2023-11-10: A Return to a Faraway Land
- Log: A Return to a Faraway Land
- Cast: Li Ruzhen, Seraph Lanval, Josephine Lovelace, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: Damzena Desert
- Date: November 10, 2023
- Summary: Ruzhen is hot on the heels of another missing persons case, but neither is she alone -- nor for that matter is Faraway Lands without its risks for even experienced Drifters.
DG: A party led by Seraph Lanval is now entering Faraway Lands. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Electrified Doorway *>======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
There are several entrances to Faraway Lands, rather than a single central
doorway. Famously, all of them are locked tight and difficult to enter. Many
a Digger has been turned back at this point, unable to enter.
You find one of the doors that is not locked tight. Instead, the door
irregularly opens -- moving up and down -- in an almost spasm-like way.
Lightning leaps and arcs away from it. It seems that whatever powers the
door has malfunctioned, and left the door in a state of constantly opening
and closing. To enter, one must get under -- and avoid the arcs of
electricity leaping periodically from it.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! and Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Li Ruzhen has posed.
Faraway Lands -- a power station dating back to the Zeboim Era, dwelling deep in the recesses of the Damzen region. It's home to a number of remarkable curiosities and wonders dating all the way back, but so are its dangers.
Today, Li Ruzhen stands in front of the station, with a sheet of paper and a Picto Box photograph in her hand. She has her raggedy overcoat over her suit and shirt combo. A cigarette's lit in her mouth as she reviews.
"The missing person's name is Cole Haraway, 48 years old. Locals in Damzen described him as a tall guy, just short of six feet. Brown hair, mutton chops, hazel eyes. He was last seen a week ago wearing a duster coat and a ten-gallon hat, the typical wear Drifters don around these parts, drunk at a bar, promising to pay his tab once he strikes it big in a Digsite he's signed up for, Faraway Lands."
She scans around the station and starts walking around.
"Most of the entry points are sealed off and barred; no signs of intrusion. It's unlikely the target's come this way... hmm?"
Then the detective turns the corner and witnesses an irregularly opening door, lightning leaping and arcing away from it.
"That's a right hazard, that one..." Ruzhen mumbles, then looks down. "Muddy footprints from leather boots, size 12, relatively fresh compared to the layer of dust surrounding it..."
Ruzhen takes a deeper breath and flicks her cigarette forward, which burns up against the lightning. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I suppose."
DG: Li Ruzhen has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Electrified Doorway.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"That'sh the eashiesht way in," Lanval chimes in as he materializes out of a bottle. "Fer a given value of it. Sho... don't blame 'em for comin' in that-a-way. If they did."
The Water Seraph takes a step back - he is vulnerable to electricity - and makes a wet whistling sound like someone who just doesn't know how. On the echoing winds of a 'pbbbhbhbbhbhbhbhttttt' comes a horrific sight, indeed, a malformed beast born of the hubris and excess of the Zeboim era itself.
A flat-bodied, hollow air-filled horse with no legs, brightly colored in hues no horse actually would, with a painted-on smiling face. It might be scarier than the prospect of getting squished by the opening/closing door or the streams of lightning.
Lanval gestures broadly to it with a warm smile that is genuine, to something that is not at all inviting! But once anyone who wants to board can, Lanval will help try and usher everyone through.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bouyant Steed toward his party's challenge, Electrified Doorway. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Faraway Lands, a power station dating back to the Zeboim Era. It is, in a word, a dangerous and active ruin and also a place Josie has messed around in before. Case in point, see the glowing crystal tucked away at the bottom of her bag that even Josephine hasn't yet pawned in exchange for money for drink or even basic necessities.
Some things are a little too important to let out of your grip.
It may in fact be that crystal's presence that has brought her around these parts again today rather than, say, running a dangerous errand for someone in a local town in exchange for hard cash or the like -- many of Josie's debts may be squared away but there's still one loose end left hanging and she'll be damned if she knows a good way to settle it without leaving behind her inelegant corpse. Still, there has been one thought...
And to that end: here she is.
"Got a spare?" Josie drawls to Ruzhen, peeling herself away from the corner in which she had, until now, been lingering in. "Damn if I ain't gone and left my smokes in my other pocket," she says, gesturing expansively with both hands. She cuts a strange figure, here on her lonesome with but a... pigeon...? on her shoulder to keep her company.
"Well, fancy that! Ain't that you, Lanval? And your..."
Slowly, Josie makes a face. Some things are too much even for her, and they may well include the sudden arrival of the Mighty Steed.
"Right," she says, hopping aboard it even so because that doorway's sparking and she's not got a better idea. "All aboard?"
Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to doors.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Electrified Doorway.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida stands at Ruzhen's flank, eyeing the trail of footprints with a creased brow and a deep frown. "Alone, presumably," she says, and she heaves a sigh. "I hope he's alive. This place is... more dangerous than it lets on." And that's saying a lot, seeing as how she's less than twenty feet away from a door that is sparking and violently snapping open and shut.
With a tremendous and impolite noise, Lanval provides a solution. Ida eyes his mount of choice, figures a little rubber insulation might, theoretically help, and clambers aboard. "All aboard," she says, to Josie. "I'll give us a little extra push." Pressing her heels together, Ida focuses, and the wind picks up behind them, studded with motes of green light. The... steed might not be the most aerodynamic thing in the world, but it can at least slide.
Hopefully.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Electrified Doorway. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Electrified Doorway *>======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
There are several entrances to Faraway Lands, rather than a single central
doorway. Famously, all of them are locked tight and difficult to enter. Many
a Digger has been turned back at this point, unable to enter.
You find one of the doors that is not locked tight. Instead, the door
irregularly opens -- moving up and down -- in an almost spasm-like way.
Lightning leaps and arcs away from it. It seems that whatever powers the
door has malfunctioned, and left the door in a state of constantly opening
and closing. To enter, one must get under -- and avoid the arcs of
electricity leaping periodically from it.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and Quicken:_Agility_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Faraway Lands - Round 1 *>========================== =======================< Results - Electrified Doorway >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Bouyant Steed 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Li Ruzhen 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Zephyr Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Li Ruzhen has posed.
"I don't see any other footprints, so it's likely..." Ruzhen confirms to Ida. "I do see why you don't tackle these sites alone, even when you're experienced. If the unexpected happens, you don't have backup."
Lanval manifests something that, quite frankly, is beyond the pale. Ruzhen stares at it for a remarkable amount of seconds, before saying, "Is this a... sign of divine judgement?"
She shakes it off, since he's inviting people to come aboard. Josephine rocks up and asks for a spare, and Ruzhen scowls for a moment, as if to complain, 'hey, smokes aren't cheap, you know', then--
Then she makes eye contact with Penelope.
Two more seconds pass, and a cold sweat breaks from her forehead. A shiver running down her spine.
SHIVERS: [Medium: Success] In the distant past, a group of Drifters proceed through a botanic garden of civilsations ancient past, in search of truth behind the Lost City of July. They turn, and discover a contraption at the heart of a cobweb of wires and filigree. Knowing its danger, they leave it alone, but with naught but a little flap of its wings...
"... sure," Ruzhen answers, following her inexplicable danger sense. What was that?? She hands over a half-consumed pack of Hearthfire Luckies, filtered. She's got a light for Josie too.
The detective climbs onboard, looking to Ida. "You've been here before in the past, I assume." Still can't get the bird out of her head.
Allons-y, buoyant steed! The lightning is passed!
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Unknown *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
When you enter this hallway, it is darkened. The power has been cut off
here; the lights, at best, only flicker. Which is when you hear a voice echo
out:
"Nnrraaaaauuuuum... w h y mmhhhhhn d i d aaooonnhhh y o u mwaaau f o r g e
t?"
The wall near you shifts. Plates crack and fall away; the metal bends and
buckles, as a viscuous fluid around a core of rotting flesh, rock, and
skeleton comes out. The creature that emerges is an Unknown: a thing of
protoplasm around that core, which reaches out a tentacle-like arm -- trying
to grasp at you. Whatever flesh it touches begins to stiffen, and harden.
And, if one doesn't find a way to cure it, turn to stone.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, and |
| Quicken:_Agility_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Li Ruzhen has posed.
A few minutes later, the Drifters have slipped into the station. The distribution of power isn't even; it's dark here. "It's narrow..." Ruzhen observes. "Not the best place for a potential encounter--"
A flicker of lights, then an echoing voice:
"Nnrraaaaauuuuum... w h y mmhhhhhn d i d aaooonnhhh y o u mwaaau f o r g e t?"
The wall nearest to the Drifters shifts; plates crack and fall away. A viscous fluid flows out of it, surrounded by a core of rotting flesh, rock and skeleton... with a telltale ten-gallon hat and the remnants of a duster coat.
It's beyond words for Ruzhen.
"What...?"
Her surprise costs her, as the creature's tentacle lunges and snares around her arm. There's a grimace in the dark, and then suddenly, the sound of a lighter being lit -- and a cigarette tossed the other way, which seems to draw the Unknown's attention. A chance to attack!
The detective then slumps against the wall, her arm stiff, sweating profusely. "It only grazed me but... my arm doesn't... feel right..."
She stares with surprise as her entire arm, coat sleeve and all, starts to slowly transform into stone. "So this is what Jay's talking about..."
DG: Li Ruzhen has used her Tool Hearthfire Lucky toward her party's challenge, Unknown. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Shortsighted! The party will suffer a penalty next round... but not this round!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
It is a ride. Smooth? Sure. Expedient? Yes. But this rubbery thing is... a thing that exists, that clears the distance needed on a tide of Lanval's own sorceries and Ida's winds.
Lanval blinks a few times and settles with his eyes being half-open to the echoing voice, before the plates crack and fall on top of him. Even the Oracle of Schturdark is still a singular person-entity who stands to be surprised, voluminous waterfall-like beard hairs bristling with a passing spark of electricity and an almost cartoonish grimace as he staggers back to the unknown thing.
"D-Did they alwaysh look like that?" Lanval asks. He's never really seen a Drifter look anything like that but there's been a lot of surprising people they've all met over the years. He waves a hand as if to say hello, but---
Tentacle lunges out to snare Ruzhen's arm, and just like that, the Water Seraph's put the cork of a Holy Bottle between his teeth before pouring it into his drinking gourd, then starting to spin it about like a decanter to set some sort of circle to try and give an area for this unknown Unknown to not encroach upon them.
"'ll get to ya in a shec," Lanval says as he eyes what's left of the unlucky Drifter of previously unknown fate, keeping that drinking gourd swingin'.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Unknown. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie knows that look. "Can't blame a girl for--" she starts to say in response, only for the mystery woman to get a strange look in her eyes, almost as if she had seen beyond the horizon and had something peer back at her. Josie, in response, raises one pale eyebrow.
She receives for her troubles a cigarette. "Well!" she says, clearly cheered by this turn of events. With a snap of ozone, the gifted cigarette is lit.
Penelope continues to gaze at Ruzhen, darkly.
So it is that they pass over the sparking threshold without incident.
"Ain't my first rodeo, neither," Josie remarks, gesturing broadly with her cigarette. "This place's a right pain, but keep your head on straight and you'll..."
Something howls.
The lights flicker.
And then Josie sees it, too.
"God have mercy," she swears, going first of all for her flash, her gaze never leaving the abomination as she downs a shot of drink. Thus steadied, she calls out, "Don't you let it touch you or none! These buggers're... ah, already gotcha, didn't it?"
Slowly, she slips her flask into her pocket again.
"Well never you mind that! Hey, Lanval! Sweetheart!" She is not referring to the same person when she slings out both those names in rapid succession. "I ain't given you a-- ah, ain't the time for that! C'mon, look lively!"
Josie, for her part, hesitates no longer: drawing in one smooth motion, she unloads upon the abomination.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Unknown. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"That's exactly why," Ida says, meeting Ruzhen's gaze with a nod and a dead-serious look. "I've lost track of how many times I could've died if someone hadn't been there to help me. Going into any ruin alone is..." She trails off, and thinks of Edward. She did her best to impress upon her brother the importance of having a trusted team, and as far as she knows, he's followed her instructions. He's even sent her Picto Box shots of himself and his comrades, together.
Is that why she's here? Worry that her little brother might one day turn up missing?
"It's an inflatable water toy," Ida says, her tone deadpan as the steed manifests.
There's no light inside. Ida, an experienced Drifter, has prepared for this; the photosensitive enchanted light crysal on her duster ignites, providing soft torchlight-equivalent in the narrow tunnel. "Yes. There's--"
The light illuminates the narrow entrance, the glistening ooze and raw, rotting meat. Ida shrieks, a sharp, shrill noise of alarm, but on top of the horror are well-honed survival instincts. "GET BACK!" she shouts, her hand already palming a flare grenade. The wick brushes against a Dragon Filament in her palm, shifted just for this occasion, and she hurls the flare fastball-style at what's left of Cole Haraway.
Ida doesn't let up. She draws Devil's Due and empties the clip, aiming for center mass with cold, trained precision.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flare Grenade toward her party's challenge, Unknown. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Unknown *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
When you enter this hallway, it is darkened. The power has been cut off
here; the lights, at best, only flicker. Which is when you hear a voice echo
out:
"Nnrraaaaauuuuum... w h y mmhhhhhn d i d aaooonnhhh y o u mwaaau f o r g e
t?"
The wall near you shifts. Plates crack and fall away; the metal bends and
buckles, as a viscuous fluid around a core of rotting flesh, rock, and
skeleton comes out. The creature that emerges is an Unknown: a thing of
protoplasm around that core, which reaches out a tentacle-like arm -- trying
to grasp at you. Whatever flesh it touches begins to stiffen, and harden.
And, if one doesn't find a way to cure it, turn to stone.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Faraway Lands - Round 2 *>========================== =============================< Results - Unknown >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Li Ruzhen 5 --(17)--> 22 Fail Hearthfire Lucky 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Shortsigh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Flare Grenade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Maim Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Resilient(1)|Shortsighted(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Li Ruzhen has posed.
Ruzhen isn't a stranger to combat, but... she is a stranger to supernatural occurrences. Her fare is gang violence, street shootings, conspiracies, not... not... whatever this Drifter's been turned into. She obediently stays inside the range of the Holy Bottle (quietly thankful it's not triggering the magic allergy) while Lanval packs a wallop to the core, and Josephine and Ida both unload with calibers far larger than even the black market dealers are packing.
A little groggy from the lights of the flare grenade, Ruzhen forces herself back up to her feet, looking at the core where there was once a horrid abomination that she can't even begin to fantasise the process of becoming.
"... the clothes match the description, but..."
Ruzhen pauses, and reaches into that slimy mess with her unpetrified arm and-- pulls out a little locket, which gleams against the dim light of Ida's light crystal. There's a greyscale picture of a little girl inside, and reads:
MY DEAREST DAUGHTER
CAROL HARAWAY
"... that's evidence enough to call the case closed," Ruzhen states, her expression carefully flat. "Now, about this arm... Jay mentioned something called a 'Soft'. Sadly, I'm not packing any... but I'll call that a rookie's mistake."
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Catwalk Jumping *>======================== | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- The next room you enter leads down to a lower level. It consists of a series of catwalks, each narrow, and leading to where stairs once were... but those have all fallen away. The result is a network of ledges of metal catwalks, welded to the walls of the room, that you need to leap down to get to hte bottom. A fall would hurt -- and you better hope the catwalks hold when you land on them. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Embolden:_Combat_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, | | Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
There is, as a quiet grace by circumstance as opposed to a genius loci with a sense of empathy, to reflect upon the fallen and the dangers involved in these Digs. By all accounts, the regulars that make up the usual traveling parties among movers and shakers are constantly beating the odds on horrible, ignoble fates such as this.
"...'m not great at takin' care of petrification," Lanval admits as things calm down, "'m besht fer... shtuff like poishon, acid... that kinda thing," he admits, taking a seat as he has a drink of his gourd. "...It'll hurt, but givin' closhure on 'em will mean the world," he reassures Ruzhen best he can.
Moving along, the place appears to have suffered significant damage due to the presence of... if not what that Drifter became, others like them, much of the floors corroded and useless. Luckily, the catwalks have been spared this fate so far, and seem structurally sturdy enough to traverse.
This set of ledges this high up. It's dark enough it's hard to get a read on how sturdy the next set of catwalks down, and the next after that, unless one has keen vision in darkness to be certain.
"It'sh quite a drop, yep," Lanval remarks, stroking his chin as he sits down and seems to think better of immediately moving about the catwalks.
"'m gonna create a shafety net besht I can," he remarks to the others as he sits down, draws out a fancy-looking kiseru-style smoking pipe. He takes a drag of it with such gusto that someone who breathes strictly as a hobby can, and lets loose with... bubbles, bubbles everywhere, drifting them down low. Not all of them navigate the catwalk networks before popping into uselessness, but their shiny iridescence is its own (very weak) lighting.
"It getsh real shcary," Lanval says, "even fer shomeone like me who don't got a body. But yer in good handsh," he asides to Josie (and not Penelope, pointedly) and Ida alike. He hasn't tried to sneak a drink of that Liquid Courage from Josie (yet). Maybe there's a reason for not going after that specific kind of Liquid Courage.
But yes. There are bubbles, and they will help catch those who fall.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Catwalk Jumping. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
This is not the first time Ida's run into one of those things, but it doesn't make this encounter any more palatable. She takes a deep breath, and stills the clenching of her stomach with practiced ease. "Josie, Lanval, are you all right?" Not just physically, of course.
"--Ruzhen, no!" Thankfully, the mass is now quiescent, letting her pull out a...
Ida doesn't still that gut-wrenching clench this time, because feeling it reminds her she's not too numb to grieve. "God," she chokes out, and she slams a fist into the metal wall. Tears mist her eyes, and she blinks them away.
She's going to leave Edward a message when she gets to the nearest Memory Cube.
"Place isn't any better-off than last time," she remarks, trying to make conversation as the team looks out at the catwalks. Ida already knows what she has to do; her eyes go distant for a moment, and when she refocuses, an updraft starts to rise from the lower level, speckled with green. "Let me lead the way," she says, and she sets out, leaping to the nearest catwalk-portion. It shakes a little as she lands, but it holds--and, perhaps just as importantly, the wind focuses behind her, leaving a buoyant trail.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Catwalk Jumping. Quicken! Party Agility boosted! DG: Li Ruzhen has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Catwalk Jumping.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Tch," Josie says, after all is said and done. "Heard of things like that, but never encountered one of 'em before, right? So what, you were looking for that poor bastard? Hell of a way to kick the bucket..." As if in comiseration, she touches her right hand stiffly to her cross and bows her head.
She takes, after a moment's pause, another swig from her flask, having since exchanged her ARM for it. "I'm doin' dandy, Sweetheart. You okay there, ki..."
There is a long, long pause. She looks Ruzhen over, critically. Hm.
Hmmmmmm.
"...Rocky," Josie settles on after that moment's consideration. Someone, stop her before she sticks with it...! That's terrible.
"I ain't got a soft though, no. Or anything of the like." She shakes her head, shrugging. "Weren't expecting petrifaction in a place like this. ...You sure you can't help, Lanval?" ....She really needs to do something about that nickname business there, too.
Wait. Wait, wait, she has it...! Her eyes light up.
"...Buddy," she says, trying the name out for size. "Yeah. That'll do. --Anyway, let's not hang 'round here, lest that one's got buddies."
She's not exactly itching to find that out.
The path leads on and downwards. "...Ain't this a pretty mess," Josie remarks, on the state of the room they're walking in, or above, as the case might be. "Well, no way forward but through! Let's all try not to fall now!" She says the last with good cheer, such that it's hard to tell, perhaps, if she means that earnestly or as a bit of a jest.
She'll do her sage best to balance and not fall off.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Catwalk Jumping.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Catwalk Jumping *>======================== | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- The next room you enter leads down to a lower level. It consists of a series of catwalks, each narrow, and leading to where stairs once were... but those have all fallen away. The result is a network of ledges of metal catwalks, welded to the walls of the room, that you need to leap down to get to hte bottom. A fall would hurt -- and you better hope the catwalks hold when you land on them. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, and | | Wound:_Combat_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Faraway Lands - Round 3 *>========================== =========================< Results - Catwalk Jumping >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Li Ruzhen 22 --(7)--> 29 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Zephyr Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Secret(2)|Slow(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Li Ruzhen has posed.
Lanval mentions that he's not great at helping it; there's a faint chuckle from Ruzhen as she remarks, "It'd be a right poor showing if I was relying on others to do my dirty laundry." She's trying to play it cool, but it's obvious this is the first time she's experienced something like this, and it's kinda beyond her.
She decides to deal with it in the best way she knows how: a swig from the good old hip flask.
(In a JRPG, Ruzhen probably has a passive that staves off status effects so long as she has stacks of Drunk left.)
Ida's call of caution does make her remand that she should probably have her guard up further, but it worked out this time. She hasn't had to be on high alert ever since the days of the war, damn... getting rusty, Ruzhen...
Ruzhen stares towards Josie and mumbles, "Rocky?! I ain't a damn mutt!" Lanval seems to be getting the better nickname by her judgement, but then she at least follows Ida's lead and, at the very least, has a measure of athleticism to show...
Though the petrified arm's gonna throw her balance off.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval gives a nod to Ida's talk about whether or not he's all right. In truth... it's difficult for someone as long-lived as a Seraph to truly appreciate the magnitude of a horrific end to a mortal when you've seen a lot of stories end in sad, unfair, awful ways. Where he once presided, he saw a lot of those.
It may say more about him that he isn't completely dismissive of it, but it is a bit of emotional distance that differentiates Lanval's own kind from the more corporeally inclined. He gives everyone the time they need.
The plan is laid out, and the groundwork for multiple sequels to the 'Rocky' nickname.
Ruzhen might have the worst of it in terms of stress, injury, and inexperience with the locale, but there's safety nets enough unless the magic allergy acts up along the way. Ida's updraft is gentle and - most importantly - makes sure that their landing is a bit softer on the catwalks of indeterminate integrity. It can be determined... they are of sound integrity for each and every one of them to hop down, one by one.
Josie will be the first one down of the lot through sheer daring and cheer, with Ida and Ruzhen coming down at about the same time together with Ida leading the way (and/or some possible balance scares or residual magic allergy, perhaps)... leaving their collective 'Buddy,' Lanval, to just straight-up faceplant at the bottom along with them.
He's not hurt at all. He has no bones. He pratfalls as a matter of being, waving a hand along.
"...How'sh it lookin'?" He asks, as the next challenge rears itself beyond abstractions of time and space between events.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Percussive Maintenance *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Parts of Faraway Lands are unpowered. This is unfortunate, as this ancient
facility requires electricity to function properly. The hallway and room you
enter are dimly lit, and the door at the other end is currently without
electricity -- which makes opening it hard. However, a generator station
should offer a means to get it up...
...but when you stop to work on it, it seems like nothing quite takes.
Maybe if you give it a good kick, or smack, it will start up? Or... or is
that just the frustration talking?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKSjtVFeJA
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, |
| Secret:_Exploration_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Right, right, right," Josie says, merrily making her way across the catwalks with seemingly scarce a pause to think. "Wouldn't wanna give the wrong impression, right. What's your name, anyhow?"
Who starts giving out nicknames to someone she's just met and doesn't even know in the first place?!
The indefatigable Josephine, it would seem. "Whoa there, Buddy--"
She watches in apparent silence as Lanval takes the short way down. "He'll be fine," Josie says, scarcely missing a beat as she swings on down herself... one-armed.
When you can't do it one way, you make up for it in another.
Dropping the last few feet, dust swirls around her. "Dark down here," Josie remarks, snapping her fingers to summon a small luminescent sphere of light. "And this ain't gonna cut it long-term, neither. Especially for that door, there." She points. It's a ways off but her magical light still illuminates a door that is not currently capable of budging and certainly won't make it easy to do it the direct way. "Let's see, if I were a generator, where'd I be..."
It takes a few minutes of searching in nearby spaces to find something promising. It should get the power working with a little corrective work, Josie figures.
MINUTES PASS
"Hmm. Tricky bastard. But I got your number now!"
MORE TIME PASSES
"...This is a joke, yeah?"
YET MORE TIME PASSES
"You little ASSHOLE!"
This is when Josie, finally officially out of 'can' and with murder on her mind, takes the mattock to the generator. "Let's see how you like this!"
Violence intensifies.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Percussive Maintenance. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Penelope, having since vacated Josie's shoulder for a rusted pipe in the dark nearby, watches the proceeding scene intently.
Very intently.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Soft. Soft, soft. Right, Ida even packed something just in case, and as the group reconvenes below the catwalks, she unclips the metal-bodied potion case from her belt, and opens it. "Spiran Remedy," she says, and she comes up with a small vial full of something iridescent and rainbow-hued. She gently passes it to Ruzhen via her good hand, and--
'...Rocky.'
"Josie!" Ida sputters, eyes going wide. Yes, it's exactly Josie's kind of flippant. Yes, it surprised her anyway. She doesn't dwell on it, though, especially with the very reasonable possibility of having to fight more of those... creatures, in the dark. "Good idea," Ida says. "Let me help.
A FEW MOMENTS LATER
"Oh, did you find it?"
A LITTLE WHILE LATER
"Are you sure it's functional?"
A LITTLE WHILE AFTER THAT
"Hold--hold on, please put the mattock away, Josie, I think I can--" Ida gives the side of the generator a few solid kicks, each one punctuated by a sharp metal CLANG. They're making so much noise, she thinks. This is dangerous.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a risky Brute Action toward her party's challenge, Percussive Maintenance.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmmmph." Lanval shuffles along after, struggling to think of a useful thing to add or say, beyond keeping an eye on Ruzhen and her present maladies as he staggers along, where they find the present door-related issue.
"Thaaaaat'sh a door." He echoes Josie. "After a point, ya gotta wonder... what'sh the point of a door in polite shociety~"
Fortunately, Josie has a lead.
MINUTES PASS
"Ish it 42?" Lanval asks unhelpfully.
MORE TIME PASSES
"Heard it ten timesh already," he echoes, without humor.
YET MORE TIME PASSES
This is where the gloves are off and maintenance is being percussive, but is it persuasive? Lanval is somehow managed to sit up on a rusted pipe near Penelope, taking a sip from the gourd as he considers.
"Mmmph." He gets up, ambles along to the aggravating and aggressed upon generator, leaning in close while standing on tippy toes, leaning forward with a winning smile and one half-open eye.
"Could ya open, pleashe~?"
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a risky Brute Action toward his party's challenge, Percussive Maintenance.
<Pose Tracker> Li Ruzhen has posed.
"It's Ruzhen. Li Ruzhen," Ruzhen gruffly remarks to Josephine, finding the going much harder than before. It's a good thing it doesn't seem to be spreading past the shoulder, at least... maybe she can use the arm as a shield? Or perhaps that would just crumble into a million pieces and then she'd be screwed.
There's a look of surprise as Lanval falls in with them, but... no body, right, she thinks. Josephine tells her he'll be fine. These Seraphs certainly are a case and a half by themselves, huh?
Ida offers a Spiran Remedy, and she gently accepts it. "Thank you," she remarks graciously, and then-- just downs the whole lot, and the arm's rather swiftly freed of its stony tomb. "... darn. I didn't think the real Snake Oil would exist, the way that stuff works. Thanks, Miss Ida."
She certainly looks impressed by Ida's resourcefulness.
They come up to a generator, and Josephine starts working on it...
MINUTES PASS
Ruzhen's taking a break on the other side with another cigarette.
MORE TIME PASSES
"Maybe it's time to cash in your chips..." Ruzhen suggests.
YET MORE TIME PASSES
Josephine snaps and brandishes a mattock, and Ida tries to pacify her. "Ah--" She's pointedly backing away in case of severe electric shock.
DG: Li Ruzhen has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Percussive Maintenance.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Percussive Maintenance *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Parts of Faraway Lands are unpowered. This is unfortunate, as this ancient
facility requires electricity to function properly. The hallway and room you
enter are dimly lit, and the door at the other end is currently without
electricity -- which makes opening it hard. However, a generator station
should offer a means to get it up...
...but when you stop to work on it, it seems like nothing quite takes.
Maybe if you give it a good kick, or smack, it will start up? Or... or is
that just the frustration talking?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKSjtVFeJA
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, |
| Slow:_Agility_Down!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Faraway Lands - Round 4 *>========================== ======================< Results - Percussive Maintenance >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Li Ruzhen 29 --(5)--> 34 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 10 --(25)--> 35 Fail Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 60 --(35)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Secret(1)|Slow(1)|Treasure(1)|Wound(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has passed this challenge! The party gained 35 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Ruzhen, Ruzhen..."
Josie in this moment has just made that drop to the floor below. She thus has an interlude before the others (well, other than Lanval) reach her location.
"Rue, then!"
She seems insistent on this nickname business. Drifters often do have their quirks.
Speaking of quirks...
Josie, aided by Ida and Lanval in various ways, lays into the generator. Is it the strikes that do it, when it happens?
Or is it Lanval's winsome smile?
What does happen in the end, though, is that a jolt of electricity shudders out of the generator and misses Ruzhen entirely, thanks to her taking a few steps clear of the generator. Through some luck of the draw, none of the rest of them are hit either!
The lights flicker. Then they grow steady. Slowly, that door grinds open.
"Nothing to it!" Josie proclaims, preening.
The generator hums, apparently willing to behave for them now.
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Eater *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
In the very center of Faraway Lands, you find the Generator Complex. Rather
than a single room, it is a series of locked rooms. You make your way inside
of one; the locked door is not so difficult to tend to, be it by brute force
or intellect.
In this room, you find the ruins of an ancient generator. The column that
once ran floor to ceiling has been broken and damaged. Chunks are torn free;
in other places, it is dented inward. Sparks explode and erupt, but
sporadically. However, when you enter, the damaged generator sputters to
life--
No. Instead, the thing that did this emerges from it: a Lightning Eater.
This being of pure electricity takes on a vaguely lizard-like shape,
stomping out, and screeches -- before rushing at you, trying to bowl you
over!
And, unfortunately, it is between you and the door on the opposite side,
which leads to the heart of the dungeon and its treasures.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The way ahead is without additional incident (for the most part), some twists and turns and one last catwalk walk towards the very center of Faraway Lands - the Generator Complex.
Well, close to the center. As far as anyone who's gotten this far and survived can say, it's a whole mess of locked rooms and they've yet to fully map out this part of the complex. There's one more locked door, but that's not a problem with the power on. (Someone just has to play with some buttons.)
Now for the problem that does exist.
The ruins of an ancient generator rests there between them. The column that once ran floor to ceiling is busted, the whole place ravaged like a beast has been through here. Sparks pop up here and there, sporadically and erratically (one shocking Lanval, giving him that funny pointy-beard look and grimace). Moments later...
The generator seems to whirr to life, violently, suddenly, like it could explode.
It doesn't! Instead, a Lightning Eater - a being of pure electricity that has decided the best form that represents its nature is that of a lizard either by will or coincidence - flicks a lightning tongue that scorches the ground before them. The screaming is electrical and staticky in nature, and maybe for some individuals here the noise is... fuller, and more communicative.
(It's Morse code! In gibberish. Maybe it's not Morse code at all, but the gibberish is Morse code complaint. Scholars will debate, maybe.)
"It'sh pure lightning, ish what it ish~!" Lanval calls out, as he summons forth a wall of pure water from the remains of the Holy Bottle. With a lack of any particles to charge with electricity, it forms a very temporary wall to try and give everyone else time to figure out how they'll deal with it.
DG: Seraph Lanval has risked with his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Lightning Eater. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Li Ruzhen has posed.
"Before you keep assigning me more nicknames, shouldn't you introduce yourself, Miss?" Ruzhen challenges Josephine, knowing this could get well out of hand. But sparks aside, it looks like the generator issue is resolved without... further incident...
But Ruzhen's definitely starting to get a sense of just how eccentric Drifters can be.
Once they arrive at the heart of the power station, and Ruzhen winces as Lanval's shocked by an incidental spark. And a rather horrible creature that--
"A bullet won't do much to pure lightning..." Ruzhen admits, but Lanval's Holy Bottle -- which creates a barrier against which it cannot pass -- give her an idea.
The detective draws her small, snub-nosed gunsmoke ARM and takes a step back. A deep and drawn breath, as the very world seems to dissolve before her very eye...
"If I create a larger surface area..."
She fires -- and a bullet ricochets around the walls. A second one, then a third. These are ridiculously-aimed shots, but they hit broken metal columns around the generator room that collapse and connect various platforms together.
The joined platforms create a larger field of metal, which...
"It'll force itself to spread thinner...!"
DG: Li Ruzhen has used her Tool Hearthfire Lucky toward her party's challenge, Lightning Eater. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Shortsighted! The party will suffer a penalty next round... but not this round!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie grins, lopsidedly. "Knew I was forgetting something, like! It's Josie! Josie Lovelace, if you must!" she declares, thumbing towards herself. "Drifter," she adds, as if that wasn't already obvious.
It's a short walk (relatively speaking, considering where and how and when they came in) to the center of the complex. Once there, it's an easy in with the power flowing to that door!
"Easy-peasy," Josie remarks, stepping into the main generator complex. "Now, what've we got around here, then?"
'What they've got here' is, in fact, a generator that's not as dead as it once seemed. "Don't tell me that wreck's still?!" Josie calls out among the din, as it spins up faster and faster and faster, to the point where it seems as if it might--
"Ah," Josie remarks, dark eyes narrowing as she regards the Lightning Eater. "That explains it!"
There is, as many might notice in this moment, a blinking spot where Penelope had been. ...Well, electric is strong against bird... maybe it's only natural that Penelope has already gotten the hell out of Dodge*.
Josie, herself, has more immediate matters, to which she attends by first, downing the remnants of her flask. The rules are the rules: if she's going to die here, she at least wants to do it with her flask empty. This is one problem solved.
The remaining problem is... how is she going to damage this thing, exactly? Courtesy of her old man, her own magic runs towards the electrical, and she's armed to the teeth with... guns. No cannons. No laser pistols. No weird ARMs that would change the polarity on the creature before them. Seemingly, Josie is out of good options here in the heart of the ancient power plant.
Her lips are moving. Tossing her still-present orb of light towards the ceiling, Josie there detonates it in a flash. No, the Lightning Eater doesn't have eyes. But such a flare of energy should distract it, should widen the gap of time they have available to strike at it.
*as it were
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Lightning Eater. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The bolt doesn't hit Ida, but it comes close enough to flash-blind, and to singe a stray lock of hair. She swears under her breath, rubs at her eyes, and blinks until the spots fade. "...Yes," she says. "Nothing at all." Her tone is so dry you could use it as dessicant, but at least the lights are back on.
As the party makes its way deeper, Ida takes out a voltimeter, and starts running it along the walls. "We're getting closer," she says. "There's a higher load in here." And there, at last, is the generator. "Stay on your," Ida says, and then a thunderous CRACK, and the sounds of the stressed generator whirring to life. Her eyes widen, but this time, without horror or panic; she's seen the Lightning Eater before, and it is less horrific than the creature that greeted them on entry.
Josie launches a sorcerous flare, and Ida follows suit. Her own flare grenade arcs up and over the creature, intending less to stun and more to distract. The loud BOOM is enough to shake the floor, and dislodge bits of junk.
Ida herself repeats the process she performed earlier: quick, efficient shots to center mass, with her ARM. Hopefully it's more solid than it looks.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Flare Grenade toward her party's challenge, Lightning Eater. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Eater *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
In the very center of Faraway Lands, you find the Generator Complex. Rather
than a single room, it is a series of locked rooms. You make your way inside
of one; the locked door is not so difficult to tend to, be it by brute force
or intellect.
In this room, you find the ruins of an ancient generator. The column that
once ran floor to ceiling has been broken and damaged. Chunks are torn free;
in other places, it is dented inward. Sparks explode and erupt, but
sporadically. However, when you enter, the damaged generator sputters to
life--
No. Instead, the thing that did this emerges from it: a Lightning Eater.
This being of pure electricity takes on a vaguely lizard-like shape,
stomping out, and screeches -- before rushing at you, trying to bowl you
over!
And, unfortunately, it is between you and the door on the opposite side,
which leads to the heart of the dungeon and its treasures.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=========================<* Faraway Lands - Round 5 *>========================== =========================< Results - Lightning Eater >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Holy Bottle 3 Combat Effects: Resilient and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 15 --(25)--> 40 Fail Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Li Ruzhen 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Hearthfire Lucky 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Shortsigh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Flare Grenade 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Overzealous(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Resilient(1)|Shortsighted(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has successfully explored Faraway Lands!
==============================<* Faraway Lands *>===============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Kizim Fire *>==========================
| Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Inside of the central vault of Faraway Lands, you find a room with a large
cylindrical depression in the floor. Floating over it is a strange green
crystal. Bright and shining, it looks something like a flame -- but frozen
in form. This is the fabled Kizim Fire, a byproduct of Zeboim power
generation methods, which produces a crystal that contains enormous amounts
of energy. The crystal is warm to the touch, and tingles with stored power.
The Kizim Fire can be used to power-up an upgrade to a Gear, an ARM, or
sorcery. It is suitable as a macguffin for a personal plot.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, |
| Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
If Ruzhen creates a large surface area...
There comes a moment where Ruzhen seems much less the hapless private detective, and something far more capable than she lets on as bullets ricochet in a precise manner that creates an area to ground and spread out the Lightning Eater - and it does.
Josie throws her flare of energy to try and spread out its attention - such as can be gauged - further and further, the flare grenade continues to pull apart its focus as Ida just pumps as much as she can into it.
What follows probably asks that of everyone, in their own fashion, as the creature is spread out across so much surface area. Whatever amount of force or grounding is applied among them, they eventually fade into nothing. (Josie gets a few instances of static shock as she walks after, but that's about the gist of it. Which can be deadly in some cases! But this, just inconvenient and a bit scary.)
"...They're gone," Lanval remarks, and that's as far as he can say before the prize awaits within a (the?) central vault of the Faraway LAnds. A room with a large cylindrical depression in the floor.
Above it, a green crystal bright, shining.... like a flame, but completely frozen in form.
The Kizim Fire, a byproduct of Zeboim power generation methods. It's very warm to the touch, tingling with power - and something with enormous amounts of energy waiting to be unleashed and/or dispersed. Did they produce this meaningfully, or was it... something to be discarded?
It is a prize. *The* prize, perhaps, that the fallen Drifter was seeking.
<Pose Tracker> Li Ruzhen has posed.
The Lightning Eater disperses with the combined force that they apply onto it -- or perhaps it's more accurate to say that it wasn't able to continue containing the field that defined 'the Lightning Eater', and was subsumed into the station...? Ruzhen's not sure, but she doesn't really want to linger and find out.
There's a heavy breath as Ruzhen wipes her chin, fingers a little shaky as she uncocks the hammer and holsters her revolver. "I could get used to this kind of teamwork," she admits, finding the experience a little thrilling.
There's a vault ahead of them, and a large, green crystal, bright and shining, like... a frozen flame.
"Is this what's got the town in a knot? The Kizim Fire--"
Her gloved hand touches the crystal's surface, and instantly, she reels back and starts to convulse, that spark of electricity erupting through her body and sending a snarl through the Beastwoman's lips.
"Argh--!! What...?!" Ruzhen looks shocked (well, she was shocked). "I thought sorcery sparked the allergy..."
Though it's not untrue to say that Zeboim technology is so advanced it may as well be indistinguishable, but...
It's clear the mystery is deepening to her.
"Do you three mind if I borrow this for some time?" she asks through slightly harrowed breath. "I've got a number with one Lady Eleanor, who agreed to figure out what's wrong with me, and if this is another piece of the puzzle, then..."
A pause.
"Of course, I can't touch it... Miss Ida, since you're with ARMS, your path'll cross with Eleanor's..."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida slides a fresh clip into her ARM, and lets out a breath. The smell of ozone (and burned hair, thanks to the mishap earlier) is still thick in her nostrils, but stepping into the storage room provides a little reprieve. Inside...
"I'd say so," Ida says. "One of these has enough energy inside to power a home for months, if not years--to say nothing of what they do for ARMs--"
"Ruzhen!" Ida steps back, because rule number one of treating a shock victim is not touching them while they're touching the thing that shocked them. When it looks safe, Ida offers a stabilizing hand. "...You're allergic to sorcery?" she says, eyes widening. It's... not the most unsettling personal quirk she's dealt with, but... She shakes her head, look at her, she's prying. "Of course. I'll be certain she gets it within the next day or so." Ida pauses a beat. "Do you... need help, talking to the deceased's family?"
<Pose Tracker> Li Ruzhen has posed.
Ruzhen takes hold of the hand, to stabilise herself, rallying with another centreing breath. "That was Lily's term for it. I don't have a better word for it myself," she admits. "But yes, sorcery gives me an electric shock of sorts, beneficial or harmful."
Ida also offers assistance with the deceased's family. "It... might be best to leave this one to me. The daughter doesn't like to be crowded, it seems," she says with as level a tone as she can manage, but it's clearly going to be a difficult conversation.
A weak smile. "Join me for drinks after, though?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval roars, by popular demand, "DIBSH~!"
Another shock runs through him as he points a finger out, and his beard gets all spiky again. "Geeehhbhbhlerrrrgh~"