2022-11-04: What's That About a Free Lunch? (And Can We Have One)
- Log: What's That About a Free Lunch? (And Can We Have One)
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Xantia, Lily Keil, Leon Albus, Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Yggdrasil Isle
- Date: November 04, 2022
- Summary: The Black Wolves venture into the strange structure that appears to be at the root of the disturbances in the Ley -- but is it possible that this upset could not be all bad (no, it isn't). Come for the dig log, stay for the debate on lunches and whether they can be free.
DG: A party led by Citan Uzuki is now entering Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Level 81 Gorilla *>=======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The road to Yggdrasil lay through the forest. ARMS's telepaths -- using the
Leyline Observatory -- found the island, but no one could know what awaits.
The forest, as soon as you set foot in it, seems unnatural. The woods are
enormous, with trees that tower far higher than gears. Trails are rare; many
places are so overgrown as to be impassable, and one can't help but feel
that there is /too/ much greenery and life in this place. It is more
verdant, more alive than even Lunar.
Fortunately, through the canopy, you can see the spire of Yggdrasil. And you
find a trail that seems to lead there. As you walk along it, though, the
ground rumbles...
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aPA7gBY1ek
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition - You Will Know Our Names
...and behind you is a /massive/ gorilla with grey-white fur. It roars,
revealing its fanged teeth, and that bellow shakes the trees. And then it
charges at you! It might be necessary to /run/. Very fast.
CHAPTER 4 ACT 4 OPTIONAL BOSS UNLOCKED: Immovable Gonzalez.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Slow:_Agility_Down! and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
EARLIER - ???
"They have isolated the source of the Ley's amplification... I fear for what this may presage."
"Yes... I have confirmed as much, myself. The Adventurer's Guild has provided a similar report. I suspect they will intend to go themselves. I shall go with them, then?"
"Yes. See what you might discern. Then, should it become necessary..."
"I understand, your majesty."
YGGDRASIL ISLE - NOW
The message from the Guild had been quite clear: the recent spike in the power Ley, felt by many of those sensitive to its fluctuations, had apparently been traced by ARMS to a particular island in Aquvy. Not only was this a situation that had potentially dire consequences for the region, if not the world, but Lord Irving was apparently paying Drifters and Geohounds a tidy sum for going and investigating the root cause.
The Black Wolves have answered the call, needless to say.
"If only I had brought my camera," Citan laments, regarding the vista sprawling out before them as they make their way into the forest. There are but a handful of places in Filgaia that are still green, and fewer still that are even somewhat close to the grandeur present in this space. It's enough to take one's breath away.
...Arguably, the deep growl and the crashing coming up from behind them all might also take their breath away.
For different reasons.
"Oh... dear," Citan utters, staring at the wall of ape descending upon them. He turns towards the others, shaking his head emphatically. "We cannot hope to fight it! We must run!"
To this end he produces a particular pale blue sphere from a land far from this: enchanted by the power of the Macalania Temple, perhaps he can work to slow down that giant over-leveled gorilla and speed up their flight with a small application of ice.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Macalania Sphere toward his party's challenge, Level 81 Gorilla. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia has never completely figured out what exactly the deal with the Ley is, but she knows enough to realize that people messing with it too much tends to be Bad News for Filgaia. Plenty of motivation for looking into the irregularity that was reported in the area - there's probably something there that needs to be stopped. Hopefully something that can be stopped by punching it a bunch. Either way, all the reason she needs to go along on the Black Wolves' latest venture.
On the bright side, there haven't been any major irregularities with Xantia, following the confrontation with Xenia some time ago. A little on the calm side for her standards, but no overly extreme changes. It's not difficult to imagine that, after a little soul searching, she's reordered her priorities a bit.
And this... certainly seemed like a priority, going into it. But when Xantia sees all this... well, it's certainly stolen her breath away by all appearances. She hasn't said anything in a while, simply looking around in awe at all this, well, Life, where one wouldn't have expected it. She can't help but wonder.
"Are we... sure that what's happening here is a bad thing?"
Looks to her like whatever it is, it's breathing life back into Filgaia. How could that possibly be bad?
Maybe if it also does things like causing giant apes to appear. Not that Xantia looks particularly concerned about that development. Of course she thinks she can take it. She just looks confused when told not to fight, but to run. "Huh? But, I'm sure we can--"
She doesn't insist beyond that, whether due to a verbal or physical convincing by her team mates, or the simple fact that everyone else is running and she doesn't want to be left behind. Guess she's running too, sigh.
She could totally have taken it, for the record.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Level 81 Gorilla.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
The Black Wolves naturally answered this call. It is a beautiful place, as it turns out--but Lily frowns. "This isn't like this region," she comments. "I sense... energy, in the air. I feel like I could reach out and take it." She doesn't. But she feels like she could. And then suddenly--
She wants to fight it. She does. She has the same idea as Xantia. But because Xantia also has the idea, "Fight on our terms, not the enemy's! Let's go, Xantia!"
Lily takes off, and pulls her pendant from under her collar, focusing on it--and then starts to clip through the foilage as if intangible, untouched by the matters in the way in a spherical shell of blue light.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Impure Pendant toward her party's challenge, Level 81 Gorilla. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"This is much too thick," Leon says, as he tracks along after Citan. "I'd like it if we knew why it got like this."
He keeps walking, but hesitates at the growl -- then looks back at the first crash. Much like Citan, he stares for a moment at the gorilla, before she shakes his head. He grabs his rope, throwing it upward, and loops the rope about a branch. Leon sends himself flying, using his rope to swing off a tree branch ahead of it. "We better move, Xantia! That thing looks much too huge!"
She asks a good question. He has an answer -- but it'll wait until they're away from the gorilla. "Let's go!"
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Climbing Rope toward his party's challenge, Level 81 Gorilla. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"It's beautiful!" Elly says. "It reminds me of - of something I saw once, in a show!"
A show?
Elly does not admit that the place has a certain suggestive similarity, if only in the size of the trees, to one of the various automatically-generated entertainment programs shown to small children in the video feeds of Solaris.
However, the procedural commands that generate these programs do not include dangerous animals. They include few animals at all; when they do appear, they tend to either be harmless pets or abstractly threatening parodies.
But this...
This is...
"I can't call Regulus at this distance! Run!!" Elly squeals, although when she sees what Leon is doing. But he's already swinging and that branch is cracking a little. She nevertheless gets out the Thames-originated rope in her own pack, clasping on the (not-a-fishing-hook) anchor, and hurling it forwards towards a low branch on the other side of a modest if consequentially-deep crevasse.
"Fei!" Elly says after yanking the line. One arm is extended for him to get in. A leap of faith?
He gets a peck on the side of the lips, though. "For luck," Elly says, before -- HOPEFULLY WITH SOME SYNCHRONICITY -- leaping and swinging!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Climbing Pack toward her party's challenge, Level 81 Gorilla. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is naturally concerned about things that might cause *checks notes* the end of the world as we know it and so has come along on this venture for the purposes of *checks notes* making sure all the life in the world doesn't go into one stupid party of the world map that's super hard to get to and has a very high encounter rate and involves so much walking to get to the actual dungeon and his player is definitely almost certainly not speaking out of experience here.
Also he'd very much like it, if it isn't too much to ask, for his friends and loved ones to make it out of this latest catastrophe alive. They haven't even defeated the giant death whale! The giant death whale is still a thing! Fei would understand folks forgetting about it since it hasn't done any murder death whale stuff lately but it's out there!!
And of course there's the flying death airship that can, if ARMS is right, conquer most of the surface real quick. Can it still do that after they fought all those Pillars?? And did those murders??? That Fei is still kind of weird about???
"I'm kind of having trouble keeping track of all the things that want to murder us all," Fei says gloomily. "I've got Odessa and Heimdall Gazzo, Sin, this weird plan with those three weird folks..." He realizes. "Oh right, the actual Goddess. Forgot about her."
He sighs, hanging his head as #5 shows up.
The Giant Death Ape.
Fei's mouth drops open and says, "...Oh wow... That's a big monkey."
He steps back a bit and then looks out to the others, "Keep on moving, guys, I'll get Id to fend it off!"
...Junior...
"What...? You too cool to fight a giant ape...?"
Nah, but... That's no average saiyan warrior
"What?" Fei is more confused.
Ugh, forget it. What I'm trying to say is, it's too strong anyway.
Fei blinks slowly at the giant monkey.
"XANTIA NO." Fei says the moment that Xantia considers fighting the giant ape--luckily she runs on her own or he'd probably pick her up to get her out of there.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Level 81 Gorilla.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is naturally concerned about things that might cause *checks notes* the end of the world as we know it and so has come along on this venture for the purposes of *checks notes* making sure all the life in the world doesn't go into one stupid party of the world map that's super hard to get to and has a very high encounter rate and involves so much walking to get to the actual dungeon and his player is definitely almost certainly not speaking out of experience here.
Also he'd very much like it, if it isn't too much to ask, for his friends and loved ones to make it out of this latest catastrophe alive. They haven't even defeated the giant death whale! The giant death whale is still a thing! Fei would understand folks forgetting about it since it hasn't done any murder death whale stuff lately but it's out there!!
And of course there's the flying death airship that can, if ARMS is right, conquer most of the surface real quick. Can it still do that after they fought all those Pillars?? And did those murders??? That Fei is still kind of weird about???
"I'm kind of having trouble keeping track of all the things that want to murder us all," Fei says gloomily. "I've got Odessa and Heimdall Gazzo, Sin, this weird plan with those three weird folks..." He realizes. "Oh right, the actual Goddess. Forgot about her."
He sighs, hanging his head as #5 shows up.
The Giant Death Ape.
Fei's mouth drops open and says, "...Oh wow... That's a big monkey."
He steps back a bit and then looks out to the others, "Keep on moving, guys, I'll get Id to fend it off!"
...Junior...
"What...? You too cool to fight a giant ape...?"
Nah, but... That's no average saiyan warrior
"What?" Fei is more confused.
Ugh, forget it. What I'm trying to say is, it's too strong anyway.
Fei blinks slowly at the giant monkey.
"XANTIA NO." Fei says the moment that Xantia considers fighting the giant ape--luckily she runs on her own or he'd probably pick her up to get her out of there.
Unfortunately he is way too slow especially after his own considering of trying to take on the giant ape warrior--luckily, Elly drops a line.
Fei catches it, is swooped up into the air dramatically with a passing overhead shot of the beautiful landscape as he falls into Elly's arms scooby doo style.
Elly provides a smooch!
"My hero..." Fei swoons.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Level 81 Gorilla *>=======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The road to Yggdrasil lay through the forest. ARMS's telepaths -- using the
Leyline Observatory -- found the island, but no one could know what awaits.
The forest, as soon as you set foot in it, seems unnatural. The woods are
enormous, with trees that tower far higher than gears. Trails are rare; many
places are so overgrown as to be impassable, and one can't help but feel
that there is /too/ much greenery and life in this place. It is more
verdant, more alive than even Lunar.
Fortunately, through the canopy, you can see the spire of Yggdrasil. And you
find a trail that seems to lead there. As you walk along it, though, the
ground rumbles...
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aPA7gBY1ek
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition - You Will Know Our Names
...and behind you is a /massive/ gorilla with grey-white fur. It roars,
revealing its fanged teeth, and that bellow shakes the trees. And then it
charges at you! It might be necessary to /run/. Very fast.
CHAPTER 4 ACT 4 OPTIONAL BOSS UNLOCKED: Immovable Gonzalez.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation - Round 1 *>================ =========================< Results - Level 81 Gorilla >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 0 --(13)--> 13 Pass Macalania Sphere 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(13)--> 13 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(10)--> 10 Pass Impure Pendant 3 Agility Effects: Stalwart and Sacrific -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 0 --(25)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 0 --(13)--> 13 Pass Climbing Rope 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(10)--> 10 Pass Climbing Pack 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Slow(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"I, as well," he answers Leon, furrowing his brow as he regards the jungle before them.
"It is possible," Citan allows, at Xantia's question, "that the amplification of the Ley may have a temporary benefit. However, there is no such thing as a 'free lunch', as it were. When the tide rises on one shore, it ebbs on another. This power is being drawn here. Might it draw the power of the Ley away from other parts of Filgaia?"
That, and there's the fact of that giant over-leveled gorilla. Even if he were armed properly, Citan isn't particularly certain that he...
"We must not overexert ourselves here!" he exhorts Xantia. "As Lily says!"
Except, even as he turns to flee himself, he realizes that there is one other who hasn't made tracks just yet. "Fei--"
Elly, fortunately, has that angle of things covered. Citan lingers no longer and makes tracks himself, lending Xantia a hand should she need it.
Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor.
And after a time, the terratorial ape withdraws and returns to its lair.
Or whatever passes as such for it.
DG: Xantia has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Metal Beasts *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The Prophets have shown themselves to have, somehow, Metal Beasts. Those are
the creatures that they used in the attack on Meria City; those are also the
creatures that the Prophets have deployed to defend Yggdrasil. As you enter
this next chamber, you see a trio of them approach: huge, wolf-like
creatures with an armored hide and a powerful build. Eyes glow a baleful
pale yellow, as they step forward.
The wolf-life creatures roar -- and then all three charge down the hallway,
rushing straight for you.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
It's a good point, probably. Xantia's understanding of the Ley may be limited, but if it really is something that's all connected then it does stand to reason it's possible that if one place is made to do really well, other places will suffer. So she nods a bit at that explanation. She does have one objection.
"I guess, but I don't know what that has to do with free lunches, I've had plenty of those. We could have one right now, pretty sure all this vegetation has some good fruit growing here." See? Same old Xantia. Nothing to worry about.
The thing is, even if Xantia is dissuaded from seeing a fight through, that doesn't mean she isn't going to be at least a little bit defiant. In the form of kicking a rock at the giant monkey before running away. Not enough to do any damage, but enough to grab the aggro. Maybe that was her plan, to get the beast to focus on her rather than the others. Whatever the case may be, she does need that little bit of extra exertion to stay ahead of the rampaging creature. Not that it tempers her spirits any.
"Okay! Okay, we're all fine?" She's all smiles once she joins up with the others at the Spire, seeing them all there in good condition. "Then let's go!"
There really isn't much time at all to appreciate the interior of the structure, since fate has decided to trigger a random encounter after a single step. Gotta hate it when that happens. A trio of metal wolves charge the party as the welcoming committee.
"Wha? These things, here?" They look just like Metal Beasts that Xantia's fought before. She wasn't sure what kind of enemies she was expecting to find here, but it wasn't this.
Not that it changes the plan, of course. Her plan is always going to be 'go in guns blazing', or energy blade slashing, as the case may be. Much better than running - she's pretty sure nobody's going to object this time, not when the enemies are in the way like this.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool ARM Blade toward her party's challenge, Metal Beasts. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Even if it is beneficial," Leon says after Citan explains his theory about a free lunch -- and after they land -- to Xantia. "It means we should investigate. We need to understand what they're doing, and why they've gone to these lengths. I'm not wild about this, but... I think it's necessary, too."
They make their way into the spire. As they enter, though, they find the welcoming committee. Leon's eyes narrow, as he sees them -- and he glances at Xantia, before he nods. "Odd," he agrees. "You're quite right. These are just like the ones we've fought... in Ignas. What are they doing here?"
He presses a button on his belt. Three metal triangles pop off -- unfurl -- and then begin to fire beams of energy into their ranks. Leon's Raid Funnels fly about him, directing their fire down into the Metal Beasts.
"Let's been done with them, and quickly!"
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Raid Funnel toward his party's challenge, Metal Beasts. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is just not even going to chime in on all the things that want them dead. She's just not. There's too many! And she's pretty sure there's more they don't even know about!
But she does think, "...I think it's bad." It's beautiful, but--
Citan's got it. No free lunch. "I think that's what's happening," she says. But all the same, they get out of there. One way or another.
...Lily does ot explain the free lunch thing. Instead... They're all fine! And there are metal beasts! "Maybe they brought them here?" Lily says of the Metal Beasts. "I hear they used them to attack Meria Boule."
But from there, Lily starts forward--and Dog, wreathed in black smoke, launchers herself at a Metal Beast who was about to charge Lily. Lily in turn steps forward and stabs down a blade of darkness into the Beast to defend Dog.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, Metal Beasts. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei isn't sure how serious the other guy was but he isn't going to test it just to fight a giant monkey. Nevertheless, he's inclined to agree with Citan. "Yeah," He agrees. "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." He pauses. "And uh, I don't think it's right to judge a book by its cover but what a cover, you know?"
Of course sometimes there is such a thing as a free lunch, Fei thinks, like literally speaking. Fei has had a lot of free lunches if we're being totally realy here--in fact...
"That's kind of a weird saying though, isn't it Doc? I mean, of all the things that aren't free, sometimes people really do just treat you to lunch. Also if you know what you're doing you can just go out and get your own lunch without paying anything. There's a lot of things that aren't free out ther ebut a lunch, if you think about it, is maybe one of the things that's easier to not have to pay for?"
He scratches at his head as he draws out his RPS Badge, flicks it into the air, and unleashes a chi blast that refracts off it into several metal beasts. Fei is pretty casual about this. It's like, you know, the sort of battle he is MOST used to at this point in his life even if they did swap the palettes.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Metal Beasts. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Citan's response to that from Xantia is to just smile and shake his head. "Not precisely, but..." Perhaps sensing that now is not the best of times to really get into the subject, he instead has glanced Leon's way. "Yes, precisely. Something is quite amiss."
...Only for Fei, also, to opine on the subject of free lunches.
"Ah... well," Citan hedges, before diving right in, because if there's one thing he can't resist, it's the opportunity to talk. At length.
About something just like this.
"It is rather a saying than any sort of... the meaning is that while the lunch in question might be free for you, it is not free for whoever purchased it! If we expand this to the natural world in general, then the statement can be understood as 'there is nothing that can be gained that does not have a cost elsewhere'. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, one might say. Thus, if the Ley is here, might it not be the case that it has removed itself from somewhere else in Filgaia?"
Oh, and there are Metal Beasts here, now.
"Why in the world are there Metal Beasts here? --Be careful, there may be more of them about."
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Metal Beasts.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly breathes out for a long moment.
"Fei," Elly tells him, "Don't fight that giant animal. It doesn't have anyone to worry about. You have to be smart if you're fighting really wild animals. You have to use your brain, and -- what was the other part of that," Elly mumbles, not quite bringing it together.
After THAT, the fact that there are Metal Beasts in front of them is -- familiar -- but Elly says, in wonder, "How did they get here?!" even as she readies her staff, which is brought around in broad sweeps and occasional short combinations to smite against them.
"Huff - I don't understand, Doctor," Elly says. "If this place recovers, wouldn't they be able to use the same methods elsewhere...? Or else nature would spread out, though I suppose - an island isn't the best place for that to happen-!"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Rod Embracing Heaven toward her party's challenge, Metal Beasts. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Metal Beasts *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The Prophets have shown themselves to have, somehow, Metal Beasts. Those are
the creatures that they used in the attack on Meria City; those are also the
creatures that the Prophets have deployed to defend Yggdrasil. As you enter
this next chamber, you see a trio of them approach: huge, wolf-like
creatures with an armored hide and a powerful build. Eyes glow a baleful
pale yellow, as they step forward.
The wolf-life creatures roar -- and then all three charge down the hallway,
rushing straight for you.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==============<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation - Round 2 *>=============== ==========================< Results - Metal Beasts >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citan Uzuki 13 --(15)--> 28 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 13 --(3)--> 16 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lily Keil 10 --(3)--> 13 Pass Dog 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 25 --(3)--> 28 Pass ARM Blade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Leon Albus 13 --(3)--> 16 Pass Raid Funnel 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Iron Rod Embracing Heaven 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Slow(1)|Tire(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Xantia has posed.
At least Fei's got Xantia's back on free lunches. She wouldn't even be standing here today if it wasn't for all the free lunches in the past! Still, she gets that she failed her Understanding Figurative Speech roll, which even with the negative modifier is kind of embarrassing so she's just going to quietly let that one go and leave it between Fei and the doctor.
At least fights she can do. They can all do fights, no problem. Between the energy blades, funnel fire, chi blasts, metal staff, darkness and doggos... it's fine if Citan doesn't physically participate, those Metal Beasts didn't stand a chance. Quite unlike the giant monkey earlier, these are sooner underleveled for the area. Which may have something to do with them not really belonging in this area.
"...Strange," Xantia remarks, rather than her more typical celebration on getting to beat something up. This might still be about the way these things were not supposed to be here. Or it might be a lead-in to another thing she remarks on right after, as she looks to Lily.
"Was Dog smoking just now?"
...You know she didn't mean that the way it sounds.
DG: Leon Albus has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Wall of Force *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room you enter has a trap -- but you might not see it, at first.
The swirling and twisting patterns on the floor can play tricks on the eye.
This means that you never quite catch the circular pressure plate hidden in
the floor, and your first hint is a soft 'click' when one of you steps on
it.
Then, a large shimmering barrier of blue light appears in front of you --
and to each side -- and behind. It is a powerful barrier, the sort that
could block many an attack, but it seals you inside.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I can't pretend to know how this works," Leon says to Elly, "but I find myself dubious that it would be easily applied. Maybe I'm growing cynical."
He looks sideways at Xantia -- then raises an eyebrow. "I'm... not sure how to answer that." But to be fair, she directed that to Lily. Leon rolls his shoulders -- and leads the way. There is a hallway that guides them onward. Strange patterns criss-cross the floor: concentric black rings over white, with circuit-like patterns on the wall. The next room they enter...
...well, no one can be blamed for missing a strange-shaped floor plate in a strangely shaped floor. There is a click.
Then a barrier appears -- blue and shimmering -- and another, and another, forming a square about them. A trap, in simple terms. Leon frowns, before he reaches into his coat. He pulls out a sledgehammer, slams it into the wall of energy, and it bounces off with a ripple.
"....This will take some work."
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Field Sledge toward his party's challenge, Wall of Force. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is just kind of used to Lily and Dog doing ominous things. He's not sure if Dog 'smoking' is something new or just part of the old Lily spookiness. It's easy to forget that Leon is, like, literally from the Zeboim Era and was just, apparently, FROZEN until today when he acts so normal compared to all the other old people Fei knows.
He can't help but wonder what his secret is.
As they step into a new area, he assures Elly. "Don't worry uh, just thought about it for a second. Yeah." He rubs at his forehead before nodding to Citan. "Oh that's right. Yeah, like, basic thermodynamics. You've got a point there, Doc, when you put it like that. Energy out of nowhere is pretty much impossible."
There is a click and a barrier forms.
MEANWHILE, as if waiting for this moment, from Fei Fong Wong's accessory slot.
"FIRE THE BART MISSILES."
"Good thinking," Fei says distantly. "Thanks Bart."
"You're Welcome Fei! Only you can hear me though!"
Fei really hopes that's just a trick in the doll's voicoder before he creates a kamehameha wave out of seemingly nothing and fires it full bore towards the forcefield.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Bart Jr Doll toward his party's challenge, Wall of Force. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"...Yeah," Lily says to Xantia. "She's kind of soaked up a lot of residual magic," Lily explains, "So it's easy to enchant her strikes and defenses."
But Elly's question, "That depends. If there's a finite quantity of energy, then they couldn't. And like Citan says, energy can't usually be created or desroyed." Lily's working on it, though. Oh, she's definitely working on it.
But the barrier suddenly--
Lily frowns. "Oh, to hell with that," she says, and lifts her hand. She just tries to blast the barrier with a shell of darkness to shatter it outright, and it probably won't give her brain damage to do it. Probably.
Maybe a little. It's fine, she heals fast.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a risky Brute Action toward her party's challenge, Wall of Force.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
This remark from Fei, though, does prompt Citan to consider him afresh. "Basic thermo... Fei, have you been studying?"
As far as the monsters are concerned... they've got this one handled, as far as he can determine; there's hardly any need for him to involve himself -- they should be able to get through this without even a scratch.
Indeed, his attention is focused instead on the Metal Beasts themselves. What are they doing here, in this place? Is there something about their appearance or behavior from which he can discern anything at all?
"I am no expert on the Ley," he answers Elly. That is in fact rather Riesenlied's remit. "Nevertheless, if it were as simple as that... would it not have already been attempted? Then there is the question of what the effect on the planet might be. Ley is the lifeblood of Filgaia, in a sense. When blood pools in one part of the body..."
He shakes his head, this apparently an unpleasant avenue for him to consider.
"The architecture in here is strange," Citan remarks, as they press on, pausing here and again to consider the walls and the floors.
Unfortunately, even so, a particular floor plate still escapes his eye.
"Ah... well then," Citan says, turning about to consider the barrier that traps them. "A square-shape, is it? Now..."
If he takes a moment to refer to his manual before jabbing at the wall near the barrier with a finger, he'll surely be forgiven.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Acupressure Guide toward his party's challenge, Wall of Force. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"--- What??" Elly says to Xantia. Dogs can smoke???
Elly looks to Fei for validation on this. She wasn't watching Dog! This is why Elly's not a good dogspotter. This confusion, which she mentally ascribes to some idiom she hasn't heard yet, tapers off; she answers Leon, "I can't say that you're unjustified... but I've seen things like composting, or planting legumes to bring fixed nitrogen back to fields, right?"
"If it's just something like that..."
"... But blood would clot and swell," Elly answers Citan, hesitantly. He's saying something reasonable. Maybe Elly doesn't want to believe it. Something is blocking her from -
A force field!
Elly looks round, and bites her lower lip.
"Ether wouldn't help in here," Elly mumbles. "We'd just backblast ourselves... at least," and then she tosses a rose-red phial of something valuable to Lily, gently, "the Ether that I can touch."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool One Of Every Miscellaneous Consumable toward her party's challenge, Wall of Force. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Huh."
That's all of Xantia's eloquent response to the news that Lily is enchanting her dog now. Yeah, she too is pretty used to Lily doing ominous things, she was just surprised at seeing something new happening. Now that she gets it, it's no big deal.
As the party proceeds, Xantia looks at the walls of the hallway with curiosity, tracing a section with her hand in passing. "Circuits..." she muses quietly. It's probably not difficult to guess the connotations she's making with such patterns. These don't seem quite the same, but still. Places with pattterns like this usually have something in common. "You think they're using this building to do... whatever it is they're doing to the Ley?" A hopeful tone sneaks in as she suggests, "Should we start breaking things in here?"
Whoops, that plan is put on hold when a barrier suddenly surrounds the group. "...Looks like we can start by breaking this!" Or not.
Now Xantia is feeling truly in her element, taking out her trusty hammer-headed fist weapon Mini-Megaton to assist in The Smashening.
She also whistles appreciatively at the sight of Leon's Sledgehammer. "Nice one! You gotta let me handle that for a bit later."
She just really likes hammers okay
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Mini-Megaton toward her party's challenge, Wall of Force. Rally!
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Wall of Force *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room you enter has a trap -- but you might not see it, at first.
The swirling and twisting patterns on the floor can play tricks on the eye.
This means that you never quite catch the circular pressure plate hidden in
the floor, and your first hint is a soft 'click' when one of you steps on
it.
Then, a large shimmering barrier of blue light appears in front of you --
and to each side -- and behind. It is a powerful barrier, the sort that
could block many an attack, but it seals you inside.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, Weaken:_Brute_Down!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation - Round 3 *>================ ==========================< Results - Wall of Force >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 28 --(10)--> 38 Pass Acupressure Guide 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 16 --(10)--> 26 Pass Bart Jr Doll 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 13 --(30)--> 43 Fail Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 28 --(10)--> 38 Pass Mini-Megaton 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 16 --(10)--> 26 Pass Field Sledge 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 10 --(22)--> 32 Fail One Of Every Miscellaneous Consumab 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Overwhelm|Tire(1)|Weaken(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon glances at Fei with some worry when he speaks to Bart. Bart isn't here.
But a blast of energy certainly helps. So, too, does a blast of darkness. The barrier begins to wobble -- moreso after Xantia's hammerheaded fist weapon smashes into it. So, when Doctor Uzuki applies one finger...
CRACK
...and the energy barrier dissipates. Leon blinks, before he slides his hammer back into his coat.
"Well," he says. "That's done, then."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Oh it's just my Bart Jr doll," Fei asides to Leon, holding out a tiny plush doll of him and showing him off. There's even a pull string. "He has a lot of prerecorded statements."
He pulls the string again.
"FIRE THE BART MISSILES."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Is it odd," Leon says, "that I'm actually more disturbed?"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Malik's Reaverbot *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
During the last several years, the Prophets made an exhaustive study of
Filgaia and Lunar. Evidence of that is in display, now.
First, a voice crackles over the intercomm. It is a man's voice, with a
sneering laugh behind his words. "Looks like you found us! Good job, sport!
Now, let's see if this thing works..."
A hole in the ceiling opens -- and a large drone drops down. The round,
spherical drone unfurls arms and legs, with a central glowing eye. This is a
Reaverbot, like those found in Kattelox; it swivels an arm towards you, and
opens fire with a large beam cannon that shoots across the room, scorching
the tiles.
Malik laughs. "Have fun!"
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly gives Leon a somewhat long-suffering smile and does not look at Bart Jr. Bart Jr. isn't a part of her relationship that she enjoys, but you have to work through things.
However, Bart Jr.'s demonaiacal aura seems to have attracted other perils. An intercom crackles even as the field fades.
'Well, so much for that one! Looks like you found us! Good job, sport! Now, let's see if THIS thing works.' And something goes THUNK
and stone shifts, and a hole in the ceiling opens
Rain doesn't fall. Instead, something round falls outwards, landing neatly and stopping flat on the relatively flat surface, which is probably already ominous. Elly gets her rod ready as the arms and legs unfurl, the Reaverbot revealing itself. There is a glimpse of the eye, which almost seems to suggest what is going to happen, and Elly starts moving to the leeward side of the thing before
SHRRRAAAANKKK!!!
PERIL: DEATHRAY! The beam seems to fill up a third of the room, scorching the tiles!
Malik laughs, malikiously. "Have fun!"
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Rod Embracing Heaven toward her party's challenge, Malik's Reaverbot. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Huh? What? Did I? Is this a test?" Fei starts to panic as Citan questions him on his education. "Sorry! Sometimes stuff just pops in my head like that. I probably read it somewhere so uh--sorry if I got it wrong actually, I probably misremembered--"
Leon assures him that he might even be more disturbed. "Oh well I found the Bart Jr Doll in Kislev actually. I'm not sure why they had Bart Jr Dolls there but there were some colliseum fights and I did pretty well and I traded in some points for the Bart Jr. Weirdly enough, there was a Fei Jr Doll too but honestly I thought getting one of those would be even more creepy, but Bart's a friend of mine you know and I miss him sometimes so I thought it'd be like...having him here."
"It's uncanny," He admits. "Bart Jr is almost exactly like him. Their intelligence services must really know their stuff."
"Course," He adds. "The Chu Chu Idol I found in Shevat is really tough competition but I figured Margie might feel a little weird about it."
Malik speaks up. Fei goes deadpan.
"Did he just call us sport."
"He's younger than I am!!" Fei complains as he palm thrusts the orb because it is pretty much ROCK and a palm thrust counts as Paper.
Them's the rules.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Malik's Reaverbot. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"No, no, there is no need to apologize!" Citan says, shaking his head. "I had simply wondered... how you had come to know something like that. You are not wrong. So it was something you remembered...?" He lapses into silence, folding his arms over his chest as if he were considering this with care.
Should they start breaking things in here?
"Well... let us see what they are attempting, and if need be, we may," Citan suggests to Xantia. "I worry about causing further harm if we do not understand what is happening here." Still, he won't discard the notion entirely that they might need to cause a little property damage to put this one to bed.
"The likeness is most uncanny," he remarks, eyeing the doll. He might share a glance with Leon when Fei speaks of there having been other dolls... of its like.
Sometimes, there are questions to which one doesn't want to know the answers.
There is a voice from somewhere. "That voice-- where are you?"
Malik, though, isn't in the mood to answer questions and instead drops them a little 'friend' to play with.
"Be careful, that eye is--"
Citan goes wide just before the beam fires in his general direction. "--That was a little too close! Try to stay on the opposite side!" he suggests, heading in that general direction himself. The Metal Beasts, he hadn't been concerned about, but this one...
This one, he might need to lend a hand. Is there some less-than-armored point on this side?
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a risky Combat Action toward his party's challenge, Malik's Reaverbot.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Dog is not that kind of smoking! But Lily looks to Elly when she tosses that red phial, and she smiles back for a moment. "That's one of the reasons I'm here, right?" She and Elly can do much more between one another--together--than they could apart.
Dog whines as the barrier cracks. It's not great. But the barrier is gone, and...
"Nice work, Doc."
Bart Jr...
"It's not that weird," is all Lily says on the matter.
Instead, she focuses on the voice, and the 'eye'--Lily dives out of the way. She does not question the dolls further. Instead, Dog suddenly barks and charges, while Lily, layering barriers of Light over herself, darts into firing range to distract the machine.
"Let's understand what they're doing and then' wreck it all."
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, Malik's Reaverbot. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
With a chuckle, Xantia dusts off her fist weapon and puts it back into her pouch. She always feels so much better after a good smashing. And she's not hearing a hard 'no' on future smashing, which is also good news. With that, she cheerfully directs herself to Fei. "Oh, they make dolls of you too, Fei? I wonder what they made those say... we should get one and find out!" How creepy could it be? Fei has never been creepy in his life.
Xantia doesn't really know a ton about the Prophets and has no idea who it is that suddenly starts speaking, but well, somebody using the speaker system of a place you're in probably is someone in control of the place you're in. As such, she's not surprised to shortly see something dropped in for them to fight. She is surprised by what that thing is.
"Is that a--" Xantia starts, when the transformation of the orb quickly confirms her suspicions. "Now it's a giant Reaverbot? How?! You can't just carry these things off to another island, they're way too heavy for that!" She should know, she's thrown enough of them around doing jobs for the Digger's Guild.
With that kind of experience, she's quickly sized this one up to be a little bit too big to do much throwing damage too, so she defaults to her most effective way of dismantling Reaverbots: her ARM. The red energy blade that springs forth from her bracer is significantly larger than it was when dealing with the Metal Beasts, Xantia adjusting it to be more appropriate for dealing with the larger target. But first...
"Uh-oh, beam!" Xantia gets off before performing a quick dodge roll underneath as it passes over her. Even if she didn't fight this particular type before, you start to see some common patterns in Reaverbot attacks after a while. Likewise, the weak point here is glaringly obvious. As soon as she gets a clear shot, she rushes in to take a literal stab at it, targeting the eye with the appropriately-sized arm blade.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool ARM Blade toward her party's challenge, Malik's Reaverbot. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
The raid funnels are still deployed. They swing up, the trio of them forming a shimmering aqua barrier between them. The beam slams into it, holding the beam at bay, before Leon dives out of the way. He cannot appreciate/fear the Bart Jr. Doll properly in the moment, but perhaps he can be forgiven.
"I don't see him. They must be monitoring us," he says to Citan. He scans about, before he pulls out Argent Divider, and takes aim. He fires two shotgun shells for it.
"I think they've collected things from across Filgaia," Leon says. He grits his teeth, as he takes aim, firing again, and doing his best to scatter away from where it fired.
DG: Leon Albus has used his Tool Raid Funnel toward his party's challenge, Malik's Reaverbot. Fanfare!
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Malik's Reaverbot *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
During the last several years, the Prophets made an exhaustive study of
Filgaia and Lunar. Evidence of that is in display, now.
First, a voice crackles over the intercomm. It is a man's voice, with a
sneering laugh behind his words. "Looks like you found us! Good job, sport!
Now, let's see if this thing works..."
A hole in the ceiling opens -- and a large drone drops down. The round,
spherical drone unfurls arms and legs, with a central glowing eye. This is a
Reaverbot, like those found in Kattelox; it swivels an arm towards you, and
opens fire with a large beam cannon that shoots across the room, scorching
the tiles.
Malik laughs. "Have fun!"
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Slow:_Agility_Down!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation - Round 4 *>================ ========================< Results - Malik's Reaverbot >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 38 --(25)--> 63 Fail Fight 1 Combat Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 26 --(0)--> 26 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 43 --(0)--> 43 Pass Dog 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 38 --(0)--> 38 Pass ARM Blade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 26 --(0)--> 26 Pass Raid Funnel 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 32 --(0)--> 32 Pass Iron Rod Embracing Heaven 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Kick, punch - Fei scores good blows against the Orb even as it unleashes its blast. The others move as well, although perhaps Dr. Uzuki lags behind a little. (Unrelated thought, it must be harder to restrain yourself if you were trying to help without going completely over the top than you might imagine. No reason why that thought might come to mind around now.)
Lily speaks and renders her judgment on Bart Jr, "the devil doll from Hell," but it is Dog who acts. Dog's barking seems to briefly confuse the Reaverbot - which in fact leaps back, orienting its baleful Eye upon Dog, but Dog is too canny for THAT game. Especially when Xantia sinks an arm blade into its sclera, with an enormous arc of refractor-electricity as Leon follows up rather critically with the raid funnels, which - combined with shotguns - break much of its lens array...
And from there, well, it's all just cleanup.
As several sparkling if battered refractor crystals spat outwards and tingle jingle on the floor, Elly breathes out. "... But WHY," Elly says. "They'd just increase the risk if they were collecting old treasures for protection. Even Gears or something, you'd want to refurbish them, right? Unless..."
Unless what?
DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=============<* CHALLENGE - Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths *>==============
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a final chamber, which is rather cavernous. There are signs that
some of the Prophets' research must have happened here -- for there are
tubes that contain withered Metal Beasts; suspended corpses of the same
human woman with blonde hair, in a blue dress; various monsters from Filgaia
and Lunar alike, all dead, and being studied. Past these are several huge
monitors, which are turned off, and then a doorway leading into the heart of
the tower.
There are five pillars of light in the center of the room -- and five
crystals, mounted on pillars. These need to be pushed into the pillars of
light, to absorb them. However, storing a crystal there for too long will
cause a crystal to overload, explode, and shatter. You need to infuse each
crystal with light... but not for too long, and to infuse all crystals
simultaneously. Unfortunately, the crystals also dim quickly.
Once all of the crystals are charged, though, the monitors will come online
-- and the final door will open.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, |
| and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
No reason at all, no.
Still, the Reaverbot is downed, and that is the most important thing of the moment.
"I do not know. At times... logic alone is not the only reason," Citan remarks, having stooped near some of the shattered fragments of the construct to inspect them more closely. "The screws show sign of wear," he remarks, standing after a moment more. "But more than that... I cannot say."
There is a doorway beyond that. This is a laboratory of some sort, that is certain. But the specimens in question are rather beyond what one would normally expect.
"This is..."
There is one mystery solved: now they have a very good idea of where the Metal Beasts were possibly cultivated.
But it is at the cost of one mystery more remaining.
"...The same woman. They are all the same woman," Citan says, his gaze moving from one glass container to the next.
This isn't a place they should remain in. He moves after a moment more, heading into the light of the chamber beyond this laboratory, a space in which there are five pillars of light.
And five crystals.
"..."
Citan has a good long look at the array, folding his arms over his chest as he thinks. "The monitors are dead. Perhaps these are a power source? Solar, one would assume. However," he continues, reaching out to tap at one of them with a finger, "they... yes, they seem to be quite fragile." He glances at the others. "We must take care when charging them. If they store too much light energy, they may shatter. We must approach this with care."
Producing a length of measuring tape, he seems intent to do just that. "Now, if I can estimate the approximate density, perhaps we may have a working idea of how long they might last in the light." Which would then give them a sense of when to move them out of the light again... hopefully.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Just The Right Tool toward his party's challenge, Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong wonders why he got so defensive about it but ultimately says, "Yeah, I think so. It must be right? That's not something I could come up with on my own." He eases up a bit. "Sorry for being weird. I'm just on edge with everything."
Lily says it's not that weird. Fei smiles. "Thanks Lily!!" He says, relieved. He gets a little anxious looking when Xantia suggests getting a Fei Jr doll but he ultimately resigns himself to saying, "Well, at least I guess I'd know how they think of me over there."
Why does Fei think of 'Fire the Bart Missiles' with Bart? Well that's just a question you'll just have to check out the side story to Dream Chasers: Xenogears. It's mostly not canon, but it still helps!
"How did they even do all this with people not noticing...?" Fei mutters. "I barely heard of the Prophets before we got here and... what are they prophecizing anyway...!"
The group comes to a room full of pillars. Fei draws out his Tricorder that he somehow knows how to use and elects to try and treat folks' injuries while they're working on this weird light puzzle that is already giving Fei headaches. Doc is here, Fei is pretty sure he'd get in the way if he did much more than this.
Fei doesn't seem to notice the women in the glass until Citan brings them up.
Fei looks at them. His hands start shaking. Why does this bother him so much? No accompanying memory is lobbed at his skull so he can't really be sure.
"This place makes me uneasy. Let's do this quick and get outta here." He says.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows How To Use toward his party's challenge, Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"This is... eerie. And familiar, though only familiar," Leon says. It's not related to Heoh Rott; he can see that. It's not related to the tubes he saw. But it brings those memories back, and they are unpleasant.
He steps up after Citan, then he looks down at the array -- and then the crystals. He frowns, as he listens to the explanation. His eyes turn, briefly, to Fei. "This island is remote. We'd have never known to look here -- I think they used that. And they must have been working for years, too."
He scowls. "But there must be more, too..."
He looks back at the crystals.
"Tell me what to do, and I'll do so," he says. "This isn't my strong suit."
DG: Leon Albus has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths.
DC: The current IC year is 504 PC, 4071 GY, and 10371 SD.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly gazes at the pillars.
The preserved women.
The preserved woman.
The same woman.
Over, and over.
Dead. The same. She finds her eyes crawling towards the women, looking at their faces. Hoping to spot differences, things that could make her think, 'aha, they just were similar looking, this is just some horrible killer's trophy room,' and isn't it grotesque to think that she would simply curl her nose in the face of something like that? That it would be slightly revolting but not horrifying? That she would be able to simply accept it and move on?
What will she think in five years? In five years when she will see more of these things, even if they should break Odessa, free the surface from Solaris, overcome the Veruni, dismiss Sin? Another five years of secrets?
Or if they just ran away? Would these things heal over, like gashes in the mind, or would they just keep eroding, like pits? Some scars become keloidial, rising upwards; others sink inwards, and hurt, and hurt, and confine, and wound, and scream.
"I - I need to - I just need to take a little medicine," Elly says, turning and walking towards a corner. "Give me a moment and, and um, I can help out."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Gotcha!" Xantia exclaims in victory as the Reaverbot collapses. She does so enjoy fighting these automatons. No need to hold back, you can just break them as you like. Danger schmanger, this is what she does for fun! The matter of the Prophets somehow managing to collect things from all over Filgaia is briefly forgotten.
As briefly as the very next chamber, which causes the color to drain from Xantia's face. "What... what is...?"
Xantia is visibly shocked, shaken even, by what she sees. Not something that happens as often as it perhaps should, due to her different frame of reference - much of what would be unusual to others doesn't feel any more unusual to Xantia as everything else does. But this... this spectacle is truly disturbing to her. Disturbing and unsettling.
Especially that woman. As Citan says, they all look like the same woman. For obvious reasons, this is starting to feel personal to an uncomfortable degree.
Without even thinking about it, she reaches for a piece of crystal, clutching it tightly in her hand. Doing so helps her focus, and snap out of the almost trance-like state she found herself in for a moment there. She breathes deeply. "...Yeah," is her short response to Fei's suggestion. Doing what they need to do and quickly leave here sounds like a plan. She turns away sharply, and approaches one of the crystals, placing her hands on it.
"I've got this one. If it's Light, then I'm sure I'll be able to regulate it as necessary. I'll make sure this one stays constant - you take care of the other four."
She may sound a little... different than before, but it's true that she's confident in her ability to put Light energy into things and drain it out of them. It's more of a question of just how much effort it's going to take. She makes it sound easy, despite being fully aware doing this sort of thing rapidly tires her out, and there's no telling how long she'll have to keep it up for.
It's fine. It'll all be fine. Probably.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Memory Shard toward her party's challenge, Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round! DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Lily's Knife toward her party's challenge, Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=============<* CHALLENGE - Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths *>==============
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a final chamber, which is rather cavernous. There are signs that
some of the Prophets' research must have happened here -- for there are
tubes that contain withered Metal Beasts; suspended corpses of the same
human woman with blonde hair, in a blue dress; various monsters from Filgaia
and Lunar alike, all dead, and being studied. Past these are several huge
monitors, which are turned off, and then a doorway leading into the heart of
the tower.
There are five pillars of light in the center of the room -- and five
crystals, mounted on pillars. These need to be pushed into the pillars of
light, to absorb them. However, storing a crystal there for too long will
cause a crystal to overload, explode, and shatter. You need to infuse each
crystal with light... but not for too long, and to infuse all crystals
simultaneously. Unfortunately, the crystals also dim quickly.
Once all of the crystals are charged, though, the monitors will come online
-- and the final door will open.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Hw:_???, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, |
| Slow:_Agility_Down!, Stalwart:_Exhaustion_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
=============<* CHALLENGE - Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths *>==============
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You enter a final chamber, which is rather cavernous. There are signs that
some of the Prophets' research must have happened here -- for there are
tubes that contain withered Metal Beasts; suspended corpses of the same
human woman with blonde hair, in a blue dress; various monsters from Filgaia
and Lunar alike, all dead, and being studied. Past these are several huge
monitors, which are turned off, and then a doorway leading into the heart of
the tower.
There are five pillars of light in the center of the room -- and five
crystals, mounted on pillars. These need to be pushed into the pillars of
light, to absorb them. However, storing a crystal there for too long will
cause a crystal to overload, explode, and shatter. You need to infuse each
crystal with light... but not for too long, and to infuse all crystals
simultaneously. Unfortunately, the crystals also dim quickly.
Once all of the crystals are charged, though, the monitors will come online
-- and the final door will open.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, |
| and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===============<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation - Round 5 *>================ ===============< Results - Pillars of Light to Darkened Truths >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 63 --(101)--> 164 Pass Just The Right Tool 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 26 --(101)--> 127 Fail Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 43 --(101)--> 144 Fail Lily's Knife 2 Wits Effects: Cleanse and Liability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 38 --(101)--> 139 Fail Memory Shard 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leon Albus 26 --(101)--> 127 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 32 --(101)--> 133 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Citan Uzuki 80 --(15)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Reckless(2)|Slow(1)|Stupify(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Citan Uzuki is too exhausted to continue! DG: Fei Fong Wong is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lily Keil is too exhausted to continue! DG: Xantia is too exhausted to continue! DG: Leon Albus is too exhausted to continue! DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has been fully Exhausted by Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
====================<* Yggdrasil - Spire of Rejuvenation *>=====================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Past Revealed *>=======================
| Type: Landmark | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
In the final room, the door to the heart of Yggdrasil opens. In addition,
though, several monitors turn on. Many of them show various images and maps.
Notably, there is a map of Filgaia, but it seems wrong, somehow. Large
tracts of land that should be a desert are not -- showing, instead, portions
that are grasslands. The desertification of Filgaia seems greatly reduced.
A voice crackles to life, explaining:
"The Council of Seven hoped to rejuvenate Filgaia. We thought... that our
collective knowledge and expertise, from the study of Hyadean technology and
pilfered Veruni information, could reverse the damage done to the world. The
key was mastering the Ley. To funnel it, into one place.
"We were mistaken.
"What we did, instead, was hasten the slow decline of our world since 500
years ago. The draining of the world through the Elw's blade... we didn't
reverse it so much as draw so much of Filgaia's life force into this one
place. Leehalt and the others thought this may be acceptable--it is not.
Even now, they will use our research to continue this course, draining
Filgaia of all of its life until they can gather it here, then release it.
"What is confounding -- and concerning -- is the collective amnesia. Leehalt
claims this is a boon, but I ask this: if everyone can be made to forget
that, two years ago, Filgaia's desertification increased by sixty-eight
percent, then should we not fear what made us forget? Should we not fear
that we do not know what made us forget?
"I would argue yes. From the journal of Werner Maxwell, 491 PC."
The door lay open to the final chamber.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, |
| Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
He had seen the way they had all looked at that woman in the tubes. "...We must move on," he says to them, not unkindly. "Close your eyes if you must, Xantia."
It's an unsettling sight, however one might consider it. Best to move along and leave it behind -- best to not linger and let the vision burrow deeper into their minds.
"Take the time you need, Elly."
There should be no rushing this next part, not with but the one chance to power the crystals effectively in front of them. "I think... perhaps a minute might suffice," he tells Leon and Fei. Nodding as Xantia says she'll handle the one before her, he turns to seek out Lily, who--
Who has approached one of the tubes in the room they'd left behind and then draws a knife. Before she can do a thing, though--
"Lily?!"
There may be quite a delay before they manage the crystals, as a matter of fact. But they are not in a hurry. Once the final door opens, they may just hesitate for a moment more. The monitors have come to life.
They display a number of maps -- Filgaia, with colors denoting the various biomes and landscapes, much as some maps do today. But, these seem different.
This is a world far less ruined. Far less on the brink. "How old might these be? This is not the Filgaia of today." Citan wonders aloud, and has his answer as a voice crackles to life nearby. A recording, one would assume.
'Since 500 years ago', says the voice on the recorder, and already, the hairs on the back of Citan's neck stand on end. Five hundred years ago -- surely not. Surely this is referring to an earlier calamity than... then.
Still, uneasy, he stands and he listens.
Collective amnesia. Two years ago.
It can't be.
"491 PC..." he echoes, his gaze fixed somewhere on the middle distance. "Thirteen... no, the date he gave would put it at... fifteen years ago. Fifteen years ago, a catastrophe accelerated the decline of Filgaia...?" Slowly, he shakes his head. "That... that can't be right. This can't be right at all."
Have any of them ever seen him like this before? More typically, Citan appears to hold some inner core of calm at all times. But in this moment, even this seems lost to him. Is it merely the supposition that his memory has been altered?
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon swallows.
The tubes are disturbing -- but he is good at compartmentalizing. He compartmentalizes as they finish sliding the crystals in place. The maps, though, give him pause; he stares at them, even after the message ends. He looks at Citan -- and sees that seemingly unending calm run out. That gives him pause. He swallows, but he reminds himselt to do what a captain must.
He walks forward, then puts a hand on his shoulder.
"At ease, Doctor," Leon says. "We don't know that what they say is true. And if it is... then those behind it have much to answer for. It's clear what we must do. Ensure that whatever they used to do this is dismantled."
He runs a hand through his beard, his other hand falling from his beard. "We've our work cut out for us."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei moves to check on Elly. "Hey, if you want to talk about this later, we're here for you okay...?" He murmurs to her. "I'm here for you." He promises.
But before he can say too much, it's time to move on. "But for right now we should keep moving. They might sic more metal beasts on us any moment."
He can understand a bit better why Xantia might be bothered. He gives a nod to her as well indicating the same.
But regardless, they really do gotta keep moving. He glances to Leon too for a longer moment but keeps on moving.
He listens to the voice on the recorder. Fei doesn't seem... bothered at all by this relevation!!
"Well at least for my own part, I already didn't have my memories of htat time so I guess it doesn't mean much to me either way...! That's kind of a relief honestly. I don't know how i'd deal with DOUBLE AMNESIA."
...
Fei looks inward for a moment and asks: What?
Nothing. Just the timing of that year ... ... ugh shut up and focus on when you're giving Xantia that bracer.
Yeah maybe today isn't the day, Fei thinks, remembering how horrified Xantia looked... And how unsettling the latest news is. Xantia probably doesn't want to have to worry about DOUBLE AMNESIA either.
"Though this means... Xantia... The Amnesia Club is going to get really big now huh...?"
Maybe if they focus on that it'll be a little easier to deal with. "By the sound of it it seems like most folks have a claim to be a member now."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
By the time Fei comes to check on her -
Elly is facing the corner. She's hugging herself, loosely.
"... thank you," she says quietly, not looking at Fei. "I just... I..."
"I don't know..."
But she seems to brighten up a little, staying near Fei, and she stops hugging herself by the time they're near the others. Whether this is genuine progress or not wanting to show it to other people is an open question.
But at least she's still thinking.
"... could it..."
"..."
"Fei," Elly says, raising her head.
"And, perhaps - Xantia, too - What if you were... nearer, to wherever they did this? Or something made you more susceptible?"
Rationalization is something. She doesn't sound deeply convinced.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is fine, once she gets up. She doesn't remember why she got her knife out. But she forgets that fairly quickly--because she looks on the maps, and the earl rcalamities... 500 years ago. The 'Elw blade'?
"491 PC..." Lily looks over Citan, surprised, and then to Leon. What they say is... They must. It sounds true.
But even if it isn't...
"Right. If this is the case... What caused..." She trails off.
"Then let's look at the upshot. if we can release the energy they've gathered, that should help, right? Our path is clear. Regardless of what we forgot or didn't forget, we know where we're going. That's what matters."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Leon's hand on his shoulder appears to bring Citan back around; touching his hand to fidget with his glasses the once, he then turns towards Leon.
"Yes... yes, of course. Thank you, captain. First, we have need to confirm what we have just heard." He pauses, then looks about himself.
Confirm it, as if he had real room to doubt what he's seeing -- hearing -- in here.
"Yes," he agrees. "I believe that we will."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Yeah, this didn't work out so well. No matter how sound Xantia's idea might have been, it was extremely taxing keeping that up for the amount of time it ended up taking. Having just been witness to a very disturbing scene didn't help. Neither did seeing many others react so poorly to it as well.
Still, after all the effort is done with, the final room is revealed. Once again, Xantia is briefly entranced, but this time in a positive way. Those maps, of the way Filgaia used to be. "...So this is what it was like." She can only hope that it can be like this again, one day. She may have every reason to doubt the nature of her motivation in that regard, it doesn't change the fact that she wants to do whatever she can to make that happen.
The voice, whoever it might belong to, adds a sense of urgency back into things. So the others were right. What the Prophets are doing here is actually destroying Filgaia. Her expression becomes grimly determined.
For only a short moment, right until the phrase 'collective amnesia' is spoken. Could it really be that everyone lost a memory without realizing it? And... that it happened to her? Again? Elly is saying what she is thinking, but to a greater degree still: just how many times did she lose memories? Double Amnesia is one thing, but how can she be sure it was only twice?
Hopefully nobody is too shocked by Xantia abruptly punching the nearest thing, which is one of the monitors showing a map of Past Filgaia. That's gone now. Hopefully no one needed that.
As for Xantia, she is breathing heavily, clearly very upset. But... stably so, in that this doesn't seem to have done anything except make her, well, want to punch something.
"...I'm okay," she clarifies, straightening up, actively trying to calm herself. "Or, well, I will be. I'm sure I'll feel a whole lot better once we've stopped what they're doing here."