2023-03-23: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Log: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Cast: Emeralda Kasim, Fei Fong Wong, Elhaym van Houten, Xantia, Billy Lee Black
- Where: Sin
- Date: March 23, 2023
- Summary: A number of Black Wolves make their way through the bizarre landscape within Sin. Though well-equipped to support one another, nothing could have prepared them for what lies in wait at the far end...
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Barricade of Lost Souls *>====================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The city stretches out before you. It is dark here -- though closer to
twilight than the dead of night -- and the sky is overcast with dark clouds,
lit by the eerie prismatic glow of pyreflies. They break through, sometimes,
and sweep down across the cityscape.
Stone buildings, like ancient temples, are next to dilapidated modern
skyscrapers. There is a patchwork road that you follow -- patchwork because
it has portions that are old stones fused to modern concrete. Rebar pokes
through gravel, in places.
Your first challenge awaits on the road ahead.
Portions of the city date from the Zeboim Era -- or older -- and that
includes some ancient defenses. As you approach, a massive steel barrier --
with ugly spikes facing you -- rises from the road. The barricade has been
changed, though; faces remniscent of screaming fiends, tortured Aeons, and
dying Summoners adorn the wall. To proceed into the city, you will need to
demolish this thing meant to repulse invaders.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Collapse:_Brute_Down! and Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
With Seymour dead (for real this time) and Sent by Yuna (also for real this time), there's only one direction to go:
Further on into Sin.
And further on leads into a confused city. Confused, because there really should be no city inside a giant ghost whale, but it's here nonetheless; as natural as anything else, more substantial than the cave tunnels. Confused, because it looks like a combination of old and older, ruins of various eras next to each other with no particular pattern, no rhyme or reason. They're just... places long gone but remembered by Sin, lit up by the rainbow aurora of pyreflies.
Emeralda, who normally quite enjoys exploring ruins, isn't as excited as she could be. This place is oppressive in a way that real antiquity isn't. She's still hopped ahead, a little bit, but never far and never out of sight.
"This road looks weird," she says, kicking a fist-sized chunk of asphalt that seems to have a cobblestone as its bottom side. It skitters along the road for several meters because she kicked it pretty hard, slides over what looks like grating -
- and the grating rises up, a slightly rusty but mostly functional barrier. And up and up, towering into a wall that completely blocks the road. The asphalt chunk teeters at the top of it, having incongruously managed to stay on all the way up, before falling down on the far side of it.
"...oops." Emeralda didn't mean to trigger the road wall! "Why *is* there a road wall? With spooky faces!" She walks up to it and kicks one of the Fiends shaped into it, which causes grit and rust to shower down from it. "...it's all rusty! I bet we could pry this bit open."
She bends down and digs around until she finds a piece of rebar from broken concrete, long enough that she has to hold it in both hands.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, Barricade of Lost Souls. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei is also quiet today. Defeating Seymour, well, he doesn't feel particularly bad about that of course.
But what Elly had shared about the contents of this city--it does worry him. And he's not sure why--and naturally, that makes him worry even more.
He is glad that Billy and Xantia are here--Xantia because he finds her presence comforting to his soul, and Billy because he finds him comforting to his physical wellbeing. Xantia can heal his heart, Billy can heal his bones.
"We're going to see some terrible things today, Em." Fei admits. "If it gets to be too much, feel free to rely on us--and we'll try to do the same."
He looks to Billy, "How are you holding up, man?"
He walks along and then--
--a road wall appears.
...............It has faces.
"........Haha! Well this is definitely showing up in my nightmares!" Fei says with faux-cheer as he tries to kamehameha wave it into oblivion as quickly as possible.
"I wasn't expecting something like that to happen so immediately! Hopefully this is the only case where they use, uh, soul based architecture?"
He shudders visibly.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Bart Jr Doll toward his party's challenge, Barricade of Lost Souls. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly is not very excited either, Emeralda. Don't feel bad.
She was certainly glad to see Seymour off. Not a nice thing to admit about yourself, but he's gone, and if anyone deserved to get shown the door, it was him; even if it was difficult. There were surely people out there -- probably in Guadosalam -- who will miss him, as a person.
But it was a rather dire thing.
Sin is also rather dire. The sight of the city, and its remains, makes Elly's eyes cast about. Her arms fold as she walks, unconsciously staying near Fei and Emeralda in about equal measure when she can. Before long, though, she can see -- gravel, and through gravel...
"Those are the iron bars," Elly says, thoughtfully. "The ones you find in Zeboim ruins, the concrete bracing frames." Her eyes turn towards Fei, and she supposes, "Maybe 'Eldridge' is something from that period. If it was in a building that somehow ended up within what we know as 'Sin', then..." It would explain a few things. Maybe she should explain herself!
She does not, though, in favor of a wall. As they come upon it Elly shrieks in sudden surprise, covers her face with her hands, and hyperventilates quietly. "I," she says, "I'll be fine, I just -- I need a few moments." Elly turns round, then, reaching into her hip bag. Dig, dig. There it is.
Herbal gels from the Thames. Elly eats two immediately. "... Does anyone else want one?" (They contain gently relaxing compounds derived from a very useful plant, cultivated for its fiber and seeds!)
"... It's probably an Unsent, after a fashion," Elly says. "It's just... I mean, it's not mobile. I assume..."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool One Of Every Miscellaneous Consumable toward her party's challenge, Barricade of Lost Souls. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia has been distant, noticeable at the very least in the physical sense, having stayed further apart from groups of people than she normally would. This is for one single reason: she's been trying her level best not to let on how awful she's been feeling lately. Fatigued, alternating between feeling too hot and too cold, and an inexplicable 'wrong' feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was hoping it would get better with time, but if anything it's gotten worse. Coming down with something might not stand out for most people, but... no one's ever known Xantia to get sick, not in any sort of natural way. So who knows what this is, she certainly doesn't.
Ultimately, what matters is to avoid questions, most easily done by simply not being around for the questions to be asked. Especially when Fei already knows about this. She took her recently repaired left bracer off on his suggestion that it might be the cause of this, but it didn't seem to make any difference, she hasn't felt any better since then. Having used it to protect against Seymour's magic, she left it on since then, and that doesn't seem to have notably worsened things either. Seems like there's really no recourse but to keep toughing it out. At least that battle against Seymour happened not long ago, maybe it'll make sense for her to appear a little off after that whole mess.
Still, even at a bit of distance, she's been following the people who matter most to her. This passively supports her, and if something were to happen, she's not so far away that she can't actively support them. And who knows what might happen in a place like this. If she wasn't feeling bad already, this city would almost certainly be giving her a bad feeling.
A barrier springs up ahead, which-- well, Xantia was expecting worse, really. It might be more 'normal' to feel seriously disturbed by its appearance, but... well, she's just more concerned about her condition right now. She takes a deep breath, psyching herself up for some good ol' Pretending You're Fine action. Then she increases her pace, to catch up with the others, trying to sound like her usual upbeat self.
"That is one uuuugly little fence you've got there, Sin! That's really gotta go. Fortunately, I've got just the thing!"
With that, she slips on her hammer-headed fist weapon, and slams it directly for the steel wall's center. Even if there's spooky things on it, it's still just a steel wall, she figures. No problem, she knocks those down all the time. And naturally, with Elly offering something to eat...
"Oh, me, I want one!" Nothing wrong with her appetite, at least. Anything that might help to feel a little better.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Mini-Megaton toward her party's challenge, Barricade of Lost Souls. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Seymour is dead and/or defeated forever, for real this time, we think, and so the journey continues. Another tyrant who stepped upon his own people, his own self, and any trace of dignity in the pursuit of a deluded notion of mercy...
...well. Billy will give him this: Seymour at least had unearthly dedication to an ideal within himself. Stone was barely better than a toady.
He strides along, hands on his guns as he usually goes in a dangerous area.
Fei asks how he's doing. A small smile touches his face. "Diving into the belly of a ghastly beast with a soul of malice and spite?" he asks, and forces a chuckle, flipping a gun around his finger. "Must be Thursday."
He lets it sit a moment longer, a few steps longer, before adding, "...I can only hope whoever replaces that man has a better heart, I suppose," quietly.
The road roars upward at them, a mockery of screaming faces and worse. He smacks his lips in contemplation.
"I agree," he says to Fei, and then throws a blasting charge at it, setting it off with a shot from his gun.
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Blasting Charge toward his party's challenge, Barricade of Lost Souls. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Barricade of Lost Souls *>====================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The city stretches out before you. It is dark here -- though closer to
twilight than the dead of night -- and the sky is overcast with dark clouds,
lit by the eerie prismatic glow of pyreflies. They break through, sometimes,
and sweep down across the cityscape.
Stone buildings, like ancient temples, are next to dilapidated modern
skyscrapers. There is a patchwork road that you follow -- patchwork because
it has portions that are old stones fused to modern concrete. Rebar pokes
through gravel, in places.
Your first challenge awaits on the road ahead.
Portions of the city date from the Zeboim Era -- or older -- and that
includes some ancient defenses. As you approach, a massive steel barrier --
with ugly spikes facing you -- rises from the road. The barricade has been
changed, though; faces remniscent of screaming fiends, tortured Aeons, and
dying Summoners adorn the wall. To proceed into the city, you will need to
demolish this thing meant to repulse invaders.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, |
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Sin - Dream's End - Round 1 *>======================== =====================< Results - Barricade of Lost Souls >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Reinforced Bar 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Bart Jr Doll 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billy Lee Black 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Blasting Charge 2 Brute Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Mini-Megaton 3 Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(25)--> 25 Fail One Of Every Miscellaneous Consumab 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Emeralda Kasim 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Collapse|Exhaust(1) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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. DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Forest of Crystals *>======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The city inside of Sin has been shaped by the sheer number of pyreflies and
the countless wills that created this being. That makes the atmosphere here
otherworldly and, often, hostile; it reflects the collective fears,
anxieties, and obsession of a millennium's worth of people. Case in point,
here, you see where buildings begin to blur into a crystalline form.
The stone buildings near you begin to become a forest of huge, glowing
crystals. Greens, reds, blues, and yellows shine upon you from them. The
crystals jut out into the road -- forming a hedge of sharp-as-glass crystals
that shatter when you break them. You need to break them, though, to push
on; doing so will be painful, but it is necessary to move forward.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
The barrier is a fearsome barricade and it looks very, very sturdy.
And indeed it may have been once, but it is old. Like the rest of the city, it is remembered as a ruin, and it isn't in perfect condition. Emeralda prying at the faces starts to pull apart the plates of metal they're attached to, and she wedges the rebar in there, using it like a giant crowbar - assisted by Fei throwing ki at it in bursts.
Meanwhile, Xantia and Billy do their own team-up. Billy's blasting cap doesn't take it apart, but dents a chunk of the barricade as if a giant's fist hit it - and then very shortly normal-sized fists do hit it, pushing the other side of the same plate Emeralda and Fei are working on.
Elly offers gels. "I'm good!" Emeralda says, because she has had one of those before and didn't like it very much (mostly because she didn't get anything out of it but the taste, which did not agree with her).
Suddenly, with a *thump*, one of the plates in the barricade falls in, revealing a gap about the width of a door and perhaps four feet high. Even Emeralda has to duck to fit through, but at least it's usable!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei grins at Billy's grim acceptance. That's sort of the thing they really both have in common (outside of an uneasiness about father figures). "Heh, I lost track of what day it was, being honest. Can't believe we're doing this and it's not even the weekend yet."
He'll arm bump Billy in the most guy-friend way possible like he was Senator Armstrong or something.
But he does look to Xantia and notices she's being distant again. And she's put on the bracer again. Returning that bracer will start it, Xenia had said.
He is relieved when it is apparent Xantia's appetite has returned. So long as Xantia still eats like a saiyan, she must be pretty much okay.
He catches an herbal gel from Elly and downs it. "Thanks, Elly!"
Admittedly it's a Gel so it isn't THAT filling--but hey, it's better than nothing.
The next area is a lot less creepy. Buildings are blurring into a crystalline form. Empathite? Maybe not. Maybe it's just crystal. Nevertheless, the stone buildings become a crystalline fortress and Fei breathes a sigh of relief.
"Well, at least it isn't a face-fence." Fei admits as he darts in, intending to plow through the crystals just by clobbering through them with his fists--like he's fighting the blocks he used to have to kick through
When he was a child--
Fei blinks and squints and shakes his head sharply, pushing that thought out for now.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Forest of Crystals.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I'm glad you're with us, Billy," says Elly, after she also goes ahead and eats Emeralda's gel after she declines. But she doesn't just eat ALL of them. Xantia definitely gets one! And now she can experience a natural calm!
And it probably helps her appetite, too.
The world is blurring. Blending like a live-action painting. They're turning into something else; huge, towering, corrupted crystals. Elly finds out just how sharp they are when she brushes her ankle against one and hisses, though she is able soon enough to hoist up her leg and look at the injury.
And slap a bandage on it! One of the little stickums with mercurochrome on it, to ward off infection! That's not something you should drink, but on a cut, it's fine. She assumes.
Elly pushes out a breath afterwards. Fei is watched with some alarm -- perhaps she's afraid he'll cut something deep and abruptly die in a pool of blood, which is perhaps a little weirdly specific, but it just sort of hops in Elly's mind as she watches him kick and strike jagged brittle objects.
And so what Elly goes with is an Aquasol; just to get her head right. As the somewhat spicy fluid runs down her throat and settles in her stomach, Elly exhales. Then, up come her hands, as if conducting an invisible symphony! And maybe she is, because some of the crystals start to shatter crisply from the silent application of Earth Ether.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool One Of Every Miscellaneous Consumable toward her party's challenge, Forest of Crystals. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda decides to keep the rebar. It's still in pretty good shape! She swings it over one shoulder like she was a warrior with a sword, which may in fact be where she learned to hold it like that.
"Thanks!" she says, holding out her fist toward Xantia because she hasn't said enough to her lately. And, well, if Fei can do a fistbump, *so can she*. (She is less eager to do it with Billy, who she finds significantly more distant than Xantia usually is.)
If she can tell Xantia's not feeling great, she keeps it to herself, though she does look at her a couple times when she thinks Xantia is not looking.
"That's two kinds of walls! Does all this place do is make... things?" Emeralda looks at the crystals jutting from the buildings with displeasure. Well, she already has a chunk of something heavy that makes it much less likely she'll cut up or break her hands (not that she ever really would break her hands, but you know) so she starts swinging, wielding the rebar more like a baseball bat than anything else as she tries to crack her way through.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, Forest of Crystals. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Breaking some stuff and having a snack does wonders for Xantia's mood at least, even if it doesn't do much for her condition. Makes it easier to keep up appearances, if nothing else. "Hehe, no problem! Gotta do better than that to keep us out!" And of course she's not gonna leave Emmy hanging, always happy to answer a fistbump request.
She glances to Fei when he looks at her, trying to wordlessly communicate to please not bring up That Thing, which he doesn't seem to be about to. It'll be fine. How much further could there still be to go, really? She groans after turning her head, and seeing how far the road ahead stretches on. She shouldn't have asked, even mentally.
On the way, she smiles to Billy, raising up her left arm to present that bracer he looked at before. At least, presumably it is that bracer. Last time he saw it, it was bent and burnt. This one looks brand new. That's some miraculous fixing that happened there. "Thanks for taking a look at it earlier, turns out that after getting those wires fixed up, it could do most of the work itself. Go figure, huh?" She doesn't worry about that part, there's enough other stuff to be worried about.
Case in point, those crystals are getting awfully close to the path they're following. "I like crystals, but there's sure a lot of 'em around, huh? Makes it kinda hard to-- ow!" Straying a bit too close to one of them earns her a nick on the leg. Now they've done it. She's already put her trusty fist weapon away, so in a reflex, she just punches the crystal bare-handed. It's a crystal, how hard could it be to break? As it turns out, not very hard, but...
"Owww..." she complains, getting a few shards stuck in her hand for her trouble. Fingerless gloves don't protect very well against that sort of thing, who knew? "These crystals are mean," she decides, "I'm just gonna knock 'em aside." With that, she pays a bit more attention to the amount of force she applies as she starts punching and kicking her way through the crystal maze. Actively attempting not to break things isn't so much in her idiom, but if she must...
DG: Xantia has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Forest of Crystals.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy has a certain aura of distance, doesn't he? Some of that's the depression, mind you.
"Thank you, Elly," he says, with a dip of his head. "Painful though it is, I think it better I be here to help even against foes like these. Seymour and Sin may have different scales from Bishop Stone, but the kinds of pain they inflict are not so different."
He holds his gun up for a moment, finger off the trigger. "If this weapon is to be used for violence, I at least prefer it be pointed at an evil I grasp."
He favors Fei with a faint smile, which grows as he's elbowed playfully.
Absorbing vital gelatines from Elly, the group continues on into a city of scattering crystalloids. Billy watches it with a frown on his face.
His eyes do tick up to Xantia, and he favors her with that smile of his as well. "Is that so? I'm glad. That sort of thing can happen, ARMS are often miraculous in their capacity to self-repair. Still...do be careful." He remembers her worries.
Billy, meanwhile, brings lots of bombs everywhere he goes, so he just hucks another one at the crystals.
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Blasting Charge toward his party's challenge, Forest of Crystals. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Forest of Crystals *>======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The city inside of Sin has been shaped by the sheer number of pyreflies and
the countless wills that created this being. That makes the atmosphere here
otherworldly and, often, hostile; it reflects the collective fears,
anxieties, and obsession of a millennium's worth of people. Case in point,
here, you see where buildings begin to blur into a crystalline form.
The stone buildings near you begin to become a forest of huge, glowing
crystals. Greens, reds, blues, and yellows shine upon you from them. The
crystals jut out into the road -- forming a hedge of sharp-as-glass crystals
that shatter when you break them. You need to break them, though, to push
on; doing so will be painful, but it is necessary to move forward.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
======================<* Sin - Dream's End - Round 2 *>======================= =======================< Results - Forest of Crystals >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Reinforced Bar 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Billy Lee Black 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Blasting Charge 2 Brute Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass One Of Every Miscellaneous Consumab 2 Brute Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Emeralda Kasim 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim 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. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Free-Floating Platforms *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The street that you walk down gradually becomes a stone pathway, which ends
in a bridge over a terrific chasm. That chasm is dark, seemingly endless,
save for a few broken pillars jutting out. Those held part of the bridge --
for it has collapsed, ahead.
Except, strangely, some pieces of the bridge are floating in the void.
Flagstones that once made up the bridge didn't get the memo, it seems. They
didn't collapse while the rest of the bridge did.
You will need to leap from stone to stone to get across the chasm. The
stones are easy to land on and don't give way when you do. However, there
are quite a few of them before you'll make your way across to the other
side.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Yeah," Fei agrees with Elly of being glad that Billy is here. Fortunately, he doesn't cut himself. His movements are precise and fluid. Almost like he knows what he's doing.
Citan would probably be alarmed at seeing Fei at this level of calmness. It isn't always BAD, but it certainly isn't always good either. And the worst part is, you can't really be sure if that's a Fei who is at a place of inner peace or a place of inner violence. It looks exactly the same either way.
But Fei is somehow able to avoid injuring himself on the crystals--even Xantia, who isn't so lucky, manages to not hurt herself TOO badly. The crystals, in the end, aren't that big of a danger--even when explosives from Billy are brought in--though Fei does step back once Billy starts chucking those.
Xantia seems to want him to not bring up the whole bracer thing--and he doesn't!
"Hey Xan, when we get out of this, what do you want to eat? Like--is there something in particular you're really craving?"
He smiles at Emeralda and Xantia fistbumping. Glad to see aunt and niece are getting on splendidly.
"I'm really glad you two get along so well." He admits.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Forwards, and through the crystals, and then they come to a great rift.
Elly looks into the rift.
It's dark, and immense, and Elly looks back at the others and says with a sort of hesitant tiny fraction of a smile, "... I don't think this is exactly a normal sort of space, or we'd see Bevelle down there, wouldn't we?"
At this gap in the road, Elly folds her arms.
Gazing forwards, she says, "I suppose it's funny to think this here, but I want to thank all of you -- just, just in general, for... Oh, I don't know, I just -- It really is... it's good to... ah..."
She keeps her back turned, but there's a little bit of a sniff after she turns around and digs out a length of braided synthetic cable, one part of which is attached to a piton that she puts in the ground and asks Emeralda, "Batter it in?" Once this is done, a brief exerise of Earth Ether, and now Elly has a weight on a chain!
"I'm reminded now of something Tidus said to me while we were moving things around," Elly remarks to Billy, as she watches where she's aiming. "He said that 'neither of us have really had good luck with organized religion.' I thought that was an interesting way to put it... I wonder why he said that word with it, though."
Fling! The rock lands on one of the far platforms and, with more eye-narrowing glower power from Elly, fuses with THAT chunk of bridge. Elly tug-tugs for a moment. "... hm," she decides, before getting out another piton. This time to Fei and Xantia, she asks, "Can you...?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUOgzcVsVeo
Now even if you fall, one of the annoying starter jumps is neutralized.
"I think it might be something like the inside of some of those ancient Digs," Elly answers Emeralda. "The ones where you have perceptual distortions. I don't know if those affected you, but we've run into a few..."
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Climbing Pack toward her party's challenge, Free-Floating Platforms. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"I think we'd see the bottom of the whale?" Emeralda isn't quite sure either. What does the bottom of a whale look like from the inside? Especially when it is, as it turns out, a ghost whale with a city in it, which is a thoroughly inadequate description regardless -
Sin is complicated.
Elly asks her to hit something. "Sure!" Emeralda hammers at the top of the piton a few times, taking a couple powerful swings at it - she probably would only have needed one if she'd hit it perfectly straight the first time, but she did not. At least she didn't bend it too far to be useful.
But she doesn't use it. Instead she pulls out a cable that looks like braided wires; one end looks like it has a nozzle or a short funnel. Holding it with one hand, Emeralda just -
Okay, there's no neat way to say it: she sticks her arm in the funnel, deep enough that it gets past the elbow.
The Zeboim-era fluid transfer piping accepts Emeralda flowing down it, and as the cable fills with nanomachine fluid, some of it pops out the far side in a mercurial bubble. The bubble turns into Emeralda's hand as she tosses the cable toward one of the other platforms. It grabs, and she pulls herself along with it. Then again. It seems to be her go-to to pull herself from platform to platform; she has trouble making her arm long enough without the tubing's aid.
"I've been into one of those," she says to Elly somewhere along the route, making a face. "Anyway, what do you mean by that? Which word? Organized...?" In her view, a lot of religion seems pretty *dis*organized.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool FTS Cable toward her party's challenge, Free-Floating Platforms. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
See, she knew it. Sometimes ARMs just fix themselves. Nothing to worry about. ...She totally didn't know that was a thing, but it feels like she did, at some point. Hmmm.
In any case, a few little cuts aren't any concern to Xantia. With how fast she heals, those are gonna be gone by the end of the dungeon. She mainly just has to focus on staying away from where crystals are getting smashed or exploded while doing her own thing to clear them out. It's no bother, she's in tune with how the group functions and can adapt just fine.
Her assessment is that Fei looks like he's feeling good, so she's not worried about that. But she does give him a look when he asks her that question, as if he just said the most puzzling thing ever. She can only shrug in response. "Um, not... really? You know me, I kinda just like everything." No exaggeration. She has no idea what her own taste is, she just enjoys 'food, in general', with very few exceptions. "As long as it doesn't set my mouth on fire." That Al Bhed curry was a bit much.
That seemed to be all she had to say on that, but after a moment, she suddenly gets an idea. "--Actually, you know what? You always take me to inns and restaurants and stuff. What I want to eat... is your cooking!" Was that a dramatic chord? Probably your imagination.
The next obstacle soon appears in front of the party, in the form of a big ol' hole, with things floating in it. "...if we fall, maybe we'll just stay floating up like that, too?" she ventures, though she's loathe to test that theory. Probably no choice but to obey the rules of the jumping puzzle. Unless... someone has a better idea.
She watches Elly's actions, not really sure what this is leading up to until the cable is secured in place. "I see!" she says then, although she's confused again when Elly asks her an unfinished question. "Um. Can I what? Want me to hammer the thing in? Throw a cable real far? I can do whatever, just tell me what you need!"
She's leaving this one totally up to what she's told to do. Whatever Elly thought of is bound to be better than her only plan of 'just start jumping across and see what happens'. But she will if and when she has to, of course, she's done far more inadvisable things than that.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Free-Floating Platforms.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy paces around the edge of the rift, peering down. "Hah. Yes, I suppose that's the case, isn't it? It seems like everything that calls itself a Church has some horrible secret. Have we checked Nisan's basement?"
...pause. He stops himself. "Sorry," he says, with a slightly bitter smile. "That was...unwarranted."
He looks around while the others contemplate how to proceed - for Billy, maneuvering is one of his worse skills - and murmurs, "No, you're right, this isn't much like a normal space at all. It stretches the mind that Sin could even contain such a city, let alone it plus all the distance we crossed to get here."
He...more or less trusts this one to Elly. He's already not looking forward to tightroping this one...
DG: Billy Lee Black has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Free-Floating Platforms.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"With all those 'gravity attacks' that Sin used," Fei muses aloud. "I guess it makes sense that there'd be floating bridges here."
Fei still has this weird relaxed air about it. He's already accepted that they're bound to run into something terrible at the end of this road, but they're not there yet--and by accepting the worst--maybe the worst won't affect him so badly?
"Billy, you don't gotta apologize for that." Fei says, smiling--Billy knows he WEARS a Nisanite Cross, usually hidden by his shirt. "Even we've noticed the, uh, the trend you know? But I don't think the issue is, um, with the belief but..."
"...But I think it is maybe a condition of living in this world, in a way. The beliefs themselves aren't so bad in of themselves--even if they're not always the best beliefs--but once you pull people together under one belief...you can accomplish incredible things, sure, but it is also easy when you live in a world full of people who believe the same things as you--that that is the only way to think."
He pauses. "...And even, you know, that it isn't even about the belief but the organizational power behind it. In the end, we have to believe what we believe and we should always be wary of what any organization of many wishes to say about it."
Even after all this time, Abel remains within him. Not that he or anyone really knows this. Well, mostly anyone.
"The Truth is the Truth. What we believe won't change it."
"And we should never let our beliefs Or The Truth turn us to cruelty." He exhales a sigh. "...Though I gotta admit, I don't always practice what I preach there."
He sounds embarrassed enough by it.
Fortunately the next area is platforming so he can focus on that for a bit. If a Sinspawn tries to tackle him midjump he is going to midair suplex it into the platform he's leaping to.
This is POST Babel Fei!!!!
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a risky Agility Action toward his party's challenge, Free-Floating Platforms.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Free-Floating Platforms *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The street that you walk down gradually becomes a stone pathway, which ends
in a bridge over a terrific chasm. That chasm is dark, seemingly endless,
save for a few broken pillars jutting out. Those held part of the bridge --
for it has collapsed, ahead.
Except, strangely, some pieces of the bridge are floating in the void.
Flagstones that once made up the bridge didn't get the memo, it seems. They
didn't collapse while the rest of the bridge did.
You will need to leap from stone to stone to get across the chasm. The
stones are easy to land on and don't give way when you do. However, there
are quite a few of them before you'll make your way across to the other
side.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and |
| Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Sin - Dream's End - Round 3 *>======================== =====================< Results - Free-Floating Platforms >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass FTS Cable 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billy Lee Black 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Climbing Pack 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Emeralda Kasim 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"It depends on what kind of fish Sin is supposed to be," Elly answers Emeralda. Then -- she sort of stares for a moment as Emeralda does that... that thing; Elly turns her head to look at where Emeralda is going with this. This, truly, is...
An ARM...
She answers Emeralda as she begins to cross. "I was thinking of the jest, I suppose - chaotic atheism..." Is that a joke? Maybe it works better in Solarian. "But it was really kind of hard to define. Is the Baskar worship a religion? What about Crest sorcerers? What about a trade guild? You know? The Thames..."
Elly likes the Thames, okay. Blame the fishing thing.
"They have practices and habits... superstitions and rituals. If they stayed together over decades and centuries, would it become a religion?"
Climb, climb, climb - at the next one, Elly moves to repeat the cable process, explaining to Xantia, "You're about four times stronger than me. I mean physically, of course, not -- spiritually; anyway, just, um, help?" It's the hammering. "And the throwing too, if you - thank you!"
"Well," Elly tells Billy, afterwards - she didn't seem to take it personally - "I think *I'm* their horrible secret!" she sure said that awful chipper. "But... that's just my thought, that if Regulus has some kind of 'genetic lock,' I must be descended from its original owner. Except that she was a holy woman, and they're not supposed to..."
"But it was a very long time ago," Elly concludes.
"Hm... So, perhaps it's the 'organization' that creates 'power,'" Elly thinks out loud, walking behind Fei, "and power isn't a problem in itself... it can be used for good or for evil. But it does create the potential for evil to be done... and maybe if evil is wicked enough, dangerous enough, it's better to make it something that isn't possible, even if it means you might forfeit the 'good' along the way."
"And I hope you'll cook me something too...!"
DG: Xantia has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Great Malboro *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The road ahead of you begins to be split apart by buildings that rise,
willy-nilly and without much reason, from the midst of the road. It forms a
sort of confusing mishmash, with the street divided into a complex maze of
smaller paths. This allows for fiends to sneak up on you.
The first warning is the smell.
It is by far the worst odor you've ever smelled. Rank, putrid, like rotting
vegetables and refuse. Then, around the corner, a huge plant-like monster
erupts. It has wriggling, tentacle-like vines -- and a wide, plant-like maw,
with "teeth" that drip with a putrid green fluid. And when it breathes out a
fog of green mist...
...well, the effects may linger for quite some time. It truly is bad breath.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Cripple:_Agility_Down!, |
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, |
| Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia just grins at Elly, hands on her hips. "Only four times? Well, I guess I do usually hold back." If there's one thing she has full confidence in, it's her physical strength. Oh no, it's plain as day, now she's started thinking about fighting each other, see how her physical strength matches up against Elly's Ether. "Say, how about--"
She gets a piton shoved at her. "Oh, right, I can do that!" Aaand distracted with something more constructive. That was close.
Xantia doesn't usually solve problems in a non-straightforward manner, but with the proper instruction from Elly, she's perfectly able to help with making the gap easier to cross. Sure, jumping may have also worked, but not having to risk getting stuck in some weird void rift is nice too.
On the other side, she puts her hands behind her head, fully unconcerned, and already moved past what she'd been about to suggest. She can't really think of anything helpful to say on religion. That's just one of those things she doesn't understand. Especially not the organized kind, can't people just believe stuff on their own? Somehow, that... just doesn't feel right to say out loud.
Besides, she soon has to cover her nose and mouth because the air suddenly got more stagnant than she ever thought possible. "Wh... what is this?" she chokes out, immediately needing to cough afterwards. Her question is soon answered, the source approaching at a distressingly rapid pace: a dark green beast that seems to be mostly a giant maw covered in a mass of tentacles, some of which ending in eyeballs. 'Does its breath smell that bad', one has just enough time to wonder, before it breathes a truly toxic green cloud, removing all doubt.
Initially, Xantia almost doubles over in pure agony. Then she straightens, visibly holding her breath as she charges the monster, energy blade at the ready. There can be only one answer here: this must end, quickly.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool ARM Blade toward her party's challenge, Great Malboro. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
It isn't the first time Emeralda has pulled this trick, but it is the first time in a while. While she can extend her arm, the tubing gives her the support (and structure) to extend her arm a whole lot further.
And it gets her across, so no complaints! Emeralda pulls her arm back out of the cable and shakes it a bit. That always feels a little weird, even for her. Maybe it's the tubes.
"I kinda liked the Al Bhed curry," Emeralda says, wistfully, because she can, and does, eat just about anything. More literally than Xantia, as she has been known to eat the tin foil off her packed lunches, some chemicals not strictly for human consumption and, once, a fork. (She really needed the metal, all right?) So while it was spicy enough to make her mouth hurt, she still kind of misses it.
"Well, the Baskars say it's a religion so theirs is, but I don't know about the others." Religion is not something Emeralda usually thinks about, except in very vague terms. Sometimes there's religious iconography, but that's about as far as it goes. Nor does she really get how the interior of Sin works. She is happy to accept 'it's magic', at least for now.
She is significantly less willing to accept - "Hey, it's one of those crawly tentacle eyeball things!" Emeralda blurts out, having seen a lesser Marlboro before. But this one is really big... Still it's got to be about the same, right? Just bigger.
She rushes in just as it emits this breath, this *wave*, of awful, awful breath. Emeralda recoils back immediately, pinching her nose closed with one hand and covering her mouth with two more small hands that are made out of the long bangs of her hair, trying not to breathe.
Her other *actual* hand is holding a crystal, leftovers from the last time Crescens got its Ether Amp repaired, and she brandishes it - along with a huge gust of air to both attempt to disperse the gas and blow the Marlboro away!
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Large Etherstone toward her party's challenge, Great Malboro. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Isn't he supposed to be a whale? It feels like a whale. Everybody says whale. But IS it whale? Maybe people just say 'whale' because it's so big it looks like a whale? Maybe it's simply whale-esque.
Elly as usual is able to express Fei's feelings better than Fei. At least that's how he sees it. "Yeah, that's a great way to put it Elly." He struggles to admit that power is anything but evil sometimes.
"For sure," Fei tells Elly, smiling. "I'll cook for both of you. I'm always happy to. It's funny, like, I am actually used to Yui's cooking back when I was in Lahan, but I really enjoy cooking myself too. There's something comforting in seeing people enjoy the meals you make. It's...what's the word...."
He struggles to find it.
"Well, if I'm cooking for everyone it'll have to be something everyone can enjoy--though with enough time I can make multiple dishes. Probably not Al Bhed curry though. I have no idea what they use for that! But maybe I can ask Brother to lend me some..."
He'll do ANYTHING for you Emeralda! Even deal with Brother!!
"Aw geeze." Fei says, drawing out his RPS Badge as he sees the Malboro. Are Malboros rocks, papers, or scissors, he wonders.
He...genuinely doesn't know.
But he's pretty sure they're not scissors, but--AHH! The breath!
"Paper...!" Fei shouts as he covers his mouth and nose with one hand as he leaps into the air and tries to slam both feet into the head of the Fiend!
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, Great Malboro. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"... Does anyone smell that?" asks Elly, before
Somewhere a mirror breaks --
Elly's face pales and turns faintly green as her mouth tightens up and her cheeks puff. She chokes and swallows back a sudden burst of bile, even as she tries to forget the delicious foods that Emeralda mentioned in passing. And Emeralda gives her strength -- it's there! it can be fought! The Stench is not a palpable thing!
(Elly doesn't know quite what a whale is as opposed to a fish. Elly has never CAUGHT a whale... and she'd definitely let one go if she did... but perhaps this is something you can look forward to in a future Angler's License dig.)
Elly is too disoriented by the stench to bring forth Ether. Fortunately Emeralda removes the immediate hazard, and she CAN advance behind Xantia and Fei to just start beating the living crap out of everything green and squamous before her. Hopefully, Malboros are not like ogres, and do not have layers -- of protection.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Rod Embracing Heaven toward her party's challenge, Great Malboro. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy shrugs. "Different orders, perhaps. I wouldn't know the vows of the lady saint's," he says, deferring the logistical quandary Elly raises.
Then, keeping an eye through the troubling maze, his nose twitches. "That's--" he says, lip curling. "Careful!"
He whirls around, raises his gun, and is hit directly by a wave of the most awful stench imaginable. He manages to suppress the urge to gasp, bringing his turtleneck collar up over his nose (IT HAS A PURPOSE).
Then he says, "How is it WORSE than a Wels den!?" indignantly, snaps out his right arm so the ether magnum shoots out of his sleeve into it, and fires several fireballs, before he reaches behind his back to produce his longbarrel from its back sling, levels it with one hand, flicks the switch that triggers the ether cannon mode, and releases a lance of blazing light!
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Ether Rifle toward his party's challenge, Great Malboro. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Great Malboro *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The road ahead of you begins to be split apart by buildings that rise,
willy-nilly and without much reason, from the midst of the road. It forms a
sort of confusing mishmash, with the street divided into a complex maze of
smaller paths. This allows for fiends to sneak up on you.
The first warning is the smell.
It is by far the worst odor you've ever smelled. Rank, putrid, like rotting
vegetables and refuse. Then, around the corner, a huge plant-like monster
erupts. It has wriggling, tentacle-like vines -- and a wide, plant-like maw,
with "teeth" that drip with a putrid green fluid. And when it breathes out a
fog of green mist...
...well, the effects may linger for quite some time. It truly is bad breath.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, |
| and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
======================<* Sin - Dream's End - Round 4 *>======================= =========================< Results - Great Malboro >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Emeralda Kasim 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Large Etherstone 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fei Fong Wong 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass RPS Badge 3 Combat Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Billy Lee Black 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Ether Rifle 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass ARM Blade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elhaym van Houten 30 --(0)--> 30 Pass Iron Rod Embracing Heaven 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Emeralda Kasim 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Collapse|Cripple|Hesitate(1)|Madness|Maim|Slow(1) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
It truly is the greatest blessing that Emeralda manages to handily deprive the Malboro of its greatest weapon by immediately dispersing its Bad Breath, leaving the air in a state tolerable enough to actually fight in. It's still preferable not to breathe, but at least it's an actual option again. As for the rest of the party, they move to end the nightmare before it can repeat, stabbing, slamming, smashing and blasting it with everything they've got.
Mercifully, the Great Malboro is still a Fiend. When it bursts in response to the violence, this only releases a swarm of odorless pyreflies, rather than even more disgusting gases and fluids. Even so, while the Fiend and its gas may be gone, that smell yet lingers, in not nearly as faint a way as anybody would like.
Xantia stumbles after her strike, needing a moment to regain her balance. 'And I thought I felt sick before', she thinks, coughing and waving her arms wildly, desperate to try and get the smell of rot away from her. This is the worst situation, a situation where even thinking of food only makes it worse.
"L-let's get out of here," is her obvious suggestion, immediately rushing ahead towards hopefully cleaner air.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Crystals and Spikes *>======================
| Type: Climax | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The road comes to an end, finally, with a stairway that leads to a platform.
Each step of the stairs is different: worked stone, corrugated steel, worn
natural limestone, chipped brick, and so on. At the top is a circular
platform, covered in mist. There is no way forward that is immediately
obvious.
But then, through the thick mist, there are glimmers. Crystal shines through
it -- some are wicked spikes, and others are glowing eggs. When a spike is
touched, a powerful fiend appears in a burst of pyreflies. When an egg is
touched, it overs about you.
Once your group collects ten eggs, you will vanish in a burst of light. But
they appear suddenly -- and disappear just as suddenly. And, in the mist, it
is hard to discern whether you are touching a spike or an egg.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, |
| and Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly doesn't have to be encouraged twice! Run, run, and she reaches steps, and she climbs upwards, and she coughs and she dares to breathe a little and --
Well, she hasn't gotten lost. That's good.
She's in a place that makes no sense; an assemblage, an almost symbolic ziggurat leading upwards, and shrouded by mist.
Mist filled with glimmers.
Glimmers that blink and fade and -
"Wagh!" Elly says as one appears so close it startles her and her arm thrashes out, fingers brushing against -- "An egg?"
"... It's floating... I don't have any idea how to proceed with this," Elly says, even as some more of the strange, bobbing shapes float and circle...
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crystals and Spikes.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
It's cleaner air but it's rather more crystalline than Emeralda was hoping for.
She's still pinching her nose in case there's any more lingering smell, but her mouth is only covered by the scarf now and she seems to be okay with breathing through it. Or maybe she's not breathing; she doesn't need to, or at least not very often. She can definitely hold it for a few minutes.
"We could get the eggs?" Emeralda says, but the first one she grabs for vanishes before she touches it. She frowns for a few moments. "Or, I guess, we could wait for the eggs to show up, and *then* we can get them..."
Why? Why not? It's not like she has any better ideas. Emeralda moves to a spot where she can see a few places that are particularly twinkly, and when she thinks there's an egg - she grabs for it, either with her actual hands or with a bigger, longer arm and hand made out of her hair, blending together into a solid mass.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crystals and Spikes.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Oh good, a stairway. The air must be cleaner up there, it can't possibly be any worse. In this, Xantia is correct, at least. It's harder to see, but not as hard to breathe. She'll take it.
Crystal shines within the mist. That may be a bad sign, considering the painful crystals from before. But apparently, Elly has spotted... "...an egg? There's eggs in there? Ugh, great, and just when I'm feeling too sick to eat."
There's a beat, before she admits, "...Okay, maybe not that sick."
Seems that she was right to worry, though. She can definitely see some rather spiky crystals in there, making it obvious that rushing things would be bad, even regardless of the trap she doesn't know about. Then, perhaps it's time to make use of a more helpful crystal.
Xantia withdraws a shard of quartz crystal that she carries everywhere she goes, of low monetary value, but of great value to her for several other reasons. Just holding it in her hand and focusing on it intently, she feels herself calm down, and return to a more natural breathing rhythm. Now then...
Without a word, she abruptly snags an egg out of the air with her free hand. She made that look easy. It's not so certain that she'll be able to repeat the feat however, when she becomes upset at the realization, "Heeey, this egg doesn't look edible!"
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Memory Shard toward her party's challenge, Crystals and Spikes. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy makes the most guttural noise anyone's heard him make and takes a WIDE circle around where the Fiend had been before rushing to join the others. He doesn't take his shirt off his nose for a good while, even as they march into... "...this place is making less and less sense," he notes, cautiously, and flicks one of his gunsmokes up. "Expect something strange."
Then the place disappears into fog. Billy squints, slowly, and reaches into his vestments for a an unadorned black book. He looks it over, flipping through it one-handed.
"Right," he says. "Collect shining lights. Seems obvious enough."
DG: Billy Lee Black has used his Tool Decoded Gospel toward his party's challenge, Crystals and Spikes. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei walks forward. He seems to be relaxing a little, up until Elly speaks up....
"An egg?"
Fei's head turns towards her for a moment. At first he doesn't think too much of it. It isn't until Emeralda brings up the possibility of GETTING the eggs. COLLECTING the eggs that Fei's gaze turns distant. It has been a long time since he had a powerful flashback at an inopportune time but...
2250 YEARS AGO
Meng crouches behind a larger boulder, slinging her hunting rifle Headhunter off of her back. A deer trots around in the distance and she takes aim when--
"EGGGGGGGCELLENT NEWS!" A singsongy voice comes out of nowhere, the deer rushing off in an instant. Meng snaps the rifle back in confusion as a woman in big swirly glasses and in an egg costume falls from the sky in front of her.
"You have been selected for an eggcellent quest! I, Veggronica, will reward you for the eggs you manage to collect! There are eggxactly a hundred eggs to find! Can you collect them all??"
Meng has a really bad feeling about this.
NOW
An ancient memory tells Fei what to do. In any collectible quest, having something to help you find the collectibles is necessary. Fei draws out his tricorder and says, "Since they are disappearing and reappearing, I can use this to determine when and where they'll appear. It turns out that they appear and disappear in eggxactly egght second intervals."
He snaps the tricorder closed.
"And....we move...NOW!"
He gives Billy a kind of smug grin.
"Don't worry, you'll get good at egg collection with practice. It may seem absurd, but there's a logic behind it."
MEANWHILE
Veggronica's face appears on Filgaia's surface, looking down (up) fondly. Her spirit nods once, smiling. No matter how much time passes, some lessons are never forgotten.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows How To Use toward his party's challenge, Crystals and Spikes. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Crystals and Spikes *>======================
| Type: Climax | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The road comes to an end, finally, with a stairway that leads to a platform.
Each step of the stairs is different: worked stone, corrugated steel, worn
natural limestone, chipped brick, and so on. At the top is a circular
platform, covered in mist. There is no way forward that is immediately
obvious.
But then, through the thick mist, there are glimmers. Crystal shines through
it -- some are wicked spikes, and others are glowing eggs. When a spike is
touched, a powerful fiend appears in a burst of pyreflies. When an egg is
touched, it overs about you.
Once your group collects ten eggs, you will vanish in a burst of light. But
they appear suddenly -- and disappear just as suddenly. And, in the mist, it
is hard to discern whether you are touching a spike or an egg.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, |
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Madness:_Wits_Down!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, and Stupify:_Wits_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Sin - Dream's End - Round 5 *>======================== =======================< Results - Crystals and Spikes >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emeralda Kasim 0 --(32)--> 32 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 10 --(32)--> 42 Fail Medical Tricorder Fei Somehow Knows 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billy Lee Black 10 --(12)--> 22 Pass Decoded Gospel 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 10 --(27)--> 37 Fail Memory Shard 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 30 --(32)--> 62 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Emeralda Kasim 80 --(0)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Cripple|Exhaust(1)|Madness|Maim|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim has failed 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. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Broken Vessel *>=======================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
After touching the tenth egg, you vanish in a burst of light, and appear on
a large sloped piece of blue-grey metal. It forms a steep ramp upward, but
the footing is slippery... and treacherous, for sections of it curve outward
in strange places. And, more than that, there are places where something has
torn through the metal flooring.
You soon see what. Huge cables tear out of the hull -- and one, then
another, plunge down for you. They try to smash into you, forcing you to
run!
You can see where to go ahead, though: a shattered glass window, which looks
upon a room that, once, was some sort of auditorium. The window leads down
onto a stage; you will need to get there, before those cables crash into
you.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up! and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly's skill gets one egg. She doesn't get another. "It's alright, Xantia, if you need to be sick, be sick," she reassures the other woman. And she finds that she has the ability to grasp --
One egg! So that's two!
Emeralda is catching on and reaching outwards - one eludes her, and then another, but she gets another one with that reverse hair grab. So that's three!
But Fei is moved by an ancient memory - a memory of something that interrupted a quest for food with the revelation of a quest for eggs. Not any eggs, perhaps, but eggs of hope - eggs of ambition - eggs that contain dreams. And perhaps not an egg that bears fruit, because --
("Egght?" Elly says.)
-- Fei gets one egg with his timing stunt. But the next one is a Fiend, and a brief if vicious battle, not least because Elly's remembered how to use powerful Fire Ether.
But that's a total of [Four]... Four [Eggs]. While the others are caught up, Billy, guided by the [Word of god], is able to walk steadily -- and the words of [god] give him the guidance he needs to avoid setting off another fiend. Just as the brief, and entirely off-stage battle completes...
He gets Egg #10, and everyone vanishes!
To appear on a sloped piece of blue-gray metal. Curving upwards. Elly lands on her hands and knees for a moment, but pushes upwards. "... Does this remind you of that tower?" Elly asks the others, even as an enormous cable abruptly rips out of the hull and surges forwards--
"Gahh!!"
Fortunately, Elly had already strapped on the climbing pitons on her shoes, which means that while she's definitely not welcome in houses with fancy floors or carpeting, efforts to push her back run into the problem of throwing sparks as the gripping points bite and throw sparks.
Which is very good, because a near miss from one of those cables could KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Climbing Pack toward her party's challenge, The Broken Vessel. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
You might think that since Fei just remembered a ridiculous memory that you'd be safe from the usual sort of memory. But you'd be WRONG.
Fei turns his head towards a shattered glass window that looks over an auditorium. He stares at it for a moment--
10 SD
"...Hey...Hey..." A little boy presses his hand on some transparent glass. "What's that? What's that? Is that where we're going?"
A man in a strange uniform places a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Well maybe someday we'll have a colony there. But no, that's the moon. Now this--hold on..." He taps at the window and a screen appears. With a few swipes of his fingers, an image of a larger planet appears. "Now there, that's a world we're considering."
The world shone so brightly it looked like a marvelous blue star. He couldn't help but gasp in awe. The coward and the boy smiled at the same time, thinking of this memory. The coward scooched forward to get a better look. It seemed so hopeful but then...
"Anyway... you sure you should be here alone?" The man in uniform said. "Surely your mother is looking for you."
The memory doesn't cut out this time. He sees himself searching the mazelike (to any child) hallways. A growing fear, a growing need slowly wells up within him as he continues to not find the 'Mother' he is looking for.
He only succeeds in getting more and more lost. He sees a door. He reaches for it and a red buzz hisses as he doesn't have the security clearance to step through into that room.
He turns.
But before he can leave, that red buzz suddenly shifts to a bright affirmative green DING....
"Mommy...?"
He turns to the door and--
NO.
Fei jerks his head back. He had been staring well past when the huge cables started to attack, sweating bullets. A panic attack hits him full on and he bites at his lip, squinting tears out of his eyes.
"Not now... Not now... Ghhy..kkk.."
He shakes his head quickly. "Gotta...gotta keep moving...!"
Fei sees those swinging cables and the sudden panic attack that has hit him only gets worse, and worse...
He hobbles before grabbing at Billy for support.
"I can't... Help me Billy..." He begs.
DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a risky Agility Action toward his party's challenge, The Broken Vessel.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
The group appears on a large sloped piece of metal. Emeralda manages to land surprisingly well-balanced, though she still slides a couple feet down when she hits. She's awfully close to one of those pits, where something punched through the floor.
Emeralda crouches down to look at it - through it, really, to see what's on the other side. She's still crouching when another of the cables starts to shift, and she looks up with a sudden start.
"Gahh!"
Sometimes, Emeralda sounds a lot like Elly. Certainly that sound was about the same. And Emeralda doesn't need to strap on her crampons; her feet get spikier, the boots broadening and hooking on the bottom to try to keep a grip as she moves -
And sees Fei isn't. "I will help!" she says, sounding more like her younger self for a moment. She can't pick up both of them (well, she might be able to, but she doesn't try - it'd slow her down too much) but she can provide balance, using her own cable to try to pull people along. She doesn't bother to stick her arm through it this time - the funnel side makes an OK grapple, at least in the short term.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool FTS Cable toward her party's challenge, The Broken Vessel. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
How lucky, having credible cause for being sick, and thus make it completely inconspicuous that you were in fact sick all along!
...Xantia doesn't feel very lucky, even though there is some relief in how she nods to Elly's assertion that it's okay to be sick. It doesn't make the egg hunt any easier, but strangely doesn't seem to be any bother when fighting a Fiend. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.
She wasn't sure what this was going to accomplish, but being whisked away to a whole different place wasn't something she was prepared for. The sudden slope she finds herself on has her needing to brace herself to maintain her footing, upon which she looks up.
"...Yeah, kind of," she responds to Elly, feeling like this is somewhat familiar to somewhere they've been before. Several places come to mind, she's not quite sure what this feels like the most. Either way, there's an obvious way to go.
"I think I see-- that looks like a way in up there." Who knows whether it's a good place to go. But when cables burst out, actively trying to knock them away, that's when you know - if something tries to keep you away, that's where you need to be. Xantia immediately starts speeding up the ramp as best she can, ready to deploy her ARM in case she can't evade and needs to attempt to sever a cable or two.
She completely fails to notice poor Fei's struggle back there until she's already rushed ahead too far to go back. Thankfully, he has more support available to him - she'll just have to trust them to get Fei to where he needs to go.
DG: Xantia has contributed a risky Agility Action toward her party's challenge, The Broken Vessel.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy follows the guidance of God and also Solarian field agents to find all the eggs. He is about to open his mouth to tell Fei that there is, indeed, a trick to it, when they vanish in light, and soon appear anew.
Billy blinks in surprise at this one, peering about rapidly. "Whoa!?"
"Seems...safe enough," he decides, squinting around. "You're right, it does remind me of that place. Keep your gaze near you. Looking into a distance like that can give you vertigo."
AND THEN THE WALLS ATTACK
"Oh," Billy says, and is preparing himself to attempt some chaotic leaping, when--he feels a tug on his sleeve.
He looks down, whipping toward the pull. He stops, hearing a crack of metal shattering under those cables' assault.
He grabs Fei's hand. He's not used to seeing Fei this way, but he knows how to help a frightened person.
Though doing it in a room that's trying to kill them is not optimal. He tries to veil them both in the love of God, gold Ether pulsing across them both before he says, "Come along, just a little more," with an urgent nod, and then pulls Fei along toward the broken window. They have to get out of immediate danger before he can ease this!
DG: Billy Lee Black has contributed a risky Agility Action toward his party's challenge, The Broken Vessel.
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - The Broken Vessel *>=======================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
After touching the tenth egg, you vanish in a burst of light, and appear on
a large sloped piece of blue-grey metal. It forms a steep ramp upward, but
the footing is slippery... and treacherous, for sections of it curve outward
in strange places. And, more than that, there are places where something has
torn through the metal flooring.
You soon see what. Huge cables tear out of the hull -- and one, then
another, plunge down for you. They try to smash into you, forcing you to
run!
You can see where to go ahead, though: a shattered glass window, which looks
upon a room that, once, was some sort of auditorium. The window leads down
onto a stage; you will need to get there, before those cables crash into
you.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and |
| Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=======================<* Sin - Dream's End - Round 6 *>======================== ========================< Results - The Broken Vessel >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emeralda Kasim 32 --(10)--> 42 Pass FTS Cable 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fei Fong Wong 42 --(28)--> 70 Fail Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billy Lee Black 22 --(10)--> 32 Pass Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xantia 37 --(10)--> 47 Pass Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 62 --(15)--> 77 Fail Climbing Pack 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Emeralda Kasim 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Suffer(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Emeralda Kasim has successfully explored Sin - Dream's End!
============================<* Sin - Dream's End *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Computational Dreaming *>====================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Once you climb through the window, you enter the remains of a high-tech
facility. It is not, you realize, a theater. The more technically capable
might recognize this as a computer room; countless consoles and towering
machines, flickering and glowing, are all around. Pyreflies drift through
and around them. The technology level is the same as the Zeboim Era -- if
not more advanced.
Somehow, they are still powered.
Monitors all across the room come online, flickering to life. Once, they had
countless readouts and images, to be sure. Now, they display -- flickering
across every language known to humanity and a few not -- the same message.
you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as
gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall
be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you
shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods
But it is quiet, beyond that endless message.
And there is a way ahead. An open doorway, which leads to a steel staircase
-- and shows the darkened silhouette of a city like Zanarkand beyond.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and |
| Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
They run. They run and they run and they rise inevitably; it is a simple law of geometry. Elly is slightly ahead of Fei who ends up leaning onto, clasping onto Billy as they run towards what looks like some sort of capstone at the top.
Elly turns to look at Fei and he's too far back. Something squeals inside of her. She throws out a hand but thank god or the devil or anyone, Billy is there, he's being supported, she can run, she can keep moving --
Emeralda saves her from nearly falling to the side. To slide that far might be merely frustrating, but whatever is thrashing and happening is not going to let you simply leap upwards.
"Fei--" Elly says, calls. It's Xantia who gets there first and has to actually grasp Elly's shoulder and pull her IN to the safe little nook as there is stumbling, and tumbling, into the darkness.
The eyes adapt to the reddish light.
The light of the message.
you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods you shall be as gods
In that strange red glow, Elly can only stare.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong hasn't had an attack like this before. It isn't even from Id, it feels like it's hitting him from something even more primordial within him.
You could say that there are two wolves inside of us. And inside one wolf is one that will tear through the world in defiance. And the other one will cower from it. Right now, it is that latter wolf that is being fed.
Billy saves Fei's life. Fei holds onto him as this reaction he doesn't even understand or comprehend the source from hits him. That strange memory, it's just a child looking for his mother. It shouldn't affect him so much--even considering the terrible eventualities one could imagine coming from such a memory.
Billy (with Emeralda's help!) is able to get Fei through the window. He collapses into to computer room. Has he been here before? It...
...Reminds him of the Fila del Fia if anything.
Fei's mouth is dry.
LOOK AWAY.
Fei spins around, trying to turn his head away from the flickering screens.
You shall be as gods repeats ad nauseam all around him. Fei grabs at his head with both hands. The terror only grows within him.
Id screams something at him but he cannot hear it.
Vinsfeld is not the One Who Bares His Fangs At God.
Maybe many bare their fangs at God, but as far as the people in this sector, there has been one who has been bearing his fangs at God longer than anyone else. One who has been fighting against this LIE!! longer than any other on Filgaia.
That primordial truth, that primordial fear grows so fiercely within Fei Fong Wong as SOMETHING within him lets out a terrible shout.
"NO!" Fei shouts. "THAT'S A LIE!!"
Fei leaps forward, bringing his hands down against one console-- trying to smash it to bits with a rage deeper than Id in his eyes.
No, not rage. Desperation. He bares his fangs in pain longer than most existences.
"Shut up...!" Fei shouts, pushing towards another console--
--this might be the time where hugs stop him from causing more of a mess.