2023-02-07: A Matter of Excess
- Log: A Matter of Excess
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Seraph Lanval, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Biroclef Ridge
- Date: February 07, 2023
- Summary: Though she is traveling to visit another, Josie never lets an opportunity to try to make a little money pass her by. She may not be alone in this.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Biroclef Ridge. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Preparing for-- Oh No! *>====================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You're greeted upon arrival at the staging ground at Biroclef Ridge: the
knights on duty here are happy to receive assistance against the enormous
Hellion problem they have been experiencing here.
Which is to say, the problem is enormous and so are the Hellions.
They start to give you the low-down on the problem at hand-- but oh no!
Right out of the blue come a bevvy of huge bird-like Hellions -- Scaled
Birds, as they're known!
So much for a run-down on the situation: you're going to have to deal with
this here and now!
...Maybe they can give you the abridged version of the situation after
you've taken care of these things...
Image: https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/faqs/57/72557-204.jpg
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPnE21ycCfw
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up! and Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She'd gotten in the end what she'd set out to achieve -- for all the satisfaction it brought her -- but there had been one last matter to settle. And, rightly, it'd been the sort of thing that might spelled the end of her story.
But she and the Trial Knight had come to a bit of an understanding, as it were. Sure, she'd aimed to kill them, and they her, but...
She's not who she used to be. Perhaps that's for the best.
There's someone she's been fixing to see ever since she'd settled matters, and perhaps it was settling that last debt she's owed (at least, the last she'll admit to owing) that had set her on her path towards Lunar. Of course, it's not as if traveling is ever a straightforward thing and...
And, Josie could use some coin in her pocket. End of story.
But she'd heard some knights were looking for assistance against some oversized Hellions.
They'd been a little disappointed, she'd thought, when she'd said she didn't have one of those 'metal giants' at her beck and call. Still, a little demonstration seemed to have sorted that one out. How big were they talking, anyway?
They said they'd brief her at the Biroclef Ridge site, which was all well and good for her, as far as she was concerned--
"So, we're talkin' big Hellions? Or big Hellions?" Josie drawls, gazing out at the ridge from atop the small outpost the knights have constructed here.
"Well, I suppose you could say-- AAUGH!"
Right out of the blue, a Hellion swoops down from the sky to snatch the young knight up in its terrible talons!
Josie watches it rise into the air, nonplusses. "...Well, that's a big 'un, right," she drawls, drawing her rifle. Neither is it alone!
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Preparing for-- Oh No!.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Things have, in a sense, calmed down a bit in Glenwood. Felling the current Lord of Calamity, Geoerg Heldalf, has that effect - and so an Age of Chaos led by his hand had been averted. Nonetheless, Malevolence and the resultant Hellions are a thing that will always be, and there's an extraordinary young man who has all but passed the torch to those who have found another way to help them.
All methods, however.
"Ha ha ha...!" That's Lanval's laughter, as he surfs in on a truly abominable creature wrought of hubris from thousands of years past by creators hell-bent on honoring a lifetime warranty! Of all the excesses, they had to have given that to this horrifying unmoving flat-bodied hollow air-filled horse... thing!
Beyond this nonsensical stunt from above, Lanval gets out a shining bottle of sanctified water - in an appropriately-labeled Holy Bottle, of course - and just dumps a whole lot on the crowd of big Hellions along the way en route to landing--
...that's not landing, that's crashing head-first into a rocky cliff.
...
he'll be fine
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Preparing for-- Oh No!. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is pretty much interested in lending a hand to Josie--Kat?--Josie?? Mostly because ... like, they haven't really caught up much really after the whole...betrayal then emotional reunion then being attacked by soldiers then killing her sister's killer oh and somewhere in there learning that her dad died in a battle with them and...
Hm. Maybe there's a reason they haven't been hanging out as much.
Fei, post the anxiety attack he gets from seeing a Hellion just steal and maybe eat a dude right in front of him, elects to try chi blasting them out of the sky. It's easier than jump kicking that far up.
Josie seems to take the ambush of hellions pretty well. "I thought they stopped that Lord of Calamity! Shouldn't that have fixed all this??" He complains grumpily.
He looks to Lanval. "Oh uh. Hey Lanval. Didn't..."
".....See you...Come in."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Preparing for-- Oh No!.
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Preparing for-- Oh No! *>====================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You're greeted upon arrival at the staging ground at Biroclef Ridge: the
knights on duty here are happy to receive assistance against the enormous
Hellion problem they have been experiencing here.
Which is to say, the problem is enormous and so are the Hellions.
They start to give you the low-down on the problem at hand-- but oh no!
Right out of the blue come a bevvy of huge bird-like Hellions -- Scaled
Birds, as they're known!
So much for a run-down on the situation: you're going to have to deal with
this here and now!
...Maybe they can give you the abridged version of the situation after
you've taken care of these things...
Image: https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/faqs/57/72557-204.jpg
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPnE21ycCfw
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Biroclef Ridge - Round 1 *>========================= ======================< Results - Preparing for-- Oh No! >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(13)--> 13 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Overzealous(2) Effects: 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.
To be fair, she'd learned the last part separately from Fei, a while ahead of the reunion with the rest of the Wolves.
She's also cut her hair rather significantly since Fei last saw her, so there's that. And Penelope is back, assuming that black-and-white pigeon perched on the wooden railing there is Penelope.
The Hellion screams, dropping the knight, who lands on the bouncy horse. Who said there was no such thing as bad things capable of doing real good?
Josie, for her part, keeps shooting the Hellion until it explodes into a puff of purple smoke.
Josie lowers her rifle after.
"Hey, Junior! Do me a favor and get the-- right, that's a lad," she calls out, only to grin. "Heh. Sure don't seem like it, don't it? So that one's actually dead and gone, now?"
She shades her eyes with her bad hand, seeking out where the knight had fallen as Fei tackles the other large flying Hellion. Looks like he landed on the...
For the second time, Josie looks nonplussed.
"Nice timing, Lan... no, no. Val?"
Nicknames are hard.
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Be Prepared *>==========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
If you're going about fighting giant Hellions, then you've got one thing
over them: you know exactly what it is you're fighting today. They're not
quite so lucky.
The vibration on the ground suggests there might be a Hellion not at all far
off from where you are now.
So what's the plan here, precisely? What are you going to do to even the
odds? Are you going to set some clever traps? Feint and lure them into an
ambush? Pull out your secret ultimate weapon and rush them in your Gear?
Time's a-ticking, though.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"'m fine," Lanval says as he flashes a thumb up to a non-plussed knight who may be CURSED with RESONANCE to know how ridiculous a sight their rescue is, and the narrative will respect their privacy in this time of need. This need to understand that the spiritual world beyond one's mundane perceptions is, sometimes, an absolute farce of otherwise fortuitous circumstance.
(May he not pen his memoir after that phrase.)
Fei is operating on a completely different level of existential dread and all is okay (relatively).
"Nice ta shee ya, Josie!" Lanval always means that, odd a phrase as that may be, "'n ya too," to Fei, even knowing what he harbors. "Ya have the right of it, yep," Lanval says as he rolls back up to a seated position, with a placid smile despite being in company of a nasty Hellion den. He's come a far way from being afraid to be out in Glenwood at all!
"Nice ta see ya two out here, Josie, Fei. Don't ya worry, a Seer 'n I are gonna do a shweep 'bout here later." But he's here right now! "...There'sh a lot ta unpack 'bout what the late Lord of Calamity wash doin', 'n why," Lanval leads them along the ridge which is a mostly peaceful stretch of trek for sake of conversation.
"'d be better ta get it while the resht that were there are here ta shpeak of it, but... in the short term, even the Lord of Calamity wash goin' all-in on tryin' ta fight Zophar." The 'boogeyman' that Lucia suffered much derision, pain, and setback in trying to speak the truth of over these last years. "'n the current Shepherd... Shpeherd Sorey... he went into the Ley ta help a Fell Dragon that shtill had their reashon."
Beat.
"I didn't shtutter!" He points a finger up. "But Sorey felt like they could help 'em, 'n they wanted ta be helped... they're leavin' the resht ta ush." Lanval scratches his beard. "Shomethin' 'bout renewin' the oaths taken," he has a pretty good idea what that means but he thinks there's others better equipped to share that truth.
"But, 'bout Hellions ash a whole? They're shtill gonna be here. Malevolence doeshn't go away on itsh own--" There's vibrations on the ground, and Lanval stops trekking where he is to lift up a leg and balance. "'n that one... that one'sh real big." He points in the vague direction of where they're at.
"How do ya wanna go 'bout it?" He asks of them. "Pro'lly won't be long before they show up..."
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Be Prepared. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Josie, I feel like I should mention that Id has started calling me Junior." Fei says to her. "Just sort of..I wanted to put that out there." Fei rubs at his neck. He doesn't seem to know what to do with that fact, honestly. Fortunately, he has to start thinking about potential Lanval nicknames. "Does it have to have a Lan or Val in it?" Wait did he mention the whole Id starting to use Junior thing to HER already? It really sticks in his mind honestly.
"Oh but Krelian showed up at the Farenheit and we didn't die so that was ... nice." He doesn't mention that Fei went for the Sacrifice Play which made a lot of sense to him but fortunately there was THE SKETCHY GUY who--well maybe he shouldn't think of him as sketchy when he saved his life from flying off of a ship.
Maybe he needs to get Ethius...a gift? Like... some really nice matches?
He thinks this over in his head and he nods to Lanval who suggests he can handle this. He also mentions Zophar and he kinda blinks at it. It sounds so much like Zohar you know... Not that Fei knwos what THAT is. Consciously. He still feels a bit weird about it.
"Oh uh--cool. Sorey's a good guy. Glad uh. I didn't think you COULD help a Fell Dragon but glad uh... They found a way!"
"Though I guess they beat the real Lord of Calamity so maybe Lucia won't have trouble getting back home anymore. That'd be coooool..."
He draws out...
His tricorder and pushes a button.
"Mm.... With this I think we can detect where it's gonna be--maybe get the ambush on it first... Though it's not exactly...precise."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows How To Use toward his party's challenge, Be Prepared. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Yeah? He and you talk lots, then?" Josie seems, if anything, mildly interested.
Josie pauses, and whether Fei responds or not, continues, "Tell 'im to put a sock in it, then."
"Right you are, my man," Josie settles for, tabling the matter of Lanval's nickname for another place and time, perhaps. "Dare say they're gonna need a sweep soon, like. Hear that?"
She speaks of the somewhat distant shudder that betrays the presence of a Hellion of Scale, and not too far away.
Lanval gives them the lay of the land in Lunar over the last little while -- some of the rumors had reached her even over in Filgaia, but there's always a gulf between rumors and the truth. "Figured it weren't easy as that or none. Seems like Hellions have been around ages, yeah? Where'd they come from if them Lords of Calamity were defeated before? ...So what's this Zophar business, anyhow? Can't right recall if I've heard the like before."
For now, though, they'll have to handle Hellions without the like of a Shepherd around.
"Guess 'long as we're telling tales," Josie says, "Had a little bit of a tangle with that Ganondorf. Not only was he running around kidnapping people, seems like his folk weren't as dead and gone as we all thought, right... and he were gonna bring 'em all back as his army." She smiles, grimly. "Don't you worry about it or none, though. We sorted his business out. Wonder how all those people are gonna take the here and now, though..." She shrugs, only to shake her head.
As for Josie, she--
Lights a cigarette and takes a good long drag.
"We've got the disadvantage of size, right," she says after a moment's consideration. "But we also got the advantage of size. Ain't like they're gonna see us comin'. Meanwhile, we can see 'em from a league away!"
She grins, tossing aside the cigarette at last and grinding it underfoot. "So, that's my plan. Knock 'em silly 'fore they even know what's what!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Be Prepared. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Shortsighted! The party will suffer a penalty next round... but not this round!
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Be Prepared *>==========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
If you're going about fighting giant Hellions, then you've got one thing
over them: you know exactly what it is you're fighting today. They're not
quite so lucky.
The vibration on the ground suggests there might be a Hellion not at all far
off from where you are now.
So what's the plan here, precisely? What are you going to do to even the
odds? Are you going to set some clever traps? Feint and lure them into an
ambush? Pull out your secret ultimate weapon and rush them in your Gear?
Time's a-ticking, though.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, |
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, and |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Biroclef Ridge - Round 2 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Be Prepared >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Pack of Cigarettes 2 Wits Effects: Cleanse and Shortsigh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 5 --(2)--> 7 Pass Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 13 --(10)--> 23 Fail Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Conditions: Fright(1)|Overzealous(2)|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Shortsighted(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Tales are swapped among the three threads of fate that have strung the Drifters out and about amongst one another in Aquvy, Glenwood, and Spira alike. There may be finer points to better go over another time with others among their gathered groups and witnesses, but the amount of time they have to just chew the fat and ask some difficult questions is precious.
"Mmmm, all right, that'sh the play, sho," he puts on those ridiculous novelty beer lens attachment glasses, or.. has he never taken them off, ever, "now that we know where they're gonna be, 'n are ready with--"
There's a terrible rage-filled roaring behind them. A growing shadow. Any number of humorous slow takes to acknowledge what's snuck up on them.
"Well, good newsh," Lanval says, "the way ahead of ush ish clear... if we run fasht."
There is a chase sequence! One of the lenses falls out of Lanval's novelty glasses (again) and the enormous Hellion is so offended by the blurry shine of the lens that it decides to apply copious amounts of angry beaking to it, but that is like three seconds of gain tops.
Where they're running, they don't quite have the luxury of picking!
DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The I Fell Tower *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The knights in the region had erected a series of watchtowers in order to
keep an eye on the situation in Biroclef Ridge as it has worsened these last
few months. No doubt, they had helped them gather information about the
severity of the problem--
But this one's seen better days because it's been knocked over by some giant
Hellion or another and is currently blocking your way forward. No question
about it, you're going to have to clear it out of the way, but you might as
well help yourself to some of the supplies lost in the wreckage in the
process.
Sometimes it's the little things.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, and |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Usually when he wants to stress me out," Fei says to Josie who then tells him to tell ID to put a sock in it.
You hear that?
But Id has actually been keeping a sock in it ever since that battle and Fei isn't inclined to try and encourage him to come out. He just can't help but wonder why he started to use a nickname that Josie made for him. Them? Even now.
He wonders why Sorey didn't save all the other Fell Dragons but maybe that's a lot trickier than it sounds. Or maybe it's just this really long process and Sorey is only doing it with this ONE dragon because of how much a big deal he is.
Nevertheless, the next area is--a watchtower! It looks like it's seen better days. Fei frowns faintly as he extends his hand again and this time sends a bit of a heftier blast of chi energy towards the debris like he's Vegeta.
"Did you uh." Fei says to Josie. "Did you hear the speech, by the by? I mean I don't know how he keeps putting it on ALL THE WATER but..."
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Bart Jr Doll toward his party's challenge, The I Fell Tower. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"I shure did!" Lanval says as he runs face-first into the debris-shaped pile of watchtower with a 'splat' and a prolonged murmuring like he just stepped on a rake a few times in sequence. He turns back about face, sits down, and lets Fei blast the crap out of it next to him because it's all right. He has a sip from his drinking gourd to steady himself (figuratively).
"Can't even begin ta tell ya how it feelsh when he doesh that," he says, "but... man looksh shpent," Lanval remarks. (He doesn't know who helped drive that emotional nail into his heart, who was in turn helping someone else drive that emotional nail into his heart while dealing with a nail that has long since been in their heart.)
"...Ash far ash Zophar goesh, besht I know 'n can shay, a real bad, shcary dude, who got shome reeeeeal bad Working Designs goin'."
...yes.
Lnaval eventually leans back and shoves against the pile, a bit. Just a bit.
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The I Fell Tower.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's technically playing with fire a little, sure. But Josie might be feeling her oats a little after her latest brush with death. What's another?!
"....Hm."
Speaking of brushes with death!
"Yes," Josie agrees, and says no more before she books it off and past those looming shadows. The advantage from being small only counts if they can get the jump on the Hellions before the Hellions can get the jump on them...!
Fortunately, they're able to escape before they get stepped on. Or worse. "Whew..." Josie exhales, leaning against the remnants of the watchtower. "...Sure looks like they've had a rough go of it, yeah?" She takes a few paces about it, only to discover there is no 'about' -- it's blocking the way forward. "Well, ain't the first time I've had to take out a building," she remarks, pulling out her mattock.
"Man's at the end of his rope," is Josie's opinion, as the person probably most (but hardly solely) responsible for putting him there. "Bad business," she continues, before driving another swing at the remains of the watchtower, "Ain't my business or none, but..."
'But'? Is she aiming to do something about that?
"That Zophar fella, though... I'll leave 'im to you, yeah?" She grins over at Lanval, toothily.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, The I Fell Tower. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The I Fell Tower *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The knights in the region had erected a series of watchtowers in order to
keep an eye on the situation in Biroclef Ridge as it has worsened these last
few months. No doubt, they had helped them gather information about the
severity of the problem--
But this one's seen better days because it's been knocked over by some giant
Hellion or another and is currently blocking your way forward. No question
about it, you're going to have to clear it out of the way, but you might as
well help yourself to some of the supplies lost in the wreckage in the
process.
Sometimes it's the little things.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
========================<* Biroclef Ridge - Round 3 *>======================== ========================< Results - The I Fell Tower >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 7 --(5)--> 12 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 23 --(5)--> 28 Pass Bart Jr Doll 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 35 --(25)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 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> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"I mean. He did sort of. Explicitely. Call you out even if he didn't name you." Fei says. "And geeze, guess we were there too." He frowns. "So he might come after uh, us too. Man, who is gonna be the one to tell him that Antenora actually super hated his guts the whole time. Not me, that's for sure."
He is inclined to it being bad business. He watches Josie for a long moment. He could just tell her to be careful but odds are she'll do what she wants regardless of what he has to say on the matter. "...Don't do anything too dangerous. I'd rather you not die because of some kind of dead woman gambit..."
Fortunately the debris isn't too difficult to destroy and there's some delicious apple and orange gels squared away for anybody who wants them. Fei collects one of the former and chows down a bit.
"Zophar huh." Fei says. "I guess we'll have to show him that his Working Designs...."
"....Are not...working...designs."
He's trying.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Eye See You *>==========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You're likely able to see it before it sees you: even for the enormous
Hellions of Biroclef Ridge, the Cyclopz is /huge/.
One-eyed, horned, and wielding a spiked club, you might have caught it by
surprise initially but it's adaptable and is quick on the attack. It's
tough, it's strong, and its reflexes are shockingly swift. No two ways about
it: this is going to be an ugly fight for you.
Image: https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/faqs/57/72557-212.jpg
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up! and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Maybe. Maybe," she says, shrugging her shoulders as if it didn't concern her. Perhaps from Josie's perspective, it ended when Antenora died.
But of course, something doesn't stop being relevant just because you'd rather it went away. It sticks around and, if she's any judge of what's likely going on in Vinsfeld's heart, eventually it will have its due. A reckoning cannot be postponed indefinitely.
She's faced one end already. What's another?
She smiles over at Fei. It's not particularly kind. "Daresay he knows. Wouldn't be surprised if he was watchin', or something like, the whole time. And if he ain't... well. Call it my favor to her, after all that business."
Antenora... she'll never know how much of what she had said was true and how much a lie. Antenora had known. Had set her up to kill her.
Josie's sure of that, and damn, does it take the rest of the edge off of her satisfaction, as weak as it was.
But you can't unring a bell.
"Don't you worry or none, kid," she tells him, straightening from the debris after scrounging after something shining in the wreckage. "Just, you do right by yours, yeah? Try not to die. I ain't promising anything. But I ain't planning on dying, neither."
And with that, she scrambles over the rest of the broken pieces of the watchtower and hies off further along the ridge.
Josephine comes to a stop after a while, dropping into a low crouch. Fumbling a moment with her flask, she takes a nip from its contents before pointing straight ahead--
It's back is to them, but right in front of them is a Hellion. "Whad'ya say, think I can drop it in a shot?"
However it goes, she does not drop it in a shot. Instead, she makes it pretty angry as it storms right for them!
Fortunately, she does have more bullets.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Eye See You. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmmm... jusht ash much I'll trusht ya lot with the resht!" Lanval gives that thumbs up while debris of a watchtower explode around him unflinchingly. Too chill to care, that is the victory.
Still, matter is, they're messing around a part of Glenwood where the Hellions here are curiously large, and the Malevolence concentration remains problematic in a land where the bar to be considered that relative to all else is... a bar.
"That thing'sh gonna count yer coinsh if ya write a check yer butt can't cash," Lanval says, and sure enough, one shot doesn't do it. Lanval takes a step back, one eye open and tongue out as he has another fresh bottle of Holy Bottle, holding it by the neck and aiming it like he might a pub dart as he takes several steps back to account for how angry and fast it's closing in...
And just chucks it at them. When the bottle explodes, the sanctified water should give them all a little extra time.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Eye See You. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is relieved to hear those words. It'd be difficult for him to put much faith in a promise after all. People promise a lot of things, but sometimes just a bit of honesty is all you need. "Alright. I'll try to do right by 'em. And hopefully I can fret over you for a while yet."
It's a bit self-effacing there but the sentiment is true. Fei would rather worry over someone than have no reason to worry anymore.
He is not surprised to see yet another Hellion--this one a Cyclops! Fei is relieved to find trouble that he can just punch away. He rolls his shoulders back, slides a foot back as well as he reaches into his shirt, draws out an RPS Badge, and flicks it into the air so that it passes before the Cyclops' one eye.
And then he throws a sharp kick at his shin before flipping back in a way that'll get both of his feet to collide against the Cyclops's chin.
He drops down, still hopping as he touches down to keep his body moving.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Eye See You. Fanfare!
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Eye See You *>==========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You're likely able to see it before it sees you: even for the enormous
Hellions of Biroclef Ridge, the Cyclopz is /huge/.
One-eyed, horned, and wielding a spiked club, you might have caught it by
surprise initially but it's adaptable and is quick on the attack. It's
tough, it's strong, and its reflexes are shockingly swift. No two ways about
it: this is going to be an ugly fight for you.
Image: https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/faqs/57/72557-212.jpg
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Biroclef Ridge - Round 4 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Eye See You >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 12 --(5)--> 17 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 28 --(5)--> 33 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Wound(2) Effects: 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.
Josie's response to that is to goodnaturedly scowl and wave her left hand dismissively. "Never you mind that!" she says, as if this could be the end of it.
She's got a whole flock of chickens coming home to roost sooner or later, the way she sees it. But she'll be damned if she goes down that easily. There's still at least one thing she needs to do, and if she has to fight the remnants of Odessa in order to do it... well.
"Don't let it hit you! Seems like it'd hit like a ton of bricks!" she calls out, narrowly dodging a punch that sends rock and sand flying as she darts to the side.
The bottle of holy water works a treat in slowing it down, sure enough.
And Fei is right there to meet it with a few choice kicks, which destablize it, particularly when it turns its gaze to follow the movement of that badge.
While it's thus stunned, slowed, and preoccupied... this is when Josie shoots it. A lot.
"Well, that could've gone better," she says, as it dissolves into wisps of purple smoke.
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Slime To Kill *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've slogged your way across Biroclef Ridge, doing your part to nip the
Malevolent menace that's taken root here in the bud. And that's great. But,
don't you feel like something here has perhaps been left undone?
There's no need to worry after it long -- the earth trembles and it comes
bubbling up from the very ground itself.
It's a huge, giant, titanic, absolutely massive...
...slime.
It burbles before you, menacing you with its monumental mass. To arms, then!
It's time to see this business finished (or at least for now)!
Image: https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/faqs/57/72557-159.jpg
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Part of livin' true ta yershelf... it'sh knowin' ya can't know all of how it'll turn out," Lanval says as he watches the enormous Cyclops take its final fall. Things go a bit more pedestrian here for a bit, another stretch of mountain paths and small cavernous detours here and there.
"Sho." Lanval stops for a moment. "Ash a Seraph, I got a keen... eye 'bout Malevolence," he's got a placid smile, "'n there ish a very good reashon why I'm shtandin' shtill."
The ground trembles underneath, violently, and then cracks and fissures form underneath as something burbles up from below and collects in a swelling... uh, mass, of Malevolence that has decided what feelings it's repressing can only be communicated in metaphysical existence as being a huge gross slime with a large jagged mouth in place of teeth. It has a mouth, but cannot scream. Whatever its excuse is now for not being able to scream now that it has a mouth, we'll never know.
It is a pleasingly bright candy cyan color underneath all of that blackish-purple Malevolence and fetchingly toyetic. Also, it is coming to them and trying to scoop them up with their (in the moment) less endearing pseudopods.
"Shome kinda grinnin' colosshush, that," Lanval says, "our weaponsh might not work, 'n... I don't shee a rope ya can burn anywhere." Why would he have that idea? Came to him in a flash. Anyway.
Lanval just pours some Holy Bottle - the rest of it - into his drinking gourd, gives it a good swish, has a sip... and gets swinging like he's the world's most wasteful lawn sprinkler in trying to set a specific circle to try and keep the encroaching blob at bay while the more obligate corporeals among them do whatever they've got in mind!
DG: Seraph Lanval has risked with his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, A Slime To Kill. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei grins briefly, but pretty briefly. He's pretty busy fighting a Cyclops anyway, besides. Fei is not the 'stand still and take it' kinda fighter, even if he is tougher than he looks--and he does look pretty tough. Maybe not Cyclops tough though.
He wipes his hands off with a rag before shoving it back into his bag.
He looks to Lanval as he speaks of living true to yourself and knowing you can't know how it will all turn out. He takes in a sharp breath and then frowns. "...I don't know. I mean. I don't think uh. I don't think I'm the best at living true to myself."
He rubs at his neck. "But I've never been infected by this Malevolence stuff either... Maybe my head's too messed up even for Malevolence." He has a faint laguh there and then he sighs.
He moves on to the slime and he studies it thoughtfully. "Mm... Probably best to not..just try to punch it."
He brings his hands back and then throws them out, sending a wave of CHILLIN ICE that rapidly solidifies into a miniature iceberg around the Slime.
"This usually works with, uh, with slimes. But this might be a bit too big....?"
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, A Slime To Kill. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Ain't that the case," Josie agrees, smiling gamely as she stretches, now that her latest of prey is downed.
That was what she'd told the Trial Knight, in a manner of speaking. That she wasn't done. That her end wasn't before her just yet.
That she still has a road to walk, whether or not she reached 'her end'.
"Most of us ain't," she tells Fei, her smile lopsided. "But some of us get there, sooner or later. Don't you worry 'bout it. 'All shall be well', and all that, yeah?"
It's a distance before they encounter another spot of trouble, in a manner of speaking. Which is to say--
"...Warn me sooner next time, Lanval?" Josie says, rooting herself to where she's standing while reaching for her--
No, not her ARM. Her flask.
"Heh... don't that beat all. You were just sittin' 'round down there in the soil all this time, weren'tcha," she drawls, narrowing her eyes as she gazes at the bubbly blob of Malevolence. "But this's the end of the line for you."
Well, probably.
"Good thing Tiger ain't here for this," she mutters, uncapping her flask to join Lanval in splashing the slime Hellion with the contents of their drinking vessels.
For her pick this time around isn't to shoot it -- bullets and slimes can be a little dubious.
"O, THOU LIGHTNING!"
Instead, she's going to hurl spells at it for a change. While it's still damp. ...Damper.
Who knows, maybe that works?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, A Slime To Kill. Rally!
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Slime To Kill *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've slogged your way across Biroclef Ridge, doing your part to nip the
Malevolent menace that's taken root here in the bud. And that's great. But,
don't you feel like something here has perhaps been left undone?
There's no need to worry after it long -- the earth trembles and it comes
bubbling up from the very ground itself.
It's a huge, giant, titanic, absolutely massive...
...slime.
It burbles before you, menacing you with its monumental mass. To arms, then!
It's time to see this business finished (or at least for now)!
Image: https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/faqs/57/72557-159.jpg
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Biroclef Ridge - Round 5 *>========================= =========================< Results - A Slime To Kill >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 17 --(5)--> 22 Pass Holy Bottle 3 Combat Effects: Resilient and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 33 --(5)--> 38 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Wound(2) Effects: 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 Biroclef Ridge!
==============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Herbalist's Choice *>======================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At long last, you've completed your mission here. The number of absolutely
enormous Hellions in Biroclef Ridge can be safely said to be reduced.
You turn to head back to reconnect with the knights but something catches
your eye: a particularly lush outcropping of plants and flowers on the side
of the ridge. Even if you're in something Gear-sized, there's something
about this particular patch of grass that warrants a second look.
Your investigation doesn't go unrewarded: you find an absolutely perfect
assortment of rare herbs and other medicinal plants. You could make some
serious money selling a selection of these to an apothecary... if you don't
make use of them yourselves.
Just remember not to take more than necessary -- it would be a shame to
overharvest...
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Fei and Josie get to work, and they put in the work - with Fei solidifying the porous slimy super-huge slime of spiritual suck-itude, it can't really do much more work in terms of engulfing them. With Josie utilizing lightning, it courses through the thing, and soon enough...
It splits, burbles to release foul gasses that cannot all be blamed on Malevolence no matter how much anyone wants to say it is, and starts to dissolve as it releases its share of Malevolence out into the open air above them. They'll be able to take their leave of that mess without a lick of slick ick on 'em, nice and quick.
"Mmmm.... I dunno if we can call the whole place the work of one really big, bad Hellion," Lanval says as he considers the whole of it, "but that'sh gonna make the goin' a lot better fer everyone here... cheersh~!"
Of course, they ought to speak with the local knights posted here (at least among the ones less delirious about the whole flat-bodied horse thing, which no one can blame them for being) in order to get their reward and pay the expenses of traveling and living with conviction when so much of it is dangerous and liable to be swept away at a moment's notice.
There's a huge outcropping of plants and flowers on the side of the ridge, full of rare herbs and other medicinal plants. (There's a tiny nub of a Heal Berry from when a bird stole one from a Filgaian traveler and, ahem, planted a seed from many feet in the air. It doesn't seem like it's taking to the nutrients available in the Ridge, though... but it's a fun curiosity.)
They smell great! Having Drifted as long as they have, they can probably name a few of the useful ones right off the bat.
"Mmmm! Tashty. I ain't ushually a tea guy," we all know Lanval's favorite beverages as he runs a hand across the length of one such herbal thing, "but I ain't never turn down a drink with thish ash a flavor~"
It'll be a good, profitable, enjoyable harvest! Aside from the Heal Berry that's just not making it here. Poor thing.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Doubt it, really," Josie says with a lopsided shrug. "But it's a fun idea. Still, ain't like we get everything we want, right?" she adds, looking between the two of them. "Well, I'm beat. What say we go get paid for our pains?"
Because, convictions or not, they still have to eat.
And speaking of--
"Penelope!"
So it was Penelope! ...As in the identity of the pigeon. Not, say, the identity of the the cause behind the giant Hellions here or something.
Penelope is currently destroying a rather large bug. Hopefully she intends to eat it.
Said bug and bird both are within a bountiful botanical bed of benevolence -- an outcropping full of rare herbs and other plants. Josie, being from Marze, knows a few which are close enough to their Filgaian kin (one assumes at least) to identify. Many of the others are more mysterious, but smell rare.
Or at least medicinal, which may well be the same thing to the right person.
"Easy, now," she cautions. "Be a shame to wipe out what a doctor might need, yeah?"
But if this puts a few extra coins in her pocket in the meanwhile, well, there ain't any problems there, by her reckoning.
"Heh, even a Heal Berry. Looks a mite sad, though."