2023-05-26: Heading Homeward, OR: The Throne of the Pirate King
- Log: Heading Homeward, OR: The Throne of the Pirate King
- Cast: Loren Voss, Seraph Lanval, Margaret, Azoth
- Where: The Crater Sea
- Date: May 26, 2023
- Summary: Heading on towards home is never easy. Particularly with friends (??) like these.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering The High Seas. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea! *>==============
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You meet up with the captain of the ship you've signed to assist on its
journey -- "The Seneschal" -- long before you even see the boat because the
captain has a big problem.
Specifically, several key members of the crew are still at the local tavern.
They have a number of things they need to attend to shipside for today's
launch so they've asked you to go and fetch them. The finding them part
isn't hard.
The fact that they are somewhat drunk and not coming with you is the more
difficult part. You may need to apply a little 'gentle' force here.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/wolfstack-lights
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It had been easier, in its own way, back when he'd been stationed in Damzena. No, hold that thought -- it had been easier, by far, back when he'd been stationed in Bledavik. At least travel meant he could hitch a ride with a caravan if necessary, if he couldn't just walk back. Or even ride a horse, if that was necessary.
Here, though...
He probably shouldn't have traveled further afield in the first place. He probably should have stuck around, or taken an early shuttle back to Etrenank. Probably, but he hadn't -- and hadn't wanted to, at that.
He hadn't been thinking about it directly at the time, but perhaps it had even been a question of what he was going to do about Runeberry -- the cloudbear -- that had prompted the decision. Well, he'd found a solution to that.
But the universe has a way of balancing itself, and where he'd found one solution... another problem rises to take its place.
His options had been limited when he'd come to finding a ship that would take him close enough to where the base was concealed. He'd had to charter a seat on some vessel doing a survey for the Guild Galad cartographic institute, and what's worse--
"You're kidding, right."
The captain of the ship is very much not kidding. His sailors are still hanging out at a particular tavern and he needs help bringing them back. What's even worse is...
"Earlyyyy in the mooooooorning~" the sailors sing.
They're pretty drunk. Grim-faced, Loren cracks his knuckles. This is going to be rough. And if he subtly draws upon Ether, enhanced through the wires looped around his right wrist, well, surely no one would accuse him of cheating.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Ether Tuner toward his party's challenge, Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea!. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Within that crowd, Seraph Lanval, who is sprawled out on top of the table. The narrative could go on, and on, and on, about the subtleties of what he's singing along to, or any other number of details like how much tavern swill he's managed to inhale for himself under the guise of *** UNRESONANT *** POPULATION *** PRIVILEGES *** ...
One of Lanval's eyes open as he leans his head back.
"Heyyyy, Loren~" Seraph Lanval waves a hand. "Did ya come ta join ush? Didn't think ya had it in--"
Beat.
"Yer not here ta join ush, huh. Mmmmph."
He pours one out on the ground, which is to say, a Holy Bottle as a precaution in case there's any weird riders along, but hey. The universe has a way of balancing itself as much as it does a way to make his existence a headache for Loren, witting or otherwise.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea!. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Loren is not alone.
"Well!" said a man who looks in his late fifties but incredibly fit. This man, VEREN, could be profitably compared to how Patrick Stewart envisions himself: while he is bald, mostly, and has a fringe of white hair, he retains a certain rugged handsomeness and is ripped as hell. He is also wearing a leather singlet, with scars along his arms. Below? Fabric dungarees and pants. He has a whip at his side, for he is a BEASTMASTER.
"I knew there would be a CATCH when you gave us such an excellent rate upon these trans-shipments, my good man, but I must say that this is UNPROBATIONARY DEALINGS and I shall surely think twice before signing on without firm agreement of terms! Regardless, I must go to this place anyway, as my own captain has resided there, and so, sir, I bid you good day!"
Veren walks like he has a stick up his ass. He has nothing to say to Loren. He mutters to himself.
In the bar proper, he calls out, "MARGARET!"
Margaret, who had been loitering with a smouldering pipe and a largely drunk glass of beer while looking melancholy with a low neckline, startles away. This also awakens 1D4+1 sailors, who immediately finish their pints and look at each other.
"We must hie away and bring the captain a CREW, or we shall surely perish," Veren reports, shrilly.
Margaret raises herself upwards with a clatter of swords.
"I didn't know you had those many swords," says one of the sailors.
"Do you know what the really funny part is?" Margaret tells the drunken sailor.
"What's that?" he asks.
Margaret pops him in the solar plexus. Margaret's right hand is sheathed in a sort of black short gauntlet, which seems to be new, although fortunately it lacks spikes - at least right now.
"SIGH!" Margaret exclaims. Veren, for his part, gets out his whip. "OUT! OUT, DRUNKARDS! TO YOUR STATIONS!" he declares, cracking it fearsomely as if to drive sailors as beasts!
DG: Margaret has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea!.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
There are a number of things Azoth must do, and a number of things Azoth uses to justify the numerous adventures and issues he gets himself tangled up in. Today, he again abuses something he must do in order to execute behaviors that are probably not strictly necessary, but would be too easy to justify if questioned.
He's helping Loren. Helping, so helpfully. By acting as an escort, whether Loren likes it or not, or whether Loren even realizes Azoth has been gravitating around to be of assistance or not. Azoth does, after all, have a tendency to only announce himself when it's most annoying to.
Right now, is he being annoying by lounging in the rafters of the tavern (why is he up there), one arm folded behind his head and the other admiring a piece of quartz crystal in the sunlight coming through the windows. Which is to say, not exactly his most helpful. He turns it in his grip, 'humming' to himself in chiptune, until he manages to catch onto the melody of this sea shanty.
Then he drops down next to Loren, belting out the song along with the sailors as he joins the fray in 'gently' corraling the sailors. Although he may be trying to dance them out more than fight them out...
"Way hay and up she rises~ -- Loren, c'mon, don't you know the words? I think I've got them down. Want me to teach you?"
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Memory Stone toward his party's challenge, Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea!.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
==============<* CHALLENGE - Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea! *>==============
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You meet up with the captain of the ship you've signed to assist on its
journey -- "The Seneschal" -- long before you even see the boat because the
captain has a big problem.
Specifically, several key members of the crew are still at the local tavern.
They have a number of things they need to attend to shipside for today's
launch so they've asked you to go and fetch them. The finding them part
isn't hard.
The fact that they are somewhat drunk and not coming with you is the more
difficult part. You may need to apply a little 'gentle' force here.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/wolfstack-lights
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up! and Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The High Seas - Round 1 *>========================== ================< Results - Because They Are! Men! Of The Sea! >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Ether Tuner 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Memory Stone 3 Combat Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Fright(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.
Loren is not alone, no. Be it ever so slight, the surly young man has had a moment to regard Veren carefully as they stood alongside one another, his own withering sense of ill fortune (and the sarcasm that had come just moments before) modulated by the sense that...
...that...
...he doesn't really come off like that himself, does he? Does he...?
Be as it may, though, in the bar proper, Loren has a moment to regard the familiar figure on the table, particularly when said figure waves at him. --No, Loren doesn't merely regard that figure.
"You! This is your fault, isn't it!?
He points a finger at Lanval. J'accuse...!
This is before a familiar figure rises from the crowd of sailors. Loren gapes.
And this is when Azoth drops in from the rafters, which is where Loren just gives up. "Seriously?" he remarks to the world at large, pulling a face that belongs in the dictionary next to the word 'agitated'.
"No, I don't want them to sing," he continues, unkindly, decking a sailor close at hand. The effect may be ruined by the way he shakes his hand out afterwards, grimacing. "I want them to get back to the ship."
It takes a little doing. A little creative corraling, a little fisticuffs. But eventually, the crew are 'convinced' to get on back to the docks and get on with it.
"...Can they sail if they've been drinking," Loren muses as they head on back, clearly dubious now about this whole endeavor.
If he's late, though, Leah will sigh at him and he can't have that. And that's not even counting what his father (or, Emperor forbid, his mother) will say if he has to take a later shuttle home.
DG: Azoth has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Land - X Marks The...? *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
They say that pirates sometimes frequent these waters. Perhaps that might
explain the rather recent signs of passage here, on an island you are in the
process of surveying... and the signs of disturbed earth.
Perhaps, here there might be buried treasure. Or something. Though it won't
be entirely smooth sailing to dig into the earth -- the pirates were right
bastards and planted some large rocks overtop of whatever else was buried
here.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/sultry
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Now, now, singing has nothing to do with getting on or off of ships. It's multitasking!" He steps up behind Loren once things have settled down, patting him on the shoulder. "A song might cheer you up. Eh, eh~?" Azoth beeps the first few notes of a tune, smiling unrelentingly until Loren walks away. That is, he's still smiling. It will have to be Loren who decides not to look at it.
But drunken or not, ship preparations get underway, and so too does the sailing out on the open sea. Azoth even promises, cross his heart (that he does not have) and hope to die (haha) and stick a needle in his eye (this would not do anything to his eye), that he'll keep an eye on things. Reassuring! Does he even know the first thing about sea travel?
Regardless, travels goes, then travel slows. Then it stops, here to survey one of the islands. There's sign another ship has been here and since passed, and considering the rumor of pirates, there's murmurings of treasure amongst the crew.
"Don't worry," he says to Loren, aside from the others. "We'll get this done quick and that'll make everything get on its way that much faster. All right?" Is this a genuine attempt at reassurance, or is this condensending... That's really up to Loren. Though Azoth certainly seems to actually be giving this one the concentrated effort of scanning for out of place minerals and pointing out the rocks covering a possible, supposed treasure.
"There it is! I think! Possibly. Maybe." He snaps his fingers, conjuring up an energy blade and looking to Loren. "Should I just blow it up?"
Oh, he's asking permission now?
DG: Azoth has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Land - X Marks The...?.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Margaret saunters forwards. She is tipsy but still has her grace. This mostly means she is going to be swaying a lot more than she usually does, and as she comes up near Loren, she tells him with lidded eyes, "It'll wear off."
And soon enough they're on the ship...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoUDmz-joUk
Once they pass one of the islands, Veren and Margaret are visible again.
Veren has put on a light overcoat to keep himself from getting too sunburned, and seems to have applied a lotion to his head. While largely rubbed in, he gleams in the sunshine. "Hm," he states. "Piracy, eh. It brings back some nostalgiac memories..."
Margaret, who is uncannily exactly the same complete with being in, it seems, the middle of the same part of her smoking animation, takes a long drag and exhales.
"Oh don't explode it," Margaret tells Azoth, crossing her arms. "You'll damage the value. Obviously if there's precious metals we'd retain the values but you could destroy gems, damage fittings, to say nothing of softer things."
"Indeed," Veren avers. "Not every chest of loot or booty contains stacks of coins forged of empires of eld, young Azoth! You are Azoth, correct? Forgive me, I am not certain I introduced myself. I am Beastmaster Veren, lord of the sandworm and retail representative of Hound's Party Bagatelle and Diversions!"
Margaret winks. There's a little sparkling heart.
Veren takes off the coat he literally just put on, flexing himself for a moment. "Do your uncanny senses reveal poison or sorcerous workings, or is it simply HIDDEN beneath SAND AND SOIL?" he says, shrilly, as he marches towards the designated site. "Someone get me a spade. You, lad!" He means Loren. "Have you ever dug in sand before?"
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Charming NPC Minions toward her party's challenge, Land - X Marks The...?. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
'You! This is your fault, isn't it!?'
Lanval just has a laugh through all of it. So, yes, probably. His native Domain as a Seraph does enhance the small joys in life, such as *procrastination* and *slacking off on the job* which seems to count!
SOME TIME LATER, STRONGLY IMPLYING AND SOON TO BE CONFIRMED HE CAME ALONG ON THE VOYAGE(s) IN QUESTION
"Mmm, hey, Azoth~" Seraph Lanval staggers along the scenery towards where 'X' does not mark the spot, but 'Bollocks' may just well. It might be a relevant vulgar epithet for the situation, really!
"More 'n that," Lanval says as he's now plastering himself atop one of the large rocks and not helping (he's physically weightless, for the most part, so he's still... zero help value) while Veren might take the charge with a spade or who knows what else. "Why blow 'em up? If I remember, ya really like pretty rocksh~"
"Heck!" Lanval laughs. "Fer all we know the ROCKSH are the treashure and we don't gotta do anything! Ha ha ha!"
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Land - X Marks The...?.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren just stares at Lanval blankly.
Inwardly, there are flames. Flames.
He takes one long, slow breath, and then Azoth is at his side. Loren resists -- barely -- the urge to rub at his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I know. What I don't understand is why you're persisting," Loren hisses out from between gritted teeth.
Maybe it's the appearance of so many people who get on his nerves (though to be frank, everyone gets on his nerves). Maybe it's the stress of so many months catching up to him. Maybe it's the fact that he's returning home, pretty much under order, and is going to have to stay there for a month.
...He hadn't planned on going back.
Is it genuine? Is there anything about Azoth that is genuine at all? He had asked Azoth for the truth, once, and he had gotten it.
He doesn't grimace when he glances Azoth's way. Not... precisely. But his expression is still tight in the same way.
"...Sure," he tells him, shaking his head.
"...Isn't that dangerous?" he says to Azoth, wrinkling his brow as if deep in thought. "What if you caused subsidence?" Earth is his specialty, in a sense.
Which is when Veren asks whether or not he's dug in sand before. "No?" Loren says in response, because no, he hasn't. "Look, it can't be hard. You put the shovel in the-- sand, and you..."
He's palmed a particular stone and tightens his fingers about it in a fist. It's cool to the touch. It helps him focus and calm down.
"You just dig."
As if he weren't the one who was expecting to be doing the digging.
"If the rocks are the treasure, you're welcome to them," he tells Lanval, his expression growing more pinched for the moment. So much for calm and focus.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, Land - X Marks The...?. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Land - X Marks The...? *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
They say that pirates sometimes frequent these waters. Perhaps that might
explain the rather recent signs of passage here, on an island you are in the
process of surveying... and the signs of disturbed earth.
Perhaps, here there might be buried treasure. Or something. Though it won't
be entirely smooth sailing to dig into the earth -- the pirates were right
bastards and planted some large rocks overtop of whatever else was buried
here.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/sultry
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The High Seas - Round 2 *>========================== ======================< Results - Land - X Marks The...? >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Worry Stone 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Charming NPC Minions 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 5 --(0)--> 5 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Treasure(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Hey there Mr. Bottle!" Azoth greets, looking all too delighted to see Lanval. Lanval is a good Seraph, so there's that.
Lanval also seems to annoy Loren a great deal. So there's that.
Margaret advises Azoth not to explode things, and he looks briefly disappointed before giving a sailor's salute. "Right! Got it!" Wasn't he asking Loren? But now he's listening to her...!
He squints a moment. "Softer things... Right, it wouldn't do to damage any of Bearacelsus' old friends." Is Bearacelsus that old. What even is a Bearacelsus, Azoth's not exactly advertising that. He beams at Veren. "I am! And you are?!" His eyes sparkle at this job description.
He suddenly shakes his head. "Nope! No poison, no sorcery...! Just... rock." Pause. He considers Lanval's words, then looks back to the stone covering the presumed teasure. "What? No. I couldn't possibly -- stones this size -- I could never --" Each consecutive protest sounds less convincing than the last, Azoth's gaze glitters in greed as he looks back at the rocks. "A texture carved by the sea, with compositions mixed across oceans... ah, is that a hint of obsidian I detect...~?"
Azoth takes hold of the large stone and hoists it up like a too-large prize at a carnival fair of a rigged game never intended to be won. And just as happy as a winner of such a prize, Azoth hauls it back to the ship with delight all over his face.
This leaves Loren left at the mercy of the Hounds and any possible digging, and whatever treasure there is or isn't... but at least the rock problem is solved? (Veren might have greatest claim to the treasure, at this rate.)
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sea - Sirens' Call *>======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
While sailing, a haunting song echoes from the rocks ahead. They're sirens,
a member of crew explains, a dark expression on their face. Negotiating the
coercive force of a siren's song is tricky business.
The easiest of course would be to simply plug your ears, but that makes
managing the ship more dangerous, especially in these waters. Can you think
of another way to deal with the risk of their song?
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/dark-sailing
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Me?" Lanval speaks up. "Mmmm. That'sh kind of ya, but naaah, won't take that joy from ya--" He gets carted off by Azoth, unwittingly, leaving Loren and the Hounds to be with one another.
SOME TIME LATER
Someone's raising the alarm, but they don't have nifty klaxons like they might in parts Loren and Azoth may be more familiar with. So sirens have to be signaled the old-fashioned way: spoken words of warning.
"We got sirens," shouts one of the sailors who is running all the way towards the back, and there's a lot of shouting back and forth among the crew from there. They can't plug their ears here, they need to listen and hear for other dangerous creatures like... say, if that Gomihone thing might show up. (Not that it ever has ascended to the surfaced yet, but the Thames has captured recordings of noises it makes and it has been a rather... 'popular' thing to share.)
"Mmmm. Sirens, all right, all right," Lanval clears his throat, "yep, know all 'bout 'em, 'n I find... ya might ash well shing back to 'em, real, real loud~"
Entrnaced by the song, he ambles right on up to the bow, sticks a leg out as if he might step right off to his death were he not a Seraph and one of the Water besides - and a direct servant of the very water of the world of Filgaia beyond that, and... putting on those novelty glasses like he's about to perform LIVE! At a CONCERT! In ZEBOIM TIMES, aaaand....
*** warbling not transcribed due to noise complaints ***
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Sea - Sirens' Call. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
"The common wisdom," Veren tells Loren, "but lately supplanted. Let me tell you, boy, about sand. So called as coarse, harsh, getting everywhere; sand is a fascinating material, and given the trends in our new, adopted home land, I would think you should do well to learn some facts about sand before it comes knocking on your door! FOR INSTANCE: Did you know that many plants can, in fact, GROW in sand, with at most a five percent organic amendment?!"
Margaret and Veren, of course, were glad to see Lanval - but they were in the pub together! Well, Margaret and Lanval were. They're almost friends. "Bearacelsus?" Margaret murmurs. She gazes upon the thought of this thing. And soon enough...
They seize a prize! Or at least a rock.
AND THEN
Sirens.
The two Hounds hum to themselves.
And then Veren says, no, sings,
"You can still be with the wizard,
"What you've worked and waited for.
"You can have all you ever wanted..."
Margaret answers: "I know."
"But I don't want it; no,
"I can't want it,
"Any more..."
"Something has changed within me," Margaret begins to belt, and it turns out *she's actually a pretty good singer.* "Something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules, of someone else's game!"
She sweeps her arm with the gauntlet around. "Too late for second guessing. Too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts... close my eyes... and leap..."
("Don't actually leap," Veren adds. But then:)
"It's time to try, defying gravity... I think I'll try, defying gravity; and YOU," Margaret gestures towards the sounds of the sirens, "Can't pull me down."
"Can't I make you understand," says Veren, "you're having delusions of grandeur--"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuDOWqHClV8 <- it continues more or less like this, all 7 minutes, with increasingly visible delight on both these old assholes' parts
DG: Margaret has contributed a risky Wits Action toward her party's challenge, Sea - Sirens' Call.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It wasn't all that long ago that he and Margaret were technically at odds. It also wasn't all that long ago that things -- as he'd witnessed, first hand -- had rather significantly shifted, as far as Althena's faithful and the rest had gone. The fact that she hadn't just pounced on him immediately or something first thing suggests that, perhaps, her own loyalties have rather shifted.
...Well, it's that, or she's waiting for the right time to strike. Loren can see that also being true!
Still, things are relatively peaceful, sailing, right up until the moment they happen across that apparent patch of buried treasure.
Which is to say: Loren gets a lecture about sand.
Loren grows glassy-eyed.
Other people find the treasure! And/or rocks. Azoth seems pleased about the rocks. Loren, evading doing any real work, slips back onto the ship. And once more, things are somewhat (?) peaceful.
Until the sirens, that is.
"Wait, aren't those just..."
He can hear singing, in the distance. Lanval suggests singing right on back. Slowly, Loren turns his head, wide-eyed already at the sound of Lanval's singing, his incredulity only growing as Velen and Margaret begin a duet of... their own.
"Is this... really going to drown out--" he struggles against the chorus. He stares into the middle distance for a moment yet, shakes his head and...
Sings?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miEoXz5kENs
"The first word was 'dream', from the middle of my sleep..." he starts out, shakily, continuing to sing as much of the song as he can recall. He's closed his eyes tightly. His ears have turned red with embarrassment. Still, isn't this better than death...? Maybe?
Singing in Solarian in front of all these people -- there's no way that's a good idea. He doesn't know much about surface-dweller songs But, he's learned a little bit of Lan's song, and...
Hopefully, it'll be lost in the general din.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a risky Wits Action toward his party's challenge, Sea - Sirens' Call.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Maybe the real treasure was the Seraph who hitchhiked on a large stone along the way.
BUT NOW, SIRENS!
"Sirens?" Azoth perches up on the rail of the ship, looking out over the waters. It wouldn't be a problem to turn off his ability to receive audio input, but the idea of running into Gomihone and being caught unaware is something that would inspire actual fear into the core of the tiny war machine.
He's looking a little too eager to hear one of their songs right about now...! Would it work on a machine? Other ensorcelled forces have found ways to temporarily distort his function. A siren isn't impossible.
Lanval offers a strategy. A logical, practical strategy that is surely the best one to this problem, ever. Azoth's whole face lights up as Lanval... demonstrates. Veren and Margaret also have their own contribution.
This day is such a good day. Azoth looks expectantly to Loren, as if his battery were charged by whatever faces might be made in response.
He does not, could not have predicted what occurs next. Azoth knows when to shut up -- he just chooses not to exercise it, most of the time. Right now he does, looking away from Loren so no obnoxiously encouraging android faces instead discourage this chosen course of action.
(Maybe he'll even fail to mention it to Lan later. Only maybe.)
But he, too, must sing. So he does, sitting on the railing of the ship, legs dangling off, and a few too many sounds being produced from his voice synthesizer at once to sound natural. They layer over, reverberating, spoken in an unfamiliar language. It isn't even Zeboim. Is he making up nonsensical words? But something about it is making light pulse through him, core to fingertips.
There's something calculated about the observations of the sound wavelengths, though... he's trying to fill in the 'gaps' to generate as much discord as possible, collectively. Sorry, sirens.
And, uh, the entire crew of the ship.
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Oculus Ex Machina toward his party's challenge, Sea - Sirens' Call.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sea - Sirens' Call *>======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
While sailing, a haunting song echoes from the rocks ahead. They're sirens,
a member of crew explains, a dark expression on their face. Negotiating the
coercive force of a siren's song is tricky business.
The easiest of course would be to simply plug your ears, but that makes
managing the ship more dangerous, especially in these waters. Can you think
of another way to deal with the risk of their song?
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/dark-sailing
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The High Seas - Round 3 *>========================== ========================< Results - Sea - Sirens' Call >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 5 --(21)--> 26 Fail Investigate 1 Wits Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Investigate 1 Wits Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Oculus Ex Machina 3 Wits Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Seraph Lanval might be, on an average day, a drunken layabout and mooch in-between periods of grueling work helping cleanse a specific type of spiritual venom from Filgaia's metaphysical ecosystem. But he's not going to get everyone on a boat killed over a funny joke, or even an unfunny one.
His brand of singing is purely rooted in the sheer joy of it rather than much in the way of skill, and he serves mostly to be an introductory act as Margaret and Veren put forth an incredible duet between them, and beyond the thick veil of fog with ominous singing...
There are lights. Pale, distracting lights, followed by a few figures and shapes - kinda-humanoid, as if trying to encompass both mermaids and harpies in the same organism - as they are waving around bioluminescent jellyfish like one might lighters.
The metaphorical baton is passed along to Loren, who makes an attempt. An attempt, that draws more of those ghastly figures along the rocks and shallows closer, as Azoth provides back-up... backing-upping. Somehow, the two of them form a heretofore unknown music genre between the two of them, to words and languages unknown, unknowable, unmistakable as... song.
Half-remembered song sung in earnest by Lan finds melodious harmony only in the loosest sense whatsoever, and as glowing eyes peer forward...
There is chittering, and then stomping of claw-fins or whatever horrid monstrous anatomy this local species of siren has in a sound approximating that of clapping.
* The Sirens were charmed by Loren Voss!
They throw things at the ship! Mostly half-eaten fish, including a whole... bouquet... wrapped in seaweed flying right for Loren's grasp.
"...That ain't how I shaw it happenin'," Lanval says as he steps back from the front of the boat, an aside to Margaret and Veren. "Y'think he got a future in it?"
Loren can deal with the awful objects of affection as he deems fit, as the crew murmurs amongst one another that they will never speak of what happened here ever again.
DG: Margaret has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Sea - Aggressive Peahat *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
There are a number of natural hazards, namely monsters, that can be
encountered while sailing the seas of Aquvy. One of the more notorious ones
though is the Peahat, a strange somewhat plantlike airborne creature.
One of which has just caught up to your vessel. Peahats are annoying and
tenacious by nature, and this one is no different, harassing your ship from
the air. It's up to you to destroy it or drive it off before it can do any
serious damage.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/submergio-viol
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
As Loren is showered in tribute, Veren crows, "Well sung, sir! Hah! You've charmed them, I reckon! If you come back this way, you might be able to make a catch!"
Margaret cocks her head and narrows her eyes at Loren. What he sang... and sang so well. Maybe she's marked someone for recruitment.
But there isn't much time to palaver. "I think he might well," Margaret tells Lanval, turning to face him, crossing her arms and gesturing a little with her pipe. "Talent's so hard to find. By the Goddess it feels good to sing! And look," she tells Lanval even as a Pea Hat comes out of the mist, "no monsters!"
"You ought not to sit so close to the edge," says Veren, stepping towards Azoth and offering a hand JUST as the decelerating Pea Hat clobbers him directly to the deck. He squawks in indignation.
Margaret turns her head. "Oh dear Lady," she says, sighing hugely and reaching for her sword. "Quickly! KILL IT!"
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Rune Blade - IGNITION! toward her party's challenge, Sea - Aggressive Peahat. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
HE WAS TRYING NOT TO BE HEARD.
But they hear him. Oh, do they hear him. Opening his eyes, Loren's voice begins to falter as he realizes all eyes and ears are on him, and he falls at last, stammering, into silence.
Worse, there is applause. Of a sort.
"..."
Staring straight ahead as he is showered in half-eaten fish and bestowed a 'bouquet' wrapped in seaweed, Loren says not a word. Not when there are speculations about his future as a singer, not when Margaret sizes him up anew. Not. A. Word.
Once they are off and away he quietly moves to deposit the bouquet overboard, retreating then as if in search of some dark corner.
BUT LO! WHAT FIEND OVER STARBOARD BREAKS?
"What," Loren utters decisively, gazing up at the Peahat as it looms out of the mists. Prevaricating for but the moment he rushes to Veren's aid, medical kit (modified, for the surface-dwellers) in tow.
"Don't just lie there! Get away from it if you can move!" he yells at Veren.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Sea - Aggressive Peahat. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmm, y'know, ya might be--" Lanval's eyes open half-lidded as he looks up and sees what flits through the mist and proceeds to sock poor Veren upside his everything, and the Water Seraph straightens himself out.
"All right, thish ish the firsht reeeeeeeal dangeroush thing we've had the lasht few... three hoursh?" Lanval scratches his chin. Three hours? That doesn't seem right. He looks directly ahead at nothing and looks to one's lower right (his lower left). "Mmmm. Time really fliesh, huh."
what
So it stands to him in order to channel upon the power within as he takes a sip from his drinking gourd, borrowing that bit of power from Schturdark to do what must be done! His eyes glow a brilliant #-1 INVALID ANSI DEFINITION: +Aquamaarine aquamarine as the aura of water in all of its forms great and... less great... as he brings his gaze upon the resting peahat post-assault, and in a display of unmatched prowess for spirits of water given will and power by the Blessing of Althena...
Hurls a bottle at it.
"Harrumph!"
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Sea - Aggressive Peahat. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth, too, isn't willing to do any sort of obnoxious anything that might get them killed. Thing is, they clearly passed that concern. And, fortunately or unfortunately, 'shutting up' in word or in deed has lost all its advantage now that the sirens' attentions have been captured by Loren Voss in particular. Enthralled. Charmed! So Azoth, too, claps for Loren's performance.
"I think he does!" he remarks of Loren's future, even though (especially because) no one asked him. (And isn't that an entertaining hypothetical, Azoth thinks, of Loren leaving Solaris only to go about singing.)
Loren is too mortified to speak.
Azoth's batteries are charged.
Veren gives some wise advise, and Azoth's juuust about to accept it and the gesture to safety when SUDDENLY, PEAHAT
Azoth beeps in distress and falls over the side of the boat.
...
......
...........
A few moments later he pops back up, snapping his fingers to create an energy blade to fire down upon the peahat. His arm sparks and Azoth blinks as his sword explodes next to him instead of where it should. "Uh." He shoves a quarts crystal into a seam on his arm, completing some sort of circuit and crafting a sword of light to explode at the creature for real this time.
Then he hands Loren a horrible sea bouquet. "Oh, you dropped this."
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Memory Stone toward his party's challenge, Sea - Aggressive Peahat.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Sea - Aggressive Peahat *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
There are a number of natural hazards, namely monsters, that can be
encountered while sailing the seas of Aquvy. One of the more notorious ones
though is the Peahat, a strange somewhat plantlike airborne creature.
One of which has just caught up to your vessel. Peahats are annoying and
tenacious by nature, and this one is no different, harassing your ship from
the air. It's up to you to destroy it or drive it off before it can do any
serious damage.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/submergio-viol
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Slow:_Agility_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The High Seas - Round 4 *>========================== =====================< Results - Sea - Aggressive Peahat >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 26 --(5)--> 31 Pass Solarian Medical Kit 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Liability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Rune Blade - IGNITION! 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Memory Stone 3 Combat Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 65 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse|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> Margaret has posed.
"AGH! TAKEN BY SURPRISE! MY DIGNITY - MY HONOUR AS A BEASTMASTER!" declares Veren even as he does, in fact, execute an escape maneuver worthy of Tanuki City to get nearer to Loren. HIs wounds are mild, if somewhat agonizing. "Do you - do you have the remedy? Do what you must! Agh, it burns!"
The thrown bottle throws the Peahat off course into a wobble, leading to it bouncing squishily off of the deck. It then turns around, not able, perhaps, to perceive Lanval well. It can definitely percieve Azoth's energy sword, though, it turns out, not for very long. Margaret assists in the dicing.
A blue crystal worth 5 Rupees lands on the deck. Margaret does not recognize it as money and wipes her forehead. "Veren! Are you dead?"
"ONLY IN SPIRIT."
"He's fine," Margaret offers to Azoth. "Have we met? I'm Margaret. Here," she says, holding out her right hand, "bump my fist, I was mutilated while saving the realm."
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - Land - For He Is A Pirate King *>================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
It's during the exploration of this island that you find yourself suddenly
under attack by pirates. They're no match for your group and you make short
work of them, and in the process you find out that there is in fact a pirate
lair here, set up within a crumbling ancient ruin. Naturally, you fight your
way in.
Inside there are more pirates, leading you through a prolonged battle
sequence through the corridors of the ruins, until at last you find yourself
up against the pirate king himself--
And now the /true/ battle begins.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/infernal
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Maim:_Combat_Down! and Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Even in the midst of all of this... all of this, Loren has a terrible, horrifying realization:
Azoth will never let him live this down.
Azoth will never let him live this down. As fraught -- if somewhat on the mend, given more recent interactions -- as things have been between the two of them, this will practically...
...end up as a normal state of affairs, as far as most of (all of??) Loren's relationships with other people are concerned? Concerning!
"What do you mean, remedy? I have some potions," Loren tells Veren, barely disguising the hint of disgust that threatens to creep into his voice as he discusses potions. "Look, you're not going to die," he adds, inspecting the man's injuries before appending, "probably."
Chaos, of a sort, erupts in the near distance to the both of them; Loren stiffens as the Peahat is roundly dealt with, too close at hand. No sooner has he gotten back to his feet than he's presented again with the unwanted terrible bouquet. He gives Azoth a look. It probably won't help.
The mist parts!
"Rocks! ROCKS!" shouts one of the sailors, as land appears too close at hand and bearing towards them. There is a terrible crunching grind as the ship comes aground on the rocks, followed by an equally terrible near-silence, punctuated by the terrible waves.
Loren doesn't so much as swear. He stays right where he is, terrible bouquet still in hand, and squints into the far distance, as if this is just another expected terrible turn of events that has befallen him.
His expression doesn't change all that much when there is a loud 'AR HARR' followed by the arrival of a bevvy of pirates upon the deck of their grounded vessel. He hits one of them with the bouquet in a desultory manner before drawing steel himself. It won't take much at all to handle them, such as they are.
"...Great. It looks like some kind of pirate... island," Loren remarks, shading his eyes and sighting more of the 'boarding' crew's compatriots advancing towards the shore. This is just his luck, isn't it? But if they're not going to get any peace, then he'll take the fight right to them--
And such it is that there is
a series
of increasingly silly fights.
With pirates.
All the way across the pirate island and into the secret pirate fort (crumbling ruin and all) until they find him, seated atop his pirate throne.
"A throne? Seriously," Loren sighs, absolutely done at this point. The ship's taken damaged, he's going to be late, his parents are going to be disappointed in him and probably Leah will too, and now he has to deal with some weirdo who thinks that eyepatches are cool--
...Emperor, he's glad that Leah 1) isn't here and 2) probably can't read minds.
If, fidgeting with the tuner looped around his wrist, he suddenly brings up a coiling spray of stone (like a drill!) for the would-be Pirate King, well, Ether channeling can be affected by emotional states! It's just science.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Ether Tuner toward his party's challenge, Land - For He Is A Pirate King. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Crrrrrunch.
"You know," Margaret says mildly, "I'm starting to think the discount tickets were a false savings, Veren."
"I am inclined to agree," Veren says, "although they were quite friendly to the budget." Then Loren speaks to them of the impression that there are PIRATES here, and the banditti who are boiling aboard are in fact of that persuasion.
Margaret frowns. "Is that right," she says.
LITERALLY FIVE SECONDS LATER
Margaret, surrounded by the luminous nebula of Starlight Express and with her mangled hand held behind her back, is duelling five pirates. She is winning because she is capable of moving approximately four times faster than them if she's taking it easy, and she is absolutely willing to kick them. Also, she's taller than all but one of them.
Veren, for his part, appears to have commanded a seagull using some fell magick or other. "Take them! Take their eyes, my children! THE EYES!"
IT'S HORRIBLE!
The bad news is that Margaret is out of breath by the time thy get to the pirate king. "Hold on," Margaret says, raising a hand, "Parley."
"Yes! Parley!" says Veren, with two parrots, four seagulls, a raven somehow, and one hobgob on his outspread harms. "Parley th" "I SAID PARLEY VEREN DON'T ANTAGONIZE THE LEADERSHIP" "Parley it is."
DG: Margaret has used her Tool Rune Blade - IGNITION! toward her party's challenge, Land - For He Is A Pirate King. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
At least Loren knows. And perhaps Loren even... accepts. Because now this is a precious memory burned into the database of an advanced artificial intelligence. It's probably not a big deal.
Veren's spirit has been wounded -- along with some flesh -- and Azoth winces. "You can save him, right, Loren?" Veren's not dying.
Azoth gives a curious chir-beep at Margaret's offered fist, lifting his own with some hesitation before calculation optimized fistbump trajectory. A beat passes before he beams over this newly learned greeting.
He must not abuse its power. (He will.)
"Azoth," he offers in turn. "A wandering machine who's made a few friends." Friends with Loren Voss? Well, why not! "And I appreciate your noble sacrifice."
Someone shouts about rocks and Azoth is the most excited person across both worlds and maybe a few of the ones beyond the sea of stars before the crash proves these rocks are not friendly. Tragedy! Betrayal! And pirates.
So. Many. Pirates.
Azoth rolls his shoulder joint with a worrying creak by the time they reach the pirate king. "That's cosmetic," he announces, as if that's remotely what cosmetic means. But the real goal here, the one thing Azoth absolutely must do, actually, is make sure nothing happens to Loren. He can be late as long as he remains a whole singular Loren. Azoth, unfortunately, has little understanding of the real sense of urgency at all. If he knew these concerned involved Leah, he might've found a more efficient way launch Loren across the sea.
If only.
Azoth takes a moment to review his memory stone. Let's see, how many run ins with pirates has he had? Any in the past? Well, there aren't any airships here, that's no use, hm...
He squints up at the ruins that will be their battleground, then makes a fingergun to shoot a beam of energy at a loose bit of stone, trying to send it raining down upon the king's head for a calculated bonk -- and a very deliberate attempt to antagonize the pirate king's leadership, should it knock off any royal related headware. This is about the same moment Margaret says not to do this.
DG: Azoth has used his Tool Memory Stone toward his party's challenge, Land - For He Is A Pirate King.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"What kinda pirate island?" Lanval asks, coming down from divinity as he picks back up the bottle, as if that needs disambiguation.
FIGHTS!
They all pass harmlessly through Seraph Lanval as he stands there with a hand outstretched like he might successfully Gandalf them.
"'m shtartin' ta take Resonance fer granted," he says as he has a sip of the drinking gourd, and proceeds to not be very helpful at all en route to the throne.
THE THRONE
Seraph Lanval, having learned his lesson, waits to see if by sitting down on the throne should the Pirate King rise... if he becomes the Pirate King. He doesn't voice this aloud but he waits to see if there's a sudden coronation. If there isn't.
He throws an empty Holy Bottle at the Pirate King's head.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Land - For He Is A Pirate King. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - Land - For He Is A Pirate King *>================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
It's during the exploration of this island that you find yourself suddenly
under attack by pirates. They're no match for your group and you make short
work of them, and in the process you find out that there is in fact a pirate
lair here, set up within a crumbling ancient ruin. Naturally, you fight your
way in.
Inside there are more pirates, leading you through a prolonged battle
sequence through the corridors of the ruins, until at last you find yourself
up against the pirate king himself--
And now the /true/ battle begins.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/infernal
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Maim:_Combat_Down! and Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* The High Seas - Round 5 *>========================== ==================< Results - Land - For He Is A Pirate King >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 31 --(5)--> 36 Pass Ether Tuner 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margaret 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Rune Blade - IGNITION! 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azoth 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Memory Stone 3 Combat Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Maim Effects: Resilient(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 High Seas!
==============================<* The High Seas *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Fortune's Blade *>========================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Once the ruins' trials are overcome, you find in the heart of the place a
particular unique treasure:
Lain on a single chipped and battered altar is a 'blade' made of coins,
specifically an old currency with holes cut through them. The symbol of
Chapapanga is inlaid at the 'hilt'. Those who know of such practices will
know that these 'blades' were used as divination tools by certain Baskar
tribes. Perhaps in the right hands it might still be useful today.
BGM: https://failbettergames.bandcamp.com/track/the-surface
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Maim:_Combat_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Treasure:_Exploration_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Of course I can!" Loren calls back to Azoth, almost as if he's a little offended -- but of course, sounding a little offended is pretty much just the normal Loren, huh.
But that's before the ship runs aground and they land right smack in the middle of the beehive that is the pirate island. And like a lot of bees if their hive was violated, the pirates are pretty angry. Or excited? It's hard to tell.
...Probably regretful, though, after the group has seen to lay them out, one after another.
Definitely regretful, after they've seen to nearly the entire damn island in one fashion or another, carving their way towards the would-be throne room of their leader. The pirate king rises from his throne, cutlasses glinting in the torchlight and grins in spite of the odds (because of the odds?) as a fight appears to be on the horizon.
'Parley!' calls out Margaret. The king of the pirates lowers his weapons a touch. "Parley? Aye, I think I can spare the lady a--"
WHOCK
He takes a bottle to the back of the head. And a bit of stone. And gets menaced by Loren's oncoming wave of spiraling rock.
He does not, at any point, get back up again to have a ridiculous fight to the death with the lot of them.
"Huh," Loren remarks, fidgeting with his glasses. "So... now what?"
A little looting is what. Some exploring turns up some loose treasure. There are coins, yes, but nothing to get wildly excited about. Still, there is a very interesting talisman made of coins (some Guardianist doodad, if Loren's to be any judge), some maps (wait, did they find one of the cached treasures earlier on this expedition?), and -- most importantly -- an intact ship once they follow the ruins down and towards the sea, where a hidden cove once provided the pirates with protected harbor.
"Huh," Loren remarks again, actually feeling a little hopeful for the first time on this particular voyage. "Guess it worked out."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth pops up beside Loren, all smiles.
"Fantastic! How about a song?"
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Margaret hoists up the coin-sword, curiously.
"It's jingly," says Margaret, thoughtfully. She eyes the fallen Pirate King.
Veren considers the harbored ship, rubbing his chin. "Hrm," he says. "HRRRRRRMM." One of the parrots stands on his head.
Both of them immediately look at Azoth. "Yes." ("Wwwrraaaak!")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9sdxhuCN6c
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval gets off the throne, some moments later.
"Bein' a king ish borin'," says the water spirit who contentedly spent over five hundred years of his existence - most of it - tied to a specific location through so many difficult changes and challenges that culminated in it becoming the kind of place this Pirate King's den... might have liked.
Since these pirates won't be doing anything for a while, he nominates a cucumber that they somehow had with them. (This may also be worthy of song.)