2023-04-07: Menaces

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DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering The Myster(e)ious Escape!.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Entering and Breaking *>=====================
| Type: Entry        | Dungeon Ability: Wits            | Challenge Rating: 1  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  The days have been long. They have often been boring.                         
                                                                                
  Althena's Guard was sure to remove anything obviously dangerous -- weapons,   
  armor, the like -- though they may have missed some goods. It didn't matter,  
  though, for the jail cells underneath the towers are all quite                
  well-protected by powerful wards. Magic, ARMs, and other tools of the trade   
  simply aren't able to bash the doors down.                                    
                                                                                
  It might seem like all is lost...                                             
                                                                                
  ...until a loud voice booms out:                                              
                                                                                
  "FEAR NOT, MOSTLY-INNOCENT AND LARGELY WRONGFULLY-IMPRISONED DO-GOODERS! I,   
  MYSTERE, HAVE GIVEN YOU A CHANCE AT SWEET FREEDOM!"                           
                                                                                
  ...and the jail doors swing open, released remotely. Dumbfounded silence may  
  be warranted. You may wonder if it is safe. You can see lockers nearby --     
  which have your equipment -- and, fortunately, there are no guards nearby.    
  Still, can you trust this? But would you dare pass up this opportunity?       
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|           Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed! and Stupify:_Wits_Down!           |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren had been right about one thing: they had not intended on keeping them under that crackling dome of energy long. As promised, he had unleashed the full extent of his remaining power in a bid at freedom.

    Loren had, however, been wrong about a great many other things. Such as the strength of the guards attending to their cells, for one. Or their long-term intents, for another.

    The attempt had been made, in summary. It had not gone very well.

    Loren had been unceremoniously deposited in the cell after the fact, where he has remained since then. Perhaps if he had saved his strength just a little longer he might have been able to break out of here, instead, but...
    The best-laid plans so often do go awry. So much for playing the hero. The bruises don't hurt nearly as much as the mortal wound to his pride.

    Near as he can figure, it's been a few days of stewing in his cell, bereft of all bu the most infinitesimal amount of Ether. What's the plan here, are they going to let them all rot--

    And then there is the sound of a voice, calling to him-- well, to all of them. ...He knows that voice.

    "...You've got to be kidding me." But the door swings open and, after that moment's hesitation about whether this is a trap that will lead to him getting beaten worse than the last time, Loren throws his doubts to the wind and books it down the corridor towards the chamber beyond. --Wait, is that his kit, scattered across the floor in here...?

    There is a sound behind him. Grabbing the first thing of his that comes to hand, he brandishes it like a blade towards his potential assailant!

    ...Please ignore the fact that the thing he's brandishing is a full-wrapped nutritional bar.

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, Entering and Breaking. Resilient! Party
shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya has been largely avoiding notice here in Pentagulia since the Goddess(?) showed up, but she can't stay away forever. She has friends in here. And, apparently, Loren!

Kaguya is there in the chamber when Loren brandishes the bar. Or... is it Kaguya???

Is it??

Because it's a small woman in a domino mask, a gun at her hip and a quizzical expression on her face.

"What exactly are you going to do with a nutribar?" Kaguya wonders of Loren. "Get your stuff and get moving, you dork."

"Because Mystere and I, ENIGMA, are here to save you!"

Pause.

She murmurs to Loren, "Go with it or I'll break your pinky."

Where did the mask come from...?

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Absurd Inventory toward her party's challenge, Entering and Breaking. Stalwart! Party
shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

    ENIGMA makes her pronouncement. "See them out, brave masked comrade!" says that too-familiar voice, now somewhat farther away, judging by the echoes. There are more voices from that direction: familiar ones, for some. "I will escort the Fiends myself!"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    There few things quite like being in a cell with Gwen, for better or worse. First, Hiro had to deal with her trying to keep his spirit up, as well as her trying to poke at him about whatever his feelings were for Lucia, which was *not* exactly the best time for such conversations, especially since Gwen had no real evidence of their feelings outside of their actions. More importantly, Hiro had asked for neither of these.

    And, with Gwen being moved out at some point afterwards, the joy of being stuck in a cell with a very secretly frustrated, meddling courier was shared with others, inbetween the courier falling back asleep due to her body still needing to rebuild those reserves of energy, one way or another. If not with excess calories, it will be with sleep. ... which is likely why Gwen had been moved around from place to place like a drunkard being tossed out of a bar at closing time. An unusually heavy drunkard, despite looking like a fit young woman.

    It was all about timing, and waiting. She'll just wait until there's-- Oh. Well. That works.

    Which leads to Gwen just there like some Rider of Chaos, strolling up to Loren and Kagu- er ENIGMA. "Fancy seein' yer mugs down here. Need a hand?" She does, in fact, hold up her right ARM as she says this, as if either of them wouldn't know what she meant. Over her shoulder, grinning, Gwen shouts back, "Thank you, L-- Mystere!"

     Sighting a familiar looking wooden crate, Gwen punches through the top with a few awkward slams of her right fist, and, shifting her ARM around within, draws out an important artifact: her courier bag. ".... Therrreee we go. I knew it was 'bout these parts. All ready t'go, now."

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Entering and Breaking. 
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

There is a crackling to the air - a sense of Presence and Forces, an uncomfortable sense like one weren't quite standing flat.

And then a honeyed voice purrs from behind, "Aww, Loren, did you make some friends? I'm so proud of you!"

It's Tabitha deVriese, in the banded Ministry bodysuit she's taken to wearing lately. She flicks her long bang aside, grinning widely. How the actual hell did she--you know what don't worry about it. "We should move quickly," she advises. "This chaos won't last forever."

This obvious piece of advice appears to be all the help she intends to provide at the moment.

DG: Tabitha deVriese has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Entering and Breaking. 
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Entering and Breaking *>=====================
| Type: Entry        | Dungeon Ability: Wits            | Challenge Rating: 1  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  The days have been long. They have often been boring.                         
                                                                                
  Althena's Guard was sure to remove anything obviously dangerous -- weapons,   
  armor, the like -- though they may have missed some goods. It didn't matter,  
  though, for the jail cells underneath the towers are all quite                
  well-protected by powerful wards. Magic, ARMs, and other tools of the trade   
  simply aren't able to bash the doors down.                                    
                                                                                
  It might seem like all is lost...                                             
                                                                                
  ...until a loud voice booms out:                                              
                                                                                
  "FEAR NOT, MOSTLY-INNOCENT AND LARGELY WRONGFULLY-IMPRISONED DO-GOODERS! I,   
  MYSTERE, HAVE GIVEN YOU A CHANCE AT SWEET FREEDOM!"                           
                                                                                
  ...and the jail doors swing open, released remotely. Dumbfounded silence may  
  be warranted. You may wonder if it is safe. You can see lockers nearby --     
  which have your equipment -- and, fortunately, there are no guards nearby.    
  Still, can you trust this? But would you dare pass up this opportunity?       
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|      Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Save_Point:_Conditions_cleansed!, and      |
|                             Stupify:_Wits_Down!                              |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! - Round 1 *>====================
======================< Results - Entering and Breaking >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Soylent Nutribar                    2   Wits    Effects: Resilient            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock                       0 --(8)--> 8                   Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Absurd Inventory                    2   Wits    Effects: Stalwart             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabitha deVriese                    0 --(8)--> 8                   Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Save Point(1)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Resilient(1)
===============================< 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.

    He stares at Kaguya for a long moment, nutritional bar still directed at her. "Uh..."

    There are many things he would like to ask. His gaze swings left towards White Knight L-- Mystere -- before turning back towards Kaguya.

    "I'm not wearing the mask, too," he tells her, lowering the bar slowly.
    (Blink, and you'll miss the part where he glances at what he has in his hand and winces.)

    "...Fine. I'm not sticking around here," he settles for, the option that might just leave most of his pride intact. He about-faces here, intending to go gather his scattered things (was someone going through his stuff in particular? why is it always his stuff!) only to find that...

    ...deVriese is here.

    "Couldn't you have come earlier?" he asks of her, clearly put out. "I've been down here for days!"

    The crate Gwen is after (Loren turns his head, watching her out of the corner of his eye) not only cracks but outright shatters, and from its depths, there comes running for Loren a small white mostly-there bear. It immediately 'bites' him on the leg. Loren's shoulders slouch as if in defeat.

DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Following a Guard Patrol *>===================
| Type: Exploration  | Dungeon Ability: Wits            | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  As you make your way through the dungeon, you find a guard patrol. The        
  guards are wearing polished armor, carrying swords and shields, and moving    
  through a darkened stone hallway that is lit only occasionally by torches.    
  Empty cells, with iron bars, are on each side. The cell block has a few rows  
  of cells, with large stacks of crates at each end.                            
                                                                                
  You happen to come up behind them. If you want to avoid raising an alarm --   
  or getting into a fight with them -- you will need to sneak after them. If    
  you can do so, though, you should be able to get to the other side.           
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|      Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and     |
|                             Stupify:_Wits_Down!                              |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Right," Kaguya says, "Mystere. Just Mystere and Enigma. Nobody else." She glances down the way, as he mentions getting the Fiends out... And nods.

"Sure, I'll take a hand. I already have all my stuff, though. Since I wasn't jailed."

"...And maybe neither was she," she says thoughtfully of Tabitha, looking between her and Loren. "So it's like that?" she wonders.

It's definitely Like That.

But Loren seems to accept things well enough. It will do. "That's cool," Kaguya says of the mask. She doesn't blink. She smiles, instead.

"It's definitely like that," Kaguya reflects, and then she... pauses. The little bear. It gnaws on Loren, and...

"Ok that's a little weird."

"C'mon, though. This way." Kaguya leads them through the prison for a while, until she holds her hand up to forestall further movement. "Sh," she starts, and ponits silently to the guards on the other side of the hallway. They're behind them...

Kaguya starts padding along after them. She appears to be willing to do this the nonlethal way??

For now, anyway. But she does have some kind of grenade in her hand, just in case.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a risky Wits Action toward her party's challenge, Following a Guard Patrol. 
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Tabitha takes minor fatigue damage from being bored.

"I could do a lot of things!" Tabitha supplies brightly to Loren's objection to her service level agreement. "I decided to allow you to have a novel experience. You should thank me! This'll look really interesting on your report, you know? 'Explored the Lunarian prison system in person!'"

"Hi!" she says, wiggling her fingers at Kaguya. With a moment to notice her, Tabitha's right hand is cybernetic, everything below the elbow a thickly armored, deep blue-black casing. She's a bit on the shorter side, but projects an enormous confidence, with short blonde hair, and plush made-up lips, and a body that that cleavage window MUST be made out of some kind of super-material to remotely support. "I'm Tabitha. Loren is cute when he's flustered and apparently absolutely never going to take advantage of that, so I occasionally swing by to amuse myself and also save him from certain death." ... "It's a hobby."

She sashays forward as directed, at least. For all she seems to be taking this not remotely seriously, she does actually stop to peek for the guards. She has to push herself a little against the wall so her face gets around the corner before her chest does. She flexes her biological fingers, but finally nods to Kaguya's plan. She sucks in a deep breath, and the way the dust floats around her feet feels strange.

...such as the fact that it's floating, actually...?

When she steps after Kaguya, it's light as a feather; literally. Her feet make no sound at all. She has to prance a little because each stride is more of a meter and a half hop.

DG: Tabitha deVriese has contributed a risky Wits Action toward her party's challenge, Following a Guard Patrol. 
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "No," he contends, frowning so deeply one might fear it would stick that way, "no, it won't look good on the report to say that I got arrested a--" He clears his throat. "What I want to know is how I'm the one who got arrested! I wasn't even doing anything suspicious!"

    Fleetingly, Kaguya is in the receiving end of a glare that could cut glass.

    That is, before it's replaced by an intensely flustered, "No, it's not like that!!"

    Which Tabitha goes on to not help in the slightest. Making a semi-quiet strangled sort of sound, Loren hunches his shoulders and immediately sets about shoving his scattered belongings back. This includes the bear, who, it would seem, is not also unknown to Loren. He'd thought Runeberry was back in his room...
    Perhaps it's the reason why his stuff is scattered all over. If it got scared and ran while it was still in the bag... well.

    They'll get nowhere if they all stand around pointing fingers at each other, though. He follows Kaguya's lead, up until the point where she urges them to pause.

    Loren, pressed up against the wall behind the others, looks thoughtful. Quietly unpeeling the bar, he tears off a hunk of it and wads it up into a ball. This, he throws for one of the cell blocks just ahead of the guards, hoping to strike something within that will make a good deal of noise. Perhaps it might prompt them to look inside instead of continue their patrol?

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, Following a Guard Patrol. Resilient!
Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    ".... Runeberry, you're here too?" Gwen, at least, doesn't exclaim this aloud, but she does smile warmly as it gives Loren its 'greeting'. "Glad t'have helped here! Looks like Runeberry missed ya, Loren." Gwen straightens, her face growing more serious. ".... I think you guys gettin' out now'll probably be a lot easier than breakin' out earlier," she says, as if it somehow assuages Loren's complaint. "It's wild you guys got caught up in all this, though. Solaris really has its eyes in everything, huh."

    Gwen doesn't recognize Tabitha at first, having only known her before Tabitha's own transformation a while ago. However, something about her clicks something in Gwen's memory, and she squints. "Oh man, so you're here too, huh. 'Spose it'd be silly for there to be *one* member of Solaris here muckin' about." It was the voice, attitude, cybernetic hand, and cleaveage, to be honest, but Gwen wouldn't know just how much trouble Tabitha has caused in total.

    It can all be handwaved for now, as they cause some trouble of their own.

    Wait, why is the dust floating? Nonono, focus on the task. Gwen takes out a compact mirror from her kit and generates a light from her right hand, redirecting the reflection of the light around the corner, as she tries to manuever around the others.

DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Courier Kit toward her party's challenge, Following a Guard Patrol. Resilient! Party
shielded from some exhaustion next round!
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Following a Guard Patrol *>===================
| Type: Exploration  | Dungeon Ability: Wits            | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  As you make your way through the dungeon, you find a guard patrol. The        
  guards are wearing polished armor, carrying swords and shields, and moving    
  through a darkened stone hallway that is lit only occasionally by torches.    
  Empty cells, with iron bars, are on each side. The cell block has a few rows  
  of cells, with large stacks of crates at each end.                            
                                                                                
  You happen to come up behind them. If you want to avoid raising an alarm --   
  or getting into a fight with them -- you will need to sneak after them. If    
  you can do so, though, you should be able to get to the other side.           
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|      Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and     |
|                             Stupify:_Wits_Down!                              |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! - Round 2 *>====================
=====================< Results - Following a Guard Patrol >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Soylent Nutribar                    2   Wits    Effects: Resilient            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock                       8 --(5)--> 13                  Pass
Courier Kit                         2   Wits    Effects: Resilient            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         1   Wits    Effects: Risky                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabitha deVriese                    8 --(5)--> 13                  Pass
Investigate                         1   Wits    Effects: Risky                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Resilient(1)
===============================< 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> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya regards the cybernetics with some interest, but quickly picks up the level of the scheme here. She regards Tabitha, too; up and down, considering her obvious confidence, the sheer scale of the cleavage window, and her obviousl Solarian approach.

"Sure, why not?" Kaguya says. "Nice..." Pause. "Hair."

Pause. "It's OK, Voss. I definitely, definitely don't thnik it's like that anymore." She beams sweetly at him.

But their plan works well enough. Gwen and Loren make a distraction, prompting the guards to check one of the cells as they pass by, while Kaguya and Tabitha's silent movements are suffcient to ensure that they don't look the other direction while they're at it.

The nutribar's noble sacrifice will be remebered. ...Mostly because it's probably going to take decades for it to decay. They're not eating it.

"OK, we're past," Kaguya says. "Mystere's up ahead, I think..."

She regards the others, still wearing her mask. "You guys are a lot of trouble to get out, you know. You should appreciate us."

DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Animated Gargoyle *>=======================
| Type: Exploration  | Dungeon Ability: Combat          | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  The next room you enter is a large hallway, with tall columns that support    
  the ceiling. The columns have gargoyle sculptures on them, placed up high.    
  These hallways connect different parts of the dungeon and underground         
  tunnels, often marking a transition point -- perhaps between towers or        
  perhaps to tunnels leading elsewhere into Pentagulia.                         
                                                                                
  Unfortunately, they are also a way to control the movement of prisoners.      
                                                                                
  Namely, the gargoyles on the columns suddenly animate. With jerking motions,  
  knocking free dust, the stone comes to life -- and their eyes glow a deep     
  yellow. Then, several of them swoop down, with heavy stone claws raking at    
  you as they descend. Others send balls of blue flame hurling down into your   
  midst.                                                                        
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|    Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!,    |
|  Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down!   |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Passing by the guards, the group slips away into a large hallway. "... this is lookin' promisin'," Gwen whispers. "Looks like we can get a sense of where we're at from here, much better than all them moldy underground dungeon areas."

    Scouting on ahead behind one column, Gwen motions to the rest, signaling the coast being clear.

    However, aside from a quick glance upwards, she never looked up after that. So, just as things are beginning to look up, several somethings begin to shift atop the tall columns that earlier seemed there for the sake of decoration. "Aw shit!" Gwen falls back as one gargoyle nearly tries to squash her underneath its stony weight.

    She returns the favor back in full, attempting to punch clean through the beast with her right fist. "Gogogo, we can't stop for this!"

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Animated Gargoyle. 
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "Whitlock," Loren says, attempting to fix her with a piercing stare as she keeps talking, about the bear and Solaris and everything. He makes a few abrupt hand gestures at neck height, as if to underscore his most leading sentiment of the moment. She's... still talking, though. His gaze begins to go a bit dead-eyed.

    This, and before Kaguya (ENIGMA) remarks that she definitely doesn't think it's like that anymore. Kaguya thus has a front row seat to Loren visibly wilting before her.

    Fortunately for his sanity and/or general pride and well-being, they have a dungeon to escape out from, and that entails not lollygagging around here when there's halls to sneak through. With a combination of distractions and good old-fashioned stealth, they creep on past the guard patrol (some of whom might, even now, be wondering what the heck made all that noise).

    The space ahead is clear. "Okay... let's move," Loren prompts, and gets all of a step before down come some gargoyles.

    "Who does this!" Loren protests, backpedaling away from the intruding stone monstrosities. His next action normally would have been to have responded in kind, but...

    ...As a moment's failed concentration reveals, he's all out. Fortunately, he's got his kit on him, and a moment's minstration with Rosesol should be enough to help tip the scales.

    Stony projections appear and hang in the air around him, firing en masse for one of the gargoyles above.

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Animated Gargoyle. Cleanse! All
negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Tabitha smiles to Kaguya's compliment, pretty with clean white teeth, and says, "Thank you! I know."

Then they manage to sneak past a bunch of guards. Tabitha does not X-Zone anybody.

(She can't actually X-Zone people)

Once they're through and Loren is loudly feeling every human emotion, Tabitha leans over to Kaguya and just says, "See?"

And then she also smiles sweetly at Gwen, puffing up in a way that pushes her chest even further out SOMEHOW. "Oh, we're not partners or anything, I'm in a totally different unit." She smiles. And doesn't specify. "But the ways of surface society have always been really interesting, so we run into each other a lot, you know? How have you been, anyway, miss courier? That's a new arm, isn't it?" Trust her to notice the cybernetic.

Then she finally looks up. "Oh," she says, a little blank. "Huh."

She leaps up at them instantly, almost more like she were inevitably drawn to them, gravitating to them, at speeds that let her whip out a savage kick that somehow does not shatter her bones. She pushes away after exerting powerful strength a few times, and then, reaches into her bodysuit's secret compartment on her chest to produce a compact mirror of her own, which she checks her makeup with.

DG: Tabitha deVriese has used her Tool Compact toward her party's challenge, Animated Gargoyle. Cleanse! All negative
effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya, if she were a nicer person, would feel bad for Loren wilting. She is not a nicer person, though, and so she laughs like a pirate. "I see," Kaguya says to Tabitha. It's a nice moment! Probably.

"Different unit, huh? That's fascinating. I'd love to hear more about that." Kaguya says it distantly. She might even mean it.

"Right," Kaguya says to Gwen of it seeming promising, and she sneaks along too. Until there are--

"Althenans love statues that try to kill you," Kaguya assures Loren. "These are like, all over the place up here. It's kind of impressive workmanship, actually. A pity I'm going to have to--"

A gargoyle smashes into her and Kaguya tumbles backward as a result. "ASS, I was talking! Face the might of... ENIGMA!"

While Tabitha handles a terrible kick and also her makeup, Kaguya throws a purple grenade into the mix. It explodes into a soporific blast that somehow affects things that aren't biological.

The femme/butch dichotomy!?

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Sleep Grenade toward her party's challenge, Animated Gargoyle. Embolden! Party Combat
boosted!
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Animated Gargoyle *>=======================
| Type: Exploration  | Dungeon Ability: Combat          | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  The next room you enter is a large hallway, with tall columns that support    
  the ceiling. The columns have gargoyle sculptures on them, placed up high.    
  These hallways connect different parts of the dungeon and underground         
  tunnels, often marking a transition point -- perhaps between towers or        
  perhaps to tunnels leading elsewhere into Pentagulia.                         
                                                                                
  Unfortunately, they are also a way to control the movement of prisoners.      
                                                                                
  Namely, the gargoyles on the columns suddenly animate. With jerking motions,  
  knocking free dust, the stone comes to life -- and their eyes glow a deep     
  yellow. Then, several of them swoop down, with heavy stone claws raking at    
  you as they descend. Others send balls of blue flame hurling down into your   
  midst.                                                                        
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|             Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!,             |
|    Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!,    |
|                 Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down!                 |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! - Round 3 *>====================
========================< Results - Animated Gargoyle >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Solarian Medical Kit                2   Combat  Effects: Cleanse and Liability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock                       13 --(21)--> 34                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Sleep Grenade                       2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabitha deVriese                    13 --(0)--> 13                 Pass
Compact                             1   Combat  Effects: Cleanse              
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(1)|Stupify(1)|Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
===============================< 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> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Is Gwen talking just because Loren is trying to convey to her to stop? It is rather fun to tease Loren in these moments, but like all good things, Gwen knows when it's time to stop.

    ... because she can always start riggghht back up later, when Tabitha wants to catch up. "Oh, this?" Gwen holds up her ARM. "Same one as always, though there has been some changes to it. Kinnnnnda like you? But yeah, never been better!"

    It *does* help that they're on Lunar and not Filgaia. Who cares about Solaris's goals of world domination or whatever they do when you're on a completely different planet?

    When stone gargoyles are raining down from the sky, everyone has a nice common enemy to blast and build comraderie over. Except, Gwen's punch was judged wrong, which only accomplishes a nice crack on its surface, but not the complete shattering that the courier was holding for. One of Loren's stony shards finishes it from the other direction, as do many other shards, quickly making a mess of stony fragments in the hallway. Tabitha, meanwhile straight up demolishes one with a savage air kick, giving her time to check her makeup.

    The reason why they're going down quickly is Kaguya- er, ENIGMA's doing, largely, weakening the stony skin that none of them have to exert too much effort to get them to crumble.

    "... Whew. That could have gotten messy fast. Let's keep goin', then, if everyone's good."

DG: Tabitha deVriese has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
================<* CHALLENGE - Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers *>=================
| Type: Exploration  | Dungeon Ability: Agility         | Challenge Rating: 1  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  The next area you enter involves going outside, through a wooden door that    
  leads to the exterior of one of the towers. It is high over the city, and     
  the door leads onto a narrow ledge that wraps part way around the tower. The  
  ledge is very narrow -- barely enough for one person, single file, to walk    
  along.                                                                        
                                                                                
  The good news is that you're not likely to be spotted, this high up. The bad  
  news is that maneuvering here will require a lot of careful movement.         
  Falling would mean, at best, a lot of backtracking.                           
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|           Embolden:_Combat_Up! and Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!          |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

"Oh huuuuh," Tabitha hums. "Ah, yeah, suppose that'll do it. ARMs'll do that."

Solarian ARMs only do it in medical arenas, but still.

Having carefully dusted some gargoyle powder out of her hair, Tabitha nods to Gwen's proposal. "Yes, let's move. Deep as this may be, we must move swiftly. We'd have some trouble if the guards showed up in force."

So saying, on they go - and eventually, with a few glances around for safety, Tabitha does find the way...out.

She leans out the door and over the gap, peering down fearlessly even as the wind blusters from the altitude.

"Oh, goodness, that'd hurt a lot," she says, brightly. "Don't look down!" she advises, and then flips her cybernetic wrist a few times to activate her Graviton Anchors.

Then she flips to stand on the wall, and just sort of goes from there.

DG: Tabitha deVriese has used her Tool Graviton Anchor toward her party's challenge, Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers.
Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    It's a bit of an understatement, of course, but Gwen has a feeling the same would go for whatever Tabitha has been through. "... Yeaaaah, I'd like t'avoid that." They (or, at least, she, in this group) need to help find Lucia... if she's even still here in Pentagulia as it is.

    Still, she doesn't admit this much to Loren and Tabitha. "Lead the way."

    Flash forward to.... now, with Gwen looking down a very, very long drop, as Tabitha warns *not* to do exactly that. "Riiight," Gwen murmurs, sighing. This... may be a pain, but she can grab onto the ledge if she falls, right? Tabitha, meanwhile, flips *up*. Gwen looks back towards Kaguya with a wide, grim look, and slowly, awkwardly, sidesteps down the ledge.

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers. 
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Why does he get the feeling they're all ganging up on him?

    Loren's mood, already poor, is taking a decided nosedive. Is there any other route he could take? Wouldn't it be better -- easier -- to do this solo?

    No, he decides, pragmatism kicking in belatedly. No, actually, he just wants to get out of here. The appearance of the gargoyles plays no small role in this decision, regardless of his own sorcery's efficacy against them. He's not that stupid, after all -- that was just one, and there were more of them besides.

    It's probably a good idea to move along, though, in the event someone heard that. Safety in numbers, yes, but he would like to not repeat his earlier performance and end up in the cells again for his pains.

    Tabitha finds a way out. Also, if they step wrongly, it'll be a way down.

    Loren plasters himself against the wall, opting to inch along. He is stonefaced, his gaze fixed straight ahead and certainly not down at all.

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers. 
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya, of course, has not forgiven or forgotten Solaris's crimes against people she actually cares about. But they have to work together right now, and she's worked with people she liked less. Besides, Loren is... special.

Special doesn't always have to mean good.

She regards Tabitha for a moment, and there--there's a way out. Hmmm. Kaguya looks over. "Yeah, it'd be annoying," ENIGMA says of the guards showing up. Kaguya, of course, looks right down. SHe considers it for a moment, and looks ovr at Gwen with that grim look. "Yeah, forget that," Kaguya says, and steps back, back, back--

Then the small Veruni sprints forward and starts running straight up the wall.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a risky Agility Action toward her party's challenge, Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers. 
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
================<* CHALLENGE - Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers *>=================
| Type: Exploration  | Dungeon Ability: Agility         | Challenge Rating: 1  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  The next area you enter involves going outside, through a wooden door that    
  leads to the exterior of one of the towers. It is high over the city, and     
  the door leads onto a narrow ledge that wraps part way around the tower. The  
  ledge is very narrow -- barely enough for one person, single file, to walk    
  along.                                                                        
                                                                                
  The good news is that you're not likely to be spotted, this high up. The bad  
  news is that maneuvering here will require a lot of careful movement.         
  Falling would mean, at best, a lot of backtracking.                           
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|                       Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!                       |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! - Round 4 *>====================
==================< Results - Narrow Ledges and Tall Towers >===================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          5 --(13)--> 18                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock                       34 --(13)--> 47                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Rush                                1   Agility Effects: Risky                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabitha deVriese                    13 --(5)--> 18                 Pass
Graviton Anchor                     3   Agility Effects: Rally                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  60 --(20)--> 80                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(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> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Tabitha just sort of walks to the next door without effort. Kaguya has to do some physics loopholes but does much the same.

Gwen and Loren have to be out there with the chilling wind and the INCREDIBLE altitude and the MERE CONCEPT OF BIRDS and--!

When they arrive at the next ingress point, Tabitha is patiently waiting and holding out a cup of Something like she were spectating a marathon. "Impressively steady. Drink up, we're not done yet."

Loren will find it a familiar kind of Solarian (non-Drive) battlefield tonic for easing anxiety and shellshock. It tastes slightly more like something that doesn't exist than it tastes like apples.

DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
==========<* CHALLENGE - Close Encounters with Magical Experiments *>===========
| Type: Climax       | Dungeon Ability: Agility         | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  Finally, you make your way out of the prison. You find a long tunnel,         
  leading from the Hero's Tower that you are currently to a large, circular     
  room. There is a spiral stairwell that leads down it, and it is quite a       
  length down. This cylindrical room is strange, though.                        
                                                                                
  You enter near the top of it. Along the sides, there are four large steel     
  booms -- and you see they must extend beyond the stone walls. Gears and       
  other clockwork mechanisms can also be seen here.                             
                                                                                
  More than that, though, is the inscriptions on the walls. Countless Althenan  
  runes are there, in magical circles. So are what appear to be Elw runes, but  
  in many cases, they're reproduced imperfectly. The walls are also studded by  
  glimmering green and blue gems. As you descend the staircase, arcs of blue    
  and green lightning sometimes explode from one gem and shoot towards you.     
  You will need to run down the stairs /and/ dodge these on your way. But, at   
  the bottom, there is a door...                                                
                                                                                
  OOC: Mariel, please DM Star (Discord or page!) when you pull this card.       
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|   Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, and  |
|                      Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!                       |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Both Kaguya and Tabitha play merry hell with the very concept of gravity. Loren's gaze fleetingly tracks their ascent until they're out of (sane, reasonable) sight. And after that, there's nothing for it but the slow and terrible way up.

    He may well need that tonic by the time they catch up, his nerves distinctly feeling frayed. He casts a long questioning gaze her way, though, and that may well be a moment's hesitation before he chugs the contents of the cup.

    ...Huh. He knows what this is. The gaze he directs her way might seem even more questioning than before. This is... suspiciously nice of her.

    Even if it's a statement he never makes aloud.

    It's an uneventful trek from here forwards for a time: there's a high hallway that links this tower to another part of the complex, and from there, a stairway that leads down. Down, and amidst clockwork, glimmering gems, and Althenian inscriptions, the further down they go. Some of the last look a little off, though.

    Some of the runes and inscriptions seem almost like something he's seen somewhere before. But where--

    "Gah!" Just then, one of the shimmering gemstones emits a bolt of magical energy which narrowly misses him. And just then, he sees another, bundling up with power as if it were preparing to similarly erupt!

    "--Run for it!" he declares, racing down the stairs two at a time.

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a risky Agility Action toward his party's challenge, Close Encounters with Magical
Experiments.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    As much as Gwen seems to endeavor to make Loren's life complicated, she does steal quick glances back at him, making sure he's staying along as they get past that last, tight ledge.

    Or maybe it's because she's looking at him now, as he drinks the tonic, before drinking her own. Maybe it's some poison that will only effect people like her and not Solarians, but that's a problem for future her to deal with!

    Gwen makes notes of the runes, glimmers of thought and spectulation as she realizes some of them look a little similar to the sorts of things she's seen occasionally in ruins on Filgaia. But the fact that the two planets are, and always have been, connected in ways they are constantly having to reevaluate isn't too surprising. However, why are those kinds of runes *here*, in this space? Maybe Mariel will know. Maybe, Mariel will have seen these, if she's one of the groups that's gotten past here first, or later on.

    Run for it? Why f- oh. OH.

    Shit.

    Gwen does her best to hustle, shrieking as one bolt comes a little too close for comfort. "I don't need more energy *that* way!!" she yells, running as fast as she can down the stairs. If she trips, likely, she'll take some others with her.

    Well, at the very least, they'll make it down the stairs, one way or another.

DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a risky Agility Action toward her party's challenge, Close Encounters with Magical
Experiments.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Physics are optional when you're a Veruni warrior. ...Though, it's a testament to how Kaguya has become more prosocial that she doesn't call out, 'eat it, humans!' as she goes.

Even if part of her thought about it.

Enigma looks around thoughtfully when they reach the new hallway, and doesn't even say anything about the tonic. She sees the gems, the inscriptions... Hm.

"Elw runes," she comments thoughtfully. "Or at least, they look like them. No idea what they say, though. ENIGMA does not truck with such things."

...She started doing it to make Leo feel better, but it is kind of fun, actually.

As she regards Gwen and Loren going down the steps, though... Kaguya thinks about it. "It's my responsibility to see you all safely out of here," she proclaims. "Which means.."

Kaguya starts casually down the stairs, "I'll pick you up if you fall. And if you happen to set off all the traps before I get there, well, I've got some spare Elixirs."

She walks.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Close Encounters with Magical
Experiments.
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

Tabitha favors Loren with something approaching an actual smile, not the ten-megawatt light show she puts on for the Lambs. "You're fun when you're flustered, not about to vibrate completely out of your own skin," she teases.

Continuing on, she pulls a notebook out of her 'secret compartment' to flip it open and start jotting down notes, taking surprisingly quick sketches of some of what she sees. "So this is what's at the epicenter of it all, huh," she says, pursing full lips in thought. "Feels like they're trying to patch together systems that aren't supposed to go together, maybe? Why, though?"

Then she hears Loren yelp and turns, because she must protect her canary from deadly lightning. "Something - Oh." she sees. This is gonna take some precision. She tucks her notebook away.

She and ENIGMA have now swapped roles; while Kaguya walks it, Tabitha sucks in a breath, fiddles with her Graviton Anchor, and soon is all but soaring down through the crackling runes, shifting her angle of descent and speed in wild ways that absolutely nobody could have planned a full counter for.

She does a forward flip and touches down at the base of the steps.

Not so much as a particle of dust rises up afterward.

DG: Tabitha deVriese has used her Tool Graviton Anchor toward her party's challenge, Close Encounters with Magical
Experiments. Rally!
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
==========<* CHALLENGE - Close Encounters with Magical Experiments *>===========
| Type: Climax       | Dungeon Ability: Agility         | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  Finally, you make your way out of the prison. You find a long tunnel,         
  leading from the Hero's Tower that you are currently to a large, circular     
  room. There is a spiral stairwell that leads down it, and it is quite a       
  length down. This cylindrical room is strange, though.                        
                                                                                
  You enter near the top of it. Along the sides, there are four large steel     
  booms -- and you see they must extend beyond the stone walls. Gears and       
  other clockwork mechanisms can also be seen here.                             
                                                                                
  More than that, though, is the inscriptions on the walls. Countless Althenan  
  runes are there, in magical circles. So are what appear to be Elw runes, but  
  in many cases, they're reproduced imperfectly. The walls are also studded by  
  glimmering green and blue gems. As you descend the staircase, arcs of blue    
  and green lightning sometimes explode from one gem and shoot towards you.     
  You will need to run down the stairs /and/ dodge these on your way. But, at   
  the bottom, there is a door...                                                
                                                                                
  OOC: Mariel, please DM Star (Discord or page!) when you pull this card.       
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|   Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, and  |
|                      Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!                       |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! - Round 5 *>====================
============< Results - Close Encounters with Magical Experiments >=============
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          18 --(34)--> 52                Fail
Rush                                1   Agility Effects: Risky                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock                       47 --(34)--> 81                Fail
Rush                                1   Agility Effects: Risky                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              10 --(5)--> 15                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabitha deVriese                    18 --(5)--> 23                 Pass
Graviton Anchor                     3   Agility Effects: Rally                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  80 --(0)--> 80                 Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)
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> Loren Voss has posed.

    She smiles at him. It's not the sort of smile she usually gives him, the sort where she seems like her next move will be to try to eat him whole. No, this one is... genuine. Ish. Loren manages to maintain eye contact for all of three seconds more before the bottom of his empty cup is suddenly extremely interesting.
    He wants things to get less complicated, not moreso...

    But fortunately for him, they're moving on -- this is not the best of places to get caught flatfooted.

    "Elw runes? Wait, so that's where... but why are they..."

    A few recent developments in the plot might have passed him on by, unfortunately.

    Not that there's all that much time to contemplate the mystery, what with the gems firing magical beams at them as they descend. Kaguya sticks to the back, and this works in her favor as Loren and Gwen rush ahead (with Tabitha neatly evading the traps altogether) as they continue to trigger the gemstones as they rush down the stairs. Up to a point they're largely unscathed, until Loren stumbles at a critical juncture thanks to a too-close beam scorching the air right in front of him and catches himself on the railing before he can go tumbling down the stairs.
    Then Gwen collides with him in her own flight, and all bets are off.

    At least it's not a terribly long way down, the rest of the way. Silver lining and all.

    Gwen's landing may be the softer of the two, for she lands on Loren.

DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking and Entering *>=====================
| Type: Final        | Dungeon Ability: Brute           | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  Having escaped the strange cylindrical room, filled with arcane symbols and   
  clockwork machinery, you come to a hallway that is strange for Pentagulia.    
                                                                                
  It is ancient.                                                                
                                                                                
  Pentagulia is a new city. Built only in the last hundred years, much of it    
  is very new. This hallway, is much older; it has white stone, with streaks    
  of dark blue metal that is fused to the stone in places. There are Althenan   
  writings here, but the script is much older; moreover, there is writing in    
  the Ancient Tongue, too, now spoken only by the oldest Seraphim.              
                                                                                
  Unfortunately, it seems that the powers that be want this area sealed off.    
  Which means it's likely where you need to go.                                 
                                                                                
  There is a large glowing barrier down the hallway. Two huge statues of        
  dragons -- they appear to be the classic dragons of the Goddess, not Fell     
  Dragons -- are on each side. These emit a barrier of golden light, which is   
  impenetrable. Destroying the dragon statues, though, should open the way.     
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|    Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and    |
|                             Weaken:_Brute_Down!                              |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya can appreciate Tabitha's sheer... agility, in the use of her gravitic powers. She notices, with her keen Veruni eyes, the lack of even dust coming up. Loren and Gwen are perhaps less impressive about it, but their survival is impressive! Even as they fall (and Loren falls worse), they're still alive, and that's, "You guys are pretty tough. Nice work." A pause. "I don't know why Elw runes would be here, myself. I don't see a teleporter." Pause. "They love those teleporter mazes. Hate those."

But as they escape that strange room, now... Now there is an ancient hallway, and this is far, far older than the rest. Kaguya frowns, to see the dark blue metal. "What is this...?" She considers. The Ancient Tongue. So far as she knows, none of them speak it. But the barrier ahead is fairly obvious, and the statues seem to emit it. "All right," Kaguya says.

"I thought I might not use these again, after.. Well. After the Lord of Calamity. But..."

Kaguya shakes her head. "Gonna need one anyway." She leans down, to set a bomb before the barrier, tapping it to start the sequence. "Don't get too close to the explosion. It's a little toxic. I need to get some new bombs..."

"But it won't go off for a bit yet, so you have time to try some things, too."

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering. Rally! 
<Pose Tracker> Tabitha deVriese has posed.

That's right, Loren, she has emotions other than sadistic glee! Who knows what goes on in the mind of a scary woman, eh?!

Oppression of the Lambs, mostly, actually.

Tabitha has pulled her notebook back out and is again taking notes and quick sketches. With the need for speed she can't take particularly detailed ones, but as the first Solarian here, to say nothing of the Ministry, she has some duty to record.

There is like, a pretty high change someone can just pull the memory out of her optic nerves later, but Tabitha's always liked the feel of pen and paper.

"Can't say any of this was on the ol' bingo card," she says, conversationally. It's not like there's anyone here who hasn't figured out her deal by now, anyway. "*No* idea what these runes are doing. Gonna have to smuggle...hell, who even do we have for this...are we gonna have to brainwash a linguist? Tsk." She claps her notebook closed. "Again."

Then she rounds on the dragon statues. "Looks like the only way through," she announces, tucking her notebook away and pulling out an inch-long pod, which she flips; it telescopes out to a full-length staff.

She wedges it at the base of one of the dragon statues, into a tiny nook with decent leverage. Then she takes a few steps back, rolls her neck. Her hair seems to hang straight down, suddenly, her stance wider, like she had to hold up tremendous weight.

Then she leaps upward and spin kicks the lever with enough force that the entire massive statue LIFTS upward, which should uproot it enough for further damage.

DG: Tabitha deVriese has used her Tool Telescoping Lever toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering.
Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren, fortunately, is nothing if not resilient to the last. It might take him a moment to pick himself up off the floor and tend to his injuries, such that they are. For his part, he sits on the bottom step and radiates resentment for a moment as the others investigate what lies ahead. So in other words, the normal, for him.

    "Don't tell me that's typical for them," he groans, rising to his feet at last. He speaks, of course, of Elw teleporter mazes. "And what are they doing up here, anyway? Or in here," because as odd as it is for Elw runes to pop up on Lunar (from his point of view) it's even weirder that they're under the Althenian holy city. Perhaps there might be an answer further within, but...

    First, they're going to have to do a little property damage to get that far.

    "I don't think this is an escape," he grouses, palming and gripping a particular stone tightly in his left hand as he focuses. The pressure -- and even pain, a little -- is grounding and helps him shape the earth that congeals in a tilted half-dome about Kaguya's explosive. Keeping the force of it close should help it work, not to mention, keep it away from them.

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, Breaking and Entering. Stalwart! Party
shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Well, that fall could have been a lot worse! .......

     Oh, there was a reason for that: namely, a grumpy Loren. "Uh, sorry, Loren," Gwen says discreetly, under her breath, as she offers to help him up. Or carry him, as necessary. Kaguya, for her part, gets a wide grin from the courier. "I woulda thought you would've realized that by n--" She gives a laugh, then winces as it jostles a spot that's still quite sore. "A-aha, I mean, of course we are, Enigma, the person I have never met before!" Smooth as always.

    Like this hallway! Smooth... with age. "... This is waaayy older than the rest, definitely," Gwen says, glancing from wall to wall at the writings. "... I don't think it's the same writin' as I saw leadin' up t'here. That stuff was mixed in with somethin' Filgaian of some kind, I'm sure of it, but the stuff there's probably something from here, or just real ancient-like. Ain't like it's much that I can say what it is, tho." The red head's gaze settles on Kaguya's mask, ever thoughtful. "Maybe it all leads to why Pentagulia was built here in the first place. You noticed how new the whole city looked, right? Maybe this is the focus: somethin' here that was real important to the people who are a part of this whole scheme. The false Althena, the corrupt members of the guard... if it wasn't for the sake of the people, what was it for? Power, maybe, but of what level?"

    She was so focused on getting out and carrying the banner of morale that she never stopped to think of the larger picture. Some use she was, if she couldn't even use her status as the Outsider to look at it all with an Outsider's eyes.

    "... I wasn't there for that one, so it's a first for me." Gwen gives Kaguya a nod. "Throw it."

    Tabitha's impressive stunt manages to lift that maasive statue, and Gwen uses it to her advantage. "Good, I'll come in with the ugly part, then!" The shift in the statue should help unsettle it, making a few good ol'fashioned punches be a lot more effective. "Kaguya, lemme know when t'back away!"

DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Breaking and Entering. Strengthen! Party
Brute boosted!
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Breaking and Entering *>=====================
| Type: Final        | Dungeon Ability: Brute           | Challenge Rating: 2  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  Having escaped the strange cylindrical room, filled with arcane symbols and   
  clockwork machinery, you come to a hallway that is strange for Pentagulia.    
                                                                                
  It is ancient.                                                                
                                                                                
  Pentagulia is a new city. Built only in the last hundred years, much of it    
  is very new. This hallway, is much older; it has white stone, with streaks    
  of dark blue metal that is fused to the stone in places. There are Althenan   
  writings here, but the script is much older; moreover, there is writing in    
  the Ancient Tongue, too, now spoken only by the oldest Seraphim.              
                                                                                
  Unfortunately, it seems that the powers that be want this area sealed off.    
  Which means it's likely where you need to go.                                 
                                                                                
  There is a large glowing barrier down the hallway. Two huge statues of        
  dragons -- they appear to be the classic dragons of the Goddess, not Fell     
  Dragons -- are on each side. These emit a barrier of golden light, which is   
  impenetrable. Destroying the dragon statues, though, should open the way.     
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|      Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!,      |
|                Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down!                |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
===================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! - Round 6 *>====================
======================< Results - Breaking and Entering >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          52 --(8)--> 60                 Fail
Worry Stone                         2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock                       81 --(0)--> 81                 Pass
ARM-ored Fist                       2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              15 --(0)--> 15                 Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabitha deVriese                    23 --(0)--> 23                 Pass
Telescoping Lever                   2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen           
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  80 --(35)--> 115               Pass
Conditions: Injure(1)|Reckless(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< 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 Myster(e)ious Escape!!
========================<* The Myster(e)ious Escape! *>=========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Beneath the Tower of the Goddess *>===============
| Type: Discovery    | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion      | Challenge Rating: 1  |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
  You follow the tunnel leading out of the prisons until you come to an         
  ancient room, which has visible been abandoned. There is a coat of dust on    
  everything in here. The Church, it seems, has rarely accessed this place.     
  This may work to your benefit, as you find that there are a number of         
  alcoves here -- and they have chests, shelves, and containers with weapons,   
  armor, and consumables that can be put to use.                                
                                                                                
  This is also a place that you may wish to take a break. You spot a stairway   
  leading upward -- and the door there is locked, but you don't doubt that it   
  leads into Pentagulia's central tower. This is where Lucia is being held...   
                                                                                
  ...and will, doubtless, involve a fight to get to her. A moment to prepare    
  is wise.                                                                      
============================= Dungeon Conditions:  =============================
|      Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!,      |
|    Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Vault:_Exploration_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down!    |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Yeah," 'Enigma' says when Gwen backtracks about having never met her. "You got it. Good for you."

She regards Loren then, and shakes her head sadly. "Oh, it's super typical. It's probably the worst legacy they've bequeathed to humanity. Teleporter mazes."

It could be other things, though.

"But is it that weird for it to be here?"

She does not seek to oppress the Lambs. "I hope you find your oppressed linguist," Enigma says to Tabitha. Then she watches the way she knocks a statue around. And the way Gwen knocks a statue around. And then the way Loren makes to shape the blast's fix.

"You're right though. It's older. ...Maybe that is the thing. You're pretty smart sometimes after all!"

Power...

"Power. I'll be it was power. The corrupt Guard, the false Althena... Power has the smell all over."

Kaguya hits the detonator. Her bomb explodes; thanks to the efforts of the party, the bomb is more than sufficient to the task, and they are soon able to move forward...

She wlaks through the tunnel, and looks to the coat of dust. And then to the alcoves...

"Ahem. Brave adventurers! Use these items to replenish your strength, and prepare for the journey ahead! I, ENIGMA, must go back and see to the safety of my companion Mystere!"

She glances back over her shoulder at the others. "...Good luck, guys. I'm not getting near 'Althena' if I can help it." She starts off.