2022-10-22: Tabula Smaragdina
- Log: Tabula Smaragdina
- Cast: Seraph Harmaus, Ratatoskr, Kaguya
- Where: Guild Galad - The Furnace Voids
- Date: October 22, 2022
- Summary: Harmaus, with an ally, ventures into the tomb of the former Dean of the School of Mineralogy in search of secrets, but meets instead a former ally. He does not find what he's looking for. Takes place shortly before Aurora Consurgens.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - The table of the rich man. *>==================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Your journey through an obscure sub-gallery in the fringe tunnels around
Void 41 comes to an end through a natural-seeming S-curve, which can be slid
down and leaves you in a perfectly smooth stone room, approximately fifty
feet by thirty feet in size. There is a metal door on one side, and objects
in the corner. No sooner do you enter than hidden lights come to a soft
illumination and a voice speaks: Deep, sonorous, aged and tired. It has a
subtly strange cast to it, which is consistent throughout.
'Greetings and welcome' (says the voice), 'ye who have come to my place of
repose. Your history knows me as Vakero Bulman, and if you are hearing this,
I am dead. If you are hearing this message, than my legacy is to be
distributed. I welcome you to take rest here from your journey. In the
room's corners, you will find sealed containers of food and water.'
'You may rest here, if rest alone is your desire. If there is more that you
seek... consider the door before you, and make your choices.'
The voice is silent thereafter, although a long delay will lead to a
repetition of the message when you begin to move. The metal door has six
disk-and-gear puzzles on it, all of which use an abstract glyphic logic.
Succeed at one and a light comes on above it. Fail on one and all the lights
go off. Once you have deduced the meaning of the shapes, none of the puzzles
is particularly difficult to anyone who has learned their sums -
particularly if working as a group.
The food is staple goods, and the water is clean if flat-tasting.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
The tale had reached his ears, of course. How could it have not?
Muse had been the easiest to track. The pathway went back over years -- had even etched itself onto the world like a river, like a sea. Wing had been a more difficult tale to tease out: but ah, that was its very nature. Fray had burned bright, but...
Geo had remained a mystery. To understand Geo, though, one must understand its nature. And where better to look than the School of Mineralogy?
The tale had reached his ears shortly after he was barred entry to the school itself: the tomb of the school's founder had been uncovered recently enough. And so, to this tomb Harmaus had gone. There is much that mortals bear with them to the grave.
The recording -- ringing out the moment he enters this particular chamber -- is a surprise. "What magics this?" remarks the embodied Seraph aloud -- for, yes, he has been using this body well to tease out what rumors are shared from mortal to mortal. In a heavy cloak, the only hint that anything is amiss is the somewhat erratic way he might move.
That his limbs and 'digits' might move.
Or the occasional flash of red or green.
There is food in here, as the recording suggests; Harmaus ignores this and instead focuses his attention on the abstract glyphs. "Mm... it wonders me," he muses aloud, regarding a particular panel. A viney appendage reaches out to toy with it, to attempt to bring it into the correct configuration that may just be the answer. But even if he's right, there are still five more to solve.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The table of the rich man..
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
It's not that hard to convince Ratatoskr to come go poke around the secrets of the School of Mineralogy. The Stygian school of Crest Sorcery has been getting greater notice, and... well. Of course the eager Hyadean would-be historian of the day's - and previous days' - war heroes might be convinced to put up with someone like Harmaus long enough to get what he wants.
For his larger size at 'rest,' Ratatoskr proves lithe and quick in navigating the Void to get to the sub-gallery. "Rations? Rations!" He calls, before the lights and the voice come to play.
The voice goes forth and confirms an observation of the chamber's features, and everyone knows one of the most irritating ways to spend a day is for a third party to validate anything Ratatoskr thinks, no matter how true it ends up being.
"What 'magics' that? That's not sorcery!" Ratatoskr helpfully informs Seraph Harmaus. "The voice is much clearer than you'd usually hear in recorded messages such as this... it could be recent... if so, what did they use to record it..." He speculates, as if an idea might be on the tip of his tongue as he stands upright and taps an arm with a clawed finger in contemplation. The angry, youthful part of him wants to assume it's because they found a way to record over another thing like this, but... something about the sound quality to it. He's not sure he's heard anything like this anywhere.
When he sees the horrible tomato-embodied Harmaus play with the six disk-and-gear puzzles, Ratatoskr gets out that Hyadean datapad of his and furiously searches through to see if there's any matches in the glyphic shapes.
He will not find any! The real benefit of him doing this is, thus, he's not in the way of responsible... uh...
He's not in the way.
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Corrupted Records toward his party's challenge, The table of the rich man.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"It's called an audio recording," Kaguya says for Harmaus's sake, though her derision is dripping from her voice as she does. They don't get along very well anymore!
Oh, Kaguya is here, by the way.
"See? Ratatoskr gets it." She nods firmly tot he Hyadean. It's very good. But the puzzles, hmm...
Kaguya collects some rations, just in case. Then she glances at the glyphs. "So this place should be interesting, if it's got tech like that. I guess it wasn't a waste to come down here after all."
"You're right though, Rata. It's way too clear for a phonograph, say. This was made with interesting technology. THe soft lights, too."
She walks up. She eyes Harmaus's body. Hmmm.
"Oh, this one's easy."
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The table of the rich man..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - The table of the rich man. *>==================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Your journey through an obscure sub-gallery in the fringe tunnels around
Void 41 comes to an end through a natural-seeming S-curve, which can be slid
down and leaves you in a perfectly smooth stone room, approximately fifty
feet by thirty feet in size. There is a metal door on one side, and objects
in the corner. No sooner do you enter than hidden lights come to a soft
illumination and a voice speaks: Deep, sonorous, aged and tired. It has a
subtly strange cast to it, which is consistent throughout.
'Greetings and welcome' (says the voice), 'ye who have come to my place of
repose. Your history knows me as Vakero Bulman, and if you are hearing this,
I am dead. If you are hearing this message, than my legacy is to be
distributed. I welcome you to take rest here from your journey. In the
room's corners, you will find sealed containers of food and water.'
'You may rest here, if rest alone is your desire. If there is more that you
seek... consider the door before you, and make your choices.'
The voice is silent thereafter, although a long delay will lead to a
repetition of the message when you begin to move. The metal door has six
disk-and-gear puzzles on it, all of which use an abstract glyphic logic.
Succeed at one and a light comes on above it. Fail on one and all the lights
go off. Once you have deduced the meaning of the shapes, none of the puzzles
is particularly difficult to anyone who has learned their sums -
particularly if working as a group.
The food is staple goods, and the water is clean if flat-tasting.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 1 *>======================== ====================< Results - The table of the rich man. >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 0 --(11)--> 11 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Corrupted Records 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus 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> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Even if you are a several-centuries-old elemental spirit possessing a particularly humanoid collection of ambulatory tomato vines, it is best not to go into a tomb on a world which is still largely alien to you alone. Whether there may be spirits lying in wait, or still other hazards...
Suffice to say, Ratatoskr had proved and amiable enough compatriot for this particular endeavor. In Harmaus' eyes, he would do.
"Is not sorcery?" Harmaus echoes, turning his hooded head towards Rataroskr. "Jaeja. A machine, then? Learns I of them from star-child," he says. "Is rare for such clarity?"
Speak of the star-child in question.
"...Tcha. It follows me? Star-child must needs more doing in life, yes?"
This is rude. But they had not precisely parted on congenial terms, no.
Harmaus makes a shooing gesture with one vined 'hand'. "It finds own tomb recordings. It bothers me not," he huffs, returning to his puzzle.
A red light comes on.
But the ones that Ratatoskr is messing with turn green...
As does the one that Kaguya tries.
"...Jaeja," Harmaus sighs.
The door, at least, will open once his is resolved with the rest.
DG: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - First meetings. *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people; but I love as you do. I fell in
love. It came to me suddenly, in the autumn of my life. This is important.
If you are here, you are likely the heirs of the legacy of our School... our
beautiful School. The place she had dreamed of.'
The lights rise, revealing something like an open-face mine, lit by arc
lamps spaced out a little too far to provide full illuminance. It is
difficult to tell exactly where this is, although the strata and the
thickness of the air suggests a deep void beneath Guild Galad. There is a
rickety scaffold, made mostly of dried bamboo.
'I had acquired currency through crime. The details are trivial. I did not
slay anyone - fear not. I sought to invest the money, to make it grow. I
inspected the works, and --'
Part of the scaffold cracks and you can see a woman falling.
'I could not stand to see her fall.'
The fall is in slow motion, but it is from over twenty yards up. It will
surely be fatal. But your view is guided. There is a ramp in the stone, and
a spoil pit; but between you and it are hoppers of waste stone, trash,
guardrails, and other sundries.
To make the catch, you will have to force your way through!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The following chamber goes to darkness, and that voice opens with a specific phrase: 'I am not of your world; nor of your people.'
Ratatoskr's eyes light up. "These aren't Spheres either...!" Which completely, a hundred percent, rule out this being someone from Spira. (The accent on the speech isn't right for that, anyway.)
The words the voice picks are artful. To fall in love, in the autumn of one's life, heirs of the legacy of 'our' School... that was her dream. There are confessions made about how resources were acquired as the lights rise to reveal something like an open-face mine. It feels like a memory playing out, by some means that is completely unique technologically in these environs. (For the gathered here, they probably have their own experiences with simulations and replayed memories, but none of them match up completely to the methodology at play here.)
Part of that scaffold falls apart, and a woman falls - she falls in slow motion, from over twenty yards up. The view seems to entice one through a path - a ramp in the stone, a spoil pit. Between them... obstructions.
The voice 'could not stand' to see them fall.
Ratatoskr leads the charge, wordlessly, drawing that odd relic of a gunblade ARM to try and shove aside the useful detritus and get 'inside' the story as it unfolds, which will incidentally put him - and anyone else that makes it through all of that - to that point in the 'story.'
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Derelict Relic toward his party's challenge, First meetings.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"I have lots to do, actually. Way to much! But 'you need to take a break' and 'work-life balance' and all those kinds of things."
It's very rude. But it's fine.
"Gonna bother you," Kaguya says, "And you'll go with it because you want to see what's in here more than I do."
Pause. "You still have the body, I see."
But the voice... Not of their--
"OK now I'm definitely not going anywhere," Kaguya asys. "Because those sure aren't spheres."
"...Sorry," she says. "Not the heirs, but..."
Someone he loved, in danger. Kaguya narrows her eyes.
"Move!"
She crashes forward through the debris, pushing with her full strength. Maybe it's pointless. Maybe she's already dead. But for SOME reason, Kaguya is moved by this.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a risky Brute Action toward her party's challenge, First meetings..
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Jaeja," Harmaus repeats, and if he were in his true form, his hackles would be raised. "Fine, fine. Stops I it not! Does it as it pleases... but I aids it not!" In other words, if there are any hazards in here to which she falls victim...
At least there's always Ratatoskr. Or the fickle hand of fate.
One might always end up breaking their vow for unexpected reasons, after all.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people.'
"From... Silver Star?" Harmaus hazards, uncertain. "...Nay. Nay! It not matches power of Spira!" And there's no trace of Althenian enchantment however much he extrudes his senses into the spaces around him.
"It is... star-child!" And he turns, almost accusatorially, towards Kaguya. "One of its star-fathers here buried? Tcha! It tells me not of this!"
Even for Harmaus' standards, this is unfair. But it's as much an indication of his current mood towards Kaguya as it is any real suggestion of what he believes is going on here.
The space around him shifts, and for an instant, it's as if he is in an altered version of Guild Galad, a city he has come to know well.
Above, there is a crack. A woman falls. "Matters me not," Harmaus rumbles. And yet...
He knows that to solve a trial, one generally must play by the rules. Producing a bottle of some strange liquid, Harmaus... splashes it in his face.
If only briefly, the body swells and grows to an enormous size! Can anything stand in the way of such a killer tomato?
DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Gro-Mix toward his party's challenge, First meetings.. Fanfare!
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - First meetings. *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people; but I love as you do. I fell in
love. It came to me suddenly, in the autumn of my life. This is important.
If you are here, you are likely the heirs of the legacy of our School... our
beautiful School. The place she had dreamed of.'
The lights rise, revealing something like an open-face mine, lit by arc
lamps spaced out a little too far to provide full illuminance. It is
difficult to tell exactly where this is, although the strata and the
thickness of the air suggests a deep void beneath Guild Galad. There is a
rickety scaffold, made mostly of dried bamboo.
'I had acquired currency through crime. The details are trivial. I did not
slay anyone - fear not. I sought to invest the money, to make it grow. I
inspected the works, and --'
Part of the scaffold cracks and you can see a woman falling.
'I could not stand to see her fall.'
The fall is in slow motion, but it is from over twenty yards up. It will
surely be fatal. But your view is guided. There is a ramp in the stone, and
a spoil pit; but between you and it are hoppers of waste stone, trash,
guardrails, and other sundries.
To make the catch, you will have to force your way through!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 2 *>======================== =========================< Results - First meetings. >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 11 --(3)--> 14 Pass Gro-Mix 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 3 --(3)--> 6 Pass Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Derelict Relic 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus 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> Ratatoskr has posed.
"Not Spheres... and not anything like the sorcery of Althena...!" Ratatoskr calls, as the three of them all decide to indulge in the curiosity of the individual that is falling. This is a replay, there shouldn't be that great an urgency to 'save' something that was but isn't there any more.
Kaguya just up and moves the debris out of the way, unceremoniously but with brutal effectiveness as the whole mess clangs and crashes in her wake (this also includes Ratatoskr, who is perfectly fine and has no problems pushing back out of there to keep pace, but the intensity grabs him in the moment).
Harmaus isn't far behind them. A moment later after a splash of some strange liquid of distinctive odor that one among them might recognize, it turns out Harmaus is now far above them and will be the first one to see who or what it is that is the focal point of this 'trial.' Whether he decides to be an, uh, unlikely hero or not...
That's up to him. Kaguya, otherwise most motivated to live through this moment like it were her own, will be there to catch her - this love of this man's life. This love of a man who is not of this world. Not of Filgaia, from the looks of it - or Lunar.
They are saved, but this act of kindness(?) and heroism(?) does not last long before...
DG: Seraph Harmaus has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
===========<* CHALLENGE - You cannot remain in the cradle forever. *>===========
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world. I came to Filgaia from another world, around
another star, and I studied the lore of another world yet... The tales of
Ancient Terra.'
The light rises, and you are standing... on clouds? It suggests the view
from Shevat or Sielje; a place where the sky is a little too blue, the night
a little too close even when the sun is in the sky. The clouds seem to rise,
and the world, too, is going with it. You can leap from cloud to cloud; even
as they grow grayer, more pumicelike.
'They had one world, one precious world alone in all of the cosmos. Can you
imagine how lonely it seemed? Perhaps the idea will be strange to you, who
have never left your world... though I wonder upon your neighbor. Does a
fish born in a pond miss the river and the sea? And yet they rose, and they
looked towards the heavens, and among the tribes, some wondered.'
The stars begin to come out. Not any stars you know. Not a random mottling,
either. They seem ordered; a trio here; a cross there. Don't fall. You can
estimate how high up you are. But keep moving. The sky is compelling you
upwards.
'It would be impossible. Beyond conception. The wise might barely admit that
there could be another world like Ancient Terra... perhaps one to each
galaxy... but even this was merely the law of very large numbers. The tribes
struggled, nonetheless, seeking glory and advantage in war, or in trade. It
was all waste - folly - a forlorn hope. Until one day, the tribes looked up
-'
A door gently opens in the sky, two or three meters from the edge of the
last floating stone. It is ringed by a sort of Baskar-style banner, though
almost entirely in blue, red and white. You will have to jump for it.
'And found they had escaped. Will you do the same with this legacy? I
wonder.'
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
The change doesn't last. Of course it doesn't -- can't, really, as powerful as the chemical plant food might be. This body was built to maintain a particular size and shape, and so it shall return once the business of it all is done.
The woman is caught, saved from an untimely end.
So it is until the memory -- the image -- fades away.
They are somewhere very high up. Kaguya and Ratatoskr and Harmaus all have likely faced such a view in their pasts, though in Harmaus' case it is still a degree higher yet than the view he has seen atop the highest of Lunar's peaks. Up here, it's possible to see the curve of the world.
"Ancient Terra? Another world?" Harmaus speaks, gazing up at the glittering specks strewn across velvet -- the stars of another world.
Long has he known the stars in Lunar's sky, and he has learned the difference -- slight but meaningful; two worlds do not share a common polestar -- between the stars there and Filgaia's own slice of the heavens.
They're rising upwards on the clouds. There is no choice in the matter: they are leaving the world below behind.
"...Has we two worlds, now. But long, we knows only the one," Harmaus says, gaze towards the heavens. Towards the stones that lead the way skywards.
"Mm. It wonders me. The passage of other worlds. Truth, Malevolence, and..."
There is a door in the sky. Reaching it will be no mean feat, but it's no longer possible to go back.
"...Jaeja. Two worlds is plenty enough!"
But still his hands -- his vines, in truth -- rip through the air towards the distant doorway. No. It's not possible to go back.
Only forward.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Vine Whip toward his party's challenge, You cannot remain in the cradle forever.. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"That's fine," kaguya says. "I don't really need your help. You just happen to need mine.l Nice, right?"
Star-child. Kaguya puts up her hands, shaking her head. "he's not one of ours," she says.
KILLER TOMATO. Kaguya appreciates this. She appreciates it a lot, actually. Until--
"Got you!"
The woman fades with the memory. "Yeah," Kaguya says. "But not a world I've heard of. ...A whole other civilization, huh...?"
Shec onsiders. "No, this set of stars isn't familiar to me at all."
She rolls her eyes. "You aren't much of a scientist," Kaguya says to Harmaus. "It's fine. By the way..."
She bends at the knee, and starts to leap upwards.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
To hear the voice of the departed speak again, and to have Harmaus talk of 'has two worlds,' there is a flash in the memories of what Ratatoskr saw and learned by proxy - and the truth of why 'his' kind were even on Filgaia.
"There was Hyades..." He doesn't exclaim it. His time in the Shadow Trial has ensured that not everything he sees and deals with can be ignored by just indulging in his interests and chasing the excitement of worlds that continue to find reasons to fight, and keep fighting, and keep making history.
Ratatoskr came expecting to see things like Stygian School-influenced traps and combative constructs, but instead... he sees and feels the musings of someone not cherishing their contributions to the art of violence, but an introspective thought about worlds that would come to seek other worlds. The only context he has for such meetings is 'to conquer.' (He's heard rumblings about there being other 'foreigners' to the two worlds lately, but every time he tries to look into it, there are some very nice-looking eels he decides he wants to fight.)
"And yet there's even more..." His voice trails, eyes dimming as he makes sense of the clouds he stands on, and to the stars above. He has to wonder why other worlds don't bring their Guardians. Do they have other ice Guardians? Aru Solatu is his favorite here on Filgaia and he's sure they'd win a fight against another world's Guardians, and this sort of childish thought brings some light and life back into his solid, unblinking eyes.
For everything else, there's a barely functional teleportation device of a crystalline-like nature in his hand that he decides to make use of, disappearing and reappearing in a flash... somewhere else, onwards and upwards.
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Teleporter Fragment toward his party's challenge, You cannot remain in the cradle forever.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round! DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You cannot remain in the cradle forever..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
===========<* CHALLENGE - You cannot remain in the cradle forever. *>===========
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world. I came to Filgaia from another world, around
another star, and I studied the lore of another world yet... The tales of
Ancient Terra.'
The light rises, and you are standing... on clouds? It suggests the view
from Shevat or Sielje; a place where the sky is a little too blue, the night
a little too close even when the sun is in the sky. The clouds seem to rise,
and the world, too, is going with it. You can leap from cloud to cloud; even
as they grow grayer, more pumicelike.
'They had one world, one precious world alone in all of the cosmos. Can you
imagine how lonely it seemed? Perhaps the idea will be strange to you, who
have never left your world... though I wonder upon your neighbor. Does a
fish born in a pond miss the river and the sea? And yet they rose, and they
looked towards the heavens, and among the tribes, some wondered.'
The stars begin to come out. Not any stars you know. Not a random mottling,
either. They seem ordered; a trio here; a cross there. Don't fall. You can
estimate how high up you are. But keep moving. The sky is compelling you
upwards.
'It would be impossible. Beyond conception. The wise might barely admit that
there could be another world like Ancient Terra... perhaps one to each
galaxy... but even this was merely the law of very large numbers. The tribes
struggled, nonetheless, seeking glory and advantage in war, or in trade. It
was all waste - folly - a forlorn hope. Until one day, the tribes looked up
-'
A door gently opens in the sky, two or three meters from the edge of the
last floating stone. It is ringed by a sort of Baskar-style banner, though
almost entirely in blue, red and white. You will have to jump for it.
'And found they had escaped. Will you do the same with this legacy? I
wonder.'
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up! and Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 3 *>======================== =============< Results - You cannot remain in the cradle forever. >============= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 14 --(0)--> 14 Pass Vine Whip 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 6 --(0)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Teleporter Fragment 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus 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> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Harmaus' response to Kaguya is to, in spite of the body he now inhabits, hiss.
"A star-child it is... not? Tcha... thinks I much on this."
There are others who dwell in the heavens than the Veruni. He knows this. But it is one thing to know a fact... and another to comprehend the full implications of that fact. How many worlds, how many 'others' are there in the stretch of existance that begins where Filgaia and Lunar end?
They will all have the opportunity to consider this and what it means. There are more worlds out there than any of them might have truly contemplated, Ancient Terra among them.
From this space -- barely still part of the alien world they float above, yet not truly of the rest of space -- all three of them fly.
The vision will fade, of course. But perhaps they might all share that moment of silence: of contemplating an expanse far large than all three of their own worlds.
DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Rival schools. *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people; but I hope that what my beloved
and I have wrought has enriched your people, and your world. Let me tell you
a story of the early days.'
The lights come up. Somewhat. It is an exterior, but it is in Guild Galad,
and deep within the crust of Filgaia, and so the light is questionable. It
is a courtyard nonetheless despite the lack of green plants. Someone is
banging and rattling at the gates.
'The School of Mineralogy faced opposition. It may sound strange to you -
especially if the School is no longer. But to create a college of magicians
and geological experts made many people angry. There were reasons - social
envy. Opposing scholars, resentful of the prospect of a central authority,
however meager. I suspect that the Master of the time did not approve,
although she did not disapprove enough to stop us.'
The School of Mineralogy's main building - a three-story building -
surrounds you. Someone shouts outside of the gate. There is a woman at the
second story; an eager-looking figure. Sophia Chang Chau.
And to your left... is what must be the old Dean, taking off his suitcoat
and tie.
'Fortunately, there is a language that all times and all peoples will
understand, if driven to it.'
The shouting rises to a crescendo, and a lock chain is broken. The gate is
rolled to the side. The old Dean takes off his shirt, revealing that the
black skin recorded in portraits was joined by a fine, short coat of graying
whorled hair upon his torso.
'Violence.'
DEFEAT FOUR WAVES OF FURIOUS RESIDENTS OF VOID 41, USING VIOLENCE. There are
over fifty of these strange simulated people, and in the last wave some of
them drive in what looks to be a squat-packed Land Crab with a demolition
plow. The old Dean (extremely strong, good at running) and Chang Chau (a
Stygian Crest Sorceress) provide supporting fire. You will see your time at
the end.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"True," Kaguya says. "There was Hyades. The Veruni never encountred that world in our travels, either. ...But that makes sense. Space is big. Impossibly, hugely big. Compared to space... we're not even fragments of dust."
"Cheerful, right?"
Even more... Kaguya might have opinions if Ratatoskr voiced some of his views. But for now...
"No, he was a star-child. Just not one of ours." She grins at Harmaus. She considers it, though. So many, out there... So many.
"I wonder if any of them look like you do now?"
When the vision fades, when that moment ends, the voice continues again. He was not of their world, but...
"..." Kaguya listens, as the School is mentioned. Social, scholarly...
"...So I'm not the only one who thought to make things 'better', huh?"
The language that all understand...
"...Heh," Kaguya says. "It always comes down to a fight in the end, doesn't it? For all our 'advancement', we never manage to rise above the brutes."
"Does anyone?"
The waves of furious residents begin. Kaguya throws out a few more of her tomatoes, the canister bursting into being, to hande the first wave.
Then she charges in herself. She doesn't draw her firearm.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Killer Tomatoes toward her party's challenge, Rival schools.. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
There was Hyades. There was the world upon which the Veruni had -- for a time -- settled. There was Ancient Terra.
There were many other worlds. There are so many other worlds, all of them out of reach, at least for now.
"...Jaeja," Harmaus rumbles in response. "Matters me not. They are out there. I am here!" Is his ultimate decision then to disregard even this because it is inconvenient to him...?
The vision ends, and they are returned to Filgaia -- to the streets once more of Guild Galad. They are not alone here, in this place. There are two who stand at their side...
...and many more standing against them.
"Ah," Harmaus says, understanding at last. "Mortals understands violence only, yes? But I minds it little, little! Easily managed, this!"
After all, he's capable of bringing it in kind.
"So many. So noisy!" he exclaims, extending one long viney tendril that drops from its end a singular bell.
It chimes on the end of its little cord. Shh.
Be still.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Amulet Bell toward his party's challenge, Rival schools.. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"Not even fragments of dust? Not even fragments of dust!" Ratatoskr belts. "We exist...!"
Beyond, the early days are spoken of for the School of Mineralogy, and... this seems to be exactly in Ratatoskr's wheelhouse, when they talk of facing opposition. He stands in the underground courtyard like he were there in that time, when others of his now untraceable genetic lineage served the Metal Demon hordes.
'Fortunately, there is a language that all times and all peoples will understand, if driven to it.' Ratatoskr's stance drops by ingrained instinct and training to that somewhat Muay Thai-like form, as the hordes of simulated people show up.
"If we did rise above the 'brutes,' then how would we fight at all...?" That's the last contemplative fight Ratatoskr has before he throws himself in there, against the gates...
Just to experience it. His maneuvers are less offensive, despite his comparatively lighter frame being more vulnerable to concentrated damage than his peers. He wants to see what 'they' could do, and did, most of all.
...
He's just waiting for his turn to fight the former Dean and especially Sophia Chang Chau. That turn will not come. He will get beaten and bruised for, technically, nothing. Technically. Considering what his favorite pastime as a neonate was, this is not an unhappy arrangement at face value.
"Violence only? Violence only!" Ratatoskr speaks up somewhere in all this. "But there's so many different kinds of it...!"
DG: Ratatoskr has contributed a risky Combat Action toward his party's challenge, Rival schools..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Rival schools. *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people; but I hope that what my beloved
and I have wrought has enriched your people, and your world. Let me tell you
a story of the early days.'
The lights come up. Somewhat. It is an exterior, but it is in Guild Galad,
and deep within the crust of Filgaia, and so the light is questionable. It
is a courtyard nonetheless despite the lack of green plants. Someone is
banging and rattling at the gates.
'The School of Mineralogy faced opposition. It may sound strange to you -
especially if the School is no longer. But to create a college of magicians
and geological experts made many people angry. There were reasons - social
envy. Opposing scholars, resentful of the prospect of a central authority,
however meager. I suspect that the Master of the time did not approve,
although she did not disapprove enough to stop us.'
The School of Mineralogy's main building - a three-story building -
surrounds you. Someone shouts outside of the gate. There is a woman at the
second story; an eager-looking figure. Sophia Chang Chau.
And to your left... is what must be the old Dean, taking off his suitcoat
and tie.
'Fortunately, there is a language that all times and all peoples will
understand, if driven to it.'
The shouting rises to a crescendo, and a lock chain is broken. The gate is
rolled to the side. The old Dean takes off his shirt, revealing that the
black skin recorded in portraits was joined by a fine, short coat of graying
whorled hair upon his torso.
'Violence.'
DEFEAT FOUR WAVES OF FURIOUS RESIDENTS OF VOID 41, USING VIOLENCE. There are
over fifty of these strange simulated people, and in the last wave some of
them drive in what looks to be a squat-packed Land Crab with a demolition
plow. The old Dean (extremely strong, good at running) and Chang Chau (a
Stygian Crest Sorceress) provide supporting fire. You will see your time at
the end.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 4 *>======================== ==========================< Results - Rival schools. >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 14 --(8)--> 22 Pass Amulet Bell 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 6 --(8)--> 14 Pass Killer Tomatoes 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Fight 1 Combat Effects: Risky -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus 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> Kaguya has posed.
And that's why Kaguya and Harmaus don't get along! Well, one of the reasons, anyway. They are many, and they are nosy though, these simulucra of humans. And Ratatoskr...
"Maybe we wouldn't," Kaguya says. "Wouldn't that be crazy?"
But it's true. There's many differen kinds of violence.
In the end, not even the great machine can stand up to their combined might. Ratatokr may risk himself, but it pays off in battle.
"You are here," Kaguya says, as the vision fades, and she nods to the Dean and the Sorceress.
"...So does that mean you're only interested in the one 'truth'?"
She walks over to offer Ratatoskr a hand up.
DG: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The last stop. *>========================
| Type: Climax | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you enter into the next room-- the lights stay up. They are neutral and
pleasant enough. The floor is smooth stone. There are some gently curved
benches of polished but otherwise lightly-worked stone, and a selection of
the same jars you encountered at the entranceway. Their contents are
wholesome food and drink, although they, unlike the ones at the entrance,
are damnably difficult to open.
'Refresh yourself. I wish to explain myself.'
'When my beloved died, I guided the School of Mineralogy as best that I
could. I knew, however, that my strength was failing. My nails had grown
mottled. My horns stopped growing. A slow-wasting disease I had destroyed
all identifying information about Minora and my species, along with my other
secrets... I would die before any hope of guiding my students to make
repairs, or to communicate with other stars. And it was not my place to use
my beloved's dream in such a way.'
'I struggled even so. I tried once more to see if I could master Crest
Sorcery, but I could not. Sophia's students had made little headway on the
problems she had identified, noted, and moved past. Refinements...
modifications... adaptations. They were not troubled, but Sophia had been.
What guidance could I give them? The ornamental stories, the frame and the
moulding from Ancient Terra... the benefit of my memory of Sophia's
theories. But I had nothing but the Symbology written upon my legs and
thighs. What could I give them?'
'I found my answer. Ah... but, before I can reveal that answer to you, o
noble children of the future, there must be a test. I know that if you are
hearing this, you have overcome my trials... but I do not know who you
*are*. It is possible that you are an innocent wanderer and I have only
tortured you. And it is possible that you are evil.'
'So if you wish your life and peace alone... or, if your heart is wicked...
return through the door you entered. Speak 'VAKERO VA-TRAUH-TUK,' my
calving-name, and you will return to the tunnels you know. I wish you well.'
A door is gently highlighted. 'And if you value other things... approach
this door and speak 'MAHABRAHMA', the true name of god. I make no claims for
your safety. This is the way of Minora. You may die. If you claim victory,
then my legacy will be your prize.'
The message repeats once per hour until you choose a door.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr might need to be dragged around for a little bit. It's fine, he's a Hyadean bioengineered to withstand grievous harm beyond grievous harm, and... it's more impressive that a simple mob of angry Void 41 residents could do that to a former Metal Demon soldier, probably.
The lights stay up in the next chamber, and there's more rations. Rations whose packaging is... much better in design, or maybe they ran out of the easy-to-open containers and had to use the best safes the owner of the voice could buy in his ailing years. Speculation is all that's left there.
They explain themselves - when their beloved passed, he tried to guide as best he could. He speaks of his features - nails, horns, a slow-wasting disease... and talk about how he destroyed all identifying information about Minora and his people. (hearing this is probably what gets Ratatoskr healthy enough to not need to be dragged)
It gets more interesting. But first... a test. And a simple set of instructions if they were going to leave, or if their hearts were wicked...
Ratatoskr, over there, is trying to pry the blade of the gunblade thing he keeps carrying around for these expeditions but never use in pitched, important battles to try and get them open, and...
Ratatoskr doesn't say anything, but there's that young nineteen-to-twenty-five-year-old mischief on his eternally grinning sharp-toothed face, like if no one's going to say it he's going to say it.
% r ...if he can get the containers open
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Derelict Relic toward his party's challenge, The last stop.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
Again and again the bell will ring out, as often as is necessary to still and silence their simulated opponents. But Ratatoskr's desire is a powerful thing: quickly the false mortals are quelled, and it becomes necessary to similarly lend a hand simply to...
...get him out of there.
"Enough, enough," chides Harmaus, who expects more trouble before all this is through and the secret in the tomb prised free. "Is no more. Gone. All! We go. We goes and finds other fights, yes?"
Perhaps this will be encouragement enough.
He turns his head towards Kaguya -- his head, now exposed by the hood that has fallen free in the mass melee to expose his red-fruiting face. Does that mean that he's only interested in the one truth?
"Yes," Harmaus says, a simple answer for what is for him a simple question.
There is no room for color in a black and white viewpoint.
But here, before they can go further, the voice of the occupant of the tomb has one more thing to tell them before permitting them into what has been left behind for them -- the secret the concealed here by the late Dean.
"It talks and talks much, yes?" Harmaus remarks, toying with one of the jars idly with a set of extruded green tendrils. "What is word, phrase... Mountains out of mole-homes?"
He's almost got it.
"...But I stops not here. What was word, ah... MAHABRAHMA," Harmaus speaks, abandoning his jar without further ado.
DG: Seraph Harmaus has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The last stop..
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Yeah, I thought so," Kaguya says. "A seeker, but not a scientist. ...I guess that's you, though." Kaguya can help Ratatoskr, too. She's strong enough--strangely, healthy enough--that bringing him along is no trouble. She looks to the rations again, and considers. 'Minora'...
"A much better visitor than we were," Kaguya muses quietly. Then she loks. ...Rattaoskr is going to...
Harmaus is going to...
"Well," she says. "We're all pretty wicked. Except maybe Ratatoskr."
Pause. "Maybe."
"...But I won't leave whatever's in here to you, Harmaus."
"I don't know that I have much room in my heart for more gods," she says, looking to the door. "...But death or victory is somehing my people believe, too."
"Maybe that means I should leave, but..."
Kaguya steps forward. "Mahabrahma."
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The last stop..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The last stop. *>========================
| Type: Climax | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you enter into the next room-- the lights stay up. They are neutral and
pleasant enough. The floor is smooth stone. There are some gently curved
benches of polished but otherwise lightly-worked stone, and a selection of
the same jars you encountered at the entranceway. Their contents are
wholesome food and drink, although they, unlike the ones at the entrance,
are damnably difficult to open.
'Refresh yourself. I wish to explain myself.'
'When my beloved died, I guided the School of Mineralogy as best that I
could. I knew, however, that my strength was failing. My nails had grown
mottled. My horns stopped growing. A slow-wasting disease I had destroyed
all identifying information about Minora and my species, along with my other
secrets... I would die before any hope of guiding my students to make
repairs, or to communicate with other stars. And it was not my place to use
my beloved's dream in such a way.'
'I struggled even so. I tried once more to see if I could master Crest
Sorcery, but I could not. Sophia's students had made little headway on the
problems she had identified, noted, and moved past. Refinements...
modifications... adaptations. They were not troubled, but Sophia had been.
What guidance could I give them? The ornamental stories, the frame and the
moulding from Ancient Terra... the benefit of my memory of Sophia's
theories. But I had nothing but the Symbology written upon my legs and
thighs. What could I give them?'
'I found my answer. Ah... but, before I can reveal that answer to you, o
noble children of the future, there must be a test. I know that if you are
hearing this, you have overcome my trials... but I do not know who you
*are*. It is possible that you are an innocent wanderer and I have only
tortured you. And it is possible that you are evil.'
'So if you wish your life and peace alone... or, if your heart is wicked...
return through the door you entered. Speak 'VAKERO VA-TRAUH-TUK,' my
calving-name, and you will return to the tunnels you know. I wish you well.'
A door is gently highlighted. 'And if you value other things... approach
this door and speak 'MAHABRAHMA', the true name of god. I make no claims for
your safety. This is the way of Minora. You may die. If you claim victory,
then my legacy will be your prize.'
The message repeats once per hour until you choose a door.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 5 *>======================== ==========================< Results - The last stop. >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 22 --(11)--> 33 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 14 --(3)--> 17 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Derelict Relic 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Harmaus calls the name first. Kind of out of nowhere given discussions between them and how Ratatoskr himself is being brought up, he speaks up while he gets the thing pried open.
"You're not pronouncing it right! It's..." Kaguya gets it. "How she says it...!"
Beat. "I know because I was too busy listening to it!" Too busy enjoying the history to speak to defend his character about wickedness, but the great news is... Kaguya got the door opened, Ratatoskr got a supply cache open (they're the same stuff from the entrance but now they're all guaranteed to be the first to ever touch and look at the contents of said cache), and... well.
They go ahead, in whatever form this strange set of chambers has envisioned and prepared for the conveyance of the heirs to the legacy. Or wicked hearts doing a great job pretending!
DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - The bull. *>===========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
This room is a circular arena, fifteen meters in diameter. There are large,
smooth stones at the northwest and southeast sides, two meters in diameter
and three meters in height.
Standing in the center is a towering figure. A Beastman, more or less. Human
in essential shape, but with a nose and mouth that suggest the bovid. A
steel ring is in the nose of the Beastman, whose hide has a dappled
gray-and-white appearance. He is eight feet tall. His chest is bare and he
wears a wrap round his waist and upper thighs of simple white cloth; short
boots of some woven rush. And he carries a double-bladed axe the size of a
small man.
When everyone has entered the room, the Beastman - no, the Minoran - throws
his head back and bellows. He then intones something, ritualistic-sounding,
in a lowing and partially sub-sonic language, followed by a single stomp.
After this, he attempts to kill all of you.
The Minoran's footfalls shake the earth!
The Minoran's fist can dent steel - his axe can cleave it!
The Minoran's hide can endure punishment that would mutilate humans!
The Minoran's steps are swift, and his charge is without mercy!
The Minoran's only language is his own - he laughs at your entreaties, and
strikes!
PREVAIL OR PERISH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8G0hX9Ludc
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, and Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
The final chamber opens before them. The room is a circular arena, fifteen meters across , and the large smooth stones at either end loom before them. They all step into the room...
And then, in the center, the towering figure--the Minoran--bellows, hefting his gigantic axe. He steps forward--
Each step is as thunder. Each swing is as the very earth showering down upon them.
...Kaguya narrows her eyes, and throws a grenade, which bursts into bladed vines to occupy the Minoran for a moment.
Then she hangs back, starting to tinker at something. "...If you can buy me some time," she says, "I can do what needs to be done."
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, The bull.. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The fight is joined, against an opponent who - from beyond this world... may be beyond the reach of most in terms of combat skill. Their very footsteps destabilize balance. Their fist does dent steel (source: Ratatoskr, currently flying across the circular arena, spitting up quicksilver).
It's deeply impressive to the impressionable young man, who chokes out half-formed questions before he is met with another mocking bellow, for there is a failure to communicate between them. If it weren't for the linguistic issues, this might be one of the greatest days of Ratatoskr's life. The history of Filgaia might be so deeply intertwined with even more worlds than Lunar and Hyades and...
"Buy you some time...? Buy you some time...!" Ratatoskr wheezes. "Hyahaha... no. You are buying me time!"
Ratatoskr decides to see how well the barrier system of the gunblade ARM he keeps dragging into these things holds up, just for fun, even if he's like two-thirds conscious at best after that last set of smacks.
Ratatoskr, it turns out, does not have a great grasp of the relationship of what it means to buy time or what that specifically accomplishes, but he is having... a time.
DG: Ratatoskr has risked with his Tool Derelict Relic toward his party's challenge, The bull.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
The deceased dean had said that no one who was wicked should pass. Yet, Harmaus makes his decision without a moment's hesitation -- and doesn't comment on the passage of the others, at that.
Even Kaguya, with whom he has a dispute.
But perhaps he doesn't see himself as wicked -- or even any of them. Perhaps there is only one being that Harmaus sees as incorrigably wicked...?
But before there can be passage inwards, the true name of god must be spoken. "Eh?" Harmaus red tomato head tilts sidelong in clear confusion. "Is 'MAHABRAHMA' as it says, yes?"
But there is only the time for so much. As promised, a great trial awaits them in the form of the Minoran himself.
"Ah... one last guardian first," Harmaus speaks and again, presents that bell.
"If it has plans, then I awaits them!" he calls out before the bell rings out.
Once, twice--
Into eternity.
DG: You must use a Tool that matches the Challenge's Dungeon Ability. If you do not have one, use the matching Basic Action instead by typing +act Combat DG: Seraph Harmaus has used his Tool Gro-Mix toward his party's challenge, The bull.. Fanfare!
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - The bull. *>===========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
This room is a circular arena, fifteen meters in diameter. There are large,
smooth stones at the northwest and southeast sides, two meters in diameter
and three meters in height.
Standing in the center is a towering figure. A Beastman, more or less. Human
in essential shape, but with a nose and mouth that suggest the bovid. A
steel ring is in the nose of the Beastman, whose hide has a dappled
gray-and-white appearance. He is eight feet tall. His chest is bare and he
wears a wrap round his waist and upper thighs of simple white cloth; short
boots of some woven rush. And he carries a double-bladed axe the size of a
small man.
When everyone has entered the room, the Beastman - no, the Minoran - throws
his head back and bellows. He then intones something, ritualistic-sounding,
in a lowing and partially sub-sonic language, followed by a single stomp.
After this, he attempts to kill all of you.
The Minoran's footfalls shake the earth!
The Minoran's fist can dent steel - his axe can cleave it!
The Minoran's hide can endure punishment that would mutilate humans!
The Minoran's steps are swift, and his charge is without mercy!
The Minoran's only language is his own - he laughs at your entreaties, and
strikes!
PREVAIL OR PERISH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8G0hX9Ludc
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, and Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 6 *>======================== ============================< Results - The bull. >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Harmaus 33 --(5)--> 38 Pass Gro-Mix 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Magnetic Resonance Bomb 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Derelict Relic 3 Brute Effects: Stalwart and Risky -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Harmaus 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Madness|Overwhelm Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraph Harmaus has successfully explored The Bulman Legacy!
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
============================<* CHALLENGE - ARENAK *>============================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The Minoran warrior, bloodied, bowed, defiant, and perhaps carved into
several distinct sections, lays still. Three seconds after this, he
disappears. The stones do not.
There are some strange noises, like words half-spoken in reverse.
Followed by a statement that seems picked up in the middle, like a
phonographic error:
'beams glittered like jewels on a string as Kinnison stared ahead. In the
heart-rending moments of his nerocular trance he wondered what it meant. Not
just the beams, not just the war, not just the intrusion of the salinites,
but all of it. They fought for a while but who would live and who would die,
who would speak and who would be silent; he did not know but the answers
were out there and he thought of Clarissa and he thought too of how in this
world there is no law and'
The voice stops to cough.
'Mabra save me,' Vakero mutters. 'Mawkish. That's not Kinnison, that's a
dying old veq. Why do I even'
The arena stays awkwardly silent for several minutes before a side door
opens. It seems to contain a very skinny - but traversible - tunnel, carved
in a sort of bullet shape with a rounded top and a flat smooth bottom. While
walking through it, one of your party bangs their shin or shin-equivalent
against what is revealed to be an optically transparent object about the
size of a dinner platter in the form of a very slightly bent disk, with safe
rounded edges and a central thickness of perhaps two millimeters.
Later examination will reveal that this object, though wholly lacking in
enchantment or energetic technology, is approximately five hundred times the
strength and durability of fine steel. It is a novelty... but if you were to
seek out ways to shape such adamantine material, it could be more.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Ratatoskr... is a much better fighter than he is at metaphors. It's fine. he does fight very well. He is definitely aving a time, because as it turns out, that barrier holds up really well. One last guardian test. One last plan.
The bell rings out. Kaguya then rushes forward, leaping upward and pulling her ARM, devoting three quick shots straight for the Minoran's head, and then slapping a small object into the crevice created by their combined attacks.
When the bull explodes a few seconds laer, Kaguya drops down behind Harmaus. "...I have a plan," she says, and then takes the other bomb from behind her back and shoves it into him with enough force to tear the body.
It is silvery, with black inlays, and it is alight with green electricity showing through some ports. It is obviously volatile.
"Ashes to ashes, Seraph. Dust to dust. I'm done letting my work be used by you."
She then leaps upward and to the side. "Rata, DOWN!"
Not that it'll hurt him much. It's specifically designed to destroy organic matter, not Living Metal.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Harmaus has posed.
"Ah, was much trouble," Harmaus remarks at the end, gazing at the place where the illusory bull-man's form had been. "But it falls! Now, seeks I its secrets--"
It won't be as easy as that.
Kaguya has had enough of Harmaus and his bullshit, if not in so many words. "What--" hisses Harmaus, turning towards her. His 'limbs' are ablaze with light.
And then they are ablaze with something else altogether.
With a snarl, the feline form of Harmaus erupts from the twitching remnants of the body he had occupied. "Insolence! Treachery!" he hisses at Kaguya, hackles well and truly raised. "I forgets this not! It has done great mistakes this day!"
With that he turns and lopes down the hallway -- in search, no doubt, of the dean's secrets.
He will be disappointed when he finds the strange material and naturally leave it behind.