2024-03-07: Kislevi Camp Infiltration
- Log: Kislevi Camp Infiltration
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Ethius Hesiod, Elhaym van Houten, Lily Keil
- Where: Ruins of Lahan
- Date: March 7, 2024
- Summary: Curious as to Kislev's future plans, Citan, with a group of carefully-selected allies, ventures into the encampment in search of answers.
DG: A party led by Citan Uzuki is now entering Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Tricksters Always Prosper *>===================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Kislev has been mobilizing.
This has been a concern to many, and may well be why you're here - to
determine their purpose and any future goals. Or maybe you're just here to
attempt to loot a military camp.
Regardless of your own purpose here, you make your approach. The encampment
appears to have been set up amongst the ruins of a village. It looks like a
battle took place here: the place looks nearly levelled.
Your timing, alas, has been poor. For, lo! There, far closer than you should
like, here there approaches a Kislevi patrol. You'll need to misdirect or
trick them in some way, and you'll want to come up with that plan quickly.
BGM: Nobuo Uematsu - Troops March On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5B_jXWlZoE
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! and Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Once upon a time, there had been a small village here. Despite its position close to the front lines of the warring nations of Kislev and Aveh, Lahan had known a sort of peace for a time.
Very little remains of Lahan now.
And more of it yet is obscured between the tents and assorted detritus of an army that's staked a claim in the as-of-yet jostling that continues throughout the uneasy ceasefire between Kislev and Lahan. The war is currently cold, but embers still smolder: all they need is the right flame to roar back to life.
There are a number of reasons that Citan had asked for Lily's assistance into doing something that is technically rather foolish. Yet, perhaps she as much as any other has reason to attempt to learn of Kislev's designs--
And there are reasons yet again that he had asked for Elly's aid in this infiltration attempt, too.
Or, for that matter, a certain Mr. Hesiod, of whom he had learned of from Lily many years ago. They will want people who are accustomed to the flow military encampments... and people who are good at going unnoticed.
The latter is sorely tested almost right from the jump as they creep into the camp and quickly realize that there's a patrol approaching and worse, nowhere to hide or escape to. If they stay where they are, they'll be seen for certain. Pressing a finger against his lips as if to indicate silence, Citan, thinking quickly, draws from his belongings a perfectly normal if antiquated camera and angles it just so. ...Wait, just over in that direction is a discarded bit of metal plating just peeking out from behind a tent. Perhaps it was removed from a Gear?
It will catch the flash from his own camera well when he takes that careful shot.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Strauss Camera toward his party's challenge, Tricksters Always Prosper. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is on alert for making sure he can contain any problematic technology flowing from Energy Nede into Filgaia. This is all but impossible, now, but he is thankful that they don't create much in the way of military technology there (aside from electrical stun guns, decidedly non-lethal in their intent but he's not taking chances). He's long, long lost the battle on biosecurity from introduced species, what with inquisitive Pokemon hopping across the rift.
He's still 'at work,' even under extraordinary circumstances.
"From here, they would likely turn us away and chase us off if they didn't recognize--" He stops himself. Many of them would be recognized. Jay stopped him from shooting the only witness of a jailbreak from a Kislevi holding facility years ago and that may have had lasting consequences. He can't gamble on that. Nonetheless, as Citan gets the camera out, Ethius crouches low and gets out that weird eyeglass thing. One Symbological zap of electricity later, he looks for anything with a connected line - something that might be a tripwire. If he finds one...
He picks up a rock and gives it a hurl, hoping it's the tripwire to an alarm elsewhere.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Tricksters Always Prosper. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Yeah. Once, there had been a small village here.
Totally.
Definitely.
'-'
Moving with the others, even as Citan gets out a camera, Elly opens her mouth and shuts it -- and then says, "Wait," in a quiet tone, and then gestures towards what looks like a relatively nondescript... rock wall? It's like one of those subtle ridgelines you just see in areas that have elevation changes and don't really notice unless you're investigating a rock or something.
"I recognize this place," Elly continues, softly. "We can climb down over here." And Elly moves towards that space and looks over her shoulder at the others, before --
-- just climbing down?
There are very, very conveniently located divots in the rock that the ridge-shift reveals. Like an easy-mode rock climbing wall, if obviously more precarious than you might hope, given a lack of protective equipment. (What's protective equipment mean? asks the native Filgaian.)
The grip spots...
... are vaguely weathered... but they definitely resemble...
Hearts?
Little stone hearts.
"I can't believe we're here, of all places," Elly huffs while descending.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a risky Wits Action toward her party's challenge, Tricksters Always Prosper.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Once...
Lily of course is interested; she wants to keep tabs on Kislev and Aveh both, and doubts that if she walks up and asks for intel that they'll give it to her. Quite the opposite; given the name Keil in Kislev, even considering the Black Wolves saving the Kaiser...
Well. There's a patrol approaching. Lily narrows her eyes. The AI helpfully tells her, "Dr. Wyatt. The individals approaching number six. They have..." Their armaments and so on are listed. So Lily considers for a moment.
"Belay that," Lily says to Hygd. Instead--
Climbing!!
"Are these... heart-shaped?" Lily wonders.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool AI Hygd toward her party's challenge, Tricksters Always Prosper. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Tricksters Always Prosper *>===================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Kislev has been mobilizing.
This has been a concern to many, and may well be why you're here - to
determine their purpose and any future goals. Or maybe you're just here to
attempt to loot a military camp.
Regardless of your own purpose here, you make your approach. The encampment
appears to have been set up amongst the ruins of a village. It looks like a
battle took place here: the place looks nearly levelled.
Your timing, alas, has been poor. For, lo! There, far closer than you should
like, here there approaches a Kislevi patrol. You'll need to misdirect or
trick them in some way, and you'll want to come up with that plan quickly.
BGM: Nobuo Uematsu - Troops March On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5B_jXWlZoE
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>===================== ============< Results - Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment - Round 1 >============ ===================< CHALLENGE - Tricksters Always Prosper >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 0 --(5)--> 5 Best Strauss Camera Maj Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 0 --(5)--> 5 Good Investigate Bsc Wits Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(5)--> 5 Good Spectral Lens Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 0 --(5)--> 5 Good AI Hygd Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) and Reckless(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - This Tent is Occupied *>=====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You sneak into one of the tents in the course of your investigation, in the
hopes that one way or another, you'll find something worthwhile within.
Unfortunately for you, its occupant -- a veteran Kislevi soldier, by the
looks of them -- is also in here, and they have very much noticed that you
have 1) intruded where you shouldn't have 2) that you're almost certainly
not supposed to be here.
They go for their sword, accordingly. It looks like you'll have to fight it
out!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
'Wait', comes the interjection, before Citan can take that shot. He pauses, glancing back over his shoulder at her. Though it had seemed that there was no alternative path, it appears that she... knows one? Understanding alights in his gaze and he, shifting his stance as he directs a look at Ethius in turn, allows himself the ghost of a smile before he takes that shot.
There is a flash of light across the way, off the metal sheeting. The patrol certainly notices it.
They also notice that one of their traps -- again, away from where they now stand -- has just gone off explosively.
Citan takes that as his cue to move and scramble down the rocky outcrop, using the...
...the hearts...
...as a handhold.
"Fascinating," he remarks once they reach the bottom of the incline. "I do not recall those from my years living in Lahan." He looks directly at Elly, somehow maintaining a perfectly straight face.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
At the bottom of the ridge, Elly's face is flushed. Some of it is the effort, of course, but as she reshoulders her gear bag, she purses her lips. "Well," Elly says quietly...
She glances at Ethius, specifically, as if somehow he is the one who can provide her with surcease. Maybe there's a reason.
"After everything," Elly says, huddling up close to the ridge and speaking quietly so the passing soldiers might not think of anything much beyond that bright flash -- perhaps even staging a search in an area they've already left and won't return to --
"I mean..."
"... in a sense, it's my fault it is that way."
"I suppose I can't -- I mean," Elly dithers on, but she does press on, "It's all done already. I can't go and undo it. But we had been relocating the advanced recovered Gear that we know as Weltall now... Gebler, I mean to say. We were intercepted... If I'd diverted, I..."
"Anyway," Elly continues, "I just remembered it, because... Well, after everything I had seen it. Fei told me about... what had happened."
"It's funny, isn't it, Dr. Uzuki? In hindsight, everything... well, it'd be arrogant of me to say it 'worked out'. I suppose it's why I'm not still in the Gebler forces... but..."
Elly shakes her head. ".. Heh. But, to answer your question, I did make those! We were having a surprisingly rough time with the conditions... anyway, the path goes this way. I recognize this stretch now."
WALKING ENSUES.
After some changes in camera angles, the group comes upon a single tent, set up in a patch of open space with a single small tree-sapling growing next to a blackened peg-tooth of a stump. Elly pauses, looking at the small firepit, but... "It's gone out. I wonder if one of the survivors had stayed here, for a wh"
Elly is immediately bodychecked and hurled to the ground by a grizzled-looking Kislevi soldier with a stub shotgun. He fires it once, to no effect, and bellows, "DAMN YOUUUU!" The shotgun is cracked open and swiftly reloaded as he stares, white stubble gleaming in the dim light as he bares yellowed teeth. "I knew you were gonna take this back road - s'why I took this post -- just you PUT YOUR HANDS U"
He dropped a shell.
The soldier crouches to pick it up... but he's open!
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, This Tent is Occupied. New Content
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius keeps quiet as Elly works out her feelings as to what happened here. He can only make an educated guess about the particulars from his time here (very well educated, it'd keep him up at night if he thought too much about it), staring at the heart-shaped handholds.
"...They appear to have withstood weathering, so I can't fault the pattern," is as far as his observances go, as WALKING ENSUES.
Ethius blinks once and looks over his shoulder moments before he's part of the same bodychecking motion that flings him into a short roll across dirt and stone. (He does not hit his head. His hindquarters, however, are not so lucky.
The operative from space isn't taking the loading shell for granted, hands moving to pull one of the Powder Grenades at his belt and hurriedly gesticulate with one hand while murmuring the syllables to hurl it at them before they can get the shell and take the shot.
He doesn't have time to warn Elly about the incoming smoke cloud. Every fraction of a second counts.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, This Tent is Occupied. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily can see what Citan is doing, but she doesn't gainsay it. She doesn't say anything for the moment. No... this is between Elly and Citan, and that's all there is to it for her.
The handholds though, "Heh. That's kind of... fun, I guess." Lily is not used to speaking of fun, but it's the best word she has for heart-shaped handholds that isn't perjorative.
But walking! Elly gets bodychecked suddenly and Lily is immediately in casting stance, but she doesn't have a good angle on the soldier. ...And after her instinct passes, she decides Elly wouldn't want her to kill to save her life, if she could help it. So instead--
"Dog!" Lily says. "Go!"
With a sudden flurry of barks, Dog lunges for the soldier, grabbing at his arm and moving to take him down. She won't kill him, or even hurt him that badly...
But she sure won't let him up. Lily works a spell of her own, to shield Dog from the smoke cloud, while she continues to go after the soldier.
She would comment oN Ethius's good reflexes... but he already knows what she thinks, she's pretty sure.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, This Tent is Occupied. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
More than likely, the soldiers would have swept the area once they'd found no intruders in the vicinity of the light and the tripped trap, so it's a fortunate thing that Elly, familiar with the altered terrain of Lahan's ruins, recognized a quick way out of the immediate area. Under the duress of the moment Citan will still stick by the intent of his plan lest they have been discovered immediately, but as his fellow Elements would recall if asked, for all his caution his plans always have had a touch of recklessness to them.
The caution, after all, is only the result of his misspent youth.
They're out of the frying pan for the moment at least, and there's no sign of present fire here.
There's only the shades of past flames.
"...That is often the way of it," Citan remarks, his gaze turned up in this moment towards the sky. "'If it had been another way'. 'If this had happened instead of that'." He looks back at her. "It is not possible to know the outcome of our actions in the moment. ...Indeed, I think that similar situations may be true for all of us," he says, glancing at Ethius and Lily in turn as if to rope them into this sentiment as well. "It is not possible to change the past, or know without question what might have been. ...But," he says, ducking his head and readjusting his glasses, "I do digress! I admit that I had recognized your 'handiwork' immediately, Elly. It is impressive skill for it to have lasted this long."
They've ended up taking the back road around the encampment. Citan wonders for a short period whether Kislev has actually left this flank open, only to soon receive his answer. "Now!" he shouts as the man fumbles his shell, as Ethius hurls a grenade, and as Dog rushes for the soldier.
If there is a hint of mist flowing into this stretch of the ruins, perhaps it's just a trick of the light. Perhaps.
The air does still just flow in a particular way, as if to try to funnel the fumes of, say, a smoke grenade in a particularly Kislevi direction.
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, This Tent is Occupied.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - This Tent is Occupied *>=====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You sneak into one of the tents in the course of your investigation, in the
hopes that one way or another, you'll find something worthwhile within.
Unfortunately for you, its occupant -- a veteran Kislevi soldier, by the
looks of them -- is also in here, and they have very much noticed that you
have 1) intruded where you shouldn't have 2) that you're almost certainly
not supposed to be here.
They go for their sword, accordingly. It looks like you'll have to fight it
out!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>===================== ============< Results - Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment - Round 2 >============ =====================< CHALLENGE - This Tent is Occupied >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 5 --(18)--> 23 Bad Fight Bsc Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 5 --(5)--> 10 Good Fight Bsc Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 5 --(5)--> 10 Best Powder Grenade Maj Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 5 --(5)--> 10 Best Dog Min Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2), Injure(1), Overzealous(2), and Reckless(1) Effects: Embolden(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Before --
Elly's face is threatening to crumple, but perhaps it is a testament to the travails she's suffered that it doesn't actually crumple. She takes a deep breath. She opens her mouth -- and then, actually, haltingly, laughs(?)
"I suppose I do tend to get that kind of 'Cardiac' shape a lot," Elly says.
-- but now:
"ARGH!! CURSES!!" shouts the soldier as a powder grenade bursts in front of him. He raises one hand, gloved fingers curled into a fist. He calls on some blue business, probably some tactically-flexible Symbology or other, but then a moment later a Dog grasps his arm.
You should see the look on his face!
Now it is the soldier who goes down, tumbling even as Elly pushes herself up against the stump, getting black wet soot all over her hands as she stumbles upwards. "Oh, god," Elly says as she sees some of what Dog is doing. It's gruesome!!!
Sufficiently subtle are Citan's arts that the man's stumbling around and (vain) efforts to keep Dog from biting off more of him, without ripping off much more additional bits of him, that he is guided towards the OTHER part of that ridge -- and Dog has ample warning to break loose before he stumbles off.
"CURSE YOU HESIOD!"
Something jingles in the tent.
Elly looks inside. "... Oh, that must be his pocket change or something, look," Elly says, pointing. Some new-minted Kislevi gella lay there. They do look shiny! Musta' been payday recently!
"I suppose he'll probably have orders or something... do you think we should set fire to the tent afterwards?" Elly asks conversationally. ("Thank you," Elly then says to Ethius, with a smile, even as she wipes off her forehead and... leaves a black smear over her brow.)
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Suddenly Soldiers *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you creep through the Kislevi camp, you find that negotiating your way
through the maze of tents and other temporary fortifications (to say nothing
of what's left of Lahan) is tricky business.
Unfortunately for you, it's in the process of your advance that you round a
particular bend and find yourselves face to face with a pair of soldiers.
If you run, they're certain to raise the alarm. It won't do if you get
caught in the middle of the camp -- you'll want to end this swiftly, however
you do it.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"...Acquainted, were we," Ethius murmurs as the soldier stumbles off, matters of what's inside the tent are explored, and the rest... almost certainly burned.
"I thought I was too late," he says to Elly as they get going. "If he hadn't dropped that shell, well... extraordinary circumstances are... commonplace," he picks up from where Citan was discussing things as he winces once over a sore backside. "Had my family not been found where we were in my childhood, well... there's many things I would regret not getting to have seen or done."
Casual conversation as they have to hurry along, which takes them down through a maze-like array of tents by necessity. Luckily, no ghosts of Lahan are chasing them, which is great because someone already ate the power pellets. (what)
IMMEDIATELY, SOME SORT OF ___S EX MACHINA (the blank is of tentative nature)
Three Nedian critters run along in front of the group. Some grinning purple upright monkey with a... hand, for a tail? They're joined by a gray rabbit with notable dirt brown coloration around the tips of their ears, neck, and feet... and an upright orange lizard with a reddish mohawk and very saggy legs.
They're carrying stuff Lily would identify immediately as being things of importance to Kislevi military. Shiny things, papery things, just... Things(tm). That are being stolen. It is not clear what value these items have to this trio, if they even understand at all what it is they're taking, but they took it.
"They're being chased--" Ethius almost puts two and two together of what it means, when two soldiers angrily shouting round the corner and spot the group with raised weapons. One of them is missing trousers.
"They're with them!" One of them reasons, a subtle indication that they are becoming increasingly aware of the concept of animal trainers with the capacity to teach, instruct, and act on squad tactics.
Extraordinary circumstances. These are those.
Ethius doesn't think he can move fast enough to beat their trigger fingers, but given the opening...
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Powder Grenade toward his party's challenge, Suddenly Soldiers. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Dog wags her tail when the soldier runs off, letting him go at Lily's direction. "Bark!" she says, and Lily scratches behind her ears.
"...That's true," Lily says of similar situations. "There are a lot of things I might change, if I could. But I can't. And I don't know what effects that might have."
"...But we can move forward. Only forward."
Nice. Payday. That's good.
The tent absolutely burns. Is it Lily or Ethius who sets the charge, or do they do it together? It's a mystery.
Nedians... Pokemon. Lily wtches as she looks at the Things. And the group of soldiers appears, without... pants.
"That's embarrassing," Lily says to him, lifting an eyebrow in disapproval.
But Dog charges forward again with a terrifying howl, suddenly aglow in purple shadow with gleaming red eyes.
As Dog charges, Lily gives them something to worry about; fire.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool Dog toward her party's challenge, Suddenly Soldiers. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
With the soldier's explosion and dropping of change, the mystery of how he knew it was Ethius Hesiod is an open question, one which will never be resolved. After gathering up papers and documents, Elly moves forwards --
And is faced with those creatures.
"... Did someone from those trainer leagues join the Kislev forces...?" Elly says, in complete and utter confusion. She stares in particular at the lizard. Something about it troubles her. She mislikes its smug expression, perhaps.
BUT THEN!
S O L D I E R S
This time, Elly is not taken by surprise. She greets the Kislevi squad with a powerful Fire attack!
... No, it's not just like that: She holds her hands outwards and lets out a battle cry that's something like "yeeaagh!" and lacks the vim and FORCE of some of her past shouts, but does produce a huge, bursting flare that makes for shouting and confusion, and perhaps blindness.
After that she comes round the side and brings up her metal staff.
CLONK
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Iron Rod Embracing Heaven toward her party's challenge, Suddenly Soldiers. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Indeed. Time flows in only direction," Citan says.
Wounds inflicted by an animal can be particularly unpleasant. Citan, having worked as a doctor in a country village (the same one in the ruins of which they now stand!) is acutely familar with such things: his jaw tenses as Dog does as she is trained but neither does he move to attempt to rectify the situation. Or intervene as the soldier stumbles over another rise. Certain things... must be permitted if they are to advance, and he has no intention of ending up detained by Kislev. Which is one of the likely outcomes if they're caught sneaking around here.
Neither does he move to protest when they burn the tent. Needs must, as the saying goes: the less they go detected, the better.
And perhaps that would have been the way it would have gone, if certain turns of events had not... intervened. Which is to say: as much as Filgaia and Lunar (and beyond) had made an impact on Nede, Nede has made an impact on Filgaia.
"...Is that a pair of pants...?" Citan remarks, taken somewhat aback as the trio scamper past with their ill-gotten gains. "I had not known they were..."
A pause follows. It would seem that the soldiers are well-aware of having been thefted from. "Ah," Citan remarks, as they are spotted by the soldiers. "Well, I suppose there is no arguing with them now!" Dropping into a combat-ready stance, Citan--
casts forth a Pokeball. "Ise!"
"Mikyu!" proclaims Ise, now released into the world. This probably won't help argue their case, but he would argue that they're long past arguing their case to a set of Kislevi soldiers in the camp they're trespassing into.
Meanwhile, bright lights shine with menace from beneath Ise's 'pelt' (which is to say, the rags it's wearing). Wait, aren't those eyes?!
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Suddenly Soldiers.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Suddenly Soldiers *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
As you creep through the Kislevi camp, you find that negotiating your way
through the maze of tents and other temporary fortifications (to say nothing
of what's left of Lahan) is tricky business.
Unfortunately for you, it's in the process of your advance that you round a
particular bend and find yourselves face to face with a pair of soldiers.
If you run, they're certain to raise the alarm. It won't do if you get
caught in the middle of the camp -- you'll want to end this swiftly, however
you do it.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>===================== ============< Results - Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment - Round 3 >============ =======================< CHALLENGE - Suddenly Soldiers >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 23 --(0)--> 23 Good Fight Bsc Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 10 --(0)--> 10 Best Iron Rod Embracing Heaven Min Combat Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 10 --(0)--> 10 Best Powder Grenade Maj Combat Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 10 --(0)--> 10 Best Dog Min Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1), Overzealous(1), and Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Things escalate in increasing numbers of ridiculousness in short order.
Citan releases his friend Mimikyu - Ise - into the world, and that stare... that buys precious seconds of stunned soldiers (one of whom is already wondering if maybe, just maybe, his soul is about to be stolen).
That's all that needs to happen for Dog to start moving in for the assist, with copious amounts of fire following from two different sets of particularly motivated individuals.
CLONK
That's enough to take out both of them. Two soldiers, one CLONK, and Ethius has already pitched the Powder Grenade up and over that to cut off the view of anyone else that might be coming.
"This may be getting a little too hot," Ethius warns as he signals off in some other vague direction away from here.
MEANWHILE
The Nedian creatures admire their CRIMINAL SUCCESS.
The purplish monkey sticks several badges along their tail with only a small wince but a manic, unending grin at their decoration!
The gray rabbit with strong ears has, in their limbs, an entire briefcase full of classified goods. Not that they know what it is, they just know the paper's tasty.
The lizard with the baggy lower half of skin looks at the stolen pants, considers their person carefully... and puts the pants on. Their head. They're wearing it on their head now.
Life is good. For them.
DG: Lily Keil has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Nothing Amiss in Here! *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've slipped into a tent, taking the opportunity to take a look inside. No
sooner than you've poked about a moment or two though-
"I thought I heard something! It came from over here!"
"Think it's an intruder?"
They're soldiers, just outside the tent. Another moment and they'll be
inside...
Is there something you can do to make them think that you're actually
something innocuous? Something that will make them change their minds about
investigating at all?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is used to being a little faster on the draw than the other sorceress in the party; it comes of being more willing to kill. ...Maybe that's why she's making a point of sending in Dog for nonlethal takedowns, though. Her own skills are not very well-suited to taking soldiers alive, but they aren't trying to fight a war, here...
Lily regards Ise thoughtfully for a few moments. Hmm. "He's really handy," Lily thinks.
But then Ethius warns that it might be getting too hot, and that's... true. But they make their way to a tent, away from the Nedian creatures. Life is good for them--but Lily ducks into a tent, gesturing the others to come along. They only get to poke around a few moments before--
"Hey, did you her something?"
"Think it's an intruder?"
They're on the way, and quickly. "...Hygd," Lily says suddenly. "Take recording of Dog's growls. Adjust pitch and tone to sound like a different dog."
Lily seems to have an idea for how to distract them... but there might be a better idea.
DG: Lily Keil has used her Tool AI Hygd toward her party's challenge, Nothing Amiss in Here!. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius follows into that tent for lack of any better options, or... any options. (Somewhere in the frame he has a facepalm moment about some of the preceding chaos that threatens to upend the entirety of this operation.)
They're effectively cornered, some moments later, when some inquiring soldiers get the idea that there might be intruders in there. (A part of him wonders why he hasn't overheard anyone talking about the fires. Then it hits him.)
"A patrol might be returning," he murmurs, as Lily speaks to Hygd to produce a sound. He can't do much in this instance other than hunker and prepare for the worst case scenario.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Nothing Amiss in Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Ise, released into the world thus, quickly makes new friends*!
(*some creative definition of 'friend' may be required here)
"Over there," Citan says, pointing at a nearby tent. They're going to want to lay low for a moment, because it's entirely likely that those three weren't the only ones to notice that they had a bunch of thieves on the loose. With a little luck, perhaps that tent will prove to be unoccupied!
Good news, it's not at all occupied!
Bad news, Citan was right about those three not being the only ones and it seems as if their retreat into the tent might have not gone entirely unnoticed.
It's time to think fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Citan glances at the lot of them (well, excluding Ise who is currently investigating the contents of the chest unaware of the tension in the air). His gaze falls on a particular aspect of the tent's decor. Is it possible that...?
"Follow my lead," he murmurs, before clearing his throat experimentally.
"PRIVATE!" he outright bellows, in the familiar tones of a camp sergeant. Other than to shout in alarm, have any of them ever heard him raise his voice before? "You were given orders not to let anyone -- OR ANYTHING -- enter this tent! Did I not make myself clear, PRIVATE!?"
DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a risky Wits Action toward his party's challenge, Nothing Amiss in Here!.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly is rifling through some papers. When the warning comes, Elly has no real deep tricks or traps other than, like, violence? And that would, for once, not help. She immediately takes a giant step back to get behind Ethius and Citan, hopeful, perhaps, that standing behind taller men will make her invisible.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nothing Amiss in Here!.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Nothing Amiss in Here! *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've slipped into a tent, taking the opportunity to take a look inside. No
sooner than you've poked about a moment or two though-
"I thought I heard something! It came from over here!"
"Think it's an intruder?"
They're soldiers, just outside the tent. Another moment and they'll be
inside...
Is there something you can do to make them think that you're actually
something innocuous? Something that will make them change their minds about
investigating at all?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>===================== ============< Results - Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment - Round 4 >============ =====================< CHALLENGE - Nothing Amiss in Here! >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 23 --(5)--> 28 Best Investigate Bsc Wits Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 10 --(13)--> 23 Bad Investigate Bsc Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 10 --(13)--> 23 Bad Investigate Bsc Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 10 --(5)--> 15 Good AI Hygd Min Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) and Wound(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Lily Keil has posed.
A patrol may indeed be returning. Maybe that's why they haven't talked about the fires. But as Elly jumps back and Ethius says his caution, Citan has a better idea than Lily's--
She immediately murmurs, "Dog. Sad."
Dog starts whining pitifully, as Lily puts on her best disguised voice to go, "S-sir! Yes, sir! I mean! No sir-- I mean!" It's like she's a totally different person. ...This might bring to mind the time she disguised herself as a maid to get into Bledavik...
Either way, it works. The soldiers go, "Aaaah, yeah, it's not an intruder. I don't want to touch that."
"Uhhh. Me either! Man, even the dog's getting yelled at..."
"Let's get out of here."
Lily grins.
DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
=================<* CHALLENGE - What Do You Mean It's Stuck? *>=================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At last, you've found the captain's tent, and better yet, they're not in.
Better than that, there's a promising-looking chest in here. Perhaps within,
there's some information about Kislev's plans, or even just something
interesting.
But here is where immediate hopes turn to ash: attempts to open the chest
normally fail. It doesn't seem to be locked, no... it just seems like it's
stuck.
Some percussive maintenance is in order here.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It's a tense moment that follows. Will the gambit have paid off?
Citan can just hear the conversation outside the tent above Lily (and Dog's!) own demonstration of their thespian skills. Hurried footsteps indicate that the soldiers have made themselves scarce.
"...Goodness," Citan says once the coast is clear. "I must admit I wasn't certain that would work! I suppose my acting 'chops' are not as rusty as I had thought! I must say, Lily, you certainly put on quite the performance yourself." He glances downwards. "And Dog, too, of course!" He leans down to pat Dog on the head.
"Still, I had thought that as this was a superior officer's tent that a little 'acting' would not go amiss."
He approaches a portable desk in the back of the tent and sifts through a few of the papers left on the desk. "...ah, actually, it appears I was mistaken. This is the captain's tent!" he says, turning to face the rest of them. "Which means that if there is anything of importance to be gleaned, it would be..."
His gaze trails towards the chest sat near the cot and he moves right for it. But, as Citan soon finds, the chest won't open.
"Locked, are you? Well, let us see about that!"
It takes him about two minutes with one of his screwdrivers to find out that, actually, the chest isn't locked. It doesn't seem that it's been locked in years.
"...It appears to be stuck," Citan says, sounding if anything disappointed. "I wonder how we might force it without damaging the--"
"Kyu," says Ise, gripping its 'tail' (actually a wooden stick) and battering at the side of the chest with it. Ise is doing its best...?!
"Well, perhaps in that case we might try brute force," Citan allows.
DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Ise is Trying! toward his party's challenge, What Do You Mean It's Stuck?. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"...Usually, I would imagine individuals would be familiar with how their captain sounds," Ethius remarks as the threat passes. "I would presume their voice register must be close to yours, then."
This will only be useful information if the Captain somehow catches wind of the identity of his mimic and puts it to use in an unexpected fashion. Turnabout is fair play.
They have a new conundrum. They have a box, that doesn't appear locked. It does, however, appear to be stuck. He reaches out to it--
And draws his hand back because Ise is going to town. This repeats a few times in increasingly silly (and cute) instances of Ethius attempting to do anything, at all, only to find he's at risk of getting the short end of the stick.
"..."
"I would like to try and turn it upside down at earliest opportunity," Ethius offers uncharacteristically meekly as he reaches out, again, to once again have to dodge helpful wooden stick striking. "...They can take their time, within... reason," his gaze starts to drift away as if wondering how much time they have - like if they find the actual captain.
He wonders if the box's contents alone could get it open if they could just turn it over.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, What Do You Mean It's Stuck?.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly has already brought out a strange, boxlike object from within her travel bag -- but she stops in the course of unfolding the peculiar gold-and-black boxlike object into a new configuration when she sees Mimikyu.
Elly adjusts the Ether Doubler with a smooth 'click' out of an idle anxiety at her hands. "Well, we don't want to, erm, risk breaking something fragile within," she says. Click, shift.
She looks to Lily. "I know it might be difficult, but what comes to mind to me is," click, twist, "some kind of... I don't know... if we heat it up very fast and then cool it down... Just the lock, I mean. I suppose it'd be safer to freeze it first, in case there are delicate papers inside."
Elly stops dithering with the Ether Doubler, which seems to shift just a little more on its own...
... but then she holds it up. "Tell me when, if you want to do it together," Elly says to Lily, before giving Ethius a firm nod. ("Um," Elly then says, looking at Ise again, who is a troubling organism.)
DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Ether Doubler toward her party's challenge, What Do You Mean It's Stuck?. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Thank you," Lily says, back to her usual lower-affect voice. "Part of my special forces training." Dog makes a pleased noise and wags her tail.
But as it turns out, it's the Captain's tent! Lily looks arounnd. "So it is." But they go to unlock the chest, and... it's...
Hmm. Lily considers it thoughtfully. But before she comes up with a solution of her own, she looks at Elly, who offers to work on the lock together.
"...All right," Lily says after a moment. "I think that's a good idea."
She nods to Ise. "Excuse us for a moment," she says to the Pokemon, and places her hand over Elly's on the Ether Doubler.
She's not a big 'touch' person, but it seems like the best way to coordinate their casting. It does mean Elly might feel the strangeness of Lily's markings moving over her skin, though.
DG: Lily Keil has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, What Do You Mean It's Stuck?.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
=================<* CHALLENGE - What Do You Mean It's Stuck? *>=================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
At last, you've found the captain's tent, and better yet, they're not in.
Better than that, there's a promising-looking chest in here. Perhaps within,
there's some information about Kislev's plans, or even just something
interesting.
But here is where immediate hopes turn to ash: attempts to open the chest
normally fail. It doesn't seem to be locked, no... it just seems like it's
stuck.
Some percussive maintenance is in order here.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>===================== ============< Results - Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment - Round 5 >============ ==================< CHALLENGE - What Do You Mean It's Stuck? >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citan Uzuki 28 --(101)--> 129 Bad Ise is Trying! Min Brute Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elhaym van Houten 23 --(101)--> 124 Good Ether Doubler Maj Brute Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 23 --(101)--> 124 Worst Force Bsc Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily Keil 15 --(101)--> 116 Good Force Bsc Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Citan Uzuki 80 --(15)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(1), Overzealous(2), and Weaken(2) Effects: Resilient(1) = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
DG: Citan Uzuki is too exhausted to continue! DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue! DG: Ethius Hesiod is too exhausted to continue! DG: Lily Keil is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has been fully Exhausted by Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=====================<* Lahan Ruins - Kislevi Encampment *>=====================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Militaristic Machinations *>===================
| Type: Landmark | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
It takes quite a bit of effort to force the chest to open, but eventually,
it does just that.
Within you find some papers and notes discussing the captain's plans for the
near future involving the growth and development of this camp. ...it seems
like a significant expansion is in the near future.
But to what end?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Overzealous:_Brute_Down!_Combat_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Secret:_Exploration_Up!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Attempts to actually open the chest are thwarted to a degree by... Ise. Who is trying its best! And also definitely nearly smashing Ethius' fingers.
Ultimately, though--
"Kyuuuu," Ise sighs, its plush head flopping precipitously to one side as its body flattens out somewhat against the floor. Ise is tired of trying and is thus now Resting. The way is open for Lily and Elly to do their best themselves and open the chest with Ether sorcery!
Which the chest does after a little bit of careful synchronized casting of ice and fire. Just as they suspected, there are papers within. "Hm," Citan says, picking up one of the missives as he kneels near the wreckage of the chest. He readjusts his glasses with his free hand. "It would seem that an expansion of the camp is planned. Yet it does not detail the reason why... Are they planning to secure the rift? Or is this preparation for something else?"
"Mi," says Ise, regrouping from its brief rest. It slips over towards the rest of the stacked papers.
It begins to also beat these with its stick.
"Well," Citan says, something like mild concern on his face. If there's more details in the rest of the papers, they're not going to be able to go through them immediately...