the signs of their
fortifications.
Whatever it is you're intending to do here -- reconnaissance, sabotage, or
otherwise -- you'll have to begin your initial approach carefully, lest you
bring down the entire bee's nest that is the Solaris forces stationed here.
Or, given that a group of patrol Gears are headed towards and sure to pass
this place where you now stand, perhaps /speed/ in this particular moment
towards a less visible position is essential.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up! and Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
So far, the quest for the shrines has gone fairly swimmingly, as these things tend to head. Progress has been made at a decent enough rate to claim the stones held in the heart of the elemental shrines of Lunar, the one means by which the way to Althena can be opened.
All that remains is the water shrine's trial.
...And here is the part where a problem has made itself apparent, for the water shrine rests in Lake Macalania itself.
The lake, about which Solaris has made its encampment, as they continue their research into -- and attempt to breach -- Macalania Temple itself. As it goes, the matter of the shrine is likely little concern of theirs. But accessing it will be impossible as long as they're present.
A plan is underway. There will be some way to correct the balance of this region, but in order to implement it, more information is needed. This is where everyone present comes in -- perhaps you're assisting out of the good of your hearts. Maybe someone's paying you. Maybe someone even twisted your arm. But you're here, regardless, on a fact-finding mission into the interior of Lake Macalania. Your goal: learning more about Solaris' operations here -- their strengths. Their weaknesses.
Their schedules and timetables.
If you get caught, it could be dire. But you're professionals. You won't get caught.
Your approach is a careful one as you near the perimeter. Who knows by what means Solaris will be monitoring the borders?
Your answer comes quickly enough: you can see them in the distance. A pair of Gears, one moving more slowly than the other. They must be on patrol but... something is visibly wrong with the one. It's delayed, its partner slowing to match its pace as if its pilot were concerned. If you're quick, you'll easily be able to slip past before they get even close enough to spot you.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
A lake can't be that big a deal, Magilou said!
Then she tried to visit the lake.
Then she tried to visit the lake again.
Then she tried to visit the lake a third time.
And that's about the time Magilou got fed up with getting foiled at the gate and joined a party instead. See how they like an entire group of idiots with portraits next to their names! Harrumph.
She's more carefree about all this, on the surface, than she really feels about the whole thing; Magilou still remembers the devastation of Guara Bobelo, as much as she pretends nothing happened now they've restored their normal level of dilapidation. Perhaps that's why she gives some token credit to the idea of being careful, as they sneak in through.
"There," she points, crouching behind frosty foliage. "That one's injured, or... whatever you say about Gears, who cares? Anyway, come on. Bienfu?" Magilou has already tapped the Geotree in this location in her previous attempts to get in, at least, so she doesn't have to sneak around to find it.
There is a deep sigh, emanating from Magilou, much more pipsqueakish than her voice. "... Normin Breyve..." Bienfu mutters, activating the Geoboard Magilou kicks up. (Where was she keeping that? That's a secret.)
She proceeds to surf the Earthpulse flow right across the gap. She doesn't even yell 'YAHOO!' in the process, so things are really dire.
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Normin Breyve - Geoboard Activation! toward her party's challenge, Quickly and Quietly...ish. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage is all too willing to break into Solaris though the problem here isn't just the Solaris base. There are SIGNIFICANT ODDS that Marivel could succeed in breaking into a SOlarian facility into the temples below only to then have to face the trials normally reserved for Summoners, and then--after that--having to promptly face the trial shrine underneath it. Again.
Yeah. It'll be frankly easier to storm in with a small army of adventurers and hope they could tear the base up top at their leisure and then take a smaller group inside and even that feels like a rough scheme because that ignores the problem of Odessa now planning their own move to not just conquer Filgaia but the entire sector with a super battleship. Marivel is tempted to just make a deal with solaris since they'd arguably be going after the Guard here, but she trusts Solaris about as far as she can throw them.
Which, with magic, is pretty far but not far enough.
Marivel Armitage is in the party but as usual her gear cannot be removed nice try. It's all greyed out with Hob and Nob in the WEAPON window and Crimson Noble Cape in the ARMOR category. Her accessories are something called an Emulator and a Black Market Pass. Nothing to worry about.
She crouches behind Magilou and helpfully informs her, "Damaged." She pauses. "You use the word damaged."
Magilou suddenly summons a floating hoverboard and starts floating across the Earthpulse.
Marivel shrugs haplessly, shaking her head before quaffing some BLOOD and turning into a spooky MIST that kind of floats near-ish to Magilou.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Quickly and Quietly...ish. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Macalania is still bitterly cold, even at this time of year. The Lady is upset, as she has every right to be.
Ida made sure to bundle up for this one; she's donned cold-weather gear over her dark combat armor, including a heavy Arctican mantle bearing a white lotus emblem. "Damaged," she says, to Magilou, and she glances at Marivel as she also says that. Azoth would think of it as 'injured', though, and Ida frowns as the thought bubbles up in her mind. She thinks back to the massive machine she saw in the Shrine of Darkness.
Magilou, predictably, sets off on her own, and Ida waits a few seconds--just enough to make her a distraction--before she gestures to Layna and the others, silently. Then she leaps out from behind a fallen log and races for the patch of frozen trees on the other side of the path. A brisk winter wind whips up behind her, stirring up the snowdrifts and providing a much-needed boost.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Quickly and Quietly...ish. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna has been keeping her eye on the quest for the shrines. She knows it's going to run into a certain obstacle, because there's one particular shrine many Drifters have already been through once before due to Sin's intervention - Lefay, Shrine of the Water Trial. Problem is, it currently lies deep within Solaris-controlled territory...
...Which means, reconnaissance is going to be of the utmost importance. They'll need a solid plan of action if they want to break through to the shrine. Fortunately, Layna's been through here a few times before - as much as she's one of the last people one thinks of when they think 'stealthy recon mission', she knows the kind of dangers to expect.
And, most importantly, she has a very big, very tough robot which will come in handy if things ever get dicey.
The VALS-4 Corsair, similarly to Layna herself, isn't particularly stealthy. But she does have a little trick she's acquired that might make things a little easier. In one of her previous visits, she acquired a device to allow her to use magic through her Gear.
"Alright... let's see if this works." Layna says to herself, cracking her knuckles. She recites a quick incantation, weaving together wind and water magic, and a windstorm starts to build in the Corsair's vicinity - quickly turning into a snowstorm. The weather of Lake Macalania is notoriously fickle. Maybe they won't think twice about a building snowstorm.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Quickly and Quietly...ish.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Seraph Lanval's one of the ones who have been wrangled to the end of getting a better read on Solaris' presence at Macalania Lake.
He holds up a finger as he and an indeterminate number of the collected come within earshot.
"It'sh true, they may not be able ta tell I'm here... but one thing we shaw, mosht of Spira... 're Resonant." Lanval's favorite(?) evidence exhibit: the number of people that, no matter how hard he tried, kept shooing him off that stretch of Luca road he so enjoyed laying down on. (it's a water thing you can't understand it unless you're a water spirit, that beaten piece of road was so good)
"'n I'm thinkin'... musht be due ta how sho much shtuff happensh 'round 'em." He points over to a cluster of pyreflies over yonder. (Cluster of pyreflies goes 'ooooOOooooOoooo' back, not out of any stimulation or impetus, they just do.) "Sho... may be that the mortal Solarian people're alsho Resonant by now."
In other words, a Seraph's presence may no longer guaranteed easy mode for grabbing things or doing stuff unnoticed. Lanval more or less has to play nice with the same rules as the corporeal out of concern. As Magilou takes off and Ida gestures to the rest, Lanval follows...
...by making use of the brisk winter wind to ride along on the back of a flat-bodied... hollow horse thing.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bouyant Steed toward his party's challenge, Quickly and Quietly...ish. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Quickly and Quietly...ish *>===================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Things have changed in the Macalania Lake region. Even here, a distance from
where Solaris has entrenched themselves, you're able see the signs of their
fortifications.
Whatever it is you're intending to do here -- reconnaissance, sabotage, or
otherwise -- you'll have to begin your initial approach carefully, lest you
bring down the entire bee's nest that is the Solaris forces stationed here.
Or, given that a group of patrol Gears are headed towards and sure to pass
this place where you now stand, perhaps /speed/ in this particular moment
towards a less visible position is essential.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, |
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and Quicken:_Agility_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control - Round 1 *>=============== ===================< Results - Quickly and Quietly...ish >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Bouyant Steed 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Normin Breyve - Geoboard Activation 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Zephyr Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Alert! *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
One moment you're moving across a section of the lake region, your only
companion the snow and ice. Then--
SFX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk
The sound of a siren in your immediate vicinity can only mean one thing --
in spite of your efforts, Solaris is on the alert! The tell-tale sound of
approaching Gears quickly follows the initial alarm. Oh no!
Now is the time to move on out here, as quickly as you can!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, |
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and Quicken:_Agility_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
In the distance, the Gears on patrol continue at their slowed pace, moving towards this location. As if on cue, the wind whips up, a cloud of white further obfuscating whatever view the Solarian Gears might have had to this point, even if they had not been slowed and potentially distracted by apparently equipment troubles.
Everyone is able to cross without incident, moving their way quickly across this section of the twisting lakeside region and towards another. Soon, the rise will conceal them from view, and with the wind blowing steadily, even their tracks -- Gear and footprints alike, where they exist -- will be obscured.
How much further is it from here to the outermost parts of Solaris' encampments? The weather is a double-edged sword: it is as difficult to see ahead as it would have been difficult for the Gears to have seen them.
But there is just ice and snow, a blurred field of white ahead of them.
A thought might present itself in time. Might it be... possible that Solaris has other defenses in play than the patrol at the perimeter? And if so, would the current weather conditions make it difficult to spot them?
Yes, is the answer for both. There's quiet 'click' from somewhere nearby.
A siren begins to wail, a long and hideous cry.
At first, nothing appears to heed the cry. Then, from behind! There is the loud sound of the approach of--
A single Gear. Someone with a good memory will sight it as one of the ones from the patrol. But just the one. Was the other too... wounded (?) to come?
The weather affords an opportunity to evade the incoming Gear, but it's an opportunity that could quickly elude those present. Hurry.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Once they get past safely, the witch remarks: "Well, good thing that Gear was so injured!" Magilou, both Ida and Marivel told you the word was damaged, you are doing this on purpose.
"And okay, yes, it's just like the bad old days, fine," Magilou huffs, to Lanval, "but you can still possess things, can't you? By the way, that device is hideous." She's looking right at his Bouyant Steed. Rude?
Magilou clutches her fingers about her arms, and grouses: "And it... is... freezing! Hey, pirate queen, do you have heating in that tin can? Can I borrow it?" Magilou's patter is cheerful, despite the arena.
Until -- click.
"Ohhh boy." Magilou -- who has probably heard the '!' sound before, really -- grumbles, as she kicks back onto her Geoboard and starts surfing into the awful weather she was complaining about moments prior.
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Normin Breyve - Geoboard Activation! toward her party's challenge, Alert!. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"I do, but you're gonna have to come up here if you wanna get it." Layna replies cheerfully to Magilou's comment. That's another advantage of bringing the Corsair to Lake Macalania... though, external icing is still a problem, even with precautions taken beforehand.
The party continues through the ice and snow unnoticed... for a time. Unfortunately, it isn't that easy to slip through Solaris's net undetected - they're a threat for a reason. Before long, an alarm begins to sound. Layna curses from the interior of the Corsair.
"Right, let's move - we might still be able to salvage this." Layna says, pushing her Gear forward at its top speed.
This, unfortunately, is still not very fast but hopefully it'll be enough.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Alert!.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel forms a face in the mist so she can wrinkle her nose.
There's a click, and then sirens--but these are the LEAST of Marivel's concerns. Well maybe not the LEAST LEAST but it's pretty down there. Especially compared to--
"Magilou!! Be careful!! If you're not CAREFUL you might end up DAMAGED."
She mimes an exhale after, glancing to Lanval, then to Layna. The Solarians might be resonant? It always seemed a bit touch and go at first, but nowadays she just assumes most experienced drifters are--including the 'drifters' associated with Solaris who typically do surface investigations.
Marivel shifts into WOLF FORM and trots after Magilou since that's honestly easier than trying to mist through a blizzard. She'd probably dissipitate if she tried THAT but at least wolves got fur.
"Yes Ida, good work." She adds mid trot. Two versus one!!
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Alert!. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The wind keeps blowing, stirring up loose snow in a big, thick drift. Ida makes it to the bole of a tree, and crouches down, waiting until the party is reunited. (Or as reunited as it's going to get, thanks Magilou. "You do have your Vessel, right?" she says, her lips twisting in a frown as she looks to Lanval. It's just common Seraphic sense, but there are moments where Lanval decides something is a matter for Future Lanval to worry about.
And then:
"Damnation," Ida hisses, as the alarm pierces the air. She looks down the path, and sizes up the Gear--Layna could certainly deal with it, but not without alerting the entire facility. This time, Ida hangs back a bit, trying to keep the cloud of blowing snow near the Gear. It's a bit like trying to hide a sofa under a throw rug, but maybe it will throw off their sensors.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Alert!. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmm, true," Lanval remarks as he lazily speeds along on the back of his hideous device, because the narrative is in full agreement with Magilou's observation. "Of courshe I do," he assures Ida, when the next question ought to be 'show it' because it's always a double-digit percentage chance it was someone's drink.
"Heyyyyy now, there ain't been a more loyal shteed!" Lanval pipes up. "Alwaysh shmilin', alwaysh floatin' along." Because it is an ancient nigh-invulnerable pool toy whose creepy beady-eyed smile has not faded in all the years that has passed. Not even erosion wants to take that thing. The laws of nature are that creeped out.
The blizzard is becoming more oppressive as they go inside, and Seraph Lanval can't do that much about it directly - but he's also not that susceptible to the concept of hypothermia.
There's a click, and there's wailing siren, and then heavy footsteps from behind. Seraph Lanval, broken from his leisurely approach to high-stakes stealth, actually bothers to sit up. Where Ida has something to try and cover the Gear...
He keeps an eye out for any Fiends that might be nearby, and in one hand, the Bubble Pipe. If one should show... he'll attempt to bubble one up and get it to float behind them in an attempt to convince the pursuing Gear that it was a Fiend that set the alarm off.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Alert!. Rally!
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Alert! *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
One moment you're moving across a section of the lake region, your only
companion the snow and ice. Then--
SFX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk
The sound of a siren in your immediate vicinity can only mean one thing --
in spite of your efforts, Solaris is on the alert! The tell-tale sound of
approaching Gears quickly follows the initial alarm. Oh no!
Now is the time to move on out here, as quickly as you can!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, |
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and |
| Quicken:_Agility_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control - Round 2 *>=============== =============================< Results - Alert! >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Normin Breyve - Geoboard Activation 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Zephyr Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 0 --(12)--> 12 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Deus Ex Machina *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Once, not all that long ago, the Al Bhed were here in force.
This much is as clear as day even if you weren't there during that fateful
battle because here, right in your path, is one of their Machina. Abandoned,
no doubt, when the arrival of Sin made staying here a fool's errand.
But -- and here's the kicker -- this one's still got some life in it.
Perhaps if you could work out how to control it, you might be able to use it
to your advantage in negotiating this place.
(OOC: Feel free to pose it in use in the next card!)
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and Secret:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Lights glow brightly in the distance behind them. The Gear is advancing upon them. The Corsair, perhaps, might be able to handle it in a pitched battle, but it would be wise not to test this: there's no telling if there are others operational, which might soon be on their way. That one of the patrol hasn't come after them -- likely because it can't -- also is not entirely the boon it seems: it might still be able to help coordinate with any others incoming.
But they have speed. And the weather, the haze of fog and snow accelerated by Ida's gambit, is on their side.
As is that bubble, containing a rather put-off-looking Flan, come floating off towards the glowing lights.
It's a large Flan. It might count for something.
That gunfire fills the air in the moments after speaks for the success of this particular subterfuge. They've shaken their pursuit successfully!
...Marivel, though, will find that the cold is tough on her wolf toesies :(
But an opportunity presents itself soon after. This machine in their path was once an Al Bhed anti-tank weapon. It had been abandoned here when Sin arrived, but here it still rests, as pristine as the day of that pitched battle. More importantly, though...
...it could still be made functional. It needs some fuel, of some sort. The engine needs to be checked. Some of the all-terrain treads need realignment. But... think of what this could be used for.
Think of that Solaris Gear, for instance, still perhaps close enough at hand.
Or think of what obstacles a functional Machina might be thrown against in the depths of Solaris-occupied territory.
But it needs to get running, first.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Ordinarily, Layna would be all for taking the fight right to the enemy Gear. ...But, she knows the situation isn't ideal for it - Solaris Gears can be very dangerous, and a drawn out fight might end up attracting more attention. Even she knows how to pick her battles, and this isn't one she wants to pick just yet.
So, she flees! Running away is also an important pirate activity. Retreat, thankfully, sometimes results in opportunity - and the opportunity presented before them now is an Al Bhed machina. Layna leans in closer to the screen to get a better look at it, then gives a whistle of appreciation.
"Well now, ain't this a beauty? Ida, Marivel, can you do anything with this?" Layna asks. Out of all of them, she figures they're probably the best here with tech. For her part, though... Layna presses a few buttons on her dashboard, activating her mining radar.
The Corsair used to be a mining Gear before Layna got her hands on it, and as a result it's equipped with a radar that can scan the area, map it, and highlight points of interest. In the past, this would be veins that have yet to be mined. These days, it's usually treasure - but it can also be used to track the movements of foes. While the others deal with the Machina, Layna can keep an eye out for their pursuer - or pursuers, if they've found some help.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Mining Radar toward her party's challenge, Deus Ex Machina. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted! Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"'Come up here,' she says," Magilou grumbles, to herself, glaring at Layna's Corsair. "As if that's not where the snow's coming from!" Well, the snow is falling from the sky, so... technically if Magilou flies up there, she'll be closer to it..?
Nope. It's probably nonsense.
But -- she has to be careful! Or she might get damaged! Which might explain why, when Magilou dismounts by the abandoned gear, she asides back to the wolfpupy: "Aww, did you get injured?" Magilou does not actually sound terribly concerned.
"Anyway, look here. Lanval, ditch that -- monstrosity," she gestures, vaguely, in a circular shape to indicate the Steed, "and take this instead. Look! It's not staring into your soul! That's a vast improvement!"
Magilou kicks at the machine, and pouts, only to grab one of the books at her belt and flick it open. "Weird mechanical things... weird mechanical things... oh, right," Magilou snaps her fingers, as Layna asks Ida to help. "Everstead-Rey! You handle it! Go on, you're supposed to great at hodgepodge solutions."
She keeps flicking through her notes, though. If her smile fades for a moment, it's probably just the cold.
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Mayvin's Accounts toward her party's challenge, Deus Ex Machina. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval's forward momentum on the... thing... ceases when they come up with the new obstruction in their path. To Lanval, it's one of those big ol' hunks of metal the Al Bhed like to excavate and roll around with.
As Layna calls to the technologically inclined, an idea* comes to Lanval's mind with a dopey smile.
PREVIOUS MISADVENTURES WITH LANVAL AND TECHNOLOGY INCLUDES:
- In inability to understand a crane's resting possession as he constantly smooshed it against the ground.
- The time they fired drill-ships into the hull of an Odessa airship, where Lanval took... interesting control of its directions.
- His occasional dabbling in Gear fuel, because sometimes he has trouble telling different fire-aspected liquids apart. (This wouldn't be specifically unique to him, but he is the foremost example.)
An idea that Magilou heartily concurs with!
"Mmmm, tell ya what," Lanval says as he stands up, "'m gonna shee if it can even move at all." With that, he disappears into a ball of light, and goes within the unoccupied metal husk of the Al Bhed machina.
Abruptly, a tonally disruptive pair of novelty beer lens glasses appears on the closest equivalent to a 'face' of this machina, because of course it does, and Lanval commences with a rudimentary test of his range of motion to better help out Ida and Marivel at a glance to see what needs what.
Also, it's cold and the longer they're out here, the more prone they are to freezing. Shelter is a small joy and he understands its importance and what its lack can do.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Deus Ex Machina. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida looks over her shoulder just in time to see the Flan floating leisurely towards the open road. Such is the magic of the Bubble Pipe that the bubble doesn't freeze, even in this blistering cold; Ida flashes Lanval a thumbs-up, and follows Marivel and Magilou deeper into the control zone. Where possible, she sticks to ice and hard-packed snow, the better to leave less of a trail. Even if the Corsair's hard to miss, they can hide the fact that it has infantry support.
"Hello," Ida says, as she sights the rime-covered machine. She remembers seeing similar mortars in... far worse shape, after Mi'ihen. She shakes her head, and lets out a breath that mists in the air. "You read my mind. Let's crack it open." She's already reaching beneath her cloak for her tools with a gloved hand. Ida heaves an affected sigh as Magilou comments on how great she is, but gets right to work. A chisel removes the case of ice that formed around the motor compartment, and after that, it's a simple matter of opening it and seeing what kind of shape it's in. Between her and Marivel, Ida figures they have everything they need for basic repairs...
Though when Lanval vanishes, and the machine suddenly manifests beer goggles, she lets out a squeak of surprise. She gets right back to work, after. Gently.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool ARMS Meister's Field Kit toward her party's challenge, Deus Ex Machina. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage's wolf toesies are cold :(.
Marivel, shivering, poufs back into her humanoid form and says, "I thought wolves were supposed to do well in cold temperatures. Ugh." She wraps her arms around herself amd focuses on Magilou as her smile fades.
"Yeah for sure I can do something about it." Marivel says. And since someone recognized her MECHANICAL GENIUS she is going to lend a hand after all.
She draws out her own notes, clearly labeled as her own in a self-aggrandizing manner. "Of course, I'm not a medical doctor so there's only so much I can do to heal its wounds." Marivel says, voice INCREDIBLY dry. "You know because it's wounded."
She draws out her ELECTOOL which is basically her multipurpose repair tool but also her CANONICALLY TOOL from WILD ARMS 2 that is usually used to make spinny bloxes move it's pretty weird.
But in this case she can use it to do some welding and restore power to the device which is what she does with it.
"Anyway, I'm going in so I can warm up my toes." Marivel says. "It's a two man mech Ida, you want in too?"
"After all, you did save this poor man's life."
She clambers on in.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Deus Ex Machina. Fanfare!
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Deus Ex Machina *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Once, not all that long ago, the Al Bhed were here in force.
This much is as clear as day even if you weren't there during that fateful
battle because here, right in your path, is one of their Machina. Abandoned,
no doubt, when the arrival of Sin made staying here a fool's errand.
But -- and here's the kicker -- this one's still got some life in it.
Perhaps if you could work out how to control it, you might be able to use it
to your advantage in negotiating this place.
(OOC: Feel free to pose it in use in the next card!)
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and Secret:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control - Round 3 *>=============== ========================< Results - Deus Ex Machina >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(17)--> 17 Fail Mining Radar 1 Wits Effects: Fanfare and Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Mayvin's Accounts 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass ARMS Meister's Field Kit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 12 --(5)--> 17 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Reckless(2)|Secret(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays 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: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
===============<* CHALLENGE - There's Always the One Exception *>===============
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Technically speaking, little comes into the lake region from the woods --
the woods are comfortable enough compared to the bitter cold of Macalania
that even Fiends from the woods stay there.
And yet, sometimes you get the strange exception to the rule. There's no
real accounting for /why/ there's a Spherimorph here -- a large
semi-translucent pale blue sphere-shaped Fiend -- and yet, here it is.
Even for a Spherimorph this one's pretty big...! And aggressive.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and |
| Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
As Lanval can see, there's still a spark of 'life' within the Machina mobile weapon. On some level, it wants to move again, in as much as a piece of inanimate metal wants to move. But it needs a few repairs.
Getting it working takes some doing. There's the engine, which Marivel has in hand. And the Spheres need to be swapped out, as Ida will realize, and the treads need a little attention.
But with some love and care, it's quickly back on its (metaphorical) feet again. Even better: it's still got enough juice for a few shots.
But unfortunately, there's trouble inbound.
It's true, they had eluded that Gear. Unfortunately for them, the pilot of that Gear hadn't been content to simply leave it as a false alarm and had gone to investigate. Much as the weather had played merry hell with the Solarian's systems, though, this time the table turns: it's Layna's turn to see her own turn up garbage nonsense.
Until, that is, it's too late. The Solarian Gear is upon them!
...And so is a Fiend. An extremely unusual Fiend.
An extremely large and extremely unusual Fiend. Wandering in from much further afield, here blobs into the situation a Spherimorph. It's Gear-sized.
It is said that Spherimorphs are attracted to Spheres. Quick thinking may avail one here, particularly with the Al Bhed Machina (hint: it has some auxillary Spheres installed) in operation.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"You horrible ingrates!" Magilou berates Marivel and Ida, as they invite each other inside. She snaps her journal shut, and tucks it back onto her skirt. "How could you leave me out in the cold?! Me! Magilou! Everyone's favourite person!"
In an apparent fit of pique, she grabs one of the Spheres on the Gear, and tosses it in a hand, before she lobs it right into the snowstorm --
-- back the way they came --
-- right into the path of Solarian Gear.
"Hmph! See how far you get without me!" Magilou huffs, turning and storming off to go lean on the sheltered side of a tree and pull out her tarot cards to mess around with instead.
She, of course, draws the Wheel of Fortune.
Wheels are round, it still fits, destiny has spoken.
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Fortunetelling - Trickery toward her party's challenge, There's Always the One Exception. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna frowns as her console turns up static and junk data. She frowns, knocking on it with her knuckles, but miraculously in this instance percussive maintenance doesn't seem to be helping.
"...Damn. Uh, sorry, my system's acting up..." Layna apologizes. And, at an inconvenient time, too, as the Solarian Gear uses the opportunity to close in. With a frown, Layna shrugs.
"Well, alright, pal, if you wanna play, then let's play, aye!?" Layna says, a malicious grin crossing her face. With that, the Corsair draws the anchor from its back. It lets the chain attached to the other end slide down... and then, begins swinging the anchor wildly overhead by the chain!
It's kind of a dangerous move - it's bound to stir up even more snow and ice, which isn't going to make it easier for those on the ground. On the other hand, though, when she finally lets it loose to swing at the other Gear, she might catch the Spherimorph courtesy of the Sphere thrown at the Solarian Gear with it, too - killing two birds with one massive, Gear-sized anchor.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Massive Anchor toward her party's challenge, There's Always the One Exception. Embolden! Party Combat boosted! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida brushes some snow off the seat and clambers on in. It's not much warmer inside--the Machina was sitting in a frozen forest for God-knows-how-long, after all--and she can't help but roll her eyes as Magilou starts shouting. "It's not warmed up yet," Ida says, her voice slightly muffled by the plating. "Just hang--
Off comes the Sphere from its secure mount. A light flickers on Ida's dash, and she frowns as she sees Magilou hurling something downrange. "Going to try and give you a clear shot, Marivel," Ida says, as she lines up the machine's sights on the enemy Gear. "Put this in the loader." She reaches behind her, and drops a smallish metal sphere into Marivel's seat compartment. The cotton wick poking out the top is unlit. Marivel should know what to do with a grenade.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flare Grenade toward her party's challenge, There's Always the One Exception. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmmm." Lanval murmurs as Magilou storms off, still within the confines of the Machina. He knows Bienfu will help keep her out of trouble of death by cold, but still, it's battlestations time as Ida passes a metal sphere to Marivel's seat compartment. "Lemme put down a li'l cover water."
Beat.
"That ain't a pun, it'sh gonna be water!"
Lanval spins up the ol' Seraphic Arte engine (that is himself), channels the contents of a Holy Bottle that has somehow gotten on-board, and gets to trying to spray all of it in an area about the Spherimorph to try and repel it (whether wittingly in the direction of the pursuing Gear or not).
ELSEWHERE
As Magilou huffs to go lean on the sheltered side of a tree, something else slides down there.
It is that flat-bodied... hollow, air-filled thing, with a head the shape of a horse and a painted-on smile. (It has no sentience and its presence there is a coincidence of physics and circumstance... probably.)
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, There's Always the One Exception. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage clambers into the gear, immediately relaxing because killer robots are her JAM. "Two seats for one gear, the Al Bhed certainly know how to innovate even if their technology doesn't quuuuite match up. I guess this is what happens when you have to get creative rather than simply relying on tried and true methodology."
Marivel brings her hand to her mouth and laughs, "Ohhhohohohoho~!"
"But not to worry, my Al Bhed friends. I, too, can be an innovator--!"
She reaches forward and--
--before she can do anything a grenade is dropped into her lap. "Hm?"
She collects the grenade and sees that it isn't lit. "Mm... Yes, I know what to do with this..."
She does not light the fuse. Instead she just goes ahead and imbues the grenade with a bit of extra mystical OOMPH before dropping it in.
"Soul of Atom Bomb..." She murmurs as the grenade starts crackling with augmented mystical power and she slides it into the slider.
"That should give it a small bit of extra oomph. Go ahead and launch it, Ida!" Marivel shouts.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, There's Always the One Exception. Fanfare!
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
===============<* CHALLENGE - There's Always the One Exception *>===============
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Technically speaking, little comes into the lake region from the woods --
the woods are comfortable enough compared to the bitter cold of Macalania
that even Fiends from the woods stay there.
And yet, sometimes you get the strange exception to the rule. There's no
real accounting for /why/ there's a Spherimorph here -- a large
semi-translucent pale blue sphere-shaped Fiend -- and yet, here it is.
Even for a Spherimorph this one's pretty big...! And aggressive.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control - Round 4 *>=============== ================< Results - There's Always the One Exception >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 17 --(18)--> 35 Pass Massive Anchor 3 Combat Effects: Sacrifice and Embolde ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 5 --(18)--> 23 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 5 --(18)--> 23 Pass Fortunetelling - Trickery 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(18)--> 23 Pass Flare Grenade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 17 --(18)--> 35 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 60 --(30)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(1)|Secret(1)|Suffer(1) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Water Element Kelvena *>=====================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At last, you manage to make your way towards the centermost part of
Macalania, the place where ruins of the temple rest, largely sunken beneath
the ice. Solaris hasn't placed its encampment here, but it would seem
they're at work on something about or within the temple ruins.
"I had thought something was amiss."
Suddenly, you hear a voice behind you! Upon turning, the source in question
reveals herself to be none other than the current Water Element, Kelvena,
one of the Elements of Solaris! As a group of powerful and highly-skilled
Ether-users, the Elements are not to be trifled with.
And it would seem she has tired of your meddling here and intends to settle
things here and now.
(GM Note: Whether she appears before you on foot or in her dolphin-shaped
Gear, Marinebasher, is at your discretion.)
Image: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/xenosaga/images/d/d5/Kelvena.png
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The Solarian Gear doesn't hesitate. It comes in, guns blazing--! Fortunately, courtesy of Lanval, there is 'cover water' to be had; none of the shells meet the Machina mobile armor.
Unfortunately for it, though, there are particular complications quickly in store for it. A single Sphere flies for the Gear, which... immediately attracts the attention of the Spherimorph. It blobs over towards the Gear almost eagerly. Pivoting to meet this most-recent threat, the pilot takes his attention away from the (other) intruders.
Weigh anchor, indeed. Fiend and Gear alike find themselves a little bit... tied up.
And then perhaps a little bit... grenaded.
The little bit of oomph helped. It definitely helped. Pyreflies circle for the skies while the Gear, collapsed, smolders. Now would be a good time to move.
It's right over the next crest that they find the camp. At a glance it's sparsely populated by Solarian soldiers, at least at the present: look around and you'd be hard pressed to count more than a handful of them. Hang out here on this vantage point, and perhaps one could watch the comings and goings of business below for some time unimpeded.
Except... would Solaris be unaware of such a thing?
"Ah... so you are the source of the disturbance," says a voice from the right. Had she been there, even a few moments ago? It's as if she had somehow appeared out of thin air.
Unarmed, she wears a variant of the Solarian uniform. Her eyes are closed. "I had thought something amiss," the woman continues. The air around her trembles.
"Element Kelvena!" There are soldiers all of a sudden ascending the crest, falling into line about her. "There are intrud-- er, we'll back you up, ma'am!"
She does not answer them. Instead, Kelvena simply opens her eyes.
The frost rises at her beck and call, feral as any beast. There is no place to hide from her onslaught.
And then there's the matter of the soldiers.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou glares at the Bouyant Steed.
Magilou pulls out a hair pin, and her bangs get just a little more unruly.
"This is for your own good, Lanval," Magilou insists, back turned to the battle -- and even though she was smiling around him, she stabs him in the back when he's not looking!
Which is to say, she stabs the Bouyant Steed with the hair pin.
The Steed's skin beeends... and does not break.
"What manner of dark sorcery is this?!" Magilou demands, stabstabstab, as she menaces Lanval's faithful monstrosity with a pin and it faithfully declines to disinflate. "How dare you! Don't think I have failed to comprehend your vast maleficence, you horrible little icon of transgression!"
STAB. "... and how is this thing so ugly?!" Magilou demands, as, once again, the hairpin is bested by the Bouyant Steed's surprisingly resilient hide.
She is completely ignoring the carnage she's wrought using that Spherimorph, because she has more important things to take care of. Of course, she'd read in her notes that those Fiends were attracted to Spheres -- that's what she was frowning about earlier. Which means that taking the Sphere off of the Al Bhed mech and throwing it off into the path of the Solaris gear might not have been the act of sabotage it originally seemed to be.
Or maybe Magilou's just an impetuous dick. It's definitely one or the other.
She proceeds to storm off, leaving the Bouyant Steed behind in disgust. Hopefully, the others aren't too far behind, because when Magilou finds a hiding space -- it isn't a hiding space for long.
"Hmm..?" Magilou straightens up, with a veiled smile, as she glances sidelong to that woman with the closed eyes. "Ah, an Element! Peachy!" She draws a card --
"Perhaps this will even be a challenge --"
And hops back behind the Corsair.
"-- you know, for them. Have fun, kids!"
Magilou proceeds to glance down at her card, only to reveal the Hermit, in reverse, looking back at her. And if the frost happens to do something which the Water Element doesn't bid, well -- surely it's just a coincidence.
Just like the coincidence of Magilou watching the Element work very, very closely, for some... strange... reason.
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Fortunetelling - Trickery toward her party's challenge, Water Element Kelvena. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Two of their problems are indeed dealt with at once. Indeed, Layna has no intention of sticking around. Once she's sure that the Gear has been incapacitated, she moves.
"Alright, here's where we should start being careful. The Solaris encampment's up ahead and they have some pretty dangerous-" Layna starts... and then, the party on the ground is greeted by the sudden appearance of Kelvena of the Elements. "...Damn."
Kelvena on her own is threat enough, even without her Gear... but she has Friends with her, too.
"Nothin' for it, aye? Get ready for a brawl, people!" Layna calls out. The Corsair begins to swing its massive anchor once more. As the anchor builds moment, Layna pops the hatch and directs it to hurl the anchor into the midst of the Solarian soldiers. Not at anyone - it's intended more to scatter them than anything. But, there's another surprise coming along with it - riding on the chain is Layna herself, a wide, dangerous grin crossing her face. She uses the momentum to leap feet first into the nearest Solaris soldier, fists at the ready to carve a swathe of carnage through the unit.
It's a ridiculous and reckless act - but she wouldn't have it any other way.
DG: Layna Manydays has risked with her Tool Massive Anchor toward her party's challenge, Water Element Kelvena. Embolden! Party Combat boosted! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Throughout Magilou's darkest duel in the furthest recesses of history, her ultimate opponent thus 'responds':
8:)
It does not follow her. The blizzard winds may decree otherwise, but it is left with the lingering disgust of Magilou for the time being. Where it belongs.
...moving on...
Everyone's been caught up with and accosted, and so, Lanval guides the Machina he's within to a halt (unless Ida or Marivel have some sweet maneuvers they want to do, he'll help facilitate that). The Solaris soldiers all line up around the Water Element, and when she opens her eyes...
"That'sh shome power." Lanval comments. He's not just a water spirit, he has a deep connection with an even greater water spirit. When he's taking notice of the danger, to see how Kelvana wills frost to strike and rend with a fine control and potency he doesn't think he's seen since... maybe that young Symbologist guy that's into blood he met in Spira somet ime back, well.
"All right. I gotta take thish one reeeeeeeeal sherioush," Lanval says as he disengages from the machine, and forms a blue ball of light on the ground. The usual appearance of Lanval, in the metaphor of a heavy-set middle-aged dunkard in clothes far too swanky for his presentation, manifests. With a chant and a Seraphic glyph, waves of the remaining Holy Bottle water wash out to try and push the troops back, but meanwhile... for Kelvana.
His eyes slowly open to a brilliant aquamarine, and the air feels filled with mirth. And also the power of water in all forms, great and not.
As powers collide in whatever form they do, Lanval smiles gently as he looks to the Water Element...
...and engages in * E P I C * S T A R I N G * C O N T E S T *
DG: Seraph Lanval has risked with his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Water Element Kelvena. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"That did it," Ida says. But odds are, someone will have heard the ruckus, and come investigating. Ida pulls down the brake to give Lanval a hand, and pops the machina's door open once it comes to a full and complete stop. She clambers out onto the snow next to it, and gives its hood an affectionate pat. As the Corsair climbs the rise, she crouches down next to it, and sees--
Oh. That isn't good.
Ida's eyes widen; she recognizes that uniform, if not the person wearing it. Seraphita's is strikingly similar. The soldier's shout only confirms Ida's suspicions.
It feels impossible that this land, in the grip of the Lady of Frost, could get any colder. But Kelvena opens those eyes, and Ida feels the heat leaching from her body; biting winds sting her face, and threaten to freeze her breath in her lungs. A bullet whizzes past her ear. Another almost clips her shoulder. She hurls herself to the ground before the soldiers' surprise starts to wear off, and pulls up one of her gloves. A Dragonbreath Filament ignites in her palm, and Ida touches the wick of another flashbang to the white-hot pinprick.
Moments later, the grenade sails over the ridge, and into the cluster of soldiers. Ida follows a moment later, rudely interrupting Kelvena and Lanval's staring contest--possibly--with a rolling axe kick aimed at the Element's head!
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flare Grenade toward her party's challenge, Water Element Kelvena. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage looks at Magilou as she smiles while stabbing someone in the back. It doesn't seem to be working, but well. She tried, and that's what's important. Marivel's right hand twitches.
Just hang on tight a little longer, Marivel tells herself. It'll all be over soon. And then... And then? Well, then it depends on your new pals doesn't it?
Marivel rolls out of the machina. Pushing it any more than this would be plenty dangerous. She glances to Ida Ida quietly-- Or at least that was the plan, Ida has already become a dotted outline because she's already throwing a rolling axe kick towards Kelvena!
"Huh." Marivel says before turning back to Kelvena. "An Element, are you? Been a while since I had to indulge an Element and--"
Kelvena opens her eyes.
Marivel jumps back. "--!! Careful everyone...! Her ether power... haven't felt ether power like this in a long time...!"
Of course Ida's probably had experienced worse. Marivel, readies her microphone, raising it into the air as she channels her own sorcerous power. "Well... Putting you out of commission for a while will only help. So I guess you'll just have to pardon us...!"
The sorcerous power reaches its peak point as she chants, "INSPIRE." and a crackling burst of electricity comes crashing down upon Kelvena from above!
"Lanval..." She asides. "She just had her eyes closed so they're bound to be super moist..."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Water Element Kelvena. Fanfare!
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Water Element Kelvena *>=====================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At last, you manage to make your way towards the centermost part of
Macalania, the place where ruins of the temple rest, largely sunken beneath
the ice. Solaris hasn't placed its encampment here, but it would seem
they're at work on something about or within the temple ruins.
"I had thought something was amiss."
Suddenly, you hear a voice behind you! Upon turning, the source in question
reveals herself to be none other than the current Water Element, Kelvena,
one of the Elements of Solaris! As a group of powerful and highly-skilled
Ether-users, the Elements are not to be trifled with.
And it would seem she has tired of your meddling here and intends to settle
things here and now.
(GM Note: Whether she appears before you on foot or in her dolphin-shaped
Gear, Marinebasher, is at your discretion.)
Image: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/xenosaga/images/d/d5/Kelvena.png
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control - Round 5 *>=============== =====================< Results - Water Element Kelvena >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 35 --(10)--> 45 Pass Massive Anchor 4 Combat Effects: Sacrifice, Embolden, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 23 --(10)--> 33 Pass Holy Bottle 3 Combat Effects: Resilient and Risky ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 23 --(10)--> 33 Pass Fortunetelling - Trickery 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 23 --(10)--> 33 Pass Flare Grenade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marivel Armitage 35 --(10)--> 45 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Layna Manydays 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Fright(2)|Injure(1) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Layna Manydays has successfully explored Lake Macalania - Solaris Control!
=====================<* Lake Macalania - Solaris Control *>=====================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Plug in the Amp *>========================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've done it -- against the odds, you've forced your opponent to retreat.
Most likely, you won't be able to remain here long: she's likely to summon
reinforcements and return to deal with you if you stick around. Whatever
they're doing here may need to wait for another time. But you have a few
minutes at least to help yourself to whatever you can find amidst their
supplies near the site of the temple ruins.
It's a known fact that Solaris makes heavy use of technology to enhance
their brand of sorcery, and you find one of those devices here. While this
Amp is built to increase the output of Ether sorcery, it provides the same
benefit with other forms of magic.
...And your find is just in time. Judging from the sounds in the distance,
now's the time to get out of here.
(OOC: The Amp could be used as a Digger tool (Combat or Brute perhaps) or
used to justify an upgraded Sorcery attack of some form.)
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"So you know what I am," Kelvena says to Marivel. "Very well."
It might have worked out perfectly. Despite the hiccups on the way in, they would have had a bird's eye view of the encampment, and been able to carefully observe the comings and goings of the soldiers and researchers on site.
Oh well. There's something to be said for assessing a problem first-hand. So to speak.
Layna wades right into the thick of it, hardly hesitating as she leaps from her Gear to brawl with the armed soldiers mano a mano. Certainly they weren't expecting such a thing -- or for that matter, the chain and anchor, which certainly causes them to scatter. If their flight takes them directly into the path of detonations, well, so be it. The other option for them is Layna's fists.
"...Hm, a problem," Kelvena remarks, her gaze locking with Lanval (of course she can see him) as the waters (frozen solid, though fighting this state of matter) dance between them, called between the two forces that would call them hither. But something is not quite right.
On Kelvena's end, that is. Is it a difference in skill? Or their respective natures? Or--
Magilou's Hermit card glimmers.
Or, it might have been a trick.
The slip is minute, her spray of ice off just so and continuing to tilt thus as Lanval enforces his will upon the element they share.
Into this unnaturally unbalanced tug-of-war Ida enters. Kelvena turns her head.
...Ice has intruded into the space where Ida's strike would have landed. It shudders, fracturing away. "...Strong, I see," Kelvena remarks to Ida. She hasn't blinked yet. The air around her shudders again, as if she were gathering ambient Ether for a most terrible strike.
Lightning strikes her dead on, without warning. She doesn't collapse.
Staggering instead in the aftermath of the blast, Kelvena stumbles back a step only to plummet the distance from the overhang to land in the camp below.
There cannot be a universe in which that had gone unnoticed, particularly considering the soldier running for a nearby building. There will be even more trouble soon. But first, nearby-- isn't that a crate?
Spare Ether Amplifiers, it would seem. And what's more, tucked into the crate is a supply schedule. This... should be useful when planning an attack.
"Element! Ma'am! Are you all right?!"
It seems like there's about to be a whole lot of trouble. Now may be a good time to evacuate the premises.