2023-01-27: Here at the Ends of the World
- Log: Here at the Ends of the World
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Ashley Winchester, Lan Lilac, Juni Vandrer, Hicalu Wilwisp
- Where: Forsaken Fortress - Battlements
- Date: January 27, 2023
- Summary: The portal from the Fortress has taken those present to the Gerudo's Final Resting place -- the same place to which Ganondorf has traveled for purposes unknown. But to free those taken by the warlock, it is necessary to venture into its depths.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Our Tomb *>===========================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The approach to the Final Resting Place of the Gerudo is far north of Aquvy,
at the latitudes that house snowy Arctica, and like that frozen kingdom, the
land is cold and inhospitable. It would be nearly impossible to forge a home
here. Old, ruined buildings - thousands of years old, but preserved by the
very cold that ruined their masters - show snapshots over perhaps a dozen
generations of their attempts to defy that fate.
They lost that battle, in the end.
When all was lost, they came here. A temple, carved into the mountainside;
high columns, long since broken. A door whose obstructions have been
shattered by the foul magic that brought your attention here.
Above the gate, a massive statue of a Gerudo woman, arms open in
supplication. The nose is long, much like Ganondorf's own. The vibrant red
of her hair has long faded to stone gray, but it is high and vibrantly
styled. Her eyes are cast up, yearning.
Awaiting a forgiveness that did not come.
There is Hylian script here, inscrutable, but the walls feature hieroglyphs
of proud women, warriors and doctors and scholars, entering.
Approaching their tomb.
To approach that tomb for yourself, one must struggle through snow and cold
and the unbearable, howling quiet of a people long destroyed.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Well, here's a how-de-doo," Josie had said, perhaps about thirty seconds after she had gone in one end of the portal in the Forsaken Fortress and emerged out the other side.
The reason is plain enough: feel the howling winds and biting cold, see the drifts of silvery-white snow! They've gone and traded one part of the world for damn near the other, but whether it's Arctica proper or another part of the same latitude is an open question altogether.
Someone had made this place their home, once. The broken buildings that jut amidst the drifts, the stonework exposed only by the terrible winds that must be constant in this land are proof of that. But there's no mistaking this place for anywhere inhabited. This is a nation that has gone to die.
There is a temple here. It stands proud against the snow in spite of the damages that time has leveled against it. Even now the image of the woman atop the gate appears to call out to the heavens for succor.
Its gate has been shattered outright.
The approach is a difficult one, however one does it. Josie opts to duck her head and trudge onwards, her constant companion of Penelope nestled as best she can within the folds of the scarf Josie wears. Josie herself has wrapped a length of it across her face, no doubt to ward off the terrible cold.
Her old man never did tattoo her with any fire magic. Pity, that.
There are hieroglyphs -- the script ancient, illegible -- visible as they approach the temple entrance. Murals. These are the people who entered this place at... the end, it would seem.
These people, who... may have been Ganondorf's people.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Our Tomb.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ashley had not gone along with the rest of ARMS when they slipped through the portal, though he had promised to catch up. As it turns out, releasing the power of the Blaze of Disaster is somewhat taxing on a body, and he wanted to be sure that he wasn't charging headlong into the unknown without giving himself a chance to take a breath. The last thing they needed was for him to collapse or something halfway through.
Fortunately, he is upright, and seems fairly hale and hearty-- or as much as one can be, in his circumstances.
"This..." the Musketeer marvels for the briefest of moments-- before the frigid, bone-chilling wind cuts him to the quick. He shivers, reaching into his pack to fish out something, anything, that might help with the wind. "...This must be somewhere close to one of the poles. That statue... looks a lot like Ganondorf, doesn't it...?"
Finally, he finds what he's looking for. It's... a boomerang.
A magic boomerang.
With a flick of the wrist, he sets it in motion. The thing seems to recognize its master's will, and begins rotating rapidly in place to become a veritable wind-break against the withering cold. "Stay behhind the 'rang," Ashley instructs as he trodges towards the temple. "...What could have happened here? Did these people really find a way to live in a place like this...?"
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Magic Boomerang toward his party's challenge, Our Tomb. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan is rarely equipped for cold weather. She wasn't expecting this, okay, the Forsaken Fortress and its surroundings were reasonably temperate! She left her cloak on the boat!
Lan regrets leaving her cloak on the boat.
"C-come on, Hikky, last one to the temple is a rotten egg...!" Because her brother will need convincing, even if the inside of the abandoned temple might be warmer than this snowy landscape. Temples, especially the abandoned kind, are naturally spooky. But... could they really be spookier than freezing to death?
"Here, give me your hand." She tugs the silver ribbon out of her hair with a 'vwip' sound, wrapping it around and around her hand before taking one of his. With its magic their steps are lighter -- she can't do any of her ridiculous gravity-defying doublejumps with another person in tow, but she can make them both just light enough to walk on top of the snow rather than sinking into it. From there, it's just a matter of hurrying before either of them get frostbite or something!
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Our Tomb. Quicken! Party Agility boosted! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Bandaged up after... a less than favorable encounter with sharp slashing instruments. Juni's actually thankful for the winter coat problem for once. It's cold, but she's got her gear and the fluffier more obnoxious coat thing going. With a puff of air as she steps through the portal, she glances back over her shoulder and mutters, "Got us beat." Not quite mentioning who or what she's actually talking about.
The destruction though. She lifts her goggles briefly, getting an actual eyeball on things, trying to guess at how long ago the damage was done. "How long ago did this happen?" She asks simply enough. It looks old. Still worth checking for more though. Maybe survivors and the like.
She pulls the equipment back over her eyes. A familiar overlay and haze to the world almost.
With a twinge of pain, she picks her way through the snow and debris, having pulled out her field shovel. Flipping it around to poke ahead. Using the blade to move the worst out of the way. She'll help out anyone else trying to do such things too.
The mention of the statue gets a curious look. A focus for a moment. "Yeah?" She asks, kind of confirming it really. Still, back to work, focus on targets later.
DG: Juni Vandrer has used her Tool Survival Kit toward her party's challenge, Our Tomb.
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
"It's s-s-s-so c-c-c-cold..." Hicalu chatters out, his tail poofed RIGHT up, his ears EXTRA fluffy, and -- somehow even his curly bronze hair is more voluminous than normal??? How is his hair also fluffing up????
These are the secrets of the fennec fox man (those are the only secrets he's got, honest!), as he tromps along behind Lan. "W-w-w-wait up!!" He wails, because his boots -- Little Firelight specials! -- were never designed to deal with SNOW HE IS A DESERT FOX HE'S DYING.
Luckily, he grasps Lan's hand, and with that it's easier. Especially with the tailwind of a magic boomerang! And a magic... shovel?!
(The shovel probably isn't magic, Hicalu.)
DG: Hicalu Wilwisp has used his Tool Little Firelight Boots toward his party's challenge, Our Tomb.
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Our Tomb *>===========================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The approach to the Final Resting Place of the Gerudo is far north of Aquvy,
at the latitudes that house snowy Arctica, and like that frozen kingdom, the
land is cold and inhospitable. It would be nearly impossible to forge a home
here. Old, ruined buildings - thousands of years old, but preserved by the
very cold that ruined their masters - show snapshots over perhaps a dozen
generations of their attempts to defy that fate.
They lost that battle, in the end.
When all was lost, they came here. A temple, carved into the mountainside;
high columns, long since broken. A door whose obstructions have been
shattered by the foul magic that brought your attention here.
Above the gate, a massive statue of a Gerudo woman, arms open in
supplication. The nose is long, much like Ganondorf's own. The vibrant red
of her hair has long faded to stone gray, but it is high and vibrantly
styled. Her eyes are cast up, yearning.
Awaiting a forgiveness that did not come.
There is Hylian script here, inscrutable, but the walls feature hieroglyphs
of proud women, warriors and doctors and scholars, entering.
Approaching their tomb.
To approach that tomb for yourself, one must struggle through snow and cold
and the unbearable, howling quiet of a people long destroyed.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=============<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo - Round 1 *>============== =============================< Results - Our Tomb >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Magic Boomerang 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Juni Vandrer 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Survival Kit 3 Agility Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hicalu Wilwisp 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Little Firelight Boots 3 Agility Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken, Efficient, a -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It wasn't all that long ago that Josie and Ashley were not at all on the same side. But time has a funny way of making strange bedfellows -- and it was never as if she were a diehard... or any sort of believer at all in Vinsfeld's vision, for that matter. Bygones might get to be bygones, or at least, just be really, really awkward.
But so it goes. She won't make a fuss about it if he doesn't, is the general impression one might well get. It's not forgiveness, nor is it absolution. It's just the way things end up happening, sometimes. As another will say to her, not long after this length of the business is dealt with, she may well be called to account someday in the future.
Here and now, though, the ice and cold and wind is more of a threat, perhaps.
At least Lan and Hicalu will find the snow little impediment, so long as they move quickly. Then there's the fact of the wind no longer sneaking up behind them to bite at their backs, courtesy of Ashley's magic boomerang.
Josie opts to soldier through it. Josie, who until recently had been pretending to be an archaeologist, glances up at the statue in question. "Yeah?" she says, pausing for half a tick.
"...Huh, yeah," is her masterful assessment of its likeness.
Juni's trenching tool helps clear the path, particularly of the heavier piles of snow.
Not far ahead now is the broken-open gate. Within, Josie surmises, there'll be respite from the wind... though it won't be much warmer for it.
...Hopefully, she's wrong.
"Looks like a tomb," says Josie as she heads in through the doorway, because -- archaeologist or not -- she's been in enough of them to tell.
DG: Ashley Winchester has drawn a new Challenge.
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Teapot Sentinel *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next chamber is full of curious little teapots. It has a slightly
different look from the rest of this tomb. Much of this place is memorials
and murals, but here is gilded swirls and a vague sense of fluidity. Indeed,
what appears to be a stalactite looming over the pile of pots drips...that's
not dew, hold on. That was glowing.
And soon so is the teapot.
It grows legs, four in total from spots on its sides. It skitters about
unevenly, casting about as a glowing blue eye ignites on one side of it.
It sees you. It beeps urgently. And then it makes a VERY LOUD charging
sound, and fires an arrow of electric-blue light like a laser cannon!!
Fortunately, the rest don't turn on. Unfortunately, this one hates you.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, |
| and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"Yeah, it's definitely some kind of tomb, but... For who? The murals..." Of people of all walks of life marching to their doom. All of them seem to be women. "Was this tomb just for women? Or is it that the people who lived here were all women...?" If so... How long could they have survived here? How many generations could they really have lasted? Unless they had some serious longevity, or some other way of reproducing, a society of Just Ladies would not really... last long.
Maybe Ganondorf would know, if he were feeling up for discussion.
It's definitely some kind of tomb, though.
Or... is it?
The chamber (THE VERY FIRST CHAMBER, or at least the first one they encounter) seems to be decorated with swirls of gold-leaf, like shining clouds imprinted along the full breadth of the walls. And there are... several teapots. Lots and lots of teapots. "Uh. Do they want to warm us up after that snowfield...?" Ashley wonders aloud, retrieving and opening a neatly wrapped cloth package from his backpack to reveal--
Croissants!?
"I mean, I came prepared. Even got cocoa in the thermos. But why--"
A stalactite-like formation centered over the pot pile shines briefly and releases a single drop. One pot among the many stirs and quivers and shines, it pops up and sprouts several limbs, a single eye blazing at its side.
"Uh, hi?" Ashley offers, but then--
It makes distressed beeping noises and starts firing lasers!? "What!!" Ashley demands, taking cover behind another pile of pots. None of the others turn on. Just this one.
Just... the one.
"Is it angry that I packed cocoa instead of tea!??!"
That said--
Ashley is... of half the mind to nab one of these pots. Like. Marivel would probably enjoy reanimating it, or something. Maybe it could be a neat novelty back at the Chateau...?
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Portable Pastries toward his party's challenge, Teapot Sentinel. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
"Oh, wow! Those look great! Hey, so I brought some --" Hicalu, in much brighter spirits now he's inside (a lady tomb full of lady ghosts but he's NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT, LAN!), opens up his bum-bag to pull out an enclosed tray full of wrapped...
Heal Berry Muffins!!
And he hands them out, quite happily. It's just as he's handing the last one to Lan that the teapot starts... "Uhhh, is it meant to do that," he asides, to Lan, at the glowing pot. "I-is this a magic teapot. Is this normal with magic teapots--"
With a yipe, Hicalu leaps up and back at the activation -- and only barely manages to save his tray of muffins, fumble-fumble-fumble. He scurries back, putting it back in the bag strapped to his front (super unfashionable, Hicalu!), and promptly hides behind a table.
The table also has a teapot.
Hopefully this one doesn't activate, too.
DG: Hicalu Wilwisp has used his Tool Heal Berry Muffin toward his party's challenge, Teapot Sentinel. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"...It reminds me a little bit of Xibalba," Lan remarks, as they go inside. That's only because it, too, was a tomb. Lan doesn't hang out in tombs a lot, okay. The existence of a teapot room - a whole room especially for teapots?? - stumps her a bit. At least Hicalu and Ashley are feeling upbeat about it?
They start pulling out snacks, and Lan reaches for the water bottle at her hip. "I can heat up some water, and I have some tea in my bag." How nice is this? They didn't have to be frozen at all before having a chance to sit down and warm up!
The Flame Medium will be perfect for warming up some
(Lan watches a droplet form at the end of a stalactite.)
water?
(*plip*)
"Why is it doing that?!" Lan yelps, ducking underneath a laserbeam. "Teapots aren't supposed to serve lasers!!" So Hicalu can probably guess that she doesn't know.
But it's not like she can let it just rampage like this!
Praying for good aim, Lan waits for an opening to dash up to it, scoop it up on top of her foot and punt it towards the wall. "Quick, kill it!!"
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Teapot Sentinel.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie pauses a moment and takes another look at the murals. "Well, don't that beat all," she drawls, turning her gaze this way and that. "They are all ladies... well, I assume, anyhow," she adds with a shrug. "Some cultures and the like are matriarchal, right. Maybe these folks here and all were the like? Ain't got men they'd consider worthy of carvin' into stone, or somesuch."
She pauses again. "Or maybe they were all ladies at the end, or something like. Ain't like he talked much 'bout his folks," she adds, regarding Ganondorf, who of her aloof superiors in Odessa had certainly been the mostest.
"...Nice," Josie says, about the decor in here. "Kind of makes me think of the clouds, right? Shame I ain't got one of them cameras or none."
There sure are a lot of teapots. Folding her arms over her chest -- well, after she's caught and eaten a muffin (and washed that down with... booze?? josie why) -- she regards the other outstanding feature of this room.
It sure does have a lot of teapots. "Grave goods?" she speculates.
'Plip', goes the 'water' droplet.
Then there are lasers. Diving to one side as Penelope scatters, Josie draws and answers that laser with -- well, not a laser, but she's never had a problem with good old bullets.
They're the right answer for everything!
"On it!" she answers Lan.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Teapot Sentinel. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Finding herself once again glad for the years of training and experience and... yeah this still hurts. Juni just grits her teeth through it. She's come this far, they don't really have an outstanding exit plan and she's not about to bail anyway.
There's talk of muffins and croisants, local food she's started taking a liking to at least. Even if the bread gets- it's fine. She works her fingers a few times as the tool's folded away and her rifle is retreived again. Taking a few minutes to check and re-check parts of the kit as it syncs once more. "It's possible." To the idea of being all women. "I know some of our earliest archeological finds we had were kinda like this." She gestures over her shoulder, "Not including the guy out front. Or the taller doors." She holds her hand up at about her height. Then just drops it. Wrong place to talk world history for the wrong world. Though she does pipe up at Josephine's comment, "Ours was. Kinda still is?" She shrugs. Family names got that way at least.
The tea pots are just kind of ignored. She steps around them or under them at least. They're probably offerings right? Well. You know, until one comes to life and there's suddenly lasers. "Why-" she starts, slinging the rifle around in its short barrel configuration. Firing off a short burst of strange sounding rifle fire. There is a crack, but it's not from the gun itself. That's a hum instead. "Does everything have lasers here." She finally finishes, moving to find cover. Or at least have some momentum to avoid being zapped. Again.
DG: Juni Vandrer has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Teapot Sentinel.
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Teapot Sentinel *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next chamber is full of curious little teapots. It has a slightly
different look from the rest of this tomb. Much of this place is memorials
and murals, but here is gilded swirls and a vague sense of fluidity. Indeed,
what appears to be a stalactite looming over the pile of pots drips...that's
not dew, hold on. That was glowing.
And soon so is the teapot.
It grows legs, four in total from spots on its sides. It skitters about
unevenly, casting about as a glowing blue eye ignites on one side of it.
It sees you. It beeps urgently. And then it makes a VERY LOUD charging
sound, and fires an arrow of electric-blue light like a laser cannon!!
Fortunately, the rest don't turn on. Unfortunately, this one hates you.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and |
| Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
============<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo - Round 2 *>============= ========================< Results - Teapot Sentinel >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ashley Winchester 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Portable Pastries 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Juni Vandrer 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hicalu Wilwisp 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Heal Berry Muffin 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Liability ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lan Lilac 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Secret(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"Oh, muffins!" Ashley chirps, munching on a muffin AS A LASERBEAM SHOOTS RIGHT BY HIS HEAD. It somehow does not singe his hair, possibly because both Ashley's hair and that laser are the same shade of blue, which means it fully reflects this particular type of laser. (That's how science works, right???)
This is maybe not the right time to be enjoying muffins. But: "Wanna try a croissant?" Ashley says, offering a buttery pastry of his own. "They turned out good this time!"
MEANWHILE, WITH THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY HELPING.
The little teapot has no chance when faced with Lan's boot and not one but two (point five, counting the alcohol) crack gunslingers. With a pair of well-placed shots, the teapot's legs are clipped off and, in its fall, its beam emitter is wrecked. Now only able to wiggle helplessly, the pot seems resigned to its fate...
Only for a certain baker to sweep in with what looks like a tablecloth to scoop up the animate pot (and at least a couple of its friends).
"We're good here," Ashley says, stowing his loot away. It's not grave-robbing if the goods try to kill you. This is just standard adventurer looting. "Nice shots, everyone!"
Josie might be a former Odessite, but she's not anymore. And more importantly, she IS a dang good shot.
But with the teapot defeated, it seems the party is free to move forward...
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
=========<* CHALLENGE - A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition *>=========
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come to a dead-end splashed with intricately fine depictions. The Gerudo
that occupied this place depict themselves consistently - dark skinned,
vibrantly red hair. They tell their stories, epics of mighty warriors and
cunning thieves and clever sorcerers. It is a thing of beauty, and great
value, and it is DEFINITELY blocking a passage.
Take as long as you require. Marvel at it. Backtrack searching for another
way.
The wall must come down.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down! and Secret:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
In the end Ashley (and later Marivel) will have a lovely (angry) new friend. ...Assuming they all make it out of here alive, anyway.
"So anyway that's the first angry laser teapot I've ever seen. Or any kind of laser teapot. ...Do you think it's okay to leave all the other teapots lying around back there...?" Perhaps to cheer herself up (or to keep Hicalu occupied), Lan has been nattering on about nothing in particular since they left that room. They come to a stop in front of a beautiful mural, painted onto a wall that doesn't quite match the rest of the temple. It must have been added later. Lan hmmms at it and turns back, sure she saw another route a few yards back - aha, she was right! They'll just take this way instead..
"I mean. It's probably okay. The magic droplets seem to be really slow. Maybe by the time another one comes down, we'll be long gone and it'll be someone else's problem." The new route... spits them out in the same hall again, with the mural blocking their path. "...Huh. Well what if we try..."
Doubling back, and this time they'll go back through the teapot room (quickly, quickly), loop around through a tiny doorway that had just looked way too sketchy the first time around, and then they'll-- wait, they're back in the hall--
Finally, Lan has to admit defeat. "It's so beautiful though!" she protests, and tries giving one corner a shove. Maybe it's one of those swinging doors disguised as a wall...! ...It doesn't budge.
"Guys," Lan hesitates, looking over her shoulder at them, "Are we gonna have to... blow this up...?"
Is she going to have to meteor someone's cultural artifact?!
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Surprise Meteor toward her party's challenge, A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
"Waaaahhhh... w-w-w-why is it trying to kill us?!" Hicalu wails, latching onto Ashley. He is distracted from his terror by: "Oh, a croissant!"
Nomph nibble nibble nom.
Hicalu is thusly distracted from the death teapot long enough not to faint from sheer terror. (At the teapot. He's this scared of a teapot.)
Hicalu latches onto Lan's arm as they leave, obviously. He's just kind of hanging off of her as they keep going. "M-m-maybe the other teapots were fine? I heard f-from a Drifter once that if an object s-s-survives for a thousand years it gets a s-soul and becomes a living thing... y, yeah! I bet those other teapots were just, nine hundred years old...!!!" The fact that Hicalu refers to Drifters as a class he does not occupy really says everything about Hicalu.
Hicalu continues to be latched onto Lan as Lan backtracks through the whole dungeon looking for the secret hidden third option.
"Uhhhhh..." Hicalu waffles, nervously, looking up at History. "I, uh..."
He reaches into his pack, and pulls out... a sketchbook and a pencil?!
"I know," he decides. "I'll draw a copy!"
Hicalu proceeds to sit down on the floor and get to doing that, and, of course, being totally useless at actually breaking the mural.
He's got those tiny little noodly baker arms. He wouldn't actually be much help.
DG: Hicalu Wilwisp has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ashley is a hopeful guy. He has a lot of hope. He sure hopes that he's going to survive this one with ARMS' new teapot buddy intact! Otherwise, he'd have to learn kintsugi or something, and he's already invested so many of his craft specialties in cooking and baking that he doesn't have much room for anything else anymore!
Hicalu munches on a croissant. It is delightfully fluffy and buttery. This bread has been folded over a thousand times. It is truly the pinnacle of Merian breadwork.
Probably can't cut a bullet with it, but that would entirely defeat the point of croissants.
But that was then, THIS IS NOW, and now...
Ashley... stares at the mural. "I," he declares, "Would feel AWFUL about wrecking this?" He's a pretty beefy guy, all things considered. He COULD probably kick through it, Brad-Style, but he REALLY doesn't want to. (Ashley may have gotten beefy solely to better emulate Brad 'Beefcake' Evans.) "If... if anyone has an idea of how to safely remove it, I could uh, help... pick it up and move it? Maybe??"
DG: Ashley Winchester has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Really? Interestin'," she remarks, when Juni speaks of it. "Where's that about, Meria?" She has no idea where Juni is from, it would seem. "Your folks? Well, sure and sure enough -- heard tell 'bout some small groups that do similar-like. Some of them tribes in Aveh do, that I know." Somewhere not too far back in her ancestry, she shares blood with them on her mother's side. "Guess yours're in the pot with 'em? So to speak," she finishes, shaking her head.
But first, they have to deal with an angry teapot with legs.
Josie helps solve this by shooting some of its legs off. "Huh," Josie remarks, as Ashley wraps it up and packs it away. "Sure it won't keep on with the lasering thing and all?" She shrugs, shaking her head. "Well, ain't my problem, I figure. Maybe it'll make nice tea."
Penelope comes swooping down from on high then and settles herself down on Josie's shoulder, feathers fluffing up. Her beady black gaze turns across the assembled team, as if to quietly take their measure.
"Well, let's not lollygag 'round here, right?" Josie says, clapping her hands together. They've got a tomb to dig through (and possibly pinch a few things on the way...?).
Said path through eventually takes them face to face with a mural. A slight draft seems to waft through a faint crack somewhere -- this is painted over a thinner wall, and there's a passage behind it! ...Which would be great, if they weren't also face to face with a bona fide piece of art. Even Josie frowns, gazing up at it! "Sure enough," she replies to Lan, who suggests they try another route.
...Try though they might, though...
"Ain't this a pretty mess," Josie declares, once they've come back around to the mural again. Again!
"Don't look like we've got a better option, 'less you'd wanna chance the outdoors. Or that guy," she jerks her head towards the people on the mural, "gettin' his way. ...Tell you what," she adds, though, taking out her mattock.
"I'll try not to mess it up too much!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer takesa good long look at the mural. She's not a local and it means less to her aside from being something of a history and rather nice looking. Also it's clearly blocking their way. She rubs her chin, looking it over. "On the one hand-" she fishes out her plasma cutter. "I'd rather not. On the other hand." She starts to walk over, bringing the device to light as she huddles near the corner. "Maybe we can just minimize the damage?"
She sparks the torch on and off a few times, considering her options at this point. Then she shrugs and gets to work. Picking a spot low and out of the way. "Hope you don't mind crawling."
There's also a mattock. She waves Josephine over, "I'll cut away the mortar, you pull it out? We can probably keep from breaking it and upsetting whatever ghosts and locals linger." And you know. The party members that don't want to break art. She gets it though!
DG: Juni Vandrer has used her Tool Plasma Cutter toward her party's challenge, A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition. Rally!
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
=========<* CHALLENGE - A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition *>=========
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come to a dead-end splashed with intricately fine depictions. The Gerudo
that occupied this place depict themselves consistently - dark skinned,
vibrantly red hair. They tell their stories, epics of mighty warriors and
cunning thieves and clever sorcerers. It is a thing of beauty, and great
value, and it is DEFINITELY blocking a passage.
Take as long as you require. Marvel at it. Backtrack searching for another
way.
The wall must come down.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=============<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo - Round 3 *>============== ===========< Results - A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Imposition >=========== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 5 --(13)--> 18 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Juni Vandrer 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Plasma Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hicalu Wilwisp 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Surprise Meteor 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 40 --(30)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Secret(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Hicalu's talent for the arts may be the only thing that stands between the stories of the Gerudo people and being lost to oblivion forever. Hopefully he won't mess up some kind of arcane picture grammar, or mispell a Hylian rune.
Would anybody know if he did?!
Everybody debates the merits of it - everybody proposes doing as little damage as possible. But Juni and Josie, together, actually have a cunning combination of tools to put together. Even if the mattock isn't quite as delicate a solution as future hisotirans might hope for, it's better than Lan and the threat of Surprise Meteor that hangs over them all.
Together they're able to remove much of the mortar holding the mural in place! Ashley, the Beefiest Baker, is able to use his strength to carefully and slowly push the freed slab of wall to one side, tilting it ever so carefully against the wall of the revealed pathway. "All RIGHT!" Lan cheers, once they're able to go on. "Oh my gosh I can't believe it actually worked!!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Champion and Sorceress *>====================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Entering the final chamber brings one face to face with evil. If one ever
doubted the depths to which the King of Evil would sink, let them know and
fear it.
In the room are two statues looking over what to be a pair of coffins. Like
some of the rooms inside the rest of the tomb, these look less like Gerudo
stonework and more like the almost Elw-styled writhing lines and dripping
dew that characterized unusual technologies. The statues, though, depict two
people. One, a tall, imposing woman, armed with a wickedly long scimitar;
the other, a much younger-looking girl, though her headdress suggests the
higher rank.
Behind them, above them, shadowy hands flicker above the statues, through
them, and into them. And from those coffins they rise, spectral forms with
glowing eyes and flickering shadow for form: One, a warrior; One, a
sorceress.
Spirits revived against their will, carved open and free by the command of
the Demon King. Fighting them with weapons achieves nothing. Their forms are
not substantial enough for that.
Surely something in this room can break the spell!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's hard work. A lot harder, as it happens, than it would be to simply knock the wall down and be done with it.
In the past, that's precisely what Josephine would have done. But times have changed, and Josie with them. All the while hoping this will be worth it for them of later days, she helps to move the fragment of the mural aside.
...Maybe the historians of the future will wish they'd been a little more delicate around the edges, but they'll have to live with it. After all, it might just be that through their actions they'll allow that there will be the chance of for historians in the future to study the mural in the first place.
It isn't by chance after all that such an intricate mural had been set there. Here they are now, in what may well be the heart of the tomb.
Here are what appear to be the coffins, after all.
"...Guess these were their last leaders, or the like?" Josie says after a moment of regarding statues and coffins alike. "Shame. Looks like that one was wee when she went," she concludes, shaking her head.
Shadowy hands cue that moment as theirs to appear on the stage, drawing forth what may well be the shades of those long-departed, leader and champion alike. "Oh, for--" Josie starts, taking a step back out of surprise. Her next action is to draw and fire at the larger of the two shades--
The bullet passes right through. "Son of a!" she swears, and an attempt at magic is forestalled when the sorceress of the pair hurls a dart of shadowy fire for her; she narrowly dodges the spell.
Josie might flee. Her constant (ish) companion abruptly takes flight, beelining for a particular corner of the room while Josephine, hounded by the sorceress' shadow, tries in vain to damage her foe.
Perhaps Penelope seeks out some mechanism which she has sensed, something that might permit them to fight these shadows on an even playing field.
...Or, just as likely, she's locating a better vantage point to simply watch all of this go down.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Champion and Sorceress.
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
"Nice work, guys!!" Hicalu kons, with a happy little tail-wag, as he puts his sketch of the mural away. Will having a copy of that history come in handy, in the future...?
Who knows! He's not a historian!
He does hand out some honey candy to the hard workers, though, once he picks himself up. Prizes delivered, he goes through the revealed passageway, and -- "Yipe!" Hicalu yipes, jumping four feet up and back and hiding behind Josephine as he sights the coffins. (Wait, Josephine's a super-scary bad guy, too? That's not important there are COFFINS RIGHT THERE.)
"Ahhhh... this room's not a comfortable resting place at all...!" He wails, and wails it before that horrific hand reaches out. When it does, he screams -- "AAAAHHH!!" -- and leaps back, bound-bound-bound, away from its grasp.
"Don't eat me don't eat me don't eat me don't eat me!!!" He cries, as he tries to hide, only to find that those ghosts... can phase through shelter. "Aaaaaaahhhhh--!!" He yells, pinballing about the room like someone who really, really shouldn't be here.
In the end, he ends up taking shelter between the coffins. His tail is as poofy as a Christmas tree.
"Stop it!" He yells, into the aether. "I get it I get it I get it! This SUCKS! Aaaahhh, w-what do you want me to do about it?!"
He buries himself by the floor, and it's there, by the sorceress-girl's coffin, that his hands fall on a fallen tablet. His teary eyes widen, as he scramble-scoots over to look at it, even as the battle rages around him. It's been smudged and defiled, but the holy text there... even though it's been covered up, somehow...
"Huh? This...?" His ears twitch, and lower, as he grasps the precious edge of Lan's shawl. "Umm... uuuummmm... okay, um..."
Scrub-scrub-scrub, he works to clean the honourific tablet and let the holy gold shine again -- and he's quite sure it will help to weaken the grasp the Evil King has on these spirits, for some reason.
DG: Hicalu Wilwisp has used his Tool Honey Candy toward his party's challenge, Champion and Sorceress. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"Wow, it's nice having an actual archaeologist along!" Ashley says, either throwing some INCREDIBLE SHADE or being completely, innocently ignorant about just how much Josie lied about being an archaeologist. Since this is Ashley, it's PROBABLY that second one. Like, he knows she was secretly an Odessite for a bit there, but not that 'being an archaeologist' was fake too!
But, moving on from what is either a priceless historical artifact or a priceless piece of Ganondorf-brand wall art, Ashley finds himself awed by... A tribute to heroes. Heroes of the very, VERY distant past, certainly, but the meaning of those statues is unmistakable. This place is a memorial as well as a crypt. "Who were they...? That girl looks so young..." Ashley wonders aloud, but--
Not for long. Dark power floods the chamber and drags the spirits of the two ancient heroes back to serve as its puppets. Or perhaps they are but memories of the women who once were? Either way, they are shadows and they are hostile and they are utterly invulnerable to gunfire, as Ashley discovers when he opens fire for the first time this dig.
"Tch, there's got to be some way to fight them...! I could probably erase them, but--" But unleashing the Blaze of Disaster's power to utterly evaporate whatever is left of these heroes... It stings. It's something he absolutely, positively cannot allow himself to do. On some level, denigrating their memory like that while they're in this state is...
Something utterly abhorrent to the one named Ashley Winchester.
So instead of unleashing that terrible power, he breaks out... a power that is ALMOST as terrible. It's a little box that goes bing when there's stuff, but more importantly, it's called the BOOTY CALL. "Buy us some time," Ashley shouts, "I'm going to see if I can't find a way to deal with them!"
'A way to survive this without barfing nuclear hellfire all over history' probably qualifies as close enough to a treasure, as far as the Booty Call is concerned...!
DG: Ashley Winchester has used his Tool Booty Call toward his party's challenge, Champion and Sorceress. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Well, there's always Hicalu's copy...
She munches happily on honey candy as they continue, even if she didn't really do anything other than 'occasionally move a piece of rubble' and 'threaten them all with the looming specter of mass destruction'. "Oh..." Lan trails off, staring at the statues. A grown woman and a child, maybe? A princess and her champion? It's familiar...
...much like the shadowy hands and their long, long arms, reaching into the coffins and...
Lan's fingernails fig into the flesh of her upper arms, but she doesn't lose her cool yet. She has to protect Hicalu, she has to help the others. She has to put these souls back to rest, here in the tomb where they had laid undisturbed for centuries. It's her job.
--And it's not like she can actually catch Hicalu right now so maybe he'll be okay if she lets him kind of... do his thing.
"If bullets don't work... don't lose hope just yet, okay?!" Lan raises a hand to the sky -- or, where the sky would be if that whole pesky ceiling thing wasn't in the way. "O YOU, THE ENDLESS DREAM OF SPACE!" Points of light begin to glisten on the ceiling, coming to life a dozen at a time in order to spew forth beams of silvery light in a downpour of Guardianist energy. It may not be the permanent solution to their problems that they need, but at least it should be the right kind of attack. Hopefully it'll give Lan some breathing room to get out her oracle paper and start chanting.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, Champion and Sorceress. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer isn't exactly a local. She'd tell any future historians to send a bill back to her home. Because it would be funny.
Still, after some hard work and some extended time, they've got a way through! And you know, partially melted and chipped rock. Some minor damage to the mural and a chance to actually get an excuse to look at it. "So I don't know the guy, but if he's hiding out here, he doesn't exactly care about the art here anyway, does he." She thinks it's more of a statement. If you hide behind priceless artifacts, you... are hedging on good will at best.
Then a shadowy hand flies past her head as she's pocketing the torch. She waves it at them and shouts, "We limited the damage you damn ghosts." and quickly shoves it away. Scanning the room. Looking for whatever it is she needs to shoot. Relaying any information that might help the others as her system you know, scans everything.
She works her fingers, fexing against the bandages on her arms as she lifts the rifle and... what do you shoot? Can't shoot the ethereal. Usually. Rather than shooting the coffins as she'd assumed, she puts a few shots at the source of the hands. The same whine-crack as before. Also, you know. Shooting at other things if her system flags anything weir.d
"If I hadn't ridden a ghost train, this would really damage my calm you know." She doesn't sound shaken, but hey, fighting ghosts is always weird. Either way, she's advancing. Covering, drawing their attention maybe. The magic-y sort can probably help more than she can as is.
DG: Juni Vandrer has used her Tool AR Goggles toward her party's challenge, Champion and Sorceress. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Champion and Sorceress *>====================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Entering the final chamber brings one face to face with evil. If one ever
doubted the depths to which the King of Evil would sink, let them know and
fear it.
In the room are two statues looking over what to be a pair of coffins. Like
some of the rooms inside the rest of the tomb, these look less like Gerudo
stonework and more like the almost Elw-styled writhing lines and dripping
dew that characterized unusual technologies. The statues, though, depict two
people. One, a tall, imposing woman, armed with a wickedly long scimitar;
the other, a much younger-looking girl, though her headdress suggests the
higher rank.
Behind them, above them, shadowy hands flicker above the statues, through
them, and into them. And from those coffins they rise, spectral forms with
glowing eyes and flickering shadow for form: One, a warrior; One, a
sorceress.
Spirits revived against their will, carved open and free by the command of
the Demon King. Fighting them with weapons achieves nothing. Their forms are
not substantial enough for that.
Surely something in this room can break the spell!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=============<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo - Round 4 *>============== ======================< Results - Champion and Sorceress >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 18 --(5)--> 23 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Winchester 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Booty Call 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Juni Vandrer 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass AR Goggles 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hicalu Wilwisp 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Honey Candy 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Paku-Paku 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 70 --(35)--> 105 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Injure(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo!
==================<* The Final Resting Place of the Gerudo *>===================
================<* CHALLENGE - Cast a Light into Golden Skies *>================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The spell beguiling the spirits of the Gerudo Champion and Sage shatters,
the ghostly hands grasping their statues scatter to motes of dust. For a
time, there is quiet. In this room, there is yet no sign of Ganondorf, yet
the signs of his work remain.
And then, there is a loud sputtering hiss, as the coffin chambers open. They
do not contain bones. Each is filled with something that looks like water,
yet glows like magic. And each has an entirely living person within.
It's the younger of the two who surges upright first, sucking in air and
gasping. Her eyes are wild for a moment, before she all but throws herself
out of the pod, struggling to stay on her feet. She looks so young...and
yet, when she gathers herself, there is the authority of one who has
overseen unpseakable doom.
"I am Riju," she says, holding herself up on the pod's lip. "Last Chief of
the Gerudo." She looks to each of you.
"There is so little time. Know that long ago, Ganondorf Dragmire was our
king. For supporting him in his evil, we were banished to this place. To
repent, and to survive, we have waited here. And now...he has come to steal
the empty throne."
"I will open the way. If the King of Evil succeeds in his plan, he will have
an army of Gerudo Warriors enthralled to his will. You have to stop him."
She throws her arm forward, and light threads along the walls, which split
along invisible seams to allow entry to deeper chambers.
"I will rouse Urbosa. You...please. Do not let my people be slaves a second
time."
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Secret:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's hard to do much to the spirits -- if that's what they in fact are. Nothing seems to touch them, but their own spells and blade are certainly capable of harming the group as they struggle and dodge the harms arrayed against them. There must be some other way -- some means other than calling down meteors or actual personages of destruction to level this tomb.
And this is when Juni, Ashley, and Lan all arrive to the same realization at once courtesy of their various technological and magical tools.
There are dark crystals, scattered all about the room! They shimmer with a fell energy.
But they will break quite easily, whether by bullet, beam, or spell.
Penelope, who has come to roost somewhere high in the room, has found herself right up against one of these crystals, which shines darkly. Eyeing it with grim intent, Penelope stares at it for a long, long moment.
When her attack upon the crystal comes, it is swift. And deadly.
The shades sputter, as if they were disrupted, flicking in and out of space where they linger in this room. The spell is almost broken, but not yet undone.
The crystals aren't the only thing required to break the spell. There is one thing more -- just one thing to permit the spirits to regain control over themselves and banish the touch of the King of Evil.
Hicalu polishes the tablet he has found carefully. Its surface soon shines, the gold glittering in the light.
Then it does more than simply shine or glitter. Brilliance blooms from its surface, engulfing the room.
And once it fades, the coffins hiss open. No -- they were not coffins at all. See now their occupants, untouched by death or decay.
Riju rises from the sleep of eons.
"So you were... got it," Josie says, giving the ancient queen a firm thumbs-up. "Don't you worry your pretty little head or none. We're on it. Right?"
She looks at the rest of them and grins. "C'mon, then, you heard the little lady. We've places to be!" she says, pointing towards the path the split walls invite them towards.
If she ends up lingering a moment, or ends up pausing in the hallway beyond to light a cigarette for a moment, then that's her own business.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
No.
This is not a tomb at all.
A tomb is for the dead. This is something else entirely. This is a capsule. A way to preserve the living until the day they were waiting for finally arrived.
The King of Evil's influence finally ebbs and drains away. Two heroes of the distant past reawaken and explain exactly what the stakes are, and Ashley's blood runs cold.
Who could ever do such a thing? Enslave his entire people after they made their desires so perfectly clear?
(The answer is, of course, The King of Evil. It's right there in the name.)
"We'll put a stop to it," Ashley promises, gravely. It may be too soon to call upon that power again, but...
Then, given what's at stake, he might have no choice.
And on some level, perhaps even Lord Blazer would delight in testing the mettle of the Blaze of Disaster against the so-called King of Evil...?