Dream Chasers:2017-08-24: The Gods Must Be Disappointed
- Log: The Gods Must Be Disappointed
- Cast: Lan Lilac, Vin Barrett, Tesni Inoue, Cardia Ortell, White Knight Leo
- Where: Adelhyde, Guardian Temple
- Date: 2017-08-24
- Summary: Cardia, Lan, Tesni, and Vin enter the Guardian Temple in search of answers and maybe treasure. They get much more, and a lesson in humility as well.
DG: A party led by Lan Lilac is now entering The Guardian Temple. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* The Guardian Temple *>==============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - A Clash of Beasts *>=========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
-----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------
The Metal Beasts have forced their way into the foyer of the Temple, along
with other members of the Metal Demons. For those who seek to push in
deeper, there is a battlefield to be crossed. Gunsmoke ARM shots shoot
across the way, scarring the ancient stone of the foyer. Spells occasionally
hurl across, lightning and ice scarring the very ground that they walk on.
The Metal Beasts are ill-inclined to let others pass. As you make your way
through the confusion, a pack of armored hounds begins to lope after, anger
visible in their steely green eyes. They leap -- fangs bared, claws raised,
and the battle is joined before you can reach the door that leads deeper
into the Temple.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Fright===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She hasn't been in this region very long, and look what's happened since the Sorcery Globe - the very ground itself seems to be disgorging secrets, one at a time. The problem is that a temple is a VERY big secret, full of smaller secrets, and Lan is only one shaman!!
In the end, she'd had to ask around (and leave a note on the bulletin board of a saloon, in the middle of about ten other requests for the same darn thing. Lan likes to think the smiley face she drew on hers was what helped it stand out.
She wasn't really prepared for an ACTUAL WAR right there in the foyer of the Temple!!
Which is how she ended up running pell-mell through it, lavender eyes wide as saucers as shots and stray magic come uncomfortably close time and time again. "AAAAAAAAAHHH!"
She's attracting the wrong kind of attention, for sure... the Metal Beasts lope after her, their speed an easy match for her own. Are you a bad enough dude/dudette to save your backup shaman?!
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts. <Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
...Someday, somehow...
A Simple Cloaked Baskar Shaman is certain that his compassion and morals are gonna get 'em a fresh farm on some dusty Boot Hill.
It was a smiley face! A smiley face, of all things! That...that just spelled trouble. Also, the whole 'three way war breaking out over a holy site/horrible death trap' (There is a SURPRISING amount of crossover there, for Guardian Worshippers!) is just asking for trouble, and the sort of thing that kinda draws Mysterious Cloaked Baskar like flies to honey.
In other words, that explains why a Cloaked Baskar Shaman is sprinting after the Backup Baskar Shaman. However, instead of running and screaming, he's running and cursing! And invoking his patron Guardian for aid! With magic, hopefully boosting his fellow Drifter's attacks. Because magic is Awesome! There is also, of course, the shooting at Metal Beasts, with a fancy double-barreled ARM Rifle/Shotgun, the Mysterious Cloaked Shaman sprinting for the doors as fast as he can while, y'know, shooting things.
"I hate these things. I hate them so much. Stay -DOWN-, ya damn unnatural critters!"
Hopefully they get through before the critters do!
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Pyre Totem toward his party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts. <Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue was often like a ghost fading in and out of the world really, she would show up in times of crisis at times help and vanish. What was the drifter seeking in the endless sea of sand? Old things, very old things, older than the metal demons. The surival of the metal demons troubled her deeply. If they were here what other horrors of the past slept uner the sands? The important thing was she was here and fairly well armed. She was also at least chipper to those she was with. Though the odd thing was? Tess? Seemed better ready for some like this. She will ready the Dead Man's ARM and fire a few shots trying to help keep the beasts off Lan.
"I agree, and it's like they are not of this world."
Tess notes as she fires away and tries to keep from getting caught up in things.
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts. <Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
It's hard to say what drives the mysterious, mute Drifter that introduces herself as Carde. Ashen hair, unnaturally pale blue eyes, and metallic plating on the sides of her cheekbones tell only the start of the story-- at least, what can be seen. When she chose this job, it was with the flyer in her hand, slapped down in front of Lan and then a pantomime of her gloved fist thunking against her gloved hand, a hand at her chest, and then a point at the unusual girl.
The concepts are simple: 'I punch things. I got your back.'
Weird, silent, and jotting down most of her conversations in a weathered old leatherbound notebook the entire trip to the temple, she didn't expect things to get this hairy this fast. Cardia's jaw tightens; while the shaman's life is Suffering, the gunslinger cracks off shots from a weathered old gunsmoke ARM; bullets fired with uncanny accuracy. The beasts that come too close, she attempts to fend off with either a well-placed (and strong!) kick or a heavy punch where she needs to.
DG: Cardia Ortell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Clash of Beasts. =========================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 1 *>========================= ===========================< Results - A Clash of Beasts >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(17)--> 17 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cardia Ortell 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vin Barrett 0 --(16)--> 16 Pass Pyre Totem 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tesni Inoue 0 --(18)--> 18 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------- Leader: Lan Lilac 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Conditions: Fright(2)|Suffer Effects: Embolden(1) ==================================< Dream Chasers >==================================
DG: The party led by Lan Lilac has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 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> Lan Lilac has posed.
How lucky was it for Lan to find three people willing to join her party!? She just knew the smiley face would work its magic.
Too bad it can't protect her from Metal Beasts, though the others do a bang-up job of that. Enough bullets will kill anything, right?! Reaching the far wall at last, she only has enough time to realize that the wounded, angry Metal Beasts are Not Stopping and that the wall is Very Close. Lan has about .5 seconds to act - and she does, stepping ONTO the wall and performing a weird twist-somersault-totally-meant-to-do-that leap to one side. The Metal Beasts, peppered with bullets and as a result very angry, crash into the wall, effectively finishing the job that Cardia, Vin, and Tesni started.
Lan rolls to a stop several feet away, sprawled out on her back. "I hate those things," she groans. Maybe... Give her a sec.
DG: Vin Barrett has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* The Guardian Temple *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Collapsed Stairway *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Sometimes, stairwells lead to higher and lower levels. As you round the corner, you come across one such stairwell. Rubble has collapsed from the ceiling and filled this one to the brim. Unless you can find another way down, which would involve backtracking, you will need to remove it. It promises to be an arduous process, though, because the ceiling will need to be supported -- and the rubble moved carefully, lest you cause an even greater collapse than before. =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure, Overwhelm================================== <Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Yes, well, perhaps it is the blessings of MAGIC, or possibly it is just having a very nice gun, but the Mysterious Cloaked Shaman makes it thorugh the battle lines relatively unscathed. Relatively. I mean, that's still a lot of gunfire and stuff...As the other three brave Diggers sprint in, gasping for breath and the like, Vin Barrett pulls his hood down, letting out a sigh as he glances at the chaos outside. "Well, good news is, we're not important enough for 'em to attack now that they can attack each other. Bad news is, well, we'll have to get out. Still, that's for later. Take five, I'll take a poke around."
And, fitting deeds to word, Vin does take a pace around the scarred up foyer, muttering to himself, prodding the walls here and there. "Where is it, where is it...Ah-HAH!"
Grinning proudly, he slaps a concealed switch. "Alright, this should let us bypass a lot of the nastier stuff, so that'll...save...time. ..."
Vin stares at the hallway, full of fallen ceiling blocks, drifts of dirt, and broken bits and pieces of wall potter. Sighing, he rolls up his sleeves. "Right, suppose we should see if it's shiftable. Still less effort than going the long way. Guardians know these sorts of places are packed with traps."
And, carefully, the Baskar starts trying to find a way to prop up enough of the rubble to force a way through!
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Collapsed Stairway. <Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
A few rips and tears in her attire later, and Carde looks briefly panicked-- just tying off a few bandages around her trousers to keep the metal bits from showing through, all while waving on assurances she's fine.
Take five, Vin says. She looks from him to Tesni, then Lan, then nods, pointing at the shaman and then pointing at a spot for her to sit for a moment. Standing as though she's keeping guard of the young shaman, the Mysterious Drifter Carde waits to one side with her back to a wall, arms folded and letting her eyes close-- though more goes on inside the Solarian's closed eyes than people think.
'Ah-HAH!'
Vin reveals the way to ... rubble, and more rubble.
Carde's weight pushes off from the wall, striding across the foyer to meet up with the Mysterious Cloaked Shaman and see what the situation is. She looks at Vin, then the rubble, then back at the other two. She points at one of the stones, then pulls a thumb back to her chest. Slipping a hand-- as covertly as she can, of course-- into her coat, the device secured to her back activates, sending a charge of Ether through her limbs and spiking their levels...
... and then crouching down and pushing up from a squat, Carde tries to just lift the worst of the damn thing to help create a better opening!
DG: Cardia Ortell has used her Tool Ether Supercharger toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Stairway. <Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Well things don't go as well as she'd hope she gets roughed up pretty bad but she doesn't end up dropped she's able to rbign them down but she sarts thinking maune she needs some heavier firepower here. As they press on into to the temple she looks to her comrades for amoment ot make sure everyone isn't too bad off. She notices the switch for a moment and humms as she moves to shoulder her rifle while pulling out a prybar to help out.
"Here let's see what I can do with that..."
DG: Tesni Inoue has used its Tool Crowbar toward its party's challenge, Collapsed Stairway. <Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Bwugh," Lan agrees from her place on the floor. What she means is, 'You did it! Great job! Also, thank you all for not letting me get eaten by evil alien doggies.' For now, she takes Carde's direction and has a seat against the wall until she can get her breath back. "You're really professional, you know?" she smiles up at the silent woman. It doesn't seem to bother Lan if Carde doesn't speak... though there's a miscommunication-based comedy of errors waiting somewhere in the wings, Lan just knows it.
Once she's gotten herself back together, the blonde watches Vin work at the rubble for a short while. Lan rests her knuckles against her chin thoughtfully. "...You don't think a really, really well-aimed comet would move all of this stuff," she muses, though it seems the ceiling is really not well-supported enough to try.
"I wish we had someone in my village that taught engineering or something," Lan sighs, though she knows damn well she would never have studied it. "You guys tell me where to place these rocks, oka... aaaay?"
The pause is because Carde just HELLUVA STRONG'd the rubble!!! ...Scrubs like herself and Tesni just can't compete with that...!
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Collapsed Stairway. =====================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 2 *>====================== =======================< Results - Collapsed Stairway >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lan Lilac 17 --(12)--> 29 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cardia Ortell 20 --(14)--> 34 Pass Ether Supercharger 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vin Barrett 16 --(17)--> 33 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tesni Inoue 18 --(16)--> 34 Fail Crowbar 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Lan Lilac 10 --(20)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(2)|Overwhelm|Suffer|Tire(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Lan Lilac 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> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin was honestly pondering some scrabbling, maybe a bit of crawling, and general 'oh god dirt' everywhere.
Then, the silent digger just calmly reached over, knelt, and deadlifted the worst of it. "Well...That works!"
While he's no professional engineer, Vin does have some cousins and maternal relatives with very interesting ideas on what constitutes proper training...so, well, with the help of Cardia's brute force and Tesni's crowbar, as well as Lan helping move some of the smaller rocks, the Baskar manages to arrange the corridor enough that a path is passable!
...Although, given a decent sized rock bounces off his head in response to a rumble from someone doing something undobutedly explosive up on the surface, it's probably not going to stay stable. Rubbing the fresh bump, Vin whistles sharply. "Right! Nice job, now let's get the -hell- through before it collapses again!"
DG: Cardia Ortell has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* The Guardian Temple *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Variable Gravity Well *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
When you enter the next room, you find a square-shaped room that has a pit
filling the middle of it. The pit drops down ten feet, into a series of
sharp spikes that would be painful to cross. Leaping over the pit -- or
using some other means -- wouldn't be so hard. But, when you step forward, a
complication appears.
A black hole, a pinpoint of gravitational force, blinks into existence over
the pit. Rocks, debris, and dust all swirl up into it and gravity causes the
course of any leap to be thrown askew. Just before you could time a jump,
though, the black hole vanishes... and reappears elsewhere in the room, over
the pit. Crossing will not be easy.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Hesitate======================================
<Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
Super professional. Carde isn't quite sure what to say, though her expression is quizzical.
Vin's strength gets them started; Carde's unusually brute brute strength gives her the means to damn near deadlift the rocks and rubble to start pushing them up and out of the way. Tesni's prybar gives them some leverage, though it takes the ashen-haired woman a bit more 'oomph' to finish the job while Lan ... well, Lan is Lan, and she tries her best.
Holding the rubble a bit longer, giving it one more shove into place and standing with her palms against the stones to make sure they don't start falling on them as they pass, the woman nods her head down the path for everyone to continue on.
And then ... this.
Carde opens her mouth wide, then closes it, not quite sure what to think or say. Clicking open a small pack on her gun-slash-utility belt, she takes out an ARM of a more utilitarian nature-- a small, beaten-up looking box with a grip on one end and a polished metallic hook on the other. Internal targeting gives the undercover Solarian a bit of insight while she starts trying to guess and predict the next point.
Sucking in a breath, she glances back at the others, nods... and then fires off the hook toward the opposite wall. Running along what precious floor space they have, she leaps through the air and clicks the reel to pull her in, hopefully slipping past the distortions and giving her a needed hand!
DG: Cardia Ortell has used her Tool Grappling Wire toward her party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well. <Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin Barrett hums, and lets Cardia go first, judging how the -freaking gravity holes- appear and yank her about, getting an idea of how much strength they've got...
And, with a quick murmur of "Feet, don't fail me now!", the cloak-wearing Baskar jumps for it, aiming 'off course' in an attempt to let the gravity holes yank him on course!
Hopefully...
Surely the Guardians wouldn't be so cruel as to make one of their shaman land in a pit of pointy, pointy pointy-ness? Right? RIGHT?!
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well. <Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
It's draining to Tess but she was more than glad to help out with this, it also looks like they are able to get past this. With not too much torub but what lays ahead? Gravity going wild? This shoukdn't be happening. Tess' expression narrows a little bit, she watches the pit for a moment she's going to have to time her jump perfectly or she may be in for a very pointed mistake. She secures her gear prays briefly then makes a full on runing leap and hopefuly she's timed it right.
"Why are the laws of physics on vacation?!"
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well. <Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
The hall is finally cleared. Finally! ...But maybe the Mysterious Cloaked Man (Lan is taking 'Baskar' and 'Shaman' for granted, it seems) is right, and they ought to hurry it up. Lan hustles along, trying really hard not to listen for more falling rocks. Oh geez, what if they get all the way inside and then something collapses and they're trapped down there?!
...Well, she decides, somewhat naively optimistic. If that happens, maybe Carde will just be able to punch through walls until they're free! Or maybe Lan will finally get to Meteorain something. Either/or.
As soon as she sees this, though...
Suddenly, Lan looks a lot more confident, if also a little tiny bit concerned. It's a pattern, right? So if she can just time it right...! The blonde shaman calmly reaches up for the ribbon binding her hair up in its ponytail and tugs.
The silver ribbon slides free with a quiet 'vwip', Lan's hair falling free down her back as she winds the thing around her fist. "O you of the endless stars," she murmurs, just enough to channel a little of her patron's magic. Lan eyes the pit, squeezes her fingers together tight, and takes off running for the edge.
There's a particular sensation, a kind of weightlessness... and she's floating, kind of, that leap taking her far beyond what she should be capable of.
Lan valiantly resists the urge to yell something like 'wheeeeee!'.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, Variable Gravity Well. ======================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 3 *>======================= ======================< Results - Variable Gravity Well >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 29 --(21)--> 50 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cardia Ortell 34 --(20)--> 54 Pass Grappling Wire 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vin Barrett 33 --(30)--> 63 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tesni Inoue 34 --(34)--> 68 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Lan Lilac 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)|Overwhelm|Suffer|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Lan Lilac has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 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> Cardia Ortell has posed.
Unfortunately for Vin, the Guardians seem to be in a foul mood today.
Carde's unnaturally precise jump-and-reel across the gap seems to give her the advantage she needs to clear the pull of the jumping-about singularities; she touches down with a crunch of dirt and smaller pebbles under her boots and one gloved hand in a squat. As Lan touches down close by, Vin and Tesni's days are about to get a lot more awkward.
Using the grappling ARM as an anchor, she steps out to the edge of the pit and thrusts out her arm for Vin and Tesni to try to grab onto to help pull them in if they don't manage it themselves; to take her offered hand or grab her arm would suggest that whatever is hidden behind gloves and layers of long sleeves is much, much harder than one would suspect.
Once they're all across, one way or another, the mute Drifter huffs a little-- not out of disdain or anger, but more in that 'this just isn't my day' sort of ways, with half-lidded eyes and a slant of her neck.
As they proceed down the hallway, it couldn't get any worse, could it?
DG: Tesni Inoue has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The Guardian Temple *>==============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - The Sand Box *>============================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------
As you walk down the hallway, one of your number feels a slight give -- and
then the tell-tale click of a pressure plate being stepped on. A loud crash
sounds from ten feet behind you -- and then a second loud crash in front of
you. Two stone walls come crashing down, blocking off the exit ahead and the
exit behind. This, alone, would be concerning.
But then you hear a rumble.
Two vents on either side of the wall open up, and sand begins to pour into
the room. It isn't long at all before it is ankle deep and rising quickly.
You will need to find some way through -- be it to smash down the wall or
the stop the flow of sand -- before you are buried alive in this Temple.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Things don't go so well for Tess while she doesn't end up on the spikes she lands wrong as her timing was a bit off and she ends up face first on the floor on the other side. It hurts she staggers up tries to dust herself off and push on.
"I really want to chew out the people who designed these places!"
she looks at the path ahead and goes forward now.
"We can't wait around too long."
The path into the temple goes onward and then as Test takes a step she pauses as she hears a click. She utters some strange word it sounds almost like a curse of some sort.
"Pressure plate!"
AS she says that there's a crash the two stone walls are coming down upon them like some kind of trans compactor. Then there there's another rumble and Tess glances to see sand is pouring into the chamber.
"Crushed and buried alive? Really?! We need to find a way out of here pronto!"
Tess pulls out a thin thing from a jacket pocket. It looks like book but then one side of it lights up brightly Tess' eyes dart over the what is clearly an ARMS as she scans the room looking for some way out and notes on traps she's encountered in the past there has to be something here.
DG: Tesni Inoue has used its Tool Datapad toward its party's challenge, The Sand Box. <Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin soars through the air, cloak flapping dramatically as he weaves between gravitation anomalies...and misses the jump, tugged back juuuuuust enough to slam into the side of the pit. Swearing, he scrabbles his way to the top, pulling himself over, bruised and panting for breath as he flops on his back, rubbing his freshly abraded knuckles. "Dear ancestors. What The Fuck. Sincerely, your descendant."
Groaning, he follows along with the other, more agile Drifters, grumbling, plotting to get some sort of neat grappling hook himself some day...
And then, Ker-Click.
That noise -never bodes well-.
Hanging his head, Vin pulls a bag out from his cloak, pulling a piece of jerky out. Eyeing the sand, chewing on the jerky, he calmly passes out pieces of the snack food to the others. "Grab a piece. Auntie Tessa's personal recipe, fifteen special herbs and spices. Helps clear the mind when you're in a stressful situation, yes."
Snacks passed out, despite impending (possible) doom, Vin calmly wades throgh the sand, nibbling on his own Shady Baskar Jerky. "Let's see...If the pressure plate was there, and this was designed by the same sadistic bastards who built some of the other ruins I"ve seen, then there might be a counter switch...No, no, wait, that was a different set of sadistic death trap makers. Hm."
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Baskar Trail Mix toward his party's challenge, The Sand Box. <Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
It felt like only yesterday she was in the deserts of Aveh, stationed at a recon post in the middle of the desert. Most days there was nothing going on; the other officers and enlisted personnel did their duties while trying to make sure there were no sand drifts getting too far into the tents. Cardia gained what felt like fifteen pounds in the desert. After the sand was fully blasted out of her joints and the few hollows it could get into, she lost it.
Carde's eyes, wide as saucers, leads to her silently mouthing out, 'oh for fuc--'
Making quick headway through the hallway while the sand makes it over her feet and ankles, she tries to squat down and get her fingers into the seam of the closed doorway ahead, trying very hard to get the stone to lift.
And she also looks at the offered jerky so very confused before holding it in her teeth and trying again.
DG: Cardia Ortell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sand Box. <Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Click.
Lan looks up from where she was tying her hair up again (she can't go around with this thing wrapped around her hand all the time, it's inconvenient!) at the world's most ominous noise.
Slam!
Shuff...
Oh, she was wrong. That's the world's most ominous noise, as of the second sand started spilling into the chamber.
But hey - at least there's jerky. She holds out her hand for a piece, giving it a perfunctory sniff before tucking it into her cheek to worry at. "Mmmf! Here--" Tugging at the canteen strapped to her leg, she unscrews the cap and takes a swig before passing it around. "Good idea! Let's die with full stomachs, at least..." Is... is that a joke? She's still smiling, so... maybe?
You never know.
Still chewing, Lan takes a long, thoughtful look at the vents where the sand is pouring in. The weight of the medium hidden underneath her shirt is comforting somehow, even now...
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Sand Box. =========================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 4 *>========================= =============================< Results - The Sand Box >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 50 --(13)--> 63 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cardia Ortell 54 --(16)--> 70 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vin Barrett 63 --(12)--> 75 Pass Baskar Trail Mix 1 Wits Effects: Enlighten and Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tesni Inoue 68 --(13)--> 81 Pass Datapad 3 Wits Effects: Rally --------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------- Leader: Lan Lilac 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Overwhelm|Reckless(2)|Suffer|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ==================================< Dream Chasers >==================================
DG: The party led by Lan Lilac 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: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
For Tess's part she does find a few things in her notes which could help and then with Vin doing his thing she takes the jerky. Either it will be a last meal or help fuel them going on further in this place.
"I'm think your on to something there Vin, the design styles are matching up with things I have seen before..."
Vin was more right then he knew there would be a counter switch somewhere and with Tess noticing what Cardia is doing? She would soon find Tess helping her.
While Lan might notice... she might be able to do something to delay the sand from the vents or she could help with the door. Whatever the case the party just barely gets out but gets out alive and breathing.
"What kind of twisted sadist does things like this! HOW DID THEY EVEN USE THIS PLACE BEFORE IT FELL TO RUIN!?"
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Spartoi Pincer *>===========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------
Even in this hallowed place, the risen corpses known as Spartoi can be
found. As you round the next corner, the skeletons are already lurching
forward. Their blades have not been dulled with time and gleam in the dim
light here, and their eyes come aglow with a fell green light. They cease
lurching and rush.
In the clatter of their advance, you may not notice another clatter. Behind
you, a trio of Spartoi drop down from the ceiling and land in a crouch.
They, too, rush in -- and you seen find yourselves being attack from both
sides!
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Bad Luck=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"I don't knnnooooowwww!" Lan wails, though it's not because she's fallen victim to existential despair; it just seemed like the proper reply to Tesni's proper and justified exasperation. But she's got sand between her toes now. It's not fun when you're not on a beach!!
Enjoying her newfound freedom, Lan at least takes a moment to take off one of her shoes in a vain attempt to brush some of the sand away from her feet. "Ugh. Well... at least if they went to this much trouble to protect whatever's inside here, it must be something really worth coming after, right?" A muffled clatter from further down the hall makes her lift her head up as she jams her sandal back on. "Wha-- more people besides us? Maybe we can team up with them!" Ah, ever the optimist.
What stalks out into the dim light isn't another adventuring party. Well, maybe they were once upon a time.
Now they're just bony, and pointy, and they have swords and they're moving on their own and AUGH! "NO WAY! I HATE SKELETONS!" Lan wails, this time in real existential despair.
The skeleton crew (ha ha ha) clatters toward them all, stabbing and slashing; Lan takes the opportunity to leap straight up in the air and kick one as hard as she can in the skull. "GO AWAY!"
She hasn't noticed the ones sneaking up from behind yet. Someone might want to get on that. At least she's feeling refreshed from their earlier snack?
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Clear Water toward her party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer. <Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin Barrett mutters darkly at Tesni's complaints and Lan's wails. "I don't know...but I bet it's the same sons-of-a-desert-cactus that think it's a hoot to make giant, unbreakable doors with no keys or unlocking mechanisms. WHO DOES THAT?" Joining in on the rant session, Vin pauses as the Spartoi show up.
His eye twitches. "The walking dead."
The medium tucked away under his long gloves shivers to life, small motes of flame starting to dance around his fingers. "I -hate- the walking dead." The shaman pulls a scorched wooden sculpture out, gripping it, murmuring an invocation to the Guardian of Fire as motes of flame tease around his party's weaponry. "And if there's one thing I know about the unquiet dead, it is that the best way to deal with them..."
He whirls as he hears a clatter from behind the party, whipping out a lance of burning flame at the lead Spartoi as he draws his ARM.
"IS TO BURN THEM!"
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Pyre Totem toward his party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer. <Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
She can't quite get the 'door' to open in a timely fashion; though she does seem to display that considerable strength, she's still fighting against the weight and resistance of a lot of sand coming into the room really fast. Once they've managed to escape, Carde staggers a few steps before falling to one knee with a heavy 'thump,' eyes batting wildly with a bit of red: Sand in her eyes, and she tries to clear it with a dusty sleeve and an irritated frown.
Shaking a bit more of the sand from her coat and clothes, her movements seem to have an odd grind to them-- particularly along her ankles and knees and wrists. Cardia stares at her hands even harder while they walk, opening and closing her hands into fists and rolling her wrists. She's going to have to have a full cleaning when she gets back to base.
Looking up, Carde is greeted with ... the undead.
Pulling her gun, for her part, she barely gets time to get a shot off before a blade is swung her way. The Drifter pulls an arm up and steps in to try to deflect the blow before throwing a heavy punch with her other hand, getting ready to take shots and keep herself safe!
DG: Cardia Ortell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer. <Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
The Walking dead? The Walking dead, she just seems to accept this outwardly while part of her is screaming inside she brings up the DeadMan's arm and now moves to eenages the things. She's not going for heads shots, no she's going for the center of mass given what a bullet can do? Really it's smarter than going for head shots She shoots she tires to keep back and cover her allies as they attempt to press on.
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward its party's challenge, Spartoi Pincer. =========================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 5 *>========================= ============================< Results - Spartoi Pincer >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 63 --(11)--> 74 Pass Clear Water 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cardia Ortell 70 --(16)--> 86 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vin Barrett 75 --(14)--> 89 Pass Pyre Totem 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tesni Inoue 81 --(14)--> 95 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------- Leader: Lan Lilac 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Injure(2)|Overwhelm|Reckless(1)|Suffer|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==================================< Dream Chasers >==================================
DG: The party led by Lan Lilac 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> Lan Lilac has posed.
She's not exactly thinking about it right now, but if Lan took the time to notice Vin not bitching about her and Tesni's completely justified reaction to all this ridiculousness. Maybe later she'll remember to tell him he's cool.
Of course Carde isn't bitching. Lan is pretty sure she can, but it'd take a lot of effort.
The Spartoi react about as well as one would expect to being roasted al-- er, undead. Namely, they go up in a raging inferno! When the heat dies down, there's nothing left but smelly bits of charred bone. Tesni manages to put the hurt on a few herself, a lucky center mass shot actually managing to sever one's spine - the top half falls to the ground in a clatter, while the bottom half actually manages to take two more steps before it collapses.
Carde's shots just don't seem to have that same kind of luck to them, but she manages to take out a couple as well. Must be the sand in her joints...!
For the record, the skull Lan kicked? It goes flying across the chamber and ricochets off a far wall. GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!
DG: Vin Barrett has drawn a new Challenge.
==========================<* The Guardian Temple *>===========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Shifting Tiles *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
When you enter this room, you are immediately greeted by the sound of
rushing sand. A flowing river of the stuff moves through the center of the
room, and it moves far too quickly to wade into -- not to mention that no
one can be sure how deep it is. However, something else moves through the
sand: huge tiles of obsidian, which float across it, and are wide and sturdy
enough to hold a person. Crossing will require leaping from tile to tile,
even as it moves underfoot, until you get to the other side.
You certainly want to reach the other side. There, a huge doorway awaits.
Three relief statues of the Guardians of Water, Fire, and Wind are sculpted
around it, beckoning you forth. You suspect few of the other groups of
Drifters have found these trial rooms, so deep under the ground.
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
The final Spartoi skull bounces off a wall, riccohets off a tile, and arcs up into the air, landing in the sand with a sad little *plop* and a puff of dust.
As Vin saunters after it, feeling much relaxed after getting to set something ugly on fire and work out some pent up stress, he pauses, glancing at the rivers of fast moving sand, and the obviously not-sturdy (Because are they EVER that lucky?!) platforms floating about innocently within it. Then up to the statues of the Guardians. Then back to the platforms. THen back to the statues. Then, he sighs.
"I really hope they didn't have this temple built just to amuse them with some sort of extreme challenge to eliminate the unworthy and entertain the Guardians as a side benefit. Welp, at least this seems simple enough. Don't fall in sand, hop across, and hope there's no Gravitational Anomalies or whatever madness the ancients came up with."
And, suiting deed to word once more, the Baskar Shaman makes a running go of it, trying to make his way across.
...At least his (possibly) inevitable failure may amuse and allow his party to not make the same mistakes, even if he lands safely!
DG: Vin Barrett has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles. <Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue looks to see a strange trial room, ahead she makes note of the Reliefs are noticed and out comes the strange arm again, it seems she's intent point it at them for a moment before she pockets it and gets ready to make her way through this. She starts to move now as it's time for another level of platforming hell. With the undead already out of her mind it's time to get to work here She's just happy it's over and LAn'ds kicking the skull amused Tess.
"Nice kick."
She looks to Vin
"I'm pretty sure there are people who'd pay money to see other people run through stuff like this and make a damn fortune off it to."
With that she tkes off right after Vin...
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward its party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles. <Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Even if it's a challenge, we really... well, we came this far, right?" Lan, ever the voice of optimism. Easy for her to say, jumping puzzles are one of her strong suits!
She invokes Rigdobrite's power again, the ribbon threaded between her fingers once more as she watches the tiles slide back and forth. "Huh? -Oh, thanks!" she beams at Tesni. She doesn't really understand what the datapad is, or what it's for, but it seems to be helpful. That's what counts, right?
Lan watches Vin start across, and takes a deep breath. "Hup!"
Jump once, twice, and count on being able to catch just a liiiiittle extra hang time...
Privately, Lan is pretty sure Rigdobrite would never approve of a temple like this. She has a lot of feelings about her star buddy.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles. <Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
A blade catches Carde a little harder than she thought; the edge bites deep enough that someone would-- and should-- cry out in pain, but she holds together with remarkable aplomb. Maybe she's professional... and tough? The exchange of blows and gunfire is a little rough, leaving her with a cut on her jaw and a few more dings and nicks on her arms and legs, but...
... but, they still make it through. They arrive in the massive chamber, the platforms, and the tiles, and ... and that damn river.
Sand, skeletons, and now water. Everything she needs to have a pretty terrible day. Setting her weight, centering herself, she waits for the others to start their turns before moving on her own, running before a jump to one tile, then the other, and then she fires the grappling wire across the pit to the other side.
Reeling the line in quickly, Carde hopes for the best... but with how this day has gone and the sand stuck in her joints, one never knows.
DG: Cardia Ortell has used her Tool Grappling Wire toward her party's challenge, The Shifting Tiles. =====================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 6 *>====================== =======================< Results - The Shifting Tiles >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lan Lilac 74 --(9)--> 83 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cardia Ortell 86 --(8)--> 94 Pass Grappling Wire 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vin Barrett 89 --(6)--> 95 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tesni Inoue 95 --(11)--> 106 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Lan Lilac 80 --(5)--> 85 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Tesni Inoue is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Lan Lilac has passed this challenge! The party gained 5 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> Vin Barrett has posed.
Hop. Hop. Hoppity hop.
Grapple gun.
Vin is certainly not jealous of the grapple gun. Not at all. NOT EVEN A LITTLE.
Still, as he touches down, one of the platforms sinks, which probably ruins Tesni's landing. Not good at all!
Still, at least she's close enough that, with a little (IE, a Lot) of flailing, she can reach a hand up to be hauled in by her fellow party members.
With everyone past the Terrible Jumping Puzzle of Doom, Vin sits down, catching his breath, rolling onto his back to deadpan stare up at the statue of Moor Gault. "...Seriously, though, Boss? What's up with the jumping puzzles? Whatever happened to a good ol' 'find the switch' puzzle?"
Sighing, Vin pushes himself on up to his feet. "Well, onwards. We're probably nearly there..."
He can almost feel it. Possibly literally! Magic is odd!
DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* The Guardian Temple *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The Impossible Task *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 |
-----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------
The deepest rooms of the Guardian Temple are also the largest. This
cavernous chamber stretches out, and each of the walls has extensive murals
painted by hands deft and light -- hands that have produced art so sublime,
with such finesse, that one might wonder if human hands could master them.
The murals show the Guardians in abstract splendor; without revealing their
form, and yet with such care that one cannot doubt the form that they have
chosen.
Three tiles, each a gleaming silver, stand in the center of the room. Around
them are twenty-four statues on round pedestals. Each shows an abstract
concept related to each of the twenty-five Guardians: a sword, a sun dial, a
flame, a wave, and so on. As you enter, the three tiles flash.
The ghostly images of three Guardians appear: the enormous, tortoise-like
form of Schturkdark, the four-winged dragon form of Moor Gault, and the
winged tiger of Fengalon. Each rears up and looks upon you. Schturdark
speaks first: "We call upon your wisdom to break the past."
Moor Gault speaks next: "We ask that you show the understanding that ever
escaped your ancestors."
Fengalon finishes: "We ask that you show us that you know mankind's place in
the cosmos."
They fade away, but a twenty-fifth statue appears on the central tile: one
of a featureless, stylized human. It looks almost childish. Each statue can
be moved -- including the human statue -- to show where you think you might
fit in the cosmos.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Reckless, Madness===============================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
If Moor Gault is going to answer Vin's question, he's not going to do so now--instead, the four Drifters are left alone in the room with only the artistry of previous generations for company. The statues stand on the far end, silent and still. The door slides shut. That's funny--there's a fourth statue there, and it couldn't have been there a few minutes ago.
The walls melt away. The four grand Elemental Guardian statues follow, leaving only the twenty-five golden statuettes. All that remains is mist--mist that might remind Lan and Vin of some of the old creation stories back in the Colony. The nothingness that existed before Filgaia came to be.
Something appears in the mist to the north. The smell of the sea filters into the room, along with the sound of waves lapping against the shore--and out of this ethereal, invisible ocean rises a great tortoise, a beast that looks like it could bear the world on its back.
"One trial yet remains," says Schturdark, Guardian of Water, his voice the roar of a tidal wave.
Something else emerges from the mist to the south. The scent of wood-smoke wafts into the room, and the air grows warm. Out of this invisible, ethereal fire rises a great bird whose body is the essence of flame. A great phoenix."We ask you to show the understanding that ever escaped your ancestors," says Moor Gault, his voice the crackling of flames.
Out of the east, the sound of tumbling rock and dust, and the smell of freshly-turned earth. The ethereal mountains move--and from among them rises a mountainous lizard-beast that looks like it could survive Armageddon.
"Many have failed." Grudiev's voice is like an earthquake, the thunderous growl of stone grinding against stone.
Out of the west, a wind rising from nothing, stirring the phantasmal clouds, whipping them into a display that looks like the sky before a storm. Out of the storm stalks an immense white tiger, as swift as the wind, and as lethal as a hurricane."We ask that you show us that you know mankind's place in the cosmos," Fengalon says, his voice the howl of raging winds.
And there, in the great, vast sky behind Fengalon, is a star. Lan sees it glimmer out of the corner of her eye, and when she looks, there is Rigdobrite, trailing stardust from just over Fengalon's shoulder. His expression is inscrutable.
Likewise, if Moor Gault has any commentary for his devoted shaman, he is keeping it to himself for now.
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
...Huh.
Vin is actually properly respectful when the Guardians speak, listening to them chat and invite them to solve a riddle. Vin, for his part, waits for the Guardians to depart...and then siiiighs, shrugging and dropping to sit down. "Hooo boy. What's our place in the cosmos, eh?"
The Shaman brings out his provisions bag, and just starts sharing out jerky, dried fruits and nuts, and even a few small waterskins of, erm, water. "Well, one thing is fore sure...Can't go wrong tacklin' this with a snack."
Baskar Trailmix: Made with SPECIAL SHAMAN SEASONINGS, to help clear the mind when dealing with annoyingly vague ancient guardian patrons.
Vin chews, eyeing the statue. "...Pretty sure 'on a planet' isn't the answer, even if it is true most o' the time!" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Snack chew chew chew. Sip. Chew chew chew.
DG: Vin Barrett has used his Tool Baskar Trail Mix toward his party's challenge, The Impossible Task. <Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue is a woman of some strange faith given she's from the Seed Towns but most of those folks don't expect the gods or anything like that to talk to them in their life times. It's generally imporant enough for their Clergy to make note of such an event. She just kinda stares for a moment her eyes wide as saucers a shye hears them speak. She's however very worn out, hurt and she's not sure how much she can add to this. She simply nods for a moment and looks hopefully at Vin Lan and Cardia.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She looks up. And up. And up.
The room, the walls, the art... the Guardians.
It's only now that Lan feels that curious heaviness at her center, the little spark of her soul dwarfed by the power that washes over her. She's never really figured out if that's a real thing, or if she's just imagining it - either way, it's never been this intense before.
It's one thing to communicate with your gods. It's quite another to be confronted by fantastical, mystical images of them that talk to you and challenge you to solve ancient, apparently previously-failed puzzles. Lan reaches into her shirt and draws out her medium - to any human but herself and possibly Vin, it looks like a little lump of slag metal.
"..." Mankind's place in the cosmos? She's just a shaman - what can Lan contribute to this? What did Mom tell her-- no, definitely don't listen to Mom right now. Lan's pretty sure that's how you get smited for blasphemy.
Instead, she takes another handful of trail food. The familiar taste is comforting, even if it's not quite the same as her aunt's. "Can't say you're wrong. Snacks make everything better. Thanks~" Chewing thoughtfully, Lan looks steadily past Tesni at the statues. Man's place in the cosmos? "Huh. Maybe if we..." She dithers for a while, turning the problem over in her head.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue thinks on Mankinds place in the cosmos, that seems to get her attention she looks to the source of the voice for a moment. The spirits might sense pride over that? Not entirely unearned pride but hubris is a thing that tends to plague humanity and similar races. Still she muses on it.
"This is just a tiny spec, there's more beyond Filgaia than anyone would dare expect or dream of. Wonders and terrrors to match, with us short lived specs trying to make sense of it all." Her tone is respectful and polite to the spirits. Some thing beyodn her understanding have dropped in to actually do something and they are for by her account being ... respectful in kind to them.
<Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
For what it's worth, the look on Cardia's face is ... shock. Wonder. Amazement. She nearly forgets the character Carde for a time, her mouth opening wide as the Guardians present themselves in those spectral forms. If her natural eyes were not plucked from her skull years ago, she would insist she were hallucinating. But these eyes are artificial-- and that may just make things worse.
She pulls out her notebook in a hurry, scrawling out a quick note before holding it up: 'Did anyone else see that???' Then a quick, 'Or am I just crazy???'
The puzzle is put before them: Their place in the cosmos.
Thinking on it for a moment, Carde taps on her own chest, then points at the sword. Perhaps a little on the nose, but she isn't quite sure what to make of this-- after all, Vin and Lan are the shamans around here...
DG: Cardia Ortell has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Impossible Task. <Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin just chews on his jerky for a bit, thinking...and then, just sighs, blowing a breath of air out. "Man, I've never been one for deep philosophy, even if I am a shaman...So, hah! Screw it!"
Vin stands up, grinning cheerily as he pats the crude statue on the head. "Not sure if it's right or wrong, and I've never been one to ponder that sort of thing. Fire just -Is-. Sure, it comes from fuel and is sparked by someone or something else, but once it exists, it exists until it's gone. Same thing, I guess! Humans are Humans! No clue what our ancestors screwed up, other than way too many jumping puzzles, but now-a-days, our place in the Cosmos is just Being Ourselves! So I'd say just go with your gut, personally!"
And, cheerfully, spirits restored by his snack break, sitting on down in front of the statue and just staring at it, humming lightly.
He might be wrong, but at least he's made a decision!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Scribbling makes Lan look up from her musing. She reads Carde's note and beams. "Hm? Oh no, they're totally real! Though usually they don't show up in the flesh-- er, the imaginary flesh? The..." Lan trails off again.
"Anyway, Tesni's right, I think. There's just SO MUCH out there. The sky goes on forever, and the sea does too. The land goes deeper than anyone could ever dig, and there are places nobody's ever seen. And those are all just on Filgaia! Whatever else is out there... there's no way humans could ever really figure it out," she sighs, settling down cross-legged with her elbows on her knees. "...What if we put the human statue kind of over there, on the edge?" she asks eventually. "Because we could never see everything from here?"
She listens to Vin, giving his words (cheerful as they are, they're nice and familiar) some thought. "...And you're right too. --What if there IS no right answer?" Lan blinks. That's not fair, is it?
=========================<* The Guardian Temple - Round 7 *>=========================
==========================< Results - The Impossible Task >==========================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lan Lilac 83 --(100)--> 183 Fail
Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cardia Ortell 94 --(100)--> 194 Fail
Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vin Barrett 95 --(100)--> 195 Fail
Baskar Trail Mix 1 Wits Effects: Enlighten and Rally
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tesni Inoue --()-->
Effects:
--------------------------------------< Party >--------------------------------------
Leader: Lan Lilac 85 --(10)--> 95 Fail
Conditions: Injure(1)|Madness|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(1)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
==================================< Dream Chasers >==================================
DG: Lan Lilac is too exhausted to continue! DG: Cardia Ortell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Vin Barrett is too exhausted to continue! DG: Tesni Inoue 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 Lan Lilac has been fully Exhausted by The Guardian Temple! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==============================<* The Guardian Temple *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Guardians' Burden *>=======================
|Type: Escape |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 4 |
-----------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------
Try as you might, the Temple of the Guardians is made of sterner stuff than
you were prepared for. As the last of the fight goes out of you, and as
things look their most grim, there is a shimmer of light before you. Soft
blue light erupts upward, and then a twisting, turning sea serpent floats
there. Its scales are in purple, with fins of gold and blue.
It looks down at you with soft eyes. "You have been pushed to your very
limits... and you have failed our trial." Lucadia, the Guardian of the Sea,
sounds sad about this fact. "And yet... these are times in which we cannot
be as exacting as my brethren would wish. The Metal Demons seek to destroy
our statues."
The serpent shakes her head. "They cannot. You are not the hope we sought.
But you are the only hope we have. Go with our blessing -- and with our
burden -- so that we do not lose our precious Filgaia."
The ghostly image of the Guardian vanishes. However, a collection of stone
tablets -- one for each of you -- appears where she vanished, and are yours
for the taking.
OOC: You have acquired the Stone Medium for one of the Elemental,
Terrestrial, or Celestial Guardians. You can pick which you receive. If your
character is not a Zoa Priest or a Shaman, their use of a Medium will be
limited. Please refer to recent +bbposts for information. Thank you for
playing at Dream Chasers MUSH!
=Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
"They have learned nothing," says Fengalon. If that isn't a final judgment, then nobody knows what one is. "Filgaia bleeds because of human hubris."
More Guardians appear--a woman in elegant robes, sitting on the curve of the crescent moon. Celesdue. "Every time, humanity has failed. Every time, greater chaos, greater destruction."
"We give them fire, and they turn it on the world," Moor Gault says, and Vin gets the distinct impression that his patron is staring into his very soul--not angry, but... greatly disappointed. It's like the judgment of his family, except somehow even worse.
"Oh dear," says Rigdobrite. "Oh dear." He looks down at Lan. There is no reassurance there, no magical promise that everything will be okay. "You have much to learn."
"We have no choice,"" A graceful sea-serpent, just like the legends, alight upon the waves stirred up by Schturdark's presence. Lucadia, of the Seas.
"The Metal Demons seek the resurrection of their Mother. If she is allowed to awaken, the Heavens will tremble, and the sky will burn." A somber figure in white robes appears, looking directly at Cardia.
"Then we must," says Moor Gault. ""Know this, humans. You have been found wanting, but we have no other choice. We share with you our blessing, and our deepest grief. Filgaia must survive."
One by one, the Guardians dissipate into the ether that spawned them.
In their place, four stone tablets, seemingly conjured from nothing. Mediums, one for each Drifter who braved the Temple.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She knew it was an impossible puzzle!! That's super cheating!!
At least, impossible for Lans.
Seeing not one, not two, but SIX Guardians in one day is more than enough for her. There's always been something especially beautiful about the shape of Lucadia, and Lan finds herself tearing up a little bit at the soft, sad look in the Sea Guardian's eyes. She wants to apologize for not being what the Guardians wanted, because she didn't expect to feel so sad.
She looks to Rigdobrite for reassurance, and finds none. She does apologize then - swiping tears from her cheeks as she does. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Lan mumbles into the hem of her cloak.
It's a terrible feeling, to be found wanting by your gods.
Eventually, she dries her eyes. Lan is still sad, and humbled, but she has a job to do. Being a shaman isn't supposed to be easy peasy mac and cheesy, she reflects sadly. None of the mediums call to her the way the star medium did, but she has to pick one. Her heart feels heavy... she gently picks up one of the mediums left for the four of them, gazing down at it silently. "..."
<Pose Tracker> Vin Barrett has posed.
Vin -Twitches- when Moor Gault stares at him, clenching his fists as he glances down and to the side, jaw clenched as he gets a moment with his patron, and his patron...isn't impressed. Or happy.
Yeah, okay. Fine. FINE.
Taking a deep breath as the Guardians pronounce doom, gloom, that humans are to blame for everything, that everything keeps getting worse, that the Metal Demons are going to try and destroy the world, and that they aren't the people the Guardians want, just who they can get.
Fine. Vin can work with that. Dissapointed in him? FINE. VIN CAN WORK WITH THAT.
Vin forces his fist to unclench, tugging his cloak's hood back up as he snags one of the mediums, tucking it away for safe keeping.
He sounds a bit bitter, really, as he speaks up. "Well. Guardian's blessing, huh." Sardonically, face hidden by his cloak, he glances over his shoulder at Tesni and Cardia. "Welcome to the club."
Pausing only to pat the much younger Shaman reassuringly on the shoulder, Vin limps off a bit, hunting for a way leading back up to the upper parts of the temple.
There always is one in these sorts of rooms, in his experience.
Certainly isn't quietly indulging in self-hatred or recrimination at coming face to face with Moor Gault and having him look at him like That, no sir!
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue she thinks to a bleak moment from her own history. Outwardly the talk of fire turning it upon the world seems to hit Tess hard she flinches but keeps up her polite stance the truth canbe a hard thing to hear. "Yet we have also got back up, again and again trying to get it right."
Memories seem to come up, of her own history of her ancestors.
"Sometimes someone needs to be shown the right path. I am a stranger I know but I promise you this. I will ... try not to stumble with what you have trusted me with."
the Demons had to be stopped. Sometimes being pointed out you have much to learn can be the most useful think, maybe the Guardians actions here might indeed there is one thing burning in her heart though she will not knowingly betray the trust the Guardians have shown in her, that much she did get.
She reaches out to grab the tablet she'll carefully secure it in her duster with as much care she gives her tablet.
She looks to Lan and sets a hand on her shoulder looking at her. She's not sure what to say for a moment then she speaks.
"They are still showing you turst. We got to move forward and I promise you this. I will be fighting the Demons you won't be alone."
<Pose Tracker> Cardia Ortell has posed.
They ... failed? Cardia's eyes narrow a little; the look on her face speaks volumes: She doesn't know quite what to say right now, or how to react. Failure hits her hard, and the fact that she has not been able to figure this out in the first shot definitely does trip her up a little bit.
She does, however, quickly start taking mental notes-- They have much to learn. The Metal Demons and their Mother. The sky will burn. The figure in white is staring straight at her for that.
And then ... stone tablets. Looking down at the one settled into her hand, Carde frowns at it while glancing over at Vin. The Guardians' blessings...
Staring at the tablet rather analytically, the cyborg starts making the long-- or short, if there's a nice path tucked into the back of the dungeon that can take them back to the entrance with a lot less in the way of sand in their boots-- journey back to the light of day with a ton of questions, almost no answers, and...
... Guardians. She's definitely putting in for time off.