2023-03-01: Old Wounds
- Log: Old Wounds
- Cast: Loren Voss, Azoth, Leah Sadalbari
- Where: Guild Galad - The Furnace Voids
- Date: March 01, 2023
- Summary: Leah borrows Loren and Azoth for an exploration of a rumored tomb in Guild Galad. But, along with the revelations found within -- confirmation of what Leah has learned -- is there not something else that has come back up to the surface?
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering The Bulman Legacy. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - The table of the rich man. *>==================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Your journey through an obscure sub-gallery in the fringe tunnels around
Void 41 comes to an end through a natural-seeming S-curve, which can be slid
down and leaves you in a perfectly smooth stone room, approximately fifty
feet by thirty feet in size. There is a metal door on one side, and objects
in the corner. No sooner do you enter than hidden lights come to a soft
illumination and a voice speaks: Deep, sonorous, aged and tired. It has a
subtly strange cast to it, which is consistent throughout.
'Greetings and welcome' (says the voice), 'ye who have come to my place of
repose. Your history knows me as Vakero Bulman, and if you are hearing this,
I am dead. If you are hearing this message, than my legacy is to be
distributed. I welcome you to take rest here from your journey. In the
room's corners, you will find sealed containers of food and water.'
'You may rest here, if rest alone is your desire. If there is more that you
seek... consider the door before you, and make your choices.'
The voice is silent thereafter, although a long delay will lead to a
repetition of the message when you begin to move. The metal door has six
disk-and-gear puzzles on it, all of which use an abstract glyphic logic.
Succeed at one and a light comes on above it. Fail on one and all the lights
go off. Once you have deduced the meaning of the shapes, none of the puzzles
is particularly difficult to anyone who has learned their sums -
particularly if working as a group.
The food is staple goods, and the water is clean if flat-tasting.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren had made a critical error in being bored.
It's not that he knows for certain. It's more that he has a certain suspicion: mere days after had he made amends with Azoth (...sort of) and reoriented the order as it pertained to Lan, he had received advance notification regarding an operation that required his aid in Guild Galad. His aid, not one of the field agents situated in the area.
The fact that it had been issued by Leah Sadalbari had also... been a hint, he supposed.
So he had steeled himself for the worst. What a surprise it had been, then, that the operation had revealed itself to for what it was--
A mere exploration into a tomb in the deeper reaches of Guild Galad.
Well, 'mere' might be underestimating the situation, in Loren's estimation: he's never liked going into tombs. Why are surface-dwellers so strange...?
He hasn't asked after the purpose behind this expedition once.
Or, at least, not until this moment passes.
"...Major, is there something of interest in here?" Something of more interest than the usual, is what he means. It must be important if it's involved Leah Sadalbari.
Which is also the moment in which the dead man speaks to them--
"What the..."
--by recording, at least. Which is better than the alternative, by Loren's estimation.
"I don't think I want to eat anything that's been left here," Loren says, once the recording's stopped. He doesn't linger, but instead presses on, towards the door. Soon in, soon out is his logic, and speaking of logic...
"Metal... doesn't seem like it's anything strange," Loren reports, kneeling by one of the shapes and scanning it with his computer. What a medical computer can do with metal shapes is... not nothing, but perhaps it might not be as illuminating as it might be with organics. Still, there' a pattern he's noticing with the shapes.
"Hmm. Can it be that easy...?"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Loren and Leah together make for... precarious company. Also entertaining company, all things considered. But exactly the sort of mask Azoth chooses to put on is one that takes a moment of calculation to determine. He does not know Leah's preference, only that she's made a variety of requests in the past. And with Loren, it is simpler: don't lie. The complication comes in with wanting to lie to Leah as much as he can get away with.
After their last conversation together, it may be safer not to. Alas, so it goes. So it is that he frolics along into the tomb, human-like and demeanor painfully cheery. So, normal. Ish.
"Hello, thank you! Sorry you died!" Azoth chirps back to the voice greeting them, waving an informal salute in its general direction despite however old, ancient, and forgotten by time it may be.
He curiously skips over to the food and water containing, scanning them and looking them over before looking back to his companions. "Are you sure you don't want anything? It's got to be better than your nutribars."
But fine! No food! What does Azoth even know about eating anyway? His goal has been making food for Xantia, and that's not about to give him any normal sort of data on the subject.
Instead, there's a meal for Azoth: a delicious puzzle. Azoth's eyes brighten their glow with a delighted beep.
"Could be! Let's find out." Azoth 'hums' in chiptune as he goes about scanning and calculating the puzzle to attempt solutions for.
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Oculus ex Machina toward his party's challenge, The table of the rich man..
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
It should definitely have been a hint. Leah Sadalbari does not keep Loren Voss around so that he can grow bored.
She has been to many tombs in her day so far, and this is but one of them. But it may be one of the most notable, if her suspicions prove correct.
The Major is dressed in ordinary Drifter-style attire today, rather than her conspicuous uniform. She could be any explorer down in Guild Galad's depths for money or curiosity. An indigo tunic over brown leathers and a spear at her back mark her main outfit--they conceal her cybernetic limbs, and her eyepatch conceals what remains behind it. Blue hair, a scarred face...
She doesn't get bothered if she doesn't want to be, usually.
Lying to Leah is either very healthy or very unhealthy for most people, depending on how good they are at it.
The voice makes Leah think for a moment. "Very polite," she says. "And unusual. How many tombs on the surface include such messaging? Fewer still that could serve as a bunker..."
She consiers, and takes a container of food. She pops it open with her cybernetic limbs and takes a bite of salt pork.
"Not bad," she decides. She lets the others take care of the puzzle.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The table of the rich man.. DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool MediScan v7 toward his party's challenge, The table of the rich man.. Rally!
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - The table of the rich man. *>==================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Your journey through an obscure sub-gallery in the fringe tunnels around
Void 41 comes to an end through a natural-seeming S-curve, which can be slid
down and leaves you in a perfectly smooth stone room, approximately fifty
feet by thirty feet in size. There is a metal door on one side, and objects
in the corner. No sooner do you enter than hidden lights come to a soft
illumination and a voice speaks: Deep, sonorous, aged and tired. It has a
subtly strange cast to it, which is consistent throughout.
'Greetings and welcome' (says the voice), 'ye who have come to my place of
repose. Your history knows me as Vakero Bulman, and if you are hearing this,
I am dead. If you are hearing this message, than my legacy is to be
distributed. I welcome you to take rest here from your journey. In the
room's corners, you will find sealed containers of food and water.'
'You may rest here, if rest alone is your desire. If there is more that you
seek... consider the door before you, and make your choices.'
The voice is silent thereafter, although a long delay will lead to a
repetition of the message when you begin to move. The metal door has six
disk-and-gear puzzles on it, all of which use an abstract glyphic logic.
Succeed at one and a light comes on above it. Fail on one and all the lights
go off. Once you have deduced the meaning of the shapes, none of the puzzles
is particularly difficult to anyone who has learned their sums -
particularly if working as a group.
The food is staple goods, and the water is clean if flat-tasting.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 1 *>======================== ====================< Results - The table of the rich man. >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass MediScan v7 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Oculus ex Machina 3 Wits Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
His direct superiors might not have anything to which they can direct him to currently, but Leah technically outranks them insofar as Solaris determines these things, and so, if it comes down to her borrowing their medical captain for a period, there's not anything they can do except grumble.
If they even mind, that is, outside the staffing gap it creates on-base.
Loren makes a face. "I'm not eating tomb-food," he tells Azoth, shaking his head vehemently. "It's probably been down here for decades, at least. At least I know the bars are fresh." He pauses almost as soon as he says it. "...ish."
With all the preservatives in them, they won't go bad for centuries!
Loren turns in time to watch Leah extract the contents of one of the containers and eat a piece of it. Visibly, he withers on the spot. "L-Leah-- Major," he corrects, shaking his head. "What if it's gone bad?"
Well, it might not matter much with the body she's got, in any case.
But more to the point, there's a puzzle to which they need to apply themselves at present, and the time they need to spend in here isn't going to get any shorter the more Loren spends dithering about the food.
"Ha! So it's a simple sequence. Each shape represents the solution of a basic sum!"
Loren's right about that, as they work out the mechanics of the puzzle.
"No, you've got it the wrong way around! Turn it that way!"
But wrong about that.
And with a little bit of effort, the door opens with a satisfying click, permiting further passage into the depths of the tomb.
DG: Azoth has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Memory of another world. *>===================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world. I came to Filgaia from another world, roundabout
another star. Though I would play at studying the lore of Ancient Terra,
Minora was the planet of my birth.'
The lights rise... and you are not on Filgaia any more. Perhaps it could be
mistaken for pastureland near to Nisan if it were not for the immense rising
columns of limestone, eroded and shedding waterfalls with subtle hints of
distant rainbow. There is grass, but it looks... wrong, somehow. Flecks of
blue and orange among lush green.
'What you see here is a sort of living painting... one which I bore with me,
in my ship between the stars, to maintain my health. Perhaps to forget
myself, for a time.'
There is a sound like thunder.
'In this place,' says the voice as the cluster of -- beastmen? No, not
quite; something is different about them -- come running, bellowing laughter
and conversing in a language none of you can understand, 'I ran.'
The group is upon you, slapping your backs and saying obviously encouraging
things! Run... or the ones in the back may decide to toss you ahead, for
sport! Also, there are sinkholes, as you shall surely discover.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth gives Loren a decidedly flat look at the claim the bar is fresh, but at least Loren corrects himself before that expression could reasonably register anyway. Then he points at Leah.
"She's eating tomb-food." What goes unsaid is Azoth does understand things Leah can do that which other people should not. He smiles to himself at Loren's reaction regardless. With puzzle solving, Azoth draws the teasing down to a minimum, brightly going about Team Solving. With Loren, anyway, as Leah enjoys her tomb-food.
"That was my first calculation too, but verification suggests this... because, see -- there!" Click. "Ba da da ba! We did it!" He holds up his hand to Loren for a high five. His mood will not visibly diminish if he is left hanging, but his eyes will sparkle if Loren actually complies. Choose wisely? Wait, that's the ruin's job.
Either way, their reward is darkness.
"Ruins are more convenient when they speak," he muses as the voice returns and speaks of different worlds and ships among stars, glancing briefly to Leah concerning her comment before. But when darkness turns to images of alien grasses, waterfalls, and rainbows, Azoth makes and 'ooooh' of awe and claps quietly. "Minora, huh...?"
But then the beastmen come in this 'living painting' -- or what might be mistaken for them. They rush the trio, laughing and speaking as Azoth squints and makes beep sequences. "ERROR. Language not found in database."
Now's hardly the time for that, as Azoth immediately gets shoved and tossed ahead as an example to the others. One startled beep later and he's rolling down a hill.
DG: Azoth has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Memory of another world..
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"It's preserved," Leah says. "Surface food can last for a very long time if properly handled... and it suggests that he intended this tomb to be available for some time."
Pause. "Besides, if it's gone bad I have a medical officer." Azoth is right! About many things.
She doesn't worry about the puzzle though.
She does not comment on the freshness of the bar. For some reason.
Leah observes the high-five offer expectantly.
"...I thought so," Leah says to the voice speaking. "This is why we are here, Loren. Because I have heard of this place."
The beastmen come. The language is not found. Azoth lets loose a startled beep. The group is upon them, and Leah does not run. Instead, she snaps her fingers calmly, and begins to 'fall' forward at a pace rather more terminal than a run would be.
"They are," she comments to Azoth as she goes. "Minora. Proof to surfacers of life from beyond... All under our nose."
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Gravity Module toward her party's challenge, Memory of another world.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I'm not her," Loren mutters in response to Azoth, his already dark expression growing more shadowy as Leah remarks that even if she does get sick, she has a perfectly good medic here to assist!
So what she's saying is, it'll be my problem. Great, he thinks unkindly, focusing instead on the puzzle that has set itself before the lot of them.
...Which, just as he wishes it hadn't, it clicks into place in the orientation Azoth had suggested. "But that... wait," Loren says, furrowing his brow. "That doesn't make sense, wouldn't it be..."
Azoth is indeed left hanging! ...For a bit, at least, which is as much time as it takes Loren to realize that Azoth wants to do aces high, and that, yes, this is happening.
"..." Slowly, as if he were expecting Azoth to surprise him by, perhaps, exploding on contact, Loren gives him a high-five.
This may go down in history as one of the saddest high-fives. Ever.
Within, there is darkness.
For a time.
"Uh-- what," Loren utters, looking this way and that. "Is this a spell--"
No, rather, it's much closer to home than any of that. It's a projection. "Wait, he's from another..." Loren turns to stare at Leah. "How did you...?"
But he watches as the projections toss Azoth ahead. Loren has the sinking sense that he'll be next in line if he doesn't book it. Perhaps even ostracized First Class children don't get bullied like this (unless you're Elhaym van Houten) in Solaris, but it doesn't mean he wants to experience this, either. He runs.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Memory of another world..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Memory of another world. *>===================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world. I came to Filgaia from another world, roundabout
another star. Though I would play at studying the lore of Ancient Terra,
Minora was the planet of my birth.'
The lights rise... and you are not on Filgaia any more. Perhaps it could be
mistaken for pastureland near to Nisan if it were not for the immense rising
columns of limestone, eroded and shedding waterfalls with subtle hints of
distant rainbow. There is grass, but it looks... wrong, somehow. Flecks of
blue and orange among lush green.
'What you see here is a sort of living painting... one which I bore with me,
in my ship between the stars, to maintain my health. Perhaps to forget
myself, for a time.'
There is a sound like thunder.
'In this place,' says the voice as the cluster of -- beastmen? No, not
quite; something is different about them -- come running, bellowing laughter
and conversing in a language none of you can understand, 'I ran.'
The group is upon you, slapping your backs and saying obviously encouraging
things! Run... or the ones in the back may decide to toss you ahead, for
sport! Also, there are sinkholes, as you shall surely discover.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 2 *>======================== =====================< Results - Memory of another world. >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 8 --(18)--> 26 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 8 --(18)--> 26 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 8 --(13)--> 21 Fail Gravity Module 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Azoth has posed.
"No, you are not," Azoth observes, smiling at Loren with something softer than the default full-blast levels of insincere. But what would that even mean!
Azoth does not mind waiting for his high-five, perfectly understanding that Loren has some reverse engineering to do concerning the nature of the puzzle. He also does not want to give away the answer without being asked, because that would rob the satisfaction of figuring it out if Loren is still inclined for it. But eventually! Finally! He gets a high-five!!
You know what's sadder? The number of high-fives Azoth has managed to receive: not many. It may be one of the saddest high-fives in history, but it is one of the best ones for Azoth by virtue of statistic. Which is to say: he still sparkles preciously.
But now is the time of memories of lost worlds! And projected bullying!
"You know, I would have hypothesized that proof of life from beyond would have been above our noses." This is all Azoth gets to say before he is tossed. Altering gravity does little to avoid the stampede. There is no running, not really.
Everyone is mercilessly bullied like a red-headed First Class child by the time they reach the end of the projected plains of memory, carrying the burden of all the exhaustion that comes with.
Azoth crawls out of a sinkhole to join Loren and Leah, whining. "I think I ERROR pinched a wire..."
DG: Leah Sadalbari has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - The lots and Ancient Terra. *>==================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world. I came to Filgaia from another world, roundabout
another star. Though I would play at studying the lore of Ancient Terra,
Minora was the planet of my birth.'
The lights rise... and you are not on Filgaia any more. You are standing on
a rather modest space of scraggly greenery, facing out from a height of
nearly a full mile towards an enormous reach of rich greenery, reminiscent
of pastureland near to Nisan. The area is interrupted by more plateaus - for
you are on one yourself - leading, loosely, downwards at irregular
intervals. Each of them has been lushly planted with greenery and has even
been adorned with large, soft-looking pieces of... something in bright
colors.
Something is strange about the grass, flecks of blue and orange that should
not be there. Vakero's voice speaks: 'Once, when I was young, I made sport
through hlakhu; leaping. Before you is a living painting of a hlakhu field.
The rule is simple - make it to the final step. Of course, in my day, there
were no cushions...'
If you should dare to leap (or can somehow fall one mile and then walk two),
you will find the door, sitting in the rich green field of another world's
memory.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Leah does not answer Loren's mutter. Azoth did that well enough.
Would she have given the high-five? Probably not.
How did she? Leah doesn't say. She doesn't answer loren at all ni that moment, actually. But it may be not just because she's mysterious, but because she's busy dealing with the projections of a bunch of giant 'beastmen'.
...She does, however, have time to feel amusement over Azoth's quip.
Leah rises after the stampede, somewhat the worse for wear to look at her. The leather obscuring her mechanical limbs is somewhat torn in places. "Hm," she says. "Well, that was bracing."
She moves on. The next room is also dark...
He speaks again. He is not of this world. And they are again on a space elsewhere; scraggly greenery. The plateaus interrupting the area include the oon which they stand. And there are downward plateaus...
Hmmm. "Cushions," Leah comments. "How considerate." A pause. "Above or below our noises, the fact remains that we have no idea how many people have made it through this tomb in the past; the information is far, far past containment protocol. And yet, it's not common knowledge. Interesting, isn't it?"
"Well," she says, "Care to play?" She smiles cryptically, and then LEAPS. She's going to bypass every single one of the steps in one mighty jump, if all goes well. And if it doesn't...
Well, she can probably take it.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has risked with her Tool Gravity Module toward her party's challenge, The lots and Ancient Terra.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It takes him a little bit to come to the proper conclusion. But just wait for it.
Wait for it--
"Wait! Was it really--"
There we go. Dawn breaks over rockhead.
Even if it is a dawn that is a touch overshadowed by what comes next. Both the revelations that this is the tomb of a man from another world and that this has undoubtedly been explored by others before, but also the fact that they they are now involved in said otherworldly person's virtual reality projections.
Which, speaking of! Loren of course becomes a javelin for the second time (second time!) in his life.
"Ugh," Loren groans. "It's not even real. So why..."
The bruises argue otherwise.
They tread onwards across the plain, darkness seemingly the only thing that splits one moment from the next. Speaking of under their noses, Loren looks down.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
And he would have balked, if Leah hadn't just lept.
"..."
He closes his eyes before he jumps. Maybe if this is projection, it won't kill him...?
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The lots and Ancient Terra..
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Weird, right?!" Azoth says as dawn breaks, no judgment, no gloating. Puzzles are too sacred to use as a tool for his own bullying.
Would Azoth have prompted Leah for a high-five? A mystery for another time.
The important questions lie more in the nature of Leah's desire to be here, and the mentions of information breaching containment. The type of AI Azoth is rather prefers this type of data to get free and spread around. Seems fun! Solaris is not known for being fun.
"I guess your average person wouldn't have reason to believe it. Or could do much with it if they did. It doesn't exactly put food on the table. And, really, I can't blame people for being obsessed with someting they'll die without..." Even with no sense of taste to call his own.
But now Leah wants to play. This feels like a test, and less from the ruins themselves. Azoth casts a nervous smile toward Loren -- an attempt at comraderie over the Leah situation? -- and bounces on his feet a bit before making his own dash forward. He utilizes explosive output to help push him along.
"At least the rules are simple...!"
Thankfully, should he fail, Azoth is someone who might just be able to fall and mile and then walk two, much like Leah. Loren, on the other hand...
That's who Azoth would priortize trying to catch and protect should this go south. (Maybe, he wonders, that's the test.)
DG: Azoth has contributed a risky Agility Action toward his party's challenge, The lots and Ancient Terra..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - The lots and Ancient Terra. *>==================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world. I came to Filgaia from another world, roundabout
another star. Though I would play at studying the lore of Ancient Terra,
Minora was the planet of my birth.'
The lights rise... and you are not on Filgaia any more. You are standing on
a rather modest space of scraggly greenery, facing out from a height of
nearly a full mile towards an enormous reach of rich greenery, reminiscent
of pastureland near to Nisan. The area is interrupted by more plateaus - for
you are on one yourself - leading, loosely, downwards at irregular
intervals. Each of them has been lushly planted with greenery and has even
been adorned with large, soft-looking pieces of... something in bright
colors.
Something is strange about the grass, flecks of blue and orange that should
not be there. Vakero's voice speaks: 'Once, when I was young, I made sport
through hlakhu; leaping. Before you is a living painting of a hlakhu field.
The rule is simple - make it to the final step. Of course, in my day, there
were no cushions...'
If you should dare to leap (or can somehow fall one mile and then walk two),
you will find the door, sitting in the rich green field of another world's
memory.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 3 *>======================== ===================< Results - The lots and Ancient Terra. >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 26 --(11)--> 37 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 26 --(3)--> 29 Pass Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Gravity Module 3 Agility Effects: Stalwart and Risky -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 35 --(20)--> 55 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(1)|Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
A mystery indeed...
As dawn breaks, Leah explains some of the reason that she is here. She nods to Azoth, as he mentions... food. Hm. Food.
"That's right. Most people have no reason to care. The ones who do are those who are dangerous to our operations, though--Drifters, for instance. They're much more likely to believe in the strange and unexplained tha the average person. ...But what can they do with this knowledge? Little on its own. So it's a situation in which information containment is only marginally useful in the first place."
But indeed it's not real. Though, food is.
Leah grins, and indeed--she makes it, changing directions mid-air as needed in a jump that is, if not graceful, than certainly effective by the time she slams down onto the last step with a shake of the earth from sheer force and weight.
However, Loren does a lotless well. He closes his eyes, but he's going to miss the cushion--until, of course, Azoth catches him. His next jumps are more successful, but there's naother time or two that he needs help. Leah doesn't provide it.
Perhaps that was the test, because at the end she appears satisfied with something.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - First meetings. *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people; but I love as you do. I fell in
love. It came to me suddenly, in the autumn of my life. This is important.
If you are here, you are likely the heirs of the legacy of our School... our
beautiful School. The place she had dreamed of.'
The lights rise, revealing something like an open-face mine, lit by arc
lamps spaced out a little too far to provide full illuminance. It is
difficult to tell exactly where this is, although the strata and the
thickness of the air suggests a deep void beneath Guild Galad. There is a
rickety scaffold, made mostly of dried bamboo.
'I had acquired currency through crime. The details are trivial. I did not
slay anyone - fear not. I sought to invest the money, to make it grow. I
inspected the works, and --'
Part of the scaffold cracks and you can see a woman falling.
'I could not stand to see her fall.'
The fall is in slow motion, but it is from over twenty yards up. It will
surely be fatal. But your view is guided. There is a ramp in the stone, and
a spoil pit; but between you and it are hoppers of waste stone, trash,
guardrails, and other sundries.
To make the catch, you will have to force your way through!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Azoth isn't rubbing it in, no. "Yeah... really weird," Loren agrees, frowning. But this particular bit doesn't appear to matter as much to him as the fact that he was second in line for this particular revelation. Is his reign as the puzzle-solver-in-chief at an end...?!
Still, this isn't a particular woe he'll have long to dwell upon, not when other challenges soon present themselves.
Particularly, when they're challenges of a decidedly... death-defying nature. Or at least, they seem as such to Loren's point of view. He leaps over the edge after glancing -- he seems a little surprised to see the smile -- Azoth's way and regrets having done so about halfway down.
The worst! This was the worst idea!
Particularly the part when he opens his eyes. This was a terrible idea! And, oh no, he's going to miss the--
Except he doesn't, because Azoth catches him first.
"...Um," he manages after a moment, gazing at his savior. "Thanks?"
He seems like he's still grappling with this particular concept, somewhat. Guild Galad wasn't built in a day, though.
Once again, they walk in darkness. The space that presents itself to them next is far more familiar, for it is the streets of Guild Galad itself.
"So he... married one of the people from here?" He's in the process of mulling this over when from above, there is a crack. A woman falls from higher up. There's no surviving such a landing.
Shock bolts Loren to the place he stands. He couldn't move even if he wanted to. Shock, though, is replaced by the cold realization that she'll die and he'll watch it happen. Unless, of course, he acts.
Now, before it's too late.
He's already running ahead without thinking about it. He's already digging around in his pocket as he bolts ahead, searching for something but only turning up a stone. Fine, then, if that's what he's got, he'll use that as a focus instead.
He grips it tightly, letting the pain center him. Rock surges ahead of him.
"Azoth!"
Perhaps he's asking Azoth to go ahead and catch the woman, to use the path he's trying to clear.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, First meetings.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
It probably is a bad time to bring up the reminder some Drifters are already from beyond the stars themselves. Leah assuredly almost knows this, anyway.
He misses talking to Bea...
"But you can do something with it," he notes, not a question, but not... not a question. There is a reason Leah wanted to come here. It'd be a miracle if either he or Loren managed to deduce the exact nature of it, though.
Azoth is far more careful handling Loren physically than with words. Once a Gear, his calculations about how to adjustment movements to put minimal force on a pilot are still in top form, it's just the transportation method is a little... different this time. With arms. (Not ARMs. Loren doesn't need to be a javelin a third time.)
He gives Loren another little smile. "Don't worry about it."
But now... there's more to the story.
"Aww, love!" Azoth presses his palms together in performative delight. "And crime!" But his expression falls as the story once lost to time continues. The woman... falls.
Loren shouts his name and Azoth moves instantly, launching forward with a Gebler's photon blade in hand. He takes as much advantage of the path Loren gives him as he can, power surging into the ARM to help Azoth cleave through the rest while still giving enough energy left to leap for the woman and catch her, if he can.
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Falk's Photon Blade toward his party's challenge, First meetings.. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
There's a lot of weird to go around.
But Azoth makes a note, and Leah turns to him and shakes her head. "With the knowledge alone?" A pause. "Not a thing. The knowledge alone is meaningless to our purposes. All the grandeur and splendour of the universe beyond... Worthless, as far as Gebler's business is concerned."
She continues on.
Love happens. Leah is very quiet. She does not stand in shock; she simply stands, looking. She pulls her crowbar, of course, to do away with the obstacles...
"Love, and crime," she agrees.
But she does not move quickly. She simply starts forward, trudging step-step, step-step.
"There once was a man who thought to touch the sky itself."
"He rose, higher and higher, a flame on the wind..."
Leah bashes a guardrail out of the way, slowly.
"But he, too, fell."
"Some things are inevitable," she says.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has risked with her Tool Crowbar toward her party's challenge, First meetings.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - First meetings. *>========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The next room is dark. As you enter, the dead man speaks again.
'I am not of your world; nor of your people; but I love as you do. I fell in
love. It came to me suddenly, in the autumn of my life. This is important.
If you are here, you are likely the heirs of the legacy of our School... our
beautiful School. The place she had dreamed of.'
The lights rise, revealing something like an open-face mine, lit by arc
lamps spaced out a little too far to provide full illuminance. It is
difficult to tell exactly where this is, although the strata and the
thickness of the air suggests a deep void beneath Guild Galad. There is a
rickety scaffold, made mostly of dried bamboo.
'I had acquired currency through crime. The details are trivial. I did not
slay anyone - fear not. I sought to invest the money, to make it grow. I
inspected the works, and --'
Part of the scaffold cracks and you can see a woman falling.
'I could not stand to see her fall.'
The fall is in slow motion, but it is from over twenty yards up. It will
surely be fatal. But your view is guided. There is a ramp in the stone, and
a spoil pit; but between you and it are hoppers of waste stone, trash,
guardrails, and other sundries.
To make the catch, you will have to force your way through!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 4 *>======================== =========================< Results - First meetings. >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 37 --(0)--> 37 Pass Worry Stone 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 29 --(3)--> 32 Pass Falk's Photon Blade 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 21 --(0)--> 21 Pass Crowbar 3 Brute Effects: Stalwart and Risky -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 55 --(20)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
The knowledge of people is... worthless.
"...Yeah," Loren agrees, after a moment's hesitation. "Anything that comes from above the sky is... useless. The stars, the moon... the people of Lunar. None of that's important to Solaris. That's why my dream..."
Loren trails off, shaking his head. "Forget it. It's not important. What I'm saying is, it doesn't affect anything."
There is a reason why Solaris lacks a space program. Or why it scarce tracks the movement of the stars or the moon, save for the basic useful knowledge such imparts. If it isn't of the world over which Solaris reigns, it isn't important.
Except when someone wishes to make use of the fruits of other lands. Except when what was of Lunar descends to Filgaia and makes itself known. Except when it becomes important, in other words.
But they soon find themselves in a version of Guild Galad from the past, where a single woman's life hangs in the balance.
The way before Azoth is nearly cleared, Loren focusing solely on venting the earth's fury to shunt most obstacles aside. Others will be handled with singular swings of that sword, creating a path wherein Azoth can then leap, catching the woman before she falls.
It's Leah's words that center Loren, after a fashion. His brother always spoke of how...
He'd never been able to capture that feeling himself. Never, not after what had happened. All he can ever think about is charred steel.
He glances at Leah once and regrets it immediately.
"..."
"This is... just a memory," he's given to say, as if it were any sort of balm.
DG: Azoth has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The last stop. *>========================
| Type: Climax | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you enter into the next room-- the lights stay up. They are neutral and
pleasant enough. The floor is smooth stone. There are some gently curved
benches of polished but otherwise lightly-worked stone, and a selection of
the same jars you encountered at the entranceway. Their contents are
wholesome food and drink, although they, unlike the ones at the entrance,
are damnably difficult to open.
'Refresh yourself. I wish to explain myself.'
'When my beloved died, I guided the School of Mineralogy as best that I
could. I knew, however, that my strength was failing. My nails had grown
mottled. My horns stopped growing. A slow-wasting disease I had destroyed
all identifying information about Minora and my species, along with my other
secrets... I would die before any hope of guiding my students to make
repairs, or to communicate with other stars. And it was not my place to use
my beloved's dream in such a way.'
'I struggled even so. I tried once more to see if I could master Crest
Sorcery, but I could not. Sophia's students had made little headway on the
problems she had identified, noted, and moved past. Refinements...
modifications... adaptations. They were not troubled, but Sophia had been.
What guidance could I give them? The ornamental stories, the frame and the
moulding from Ancient Terra... the benefit of my memory of Sophia's
theories. But I had nothing but the Symbology written upon my legs and
thighs. What could I give them?'
'I found my answer. Ah... but, before I can reveal that answer to you, o
noble children of the future, there must be a test. I know that if you are
hearing this, you have overcome my trials... but I do not know who you
*are*. It is possible that you are an innocent wanderer and I have only
tortured you. And it is possible that you are evil.'
'So if you wish your life and peace alone... or, if your heart is wicked...
return through the door you entered. Speak 'VAKERO VA-TRAUH-TUK,' my
calving-name, and you will return to the tunnels you know. I wish you well.'
A door is gently highlighted. 'And if you value other things... approach
this door and speak 'MAHABRAHMA', the true name of god. I make no claims for
your safety. This is the way of Minora. You may die. If you claim victory,
then my legacy will be your prize.'
The message repeats once per hour until you choose a door.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
That's... reassuring? Azoth might need more knowledge -- data -- to be sure of that himself. But Azoth's also not yet convinced Gebler's business is strictly Leah's business. Loren's dreams, though. Azoth perks up, listening.
He doesn't pry when Loren drops it. The thought is filed away for later.
A woman is saved. Or a projection of her is. It isn't real, but it still mattered. Even to Leah. A memory gone, reality unchanged no matter what they do. But they do. And the mood goes colder. Quieter.
Azoth's expression turns to one of somber curiosity. "Love... huh? How do humans define such a thing, anyway? And what is its purpose...?"
It's a decent 'what is this thing you call love' act, assuming it holds up against the possible known contradictions in Azoth asking in the first place.
But they move on to a well lit room of smooth stone floors and stone benches. And more tomb-food, which Azoth already knows everyone's opinions on. The mood may not be for eating, as the story continues on. The history of the School, the motivations behind it, and the struggles with Crest Sorcery. An answer lies beyond, for all the trials they have suffered.
...For someone who isn't them. The temptation to say that they should all VAKERO VA-TRAUH-TUK their way out is quite strong. He resists. Instead, Azoth readies the photon blade again, charging it with a high amount of power to help break through the door of choice, in case the password isn't sufficient. He looks to Leah, grinning sheepishly as he points to the doors, labeled with gentle highlights.
"So, I think I can guess, but... awaiting your orders."
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Falk's Photon Blade toward his party's challenge, The last stop.. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
When Loren says it's not important, Leah looks at him. Azoth may notice it before Loren does, as Loren looks away; it's disappointment. She shakes it off a moment later. The mention of his 'dream' is gone, like dust.
But perhaps it will linger, like dirt.
When Loren attempts that balm, Leah just shakes her head. Azoth asks a question. Leah regards him, thoughtfully. "Do you actually want to know, I wonder? Or do you already have your idea of such a thing?"
"...Humans define such a thing 'inadequately', Azoth. We define it 'inadequately'. And I will not share its purpose today."
She starts forward. They move on, and there's more tomb food. But she doesn't feel like trollishly eating a bit of salt pork any longer. She looks around, and considers the words he gives. She does not refresh herself, but she does listen.
"Hm. So he contained the information himself, well enough. I wonder..."
'Ancient Terra', he says. She files that away.
"My 'heart'," she muses...
She looks to Azoth, and smiles. "Tell me. Do you think I have such a thing? Do not speak to me of the organ, which I know well you can detect beating."
"Do you?" she wonders of Loren.
"And do you think, if I do, that ours together, are 'wicked'...?"
"We, the secret masters. We, who rule from on high."
"Heh."
"The 'true name of god'," Leah muses. "Did they find it, on that faraway world? Did they come to understand? Perhaps it is so. I do not know how long ago they knew it."
"But we have known many 'gods' here on our Filgaia."
"...Regardless. Azoth, you are correct."
Leah approaches the door towards the trial.
"...Surely, however, we are not 'innocent'."
"Mahabrahma."
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The last stop..
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He catches enough of the glance she gives him to understand at least this much:
He has disappointed her today, though he knows not what it is in this moment he'd done or said that gave offense.
This will linger, yes. Like dirt, ground into the rug.
Even his attempt to smooth things over for her do not have the impact he should have liked. Troubled, silent, Loren watches as Azoth asks after 'love' and its nature. Leah will not give him an answer easily, and indeed, it isn't something that can be answered easily.
It's missing someone. When they're gone, and you miss them.
But even that thought, which he dares not put into words around Leah, isn't all of it. He knows it isn't all of it.
Humans define it inadequately. There's nothing that can encompass an entire feeling.
In here, no image awaits them. Instead, there is a message. There is more food and water, if they would have them.
Loren will not, not so much as turning a lingering gaze upon the jars.
But, as to whether or not their hearts are wicked...
"If yours is, then so is mine," he says to Leah, unable to meet her gaze.
The things we've done, that I've done... I don't know anymore...
"...It isn't possible for the shepherd to be innocent."
He knows now, how a flock of sheep actually works, in more than the metaphors they were given.
"Mahabrahma," he says, lingering no more on the precipice. Whatever happens, he won't be left behind.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The last stop..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The last stop. *>========================
| Type: Climax | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you enter into the next room-- the lights stay up. They are neutral and
pleasant enough. The floor is smooth stone. There are some gently curved
benches of polished but otherwise lightly-worked stone, and a selection of
the same jars you encountered at the entranceway. Their contents are
wholesome food and drink, although they, unlike the ones at the entrance,
are damnably difficult to open.
'Refresh yourself. I wish to explain myself.'
'When my beloved died, I guided the School of Mineralogy as best that I
could. I knew, however, that my strength was failing. My nails had grown
mottled. My horns stopped growing. A slow-wasting disease I had destroyed
all identifying information about Minora and my species, along with my other
secrets... I would die before any hope of guiding my students to make
repairs, or to communicate with other stars. And it was not my place to use
my beloved's dream in such a way.'
'I struggled even so. I tried once more to see if I could master Crest
Sorcery, but I could not. Sophia's students had made little headway on the
problems she had identified, noted, and moved past. Refinements...
modifications... adaptations. They were not troubled, but Sophia had been.
What guidance could I give them? The ornamental stories, the frame and the
moulding from Ancient Terra... the benefit of my memory of Sophia's
theories. But I had nothing but the Symbology written upon my legs and
thighs. What could I give them?'
'I found my answer. Ah... but, before I can reveal that answer to you, o
noble children of the future, there must be a test. I know that if you are
hearing this, you have overcome my trials... but I do not know who you
*are*. It is possible that you are an innocent wanderer and I have only
tortured you. And it is possible that you are evil.'
'So if you wish your life and peace alone... or, if your heart is wicked...
return through the door you entered. Speak 'VAKERO VA-TRAUH-TUK,' my
calving-name, and you will return to the tunnels you know. I wish you well.'
A door is gently highlighted. 'And if you value other things... approach
this door and speak 'MAHABRAHMA', the true name of god. I make no claims for
your safety. This is the way of Minora. You may die. If you claim victory,
then my legacy will be your prize.'
The message repeats once per hour until you choose a door.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 5 *>======================== ==========================< Results - The last stop. >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 37 --(13)--> 50 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 32 --(5)--> 37 Pass Falk's Photon Blade 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 21 --(5)--> 26 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 75 --(0)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Save Point(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth smiles at Leah's wondering, though it's a weak, fragile thing to match the mood of the conversation. He sets his hand over his heart -- or where it would be, if he had one -- and answers a question with a question. "Do you honestly think me capable? After all, it's just numbers to me."
Inadequately... An interesting answer.
But in their next chamber, Leah has a question for him. Does he think she has a heart?
He smiles back at her cheerfully. "Oh, I know you do. But as I've said before, I've no inkling to the nature of it if I don't know what it wants. And I certainly don't have a heart to call my own." Loren throws his lot in with Leah. "So I guess we're playing roulette then."
The password is spoken. Once. Twice. Azoth shrugs. "Mahabrahma?"
Does making it a question ruin it?
It doesn't matter, because if it refuses to open for their obviously collective not-innocent hearts, Azoth's going to smash the door open --
Oh. That. Might not be necessary. Azoth's photon blade fizzles out with wide-eyed, bright blink.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - The bull. *>===========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
This room is a circular arena, fifteen meters in diameter. There are large,
smooth stones at the northwest and southeast sides, two meters in diameter
and three meters in height.
Standing in the center is a towering figure. A Beastman, more or less. Human
in essential shape, but with a nose and mouth that suggest the bovid. A
steel ring is in the nose of the Beastman, whose hide has a dappled
gray-and-white appearance. He is eight feet tall. His chest is bare and he
wears a wrap round his waist and upper thighs of simple white cloth; short
boots of some woven rush. And he carries a double-bladed axe the size of a
small man.
When everyone has entered the room, the Beastman - no, the Minoran - throws
his head back and bellows. He then intones something, ritualistic-sounding,
in a lowing and partially sub-sonic language, followed by a single stomp.
After this, he attempts to kill all of you.
The Minoran's footfalls shake the earth!
The Minoran's fist can dent steel - his axe can cleave it!
The Minoran's hide can endure punishment that would mutilate humans!
The Minoran's steps are swift, and his charge is without mercy!
The Minoran's only language is his own - he laughs at your entreaties, and
strikes!
PREVAIL OR PERISH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8G0hX9Ludc
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, and Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Maybe it's for the best that Loren doesn't voice his thoughts on love. But Azoth voices something else. He smiles in a fragile way to match... and so, with his hand over his heart, he gives a question.
"Yes," Leah answers him simply. "I do. But do you think yourself so?"
No inkling as to the nature... She smiles, grimly. It will apparently do. "Hm hm."
Roulette it is. "That's true. The shepherd's heart cannot be innocent. But do you think our moralities are so similar, Loren? ...I'm not sure how I feel about that."
They all go.
The door does not require smashing.
The arena trudges out before them, and the gigantic bull-man is there, in the center. His double-bladed axe is as big as Azoth, surely. And he--the Minoran--bellows.
He charges forward for Leah. She pulls neither her sword nor spear, but her crowbar. This is not the sort of battle to be won simply through force of arms.
"Defend yourselves," Leah suggests, as he barrels towards her. His charge strtikes the earth--and her.
Leah goes flying back into the wall of the arena, cracking it under the force of her impact.
"...Hm," she remarks.
She begins to walk, slowly, towards him. Her arms begin to crackle with electric Ether.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Crowbar toward her party's challenge, The bull.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loss isn't all of love. Missing someone isn't all of love. But, it's the repeating element that sticks out the most for Loren in all his relationships, whether they be with family, lovers, or friends.
That he only truly appreciates the depth of his feelings when they're not there. Or when they've gone from his life, forever.
It sounds sick. It feels sick, to be like this. But his heart can't be any other way, anymore.
Is his morality so like Leah's? He's no innocent. Innocence is not permitted for the elect. She'd made that clear. To know what you will do, what it will do to others, to do it regardless... these things are required to bring about a brighter tomorrow.
So she'd told him. But is that true?
Is doing such things... necessary?
"...I can't be like you," he says, finally, because he has never cared to lie. "But I didn't forget what you told me. I'm..."
He doesn't know yet. He doesn't have the answer yet.
Instead, the door opens.
"I guess... the odds were in our favor," he remarks to Azoth. He ventures on, through the opened door. "Or maybe it never could tell to begin with. I don't think it's possible to measure what lies on someone's heart."
And thus does Loren step into the arena, his gaze falling on the Minoran monster that awaits them.
This is projection. Thus, what is here cannot be defeated. This is not a battle that can be won by force, he realizes in much the same moment that Leah suggests they defend themselves. Only by endurance can they hope to win the day.
"Leah--"
As she demonstrates.
And Loren takes into his hand again the stone, squeezing it until it makes his palm ache. Focus.
Before the Minoran's charge towards him there erupts a rough-hewn wall of stone. Loren will hold it there as long as he's able.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, The bull.. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth laughs. Or tries to. It's the one thing he's consistently bad at. It's more of a distorted, glitched sound, but not harsh for its low volume. "You do? That is surprising! But then again, you did say your definitions were inadequate. As for myself... No. I don't. Not how I define it."
His smile has turned bitter.
Loren mentions a heart can't be measured and Azoth's back to a cheerful face like his emotions were never in question by himself or anyone else. "Not with that attitude!"
Numbers. It's all numbers, he said. And he collects all the data he can on them.
That aside, the nature of hearts, in general, is an intriguing subject for this AI. But now is neither the time or place. Now is the time... for the bull. The horns. And the axe. Memories these may be, but the other trials showed enough how much they can bruise. Or dent, in Azoth's case.
As proven by Leah cracking an arena wall with the force of her thrown body. Azoth closes an eye in a wince. "Ouch."
A shield of light pulses into being, trying to catch that axe the size of him as cracks web across the surface from impact.
Lines of light begin to show through his skin and clothing, crawling geometrically over his face. Blue turns to red, bleeding into the shield's color as his systems disagree with his level of output. But a foe like this... Azoth can't just leave his metal body to handle it alone, or he'll be turned to scrap...!
He stays unusually close to Loren for this ordeal when he can't get the bull's aggression himself, much like the previous dangerous trial.
DG: Azoth has contributed a risky Brute Action toward his party's challenge, The bull..
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - The bull. *>===========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
This room is a circular arena, fifteen meters in diameter. There are large,
smooth stones at the northwest and southeast sides, two meters in diameter
and three meters in height.
Standing in the center is a towering figure. A Beastman, more or less. Human
in essential shape, but with a nose and mouth that suggest the bovid. A
steel ring is in the nose of the Beastman, whose hide has a dappled
gray-and-white appearance. He is eight feet tall. His chest is bare and he
wears a wrap round his waist and upper thighs of simple white cloth; short
boots of some woven rush. And he carries a double-bladed axe the size of a
small man.
When everyone has entered the room, the Beastman - no, the Minoran - throws
his head back and bellows. He then intones something, ritualistic-sounding,
in a lowing and partially sub-sonic language, followed by a single stomp.
After this, he attempts to kill all of you.
The Minoran's footfalls shake the earth!
The Minoran's fist can dent steel - his axe can cleave it!
The Minoran's hide can endure punishment that would mutilate humans!
The Minoran's steps are swift, and his charge is without mercy!
The Minoran's only language is his own - he laughs at your entreaties, and
strikes!
PREVAIL OR PERISH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8G0hX9Ludc
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, and Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* The Bulman Legacy - Round 6 *>======================== ============================< Results - The bull. >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 50 --(8)--> 58 Fail Worry Stone 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 37 --(21)--> 58 Fail Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 26 --(0)--> 26 Pass Crowbar 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 75 --(35)--> 110 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Madness|Overwhelm Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored The Bulman Legacy!
============================<* The Bulman Legacy *>=============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - TRIUMPH *>============================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The Minoran warrior, bloodied, bowed, defiant, and perhaps carved into
several distinct sections, lays still. Three seconds after this, he
disappears. The stones do not.
The voice speaks again. 'I realized why Sophia had detected an absence. For
there was one - and it never occured to me why I saw it too. Do you
understand me, children of the future? Sometimes you see an absence that is
not real; a chimera. But I saw it, as she did. I never even thought to
disagree with her.'
'The problem was not with Crest Sorcery. Crest Sorcery is the jewel of
Filgaia. I have never seen, nor heard of its like. It does not deserve to
die with this world.'
'The problem was a mineral. A vital component in the production of
metathaumaturgical conductors beyond the Mathers threshold. Found in
miniscule quantities on many planets... and abundant enough upon Minora that
we used it in our tattooing inks. Meta-thallium. But when I assayed thallous
ores upon Filgaia, I found to my dismay that there was none - not even the
tiniest trace. Meta-thallium! It would be worth your while to process long
tons of ore for the merest microgram... but there was not a single atom of
the metal to be found, not in any ore from the breadth of your world.'
'And then I realized that I did not have long to live... and that there WAS
a resource of meta-thallium upon Filgaia, now.'
One of the stones swings open. On a stone pillar within rests a small
depression, containing two thick-glass vials. Each contains three grams of a
flaky, precipitated metal resembling tin, with an oddly prismatic cast to
it.
'The metal of magic. It is yours. You have proven yourself strong - and have
endured an old man's stories. Children of the future, break the walls we
could not. Save Filgaia, or escape to the sea of stars. Walk with
Mahabrahma; and if you should come to Planet Minora, tell them Vakero
Va-trauh-tuk found his blood at last. This is my final statement --
goodbye!'
The voice does not speak again.
(OOC: Meta-thallium will fetch a great value on the market, although you may
have to persuade others of its value. It is also a way to create magically
sensitive technology, improve or repair ARMs, or open new doors of Crest
Sorcery!)
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Overwhelm:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
The battle is bitter, and long. Loren's walls last for a time, but at other times, Azoth is left to contend with the bull on his own. Both Loren and Azoth have to strain to the utmost n this condition; if Azoth were to let loose his limiters, perhaps it would not be so. If Loren were to use that Drive again, perhaps it would be different. But as it stands, neither is turned to scrap. And Leah...
Whenever Leah comes close, she uses powerful strikes with her electrified limbs, until inevitably she is forced back once again... and begins to return, likewise again. She does not stop. She does not tire. But her armor gets progressively worse. Blood drips from the corner of her lip, before it is done. The three of them ahve triumphed, and to be sure it took all of them; even Leah's endurance has been tested by this battle.
And then... Then, the voice speaks again. He explains, and Leah looks thoughtful. She considers him. The difference...
The emptiness. The absence.
Leah looks to the stones, and takes the two vials.
"With the knowledge, we can do nothing," she reiterates. "...But with this..."
"Bulman's Legacy. The fruit of long research; a substance that exists not in our science."
"'Children of the future'," he called us. "But can we ever be so, chained to the past?"
"...Or is this the means of our liberation?"