2017-09-03: Quarantines and Shriekbuns
- Log: 2017-09-03: Quarantines and Shriekbuns
- Cast: Seraphita, Sephilia Lampbright, Rosaline Calice, Seraph Ragnell, Cyre H. Lorentz, White Knight Leo
- Where: Cage Tower
- Date: 2017-09-03
- Summary: Drifters investigate the mysterious CAGE TOWER, escorting a Shriekbun (and a bunny beastman) along the way. Ragnell and Leo, sitting in a tree~
=================================<* Cage Tower *>================================= Cage Tower is a large structure from the Metal Demon Wars, which has since fallen into ruin. The tower is made of stone, but the interior structure is composed of steel. It rises up in the central badlands, about a day from November City. The tower's interior has seen better days, because weather and erosion have opened large holes in the side. Because of this, a network of crumbling bridges and far from sturdy ledges have to be ctrossed. Still, one can find ARMs and other relics of the past hidden within the labrynthine interior of the tower. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD2s1kx8ONQ
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- It's not a job posting that takes people here today! No, rather, it's the worries of a clerk at the Adventurer's Guild, as well as word of mouth. 'Some nice-looking pink-haired rabbit lady was asking if we'd heard anything about statues. Think she misunderstood something I said 'cuz she just up and left heading for that creepy tower in the forest past the desert. Young lady like her out there alone, you wouldn't mind making a detour, would you?'
- There's more to do here, of course. There's job postings - always are - asking Drifters to investigate the location. Heavy sums of money offered for any interesting finds, especially ARMs. And then there's personal matters - it's a location related to the Metal Demons, after all, and so a prime suspect to investigate when it comes to the matter with the Guardians.
- Arriving at the tower, who would the party find but Seraphita - she does match the description, after all - having climbed up a few meters outside the tower and trying to reach for one of the cage-like openings. Inside the opening, some manner of large fluffy white creature has gotten itself trapped!!
- Nevermind gaining entry, that was her priority since seeing it.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia, on seeing the bunny-eared woman trying to rescue a cute fuzzy critter, immediately rushes forward. "Hey! My name's Sephilia Lampbright, and this is Lord Chauncey of Foxington--I bet we can help! Chauncey!" She holds forward her fox-doll and...in a moment and a special visual effect, Chauncey is a giant doll with Sephilia riding in his backpack. "Maybe I can reach the little guy..." she says.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline, a nice-looking pink-haired cat lady, has two reasons to make the journey to the tower.
The first is that the November City branch of the Ethos has issued an internal bounty for the retrieval of a dangerous Metal Demon-era ARM called the "Goose Gun". Why the Goose Gun? Who knows, Rosaline didn't name it.
The second is the aforementioned Adventurer's Guild clerk. Finding the Goose Gun wasn't urgent, but there being a rescue involved gave the catwoman two birds to kill with one stone. And so, adventure is afoot!
And so, Sephilia has already taken off. Rosaline runs after her with an audible dismayed gasp. "P-Please be careful!" she calls out, looking left and right for a way to help with... whatever is happening here, precisely.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell isn't here for Seraphita, nor had she heard about the bunny woman from the Adventurer's Guild. She's here at the Cage Tower because she's been more or less in the November City area recently, and this building is more or less in the November City area. Plus, it's always good to learn more about the Metal Demons... all considered. As such, when she walks up the rest of the way towards the Cage Tower and sees Seraphita and Sephy and Rosa attempting to rescue some fluffy little creature trapped inside, Ragnell raises an eyebrow, then strolls on over to watch.
- Perhaps notably, she doesn't help. But then, she recognizes Sephy from that one time in the Berry Cave and is pretty sure the girl can't see her, though that may well have changed between then and now, and Seraphita and Rosaline she's never seen before at all, so who even knows? Besides, as a Seraph, she's used to watching things unfold without interfering. If someone who *can* see her, that'll change things.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Normally 'nice looking bunny girl' is enough to get Cyre to go just about anywhere. Add 'nice looking kitty girl' and 'possible location of Guardian Statue' and he speeds right over about as fast as his legs can possibly carry him. Faster, in fact. He does have that handy dandy parachute that he uses for just about everything.
"Weeeeeellllll look who it is~" Cyre grins as he... begins floating vaguely up towards the adorable, caged woodland creature. "Fancy seeing you here, Miss Kitty Nun. And..." His eyes drift over towards Seraphita, "...Your bunny friend? Pleased to meet you. The name is Cyre. I heard of adventure and came running."
DG: A party led by Seraphita is now entering Cage Tower. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=================================<* Cage Tower *>================================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Crumbling Bridge *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Several bridges lead to the tower entrance. They're made of stone, concrete, and steel beams, and they were probably able to support vehicles back when this place was built. Unfortunately, they're all in terrible shape, and parts of them are prone to crumbling when enough weight is placed on them. Can you get across safely? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "Ooh, thank you!" Seraphita intones! Together, the bunny and the fox rescue the white fluff ball from the cage-y exterior of the tower, and Seraphita hops back down, doing a graceful flip with the creature in her arms. She grins, holding the critter up towards the now-assembled party.
- "Look, look! It's a Shriekbun!"
- The large white bunny wriggles, and suddenly...
- SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
- ... with such ferocity that it might blow someone off their feet! Not Seraphita, she seems quite at peace with her fellow rabbit.
- Then it's time for introductions! FLASHBAAAAACK!
Tolone: Listen, Sera. If someone asks you for your name on the surface, you can't give it to them! Come up with some fake name, alright? And don't talk about the Elements! ... or Solaris! ... actually don't talk about anything to anyone.
- Seraphita: Okaaaaaaaay!
- NOW: "I'm Not Seraphita! I think I have to tell you guys I don't do anything in life! Hey, do you wonder what's in the tower? I do!! Come on!"
- Still holding onto the Shriekbun, Seraphita dives towards the entrance, right past a stony bridge! ... which starts crumbling under the energy of her hopping and running, oops. Better hurry up!
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia would be questioning Not Seraphita's introduction...if her ears weren't ringing. "Mah! Mah! I can't hear anything! Mah!"
She spies the crumbling bridge, though, and quickly making Chauncey small again, dashes across as fast as her little legs can carry her. At least she's light.
The Foxington Flintlock slaps against her calves as she runs, the gun larger than the girl is herself. "Hey, slow down you're--Aaaah!"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell snorts, half-smiling, when Cyre sidles up to join the group, attempting to make the moves on the kitty girl and, possibly, her bunny friend. There's also a woodland creature, which Seraphita identifies as a shriekbun just before SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! happens.
- Ragnell leans back slightly, blinking twice. Then she chuckles. "Well, well. So they got shriekbuns in this neck o' the woods too." Not that there's any woodlands around here...
- Even more SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!ful is Seraphita's whirlwind self-introduction. Ragnell raises a dubious eyebrow at Not Seraphita. "An' who told you to tell us that, I wonder?" she says dryly, as much to the air as to Not Seraphita herself. But already the bunny girl is running towards the tower--across a crumbling bridge. Oh boy. Ragnell shakes her head, half-smiling, then chases after her. ...Actually, looking at Sephy again, wasn't she the one who told Rose she was invisibly harassing her? Or was that some other girl? It's been a while, and it's not like Sephy's acknowledged her yet, so Ragnell doesn't worry about it yet.
- For now, she'll focus on hoofing it along the steel beams, hopping nimbly over rust patches, to make it to the other side.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline sees someone in the distance. Her eyes meet Ragnell's for a moment. The nun is unaware of who she's looking at right now because, the last time she checked, she was unable to see Seraphs. But she was already closing in on that Resonance tipping point sometime ago, and with her spiritual awareness having gotten a bit of a boost thanks to Solais Emsu... here we are.
And so, from her perspective, there's a weirdo staring at them. "Um."
But suddenly, Cyre happens. Rosaline's tail straightens for a second. "O-Oh, hello! We've never met before, actually..." She trails off when Sephilia and the other beastwoman manage to extricate the creature from its predicament.
"Shriekb-- AIEEEEE!"
The Etone-in-Training has to cover her oversized ears at the sonic assault. Why does this bunny woman not have any problem with this?! By the time Rosaline has recovered, the one they were supposed to look after/rescue has already introduced herself and bounded off ahead!
"P-Please wait, Notseraphita!" What an odd name. Rosaline runs right onto the crumbling bridge, wincing in horror at the chasm below, even as she semi-casually performs feats of acrobatic balance and fleet-footedness. Cats, man.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- The Dragonship Destiny is somewhere nearby. White Knight Leo and his command staff are still taking stock of the situation, and it has somehow managed to get even worse. They're now entangled in a war between two mighty nations, largely due to one of them deciding to take potshots at the Destiny during the conflict at the Guardian Temple. They are now in an area of this Althena-forsaken planet that is even worse than the previous one. The Lord of Calamity and her minions remain at large.
- But Leo still has his duties. Among them include protecting the innocent from any threats--especially the sort that can crawl out of ruins at any time. The Destiny sighted Cage Tower some time ago, and Leo decided to reconnoiter it himself, because he's a go-getter decision-maker. He has opted for the easy-to-use, difficult-to-get-to entrance, instead of the difficult-to-use, easy-to-get-to entrance, and that is why he is standing at one end of the bridge, trying to figure out what that awful, piercing noise is. Seraphita goes flying past followed by several others. "Drifters!" Leo says, recognizing the motif if not the exact people. They're obviously going to try and explore this place, perhaps to loot it. "This place is undoubtedly hazardous!" He unhooks a length of knotted rope from his belt, gauges the distance, and gives it an underhand toss; the hook on the end latches onto a support beam, and stays there. Leo gives the rope an experimental tug, and ties it in place. "You will require assist--" He spots Ragnell. His eyes narrow, ever-so-slightly, and he trails off. Grabbing hold of the rope, he follows the Seraph as she heads for the Tower entrance.
DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Rope Ladder toward his party's challenge, Crumbling Bridge.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Uhhh. A Shriekbun?
"Oh n--" SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE Cyre's hands are JUST IN TIME to flatten down and cover his ears. A shriekbun!? What kind of horrible person would keep a shriekbun in a cage like this?? It's a hazard! A criminal hazard! And it's not like it's just a trap-- you have to feed a shriekbun. SOMEONE KEEPS ACOUSTIC LAPINE WEAPONS AND STRINGS THEM UP IN FRONT OF DUNGEONS.
But while Cyre is briefly incapacitated, the others... Go running ahead over a crumbling bridge. "Ugh, damnit, running off like that..." Bunnies are pretty flighty, but to be this energetic is just kind of... crazy.
Not Seraphita huh.
What a weird name.
"Hey, stripes," Cyre says as he sails right over Leo on his ~awesome parachute~ "You're going to need to move a bit faster if you want to catch those girls. I don't think the bunny is going to want to wait for any of us to pack anything away."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Crumbling Bridge. DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Bridge. DG: Seraphita has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Crumbling Bridge.
=================================<* Cage Tower *>================================= ========================<* CHALLENGE - Crumbling Bridge *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Several bridges lead to the tower entrance. They're made of stone, concrete, and steel beams, and they were probably able to support vehicles back when this place was built. Unfortunately, they're all in terrible shape, and parts of them are prone to crumbling when enough weight is placed on them. Can you get across safely? =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
============================<* Cage Tower - Round 1 *>============================ ==========================< Results - Crumbling Bridge >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(6)--> 6 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosaline Calice 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 0 --(3)--> 3 Pass Rope Ladder 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Seraphita 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Seraphita 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> Seraphita has posed.
- "My friend told me so!" Seraphita shouts towards Ragnell happily, adding: "She has a gin 'n tonic brain enhancer thingy, she's super smart, so she must be right!!" Mistakes were made. Not by Seraphita though. This was highly predictable in ever way you look at it.
- The party races towards the entrance, and thanks to Leo and Cyre's quick interventions via rope and parachute, and some quick-footed Drifters in general, the entrance is reached with nary a scratch to be seen! Just catch your breath and it'll be like nothing happened.
- "Ooooh," Seraphita says as she spots Leo, not recognizing him, but rather enjoying his knightly demeanor and cape. "Hey mister! Are you a knight? If I wear a crown and a dragon kidnaps me, will you save me?" There's only one right answer here, you know, and she's holding an easy to agitate Shriekbun. Pick your words carefully, Leo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "My friend told me so!" Seraphita shouts towards Ragnell happily, adding: "She has a gin 'n tonic futon brain thingy, she's super smart, so she must be right!!" Mistakes were made. Not by Seraphita though. This was highly predictable in every way you look at it.
- The party races towards the entrance, and thanks to Leo and Cyre's quick interventions via rope and parachute, and some quick-footed Drifters in general, the entrance is reached with nary a scratch to be seen! Just catch your breath and it'll be like nothing happened.
- "Ooooh," Seraphita says as she spots Leo, not recognizing him, but rather enjoying his knightly demeanor and cape. "Hey mister! Are you a knight? If I wear a crown and a dragon kidnaps me, will you save me?" There's only one right answer here, you know, and she's holding an easy to agitate Shriekbun. Pick your words carefully, Leo!
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has drawn a new Challenge.
==================================================<* Cage Tower *>===================================================
=========================================<* CHALLENGE - Mobile Sterilizer *>=========================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
STERILIZATION MEASURES DEPLOYED
ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO CLEAN ZONE IMMEDIATELY
That's an ominous message, and it flashes across a panel on the wall as you
enter the room. More ominous are the heavy footfalls moving towards
you--their source is a towering, thickly-armored automaton with flamethrower
ARMs for hands. Though damaged and rusting, it is still armed, and still
deadly.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia, after catching her breath, pauses. "Hey, hey...if you introduced...yourself I missed it," to Seraphita. "But...We gotta go slow in a place like this. You can't just rush off or you might trigger a trap! My Dad George Lampbright is a famous explorer, back home--" She cuts off as she notices White Knight Leo, standing there in Althena's Guard regalia--she'd missed who he was in the rush to the door.
Maybe not such a great time to be talking about Lunar stuff and drawing attention to yourself, Sephy.
"Ahem, anyway you might trigger..." and then she looks over to where her hand rests against a glowing panel. And then she hears the sound of the heavy footfalls.
"...a guardian. CHAUNCEY!" The doll is made big once more, and Sephilia passes him up a folding chair from the backpack. "FOXINGTON FOLDING CHAIR!"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Folding Chair toward her party's challenge, Mobile Sterilizer.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline and the gang have made it safely, and in fact been joined by that mysterious staring woman and a knight in shining armor! Rosaline blinks at the sight of them. "H-Hello..." is all she has to say for now.
And then, mercifully, no loud alarm, but an ominous message flashes across a panel. "It must be referring to the Shriekbunny!" Rosaline concludes with horror. But before they can determine whether this is truly the case, an automaton appears to make the point moot.
Flamethrowers! Rosaline hates these!
"Please let me help! Flame Barrier!" the nun calls out, from far into the back row. Individual bubble shields appear around the members of the motley group, hopefully warding off the brunt of the flames.
DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mobile Sterilizer.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- As Ragnell crosses, a few things of note happen. One: Rosaline catches and meets her eye. Hmhmhm, so that's one more person who can see her--though she seems too rattled by the situation at hand to do more than acknowledge the Seraph's presence. Two: a booming voice attempts to warn the Drifters about the supposed hazards of the tower, and Ragnell, recognizing it, looks back to see Leo. Their eyes meet too--but when Leo narrows his eyes at her, juuuust the slightest bit, Ragnell grins back and gives him a cheeky little two-fingered salute. Three: Seraphita *also* acknowledges Ragnell, and says some interesting things. "Oh, is that so, Not Seraphita? Sounds like your friend is on the ball," she replies. "What other kinda things did she tell you to say?"
- Either way, she makes it to the other side of the bridge without trouble or fuss. She glances over at Leo and Cyre as they catch up, nodding to both, and then pokies the brim of her hat up with one finger. Ragnell quirks a half-smile at Notseraphita. "So what's next?"
- What's next, it seems as they all enter into the tower proper, is some kind of weird system alert thing flashing across a screen, and Seraphita asking Leo if he'd be her knight in shining armor. Ragnell laughs at both, drawing her twin pistols as a robot with flamethrowers rumbles into the room. Before it has a chance to even open fire, literally, she's raining lightning bullets down upon it.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mobile Sterilizer.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline and the gang have made it safely, and in fact been joined by that mysterious staring woman and a knight in shining armor! Rosaline blinks at the sight of them. "H-Hello..." is all she has to say for now.
And then, mercifully, no loud alarm, but an ominous message flashes across a panel. "It must be referring to the Shriekbunny!" Rosaline concludes with horror. But before they can determine whether this is truly the case, an automaton appears to make the point moot.
Flamethrowers! Rosaline hates these!
"Please let me help! Flame Barrier!" the nun calls out, from far into the back row. Individual bubble shields appear around the members of the motley group, hopefully warding off the brunt of the flames. Rosaline doesn't use that spell much, but prepares it often for some reason.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "It's okay, I'm too big to get stuck in a mouse trap!" Seraphita reassures Sephilia, before looking at Ragnell and pondering. "Oh, that I should wear a disguise!! ... OH NO!!!" She forgot. She pouts, right up until alarms ring out and make her pay attention again.
- "Oh this tower has angry robot voices too!!" Seraphita exclaims, perhaps again saying more than she should. Please, as if she'd notice. She holds onto the Shriekbun tightly, defending it! "Don't worry, mister Shoutshout! We just have to be really courageous and nothing can hurt us!" Absolutely nothing.
- The green gemstone on the Fire Element's collar lights up, although it certainly isn't to convert courage to power. Don't tell her that, though. That, good sirs, is just an Ether amplifier, or maybe it's a focuser? It's hard to tell.
- What's EASY to tell is that With a swing of her arm Seraphita brings into existence a very large bunny made of pulsing hot plasma, and it immediatly flings itself straight at the guardian of the tower.
- "Goooo, Thermo Bunny!"
DG: Seraphita has used her Tool G-Stone toward her party's challenge, Mobile Sterilizer.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"So it's not just that someone's stuck a Shriekbunny in a cage outside of a dungeon, but the bunny's not even supposed to be here!?" Cyre groans as he rolls into a landing, his parachute rapidly bundling up inside his pack. "I swear, whoever's getting paid to set these things up, I've got a few complaints about how they're doing their job."
Also something to complain about: Giant robots with flamethrowers.
But at least Rosaline is able to provide protection! Protection from fire is a pretty useful spell to have in one's repertoire even when you don't expect to be beset by giant flamethrower robots. Cyre flashes a thumbs up to the kitty-nun--
No, wait, he's casting a spell.
Sure it's not a GIANT FIRE BUNNY, seriously what the hell is up with that bunny girl, she is taking this theme way too far!! But it's still pretty impressive none-the-less. A chill wind howls, gathering into incredibly high-density vortices in the air around the shaman. Cyre gestures and the pressure breaks, unleashing lances of stone-shattering wind!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mobile Sterilizer.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo does a head count on the other side of the chasm. "Hello, citizens," he says to Rosaline and Seraphita, with a glowing smile. "I am, in fact, White Knight Leo, commander of Althena's Guard, and Chosen of the Goddess. I am here to... investigate this mysterious edifice." Like he used to do with Ronfar before things went sour. "And yes, if you were captured, I would be obligated! It is my duty." Sephilia earns herself a bit of a pensive look as she mentions Famous Explorer George Lampbright, but all things considered, it's not that unusual. Leo knows there's people from Lunar who showed up here, aside from the Guard and the Fiends.
- Speaking of which. "Greetings, Seraph," Leo says, looking directly at Ragnell. He saw that salute earlier--he hadn't expected it from a Seraph, to say the least! "Far be it from me to interrogate one of Althena's own, but might I ask what draws one of your kind to this--" Something flashes on the wall.
- "Kwa-ren-teen?" Leo says, sounding out the unfamiliar word. "What in the Goddess' name is--" Something rumbles. Leo's sword is in his hand in a flash. His eyes widen as the massive Sterilizer unit rumbles into the room; he has never, ever seen a robot before, and this is not the best introduction. His first reaction, naturally, is to stare at it for a moment, though his combat reflexes save him from being barbecued at the last second. He ducks under the flames (which singe his hair from proximity), lunges at the automaton, and swings his blade down across it in a massive, powerful strike.
DG: White Knight Leo has used his Tool Leo's Goods toward his party's challenge, Mobile Sterilizer.
==================================================<* Cage Tower *>===================================================
=========================================<* CHALLENGE - Mobile Sterilizer *>=========================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
STERILIZATION MEASURES DEPLOYED
ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO CLEAN ZONE IMMEDIATELY
That's an ominous message, and it flashes across a panel on the wall as you
enter the room. More ominous are the heavy footfalls moving towards
you--their source is a towering, thickly-armored automaton with flamethrower
ARMs for hands. Though damaged and rusting, it is still armed, and still
deadly.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
=============================================<* Cage Tower - Round 2 *>============================================== ===========================================< Results - Mobile Sterilizer >=========================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 5 --(9)--> 14 Pass G-Stone 2 Combat Effects: Embolden --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 3 --(7)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 6 --(15)--> 21 Fail Folding Chair 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosaline Calice 3 --(17)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 3 --(15)--> 18 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 3 --(17)--> 20 Fail Leo's Goods 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------------------------ Leader: Seraphita 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)|Stalwart(1) =========!
DG: The party led by Seraphita 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. [OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "noooo" [OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "RIP" [OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "The goods... were not good enough. :/" [OOC] Seraphita says, "alas D:" [OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "Also: I am amused that, animal ear jokes aside, we still have four Beastmen in the same party" [OOC] White Knight Leo says, "Represent!" [OOC] White Knight Leo fistbump
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Flames lick at Chauncey and scorch at his stuffy body, causing Sephilia to shriek and shrink him down. Ragnell's hail of bullets helps to keep the thing back, and Rosaline's flame barrier gives some cover for the group, and the others throw magic and blade and bullet, but it's really the Thermo-Bunny that takes the monstrous robot down.
And good thing, too.
"O-okay, is--is anyone hurt?" Sephilia asks, having doused Chauncey. "I'll cover the healing if we just...stay together, okay? Nobody go running off ahead of the group." She stares directly at Seraphita, still not sure of her name.
[OOC] Rosaline Calice bumps a fist
[OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "mostly feline ears, too"
[OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "housecat, lion, and tiger"
[OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "It's true"
[OOC] Seraphita says, "my Gear is a lion is that good enough"
[OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "Seraphita thinks she's a lion"
[OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "that's so cute"
[OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "Chauncey is a fleet fox"
[OOC] Seraphita says, "Who wants the next oooone"
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- "There is no need to exert yourself, young lady," Leo says, looking down at Sephilia. "Here." He reaches a hand into a pouch at his waist, and comes up with a handful of heal berries. "Sample my goods, citizens!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- "No thanks, you're not my type," Ragnell quips.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "It's a kind of cake!" Seraphita answers Leo.
- FLASHBAAAAACK.
Seraphita: What's a quack and tin and why do I gotta stay in this room?
Ramsus: There will be cake if you do. What's your favorite?
Seraphita: All of them!!
Ramsus: Very well then. Please just stay in there another five minutes.
- NOW!
- Seraphita nodnods to herself, as if to confirm she definitely agrees with what she just told Leo. In fact, and perhaps this ends up being a relief to Sephilia, the rabbit ends up NOT running off immediatly as she impatiently searches the area for cake. There is none. Heal berries are definitely good enough though, so she noms on her share happily.
- She has no interest in the fallen robot.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- Seraphita also shares the berries with Mr. Shoutshout. The Shriekbun noms happily and does not shriek, so this is a win-win.
[OOC] Seraphita forgot, very important.
[OOC] Rosaline Calice nods grimly.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy nods at Leo, a little guardedly. "Thank you. Or...I guess thanks to Althena for providing." The latter option seems to please her more.
[OOC] Seraphita will get the next one since no one iiiis.
DG: Seraphita has drawn a new Challenge. =================================<* Cage Tower *>=================================
=============================================<* Cage Tower - Round 2 *>============================================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Broken Teleportation Grid *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Strange, luminescent spheres flicker in the air like broken electric lamps. They change position every few seconds, following a complex but predictable pattern--anything that touches them is whisked away to a holding cell. This might be some sort of malfunctioning internal defense system--can you get past it? =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck================================================= [OOC] Seraphita says, "Oh god the worst kind of puzzle."
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo looks at Ragnell, raising a brow. "I assure you, Seraph, they're of the highest quality," he says. He doesn't seem to get it.
- Sephy's piety earns her an approving look. Good to know she knows where all good things come from!
[OOC] Seraph Ragnell ahahahaha
[OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "Oooh, boy"
[OOC] Cyre H. Lorentz says, "Back!"
[OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "Welcome back!"
[OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "wb"
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- Past the fallen, half-molten robot, there lies a hallway filled with luminous orbs. A lot of luminous orbs! Most Drifters would know better than to touch them, but having finished eating those berries, Seraphita has dashed ahead again, and runs straight into one of the orbs! Poof! She's gone.
- A few moments pass, and a nearby wall melts down into a puddle of slag, as Seraphita breaks out of her cell, looking quite happy. Still holding onto her Shriekbun, of course. "Wow, these glowing thingies put us somewhere else! We should try all of them!!"
- You should not try all of them.
- They all lead to the same set of boring cells, which contains the bodies of a few unfortunate Drifters who were there before you. There's no prize in the cells, no cable, not even wardens to talk to!
- Seraphita tries another orb. Moments later she surfaces through another wall. "Aww, it's just the same room except in a different place! They could've at least painted the walls different!" Well, on the bright side, this trap isn't DEADLY. Just... really annoying because it keeps resetting your progress when you mess up.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Broken Teleportation Grid.
[OOC] Cyre H. Lorentz says, "Aw, Leo ignored my adviiiice :("
[OOC] White Knight Leo ?
[OOC] Cyre H. Lorentz says, "I said a thing to Leo in the first poseround"
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia pulls out her journal and starts making notes about the pattern. "Okay, first...this one, then...that one...okay, then a two second delay...then here, here, and here..." She mutters to herself, tapping her nose as she thinks. "You know...you're going to wear yourself out..." she says to Seraphita. "My Dad always taught me to think first then act, because sometimes you won't get a chance to think after you act."
She stands up, stows her journal, and, glancing at Leo for a moment...begins a little dance. She hums a merry tune to keep herself in rhythm as she dances through the pattern of teleportation spheres she's just been noting.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Broken Teleportation Grid. [OOC] White Knight Leo says, "Ohh" [OOC] White Knight Leo says, "Sorry!" [OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "lookit Sephy, pointedly breaking the rules about singing and dancing." [OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "to make it worse, she's humming a hymn to Althena"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
White Knight Leo introduces himself. Rosaline connects a few dots. Well. For all her misgivings about Althena, she could think of worse people to have helping them out.
Rosaline's mouth goes agape when this walking force of nature of a bunny woman conjures up something called a Thermo Bunny. She's never seen a spell like this before, and there isn't even a single Crest Graph or symbological tattoo on her. Could she be from Lunar too? Rosaline did recall hearing a bedtime story, once, about rabbits on the moon...
The robot is felled, though, and Leo shares his goods. The wording may be questionable, but Rosaline accepts a heal berry without question. Saving TP is important!
And coming up next is... orbs.
"Please waaaait," Rosaline tries to call out, futilely, once again, with an extended hand.
But Seraphita's energetic antics at least serve to demonstrate how the trap works. She looks over Sephilia's notes as she takes them. "Oh, this is handy... I think I got it. ...Maybe."
And so, Rosaline goes next. She does not dance, but her steps are certainly very nimble.
DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Broken Teleportation Grid. [OOC] Rosaline Calice says, "Oh no!"
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Fortunately, Cyre has a bubble barrier between him and being cooked alive. Unfortunately, he still ends up singed after the robot punches him right through the shield and into a patch of fresh cinders. He huffs as he draws himself back up, dusting some of the charred remains of whatever caught fire off his cloak, leaving thick, black stains in inconvenient places. "This'll take forever to wash off," he sighs, catching up with the others. "Hey," he says to the Mysterious White Knight, "You know when you put it like that, people might get the wrong idea, right? Like, I know those berries are fine, but it sounds almost like you were offering... other... berries."
"You get me?"
Whether Leo 'gets him' or not, Cyre frowns when he sees the next obstacle, and frowns TWICE when Seraphita just kind of barrels head-first into it. "You know," he says, carefully, "If you're not careful, you might get teleported into--"
Lava? Does she even know what lava is?
A room full of spiders? Would she just eat them??
"An anti-cake," he says, carefully. "Somewhere the exact opposite of cake. You don't want that. Instead...!"
Cyre brandishes his parachute again! With a sudden burst of wind, he goes surging up towards the ceiling, where he proceeds to shuffle his way to the other end of the room. This might just let him avoid most of the orbs! Who would ever think to put one all the way up here, anyway?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Uh ohhh. Looks like Not-Seraphita was supposed to wear a disguise. 'Innocently,' Ragnell suggests, "But you've never met any of us before, right? So we wouldn't know any different if you were wearing a disguise. So in a way, you're already in disguise, because we don't know you either way! You're doing a great job so far, Not Seraphita!" If Seraphita follows that twisted logic at all, it'll be amazing, but Ragnell's goal is to twist her up regardless so it doesn't much matter either way.
- Regardless, Leo attempts to ask Ragnell what she's doing here. The matter of Leo's round, juicy goods aside, the Seraph waves a hand from side to side. "I go where the winds take me. That's normal for Seraphim of the storms," she replies. "What about you? Is this place somehow relevant to your mission, Sir Leo?" There's an undertone of amusement to her voice. It wouldn't surprise her if it *were*, all considered, but still. Without acknowledging Sephy's offer for healing, Ragnell heals herself, lightning coursing up her body to energize her and clear away those burns. That Seraphita sure is tough, taking it out like that... and that strange sense of magic about her, that feels similar to Althena's Blessing... It makes her even more curious about her, really. Rosa's Flame Barrier is appreciated, at least--it made the burns not as bad. Cyre's complaints about the shriekbun only get him a snort.
- The group advances forward, eventually reaching strange lights. Seraphita, brilliant thinker that she is, deliberately trips the trap a couple of times to show that there's nothing to be gained by touching them. And they blink out and back again every so often... Ragnell watches the changing light patterns for a moment; then she raises a hand to her hat.
- "Hmmm... Guess there's nothin' for it, then," she remarks aloud. With that, she braces herself; then she starts to leap forward in between the negative spaces of the luminescent spheres, nimbly jumping from empty pocket to empty pocket as lights phase in and out of existence, until she reaches the other side. Orrrr that's the goal, anyway.
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Broken Teleportation Grid. DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Broken Teleportation Grid. [OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "actually in my head I'm just humming Ode to Joy. But I bet that'd work as an Althena hymn" [OOC] Cyre H. Lorentz says, "My pose is right before Ragnell's! We posted at the same time" [OOC] Seraph Ragnell snorts, anti-cake [OOC] Cyre H. Lorentz says, "Clearly this means we must gattai" [OOC] Seraph Ragnell says, "we sure did!" [OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "it was awesome I thought it was one REALLY LONG pose for a second." [OOC] Sephilia Lampbright says, "and was like WHOAH"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell also snorts and laughs when Cyre attempts ever-so-delicately to explain the 'joke' to Leo. She doesn't try to help. It's funnier this way.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline appears to have no idea what Cyre is even talking about.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia is too busy being cheeky and naughty to notice the dirty joke.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo stops just inside the doorway, eyeing the air suspiciously. "Some manner of sorcery--?" he says, to no one in particular. "No. Be careful, regardless! We don't know what--" Seraphita touches one, and vanishes. Leo's eyes widen, and he extends an arm, trying to bar the others' way before they get any ideas. Then Seraphita reappears, via melting a wall. "...Teleportation, hm?" he says. "Inconvenient." Sephilia earns herself a level look, and a tone much like a parent might use with a child who appears to be doing something just to get a rise out of someone. "Don't allow yourself to become distracted," he says.
- Cyre offers some well-meaning advice. Leo turns to his fellow Beastman, and raises an eyebrow. "...those poison berries?" Leo says. "Why, I would never. Such a trick is for scum and scoundrels!" He takes a moment to study the way the strange distortions move, once he's allowed--and then he follows after Rosaline, jumping between them. He's pretty fast!
- "Investigating a potentially dangerous ruin," he asides to Ragnell.
DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Broken Teleportation Grid. [OOC] White Knight Leo doesn't get it [OOC] White Knight Leo says, "ilu ragnell" =================================[ Cage Tower ]================================= Name Idle Pose %HP Exhaustion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 22s 1m 75.6 20 Sephilia Lampbright 2m 2m 100 21 Rosaline Calice 1m 2m 37.4 20 Seraph Ragnell 4m 4m 100 10 Cyre H. Lorentz 5m 6m 100 18 Seraphita 0s 12m 100 14 Animal 53m >1h 78.8 140 ==========================[ Sun Sep 03 15:19:48 2017 ]========================== =================================<* Cage Tower *>=================================
=============================================<* Cage Tower - Round 2 *>============================================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Broken Teleportation Grid *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Strange, luminescent spheres flicker in the air like broken electric lamps. They change position every few seconds, following a complex but predictable pattern--anything that touches them is whisked away to a holding cell. This might be some sort of malfunctioning internal defense system--can you get past it? =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck================================================= ============================<* Cage Tower - Round 3 *>============================
=============================================<* Cage Tower - Round 2 *>============================================== =====================< Results - Broken Teleportation Grid >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 14 --(4)--> 18 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 10 --(2)--> 12 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 21 --(4)--> 25 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosaline Calice 20 --(2)--> 22 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 18 --(2)--> 20 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 20 --(4)--> 24 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Seraphita 30 --(15)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Seraphita has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 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: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Cage Tower *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Cage of Steel *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The air around you flickers and shimmers, and the smell of ozone emanates from somewhere above. There's a sudden, disorienting /pop/, and you're no longer where you were. Instead, you're on the wrong side of a set of sturdy metal bars, and you're going to have to break out the hard way. Luckily, the teleporter seems to have transported other oddments into the cell as well. Maybe there's something useful? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "Huh? But if you stop to think maybe you'll miss your chance to act!" Seraphita tells Sephilia, in fair rebutal. She's very much the polar opposite of people like the little lady and her father, and it shows. Makes sense, for a rabbit beastman.
- Between failed attempts at navigating the teleportation grid, mostly because she keeps bumping right into the orbs, Seraphita manages to answer Ragnell with an energetic: "Yeah!! You're right! Thank you magic missy!" That's weird. Maybe the rabbit's eyes are especially trained to see and sense magic? Or something else? Don't worry, Seraphita has no idea what Seraphim are (in an ironic twist of fate considering her name), it is in fact just the ability to sense large clusters of delicious MP. For purely innocent reason.
- She has no idea what the berry joke is about either.
- The threat of ANTI-CAKE eventually motivates Seraphita to be careful and get through. It only takes like, ten tries.
- Everyone else (except Leo, oh no!) has a much better time of avoiding the orbs, moving past the hallway and up the tower without any exhaustion to show for it.
- Not that Seraphita seems exhausted. Can she even be?
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Past the hallway, up the tower, towards a door! "This really isn't too bad," Cyre says as he goes to open it. "I mean, other than the giant killer robot, at least we have an actual roof over our heads, and a floor and--"
- *ZZZORT*
Cyre is gone! And the rest of the party follows soon after! But why...?
You know how those strange glowing balls are all kinds of different colors?
You know how technically 'infrared' counts as a part of the color spectrum?
That's right. Behind the door was an invisible teleport orb.
We Super Kaizo Cage Tower now.
The party finds itself sitting behind bars in yet another one of those prison rooms. Unlike the others, this one actually seems to be somewhat more durable- the bars have a peculiar, dark hue and are at least an inch thicker across than the ones in the teleport chamber. But on the bright side, it smells pretty nice in here!
...Because Cyre is burning some particularly soothing herbs in his censer.
He might as well, seeing as the party might be here for a while.
It also helps shed a little bit of light, once he opens up a few ports in the side of the thurible. "Looks like we've got something interesting here," Cyre says, moving away from the bars and towards the assorted piles of stuff packed at the back of the chamber. There are... a few bones there, too. Maybe whoever got sent here before couldn't get away?
But then, there is a LOT of loot here- it couldn't have all been carried by just one party...
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia sighs. "If you just act without thinking you might lose your chance to act too, because--oh, nevermind." She frowns and shakes her head, turning her attention back to the White Knight, who for some reason seems to have annoyed the girl. "Who's distracted?" she asks, sticking out her tongue impishly. "You know you Guard guys have some dumb ideas. Singing isn't bad when it's in praise of Althena, right?"
Seeing the bars ahead, she pulls out Chauncey and makes him go big. "And you should respect the Magic Guild of Vane more!" Chauncey starts to exert pressure on the bars. "I'm a member, you know! It's not just a joke!"
Oh, that might explain this animosity. Maybe.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell smirks, snorting with a laugh, when Leo only gives a stern and disapproving look at Sephy dancing to a hymn to Althena to make it across the room of lights. "Teenagers," she asides to Leo, smirk widening into a grin. "Am I right?" Because Ragnell is definitely so much better.
- She laughs again at Leo misinterpreting Cyre's friendly warning as being about poison berries. Then she gives Seraphita a thoughtful look, and then a smile. "No problem," she drawls. "So what other kinda stuff are you supposed to be tellin' and not tellin' us about? Just so we can all know what a great job you're doin' by tellin' and not tellin' us about it!" She's having fun here.
- Once they all make it past the orbs and up the tower, though, there comes a strange scent in the air. The scent of storms. Ragnell narrows her eyes, and then Cyre touches a door, and space around them twists... and they appear on the other side of a set of metal bars. Her mouth twists, and she clucks her tongue as she reaches into her poncho. As she does, Leo answers her earlier question about what he's doing here. "What a coincidence! I'm doin' the same thing," Ragnell tells Leo, showing him a smile of all teeth. "Ain't it great when the Goddess Althena's loyal subjects can work together in harmony?"
- She pulls out a grenade from her poncho then, and pulls the pin. "What kinda interesting stuff?" she asks Cyre as he explores the loot. "Incomin' grenade, by the way." And with that, she tosses the lightning grenade just past the bars, where they'll explode a second or two later, either weakening the bars or taking them out after the others have weakened them.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
There's a beat.
"Buddy," Cyre says to Leo with the flattest gaze a man can possibly achieve. "Pal. If your berries are poison, that..."
"Well, I wasn't talking about poison berries. But it'd explain a lot."
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- Whoosh! New room!
- It's another cell.
- Seraphita awwws, not hiding her letdown. The sight of treasure and bodies doesn't seem to matter one bit to her. Instead she walks over to the bars and pokes them with her gloved fingers a few times, before grinning wide.
- "Guys, guys, guys! Look, I can make metal turn super shiny and red, it's really cool!!" On cue, the area gets much, much hotter. Luckily most of it is concentrated on some of the bars barring their way, and they heat up incredibly fast. It'd probably be easier if Seraphita would let go of Mr. Shoutshout, but she's clutching her prize Shriekbun like it means the world to her, so one-handed Fire Ether it is.
- "Ooh, you think whoever built this place had lots of bad people to lock up? There's lots of prisons!" Ragnell questions her, so of course, she can't help but keep yapping. "Oh, I'm not supposed to tell you I'm something called an Element!!" Yeah, nailed it! Now if people know she's not supposed to talk, they can make sure she doesn't slip up like Tolone normally would!
- ... admittedly Element is a pretty stock-standard military term, but the way she emphasizes it implies it's different from just companies split into elements.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo gets clipped by one of the teleportation fields when he thinks he's in the clear. The net result is that he is already in the cage when everyone else appears in it. Sephilia immediately takes the opportunity to sass, which earns her a glower. "I have neither the time nor the patience for insults from children," Leo says. He looks down, grimacing as he notices the bones. He will leave the ghoulish work of finding loot to Mr. Lorentz. "What's in that censer, young man?" Leo says, stepping away from the cage bars. It does seem to be taking the edge off his irritation, which is... welcome, in these circumstances.
- "Then what were you talking about?" Leo says. He still doesn't get it.
- The White Knight sizes up the wall around the cells, having averted his eyes as Ragnell does her thing. "Indeed, Seraph. Now, allow me--" As Seraphita tries to melt the bars, Leo whispers an incantation of his own, trying to weaken the stone around the bars with sorcery.
DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Ch-children?!" Sephilia splutters. "I'm NOT a child! I'm almost sixteen years old, and I'm going to be a famous explorer just like my Dad! You--you--you're just a big bully! Bullying my friends and making things hard for them! And treating me like a kid when I'm CLEARLY just as capable as anyone else here!"
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Even after all that orb mayhem, the party still ends up teleported and trapped! How unfair.
Rosaline returns to her senses to see Cyre... burning herbs? She hopes those aren't Valmar's Lettuce. She recalls the warning signs she was warned about. Luckily, she isn't feeling particularly giggly or munchy right now, so it must be fine.
"Um." Rosaline is hesitant to sift through bones. Maybe there's something useful for her in there. ARM mods. A new Crest Graph. A coif with 2 more points of defense than the one she's currently wearing. Or maybe even the rarest, most powerful tool of all... A bottle?!
She chances it.
And a moment later, Rosaline is holding something overhead.
ROSALINE FOUND: HOLY WATER!!
"Praise be! This might come in handy." Unfortunately, it's plain to everyone that while the water might be IN a bottle, it's not the reusable kind. The quest continues. Rosaline stows the item away for now, since it doesn't seem immediately useful, and her tool belt's slots are all filled right now besides. Maybe some other time.
For now...
"The explosion can't hurt living creatures," Rosaline explains as she sets a stick of cream-colored TNT in front of the bars, "but please be careful, still!"
And she dashes out of the way, because there's a grenade in the mix and THAT one can actually produce friendly fire damage.
DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Holy TNT toward her party's challenge, Cage of Steel.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- "Then why do you act like one?" Leo says, his voice as level as he can manage. "Clearly, you know nothing about what is at stake here."
===============================<* Cage Tower *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Cage of Steel *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The air around you flickers and shimmers, and the smell of ozone emanates from somewhere above. There's a sudden, disorienting /pop/, and you're no longer where you were. Instead, you're on the wrong side of a set of sturdy metal bars, and you're going to have to break out the hard way. Luckily, the teleporter seems to have transported other oddments into the cell as well. Maybe there's something useful? =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
==========================<* Cage Tower - Round 4 *>========================== =========================< Results - Cage of Steel >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraphita 18 --(6)--> 24 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 12 --(6)--> 18 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 25 --(3)--> 28 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rosaline Calice 22 --(3)--> 25 Pass Holy TNT 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Invigorating Vapors 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ White Knight Leo 24 --(5)--> 29 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraphita 45 --(25)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraphita has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline covers her ears over the sound of several explosions, and when she uncovers them, finds Sephilia and Leo engages in an argument. "P-Please don't fight!" she pleads. "I assure you, Sephilia is just as mature, responsible and competent as the rest of us, I assure you," she says, meekly, avoiding looking at Leo directly. This is INTENDED as a compliment.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline covers her ears over the sound of several explosions, and when she uncovers them, finds Sephilia and Leo engages in an argument. "P-Please don't fight!" she pleads. "I assure you, Sephilia is just as mature, responsible and competent as the rest of us," she says, meekly, avoiding looking at Leo directly. This is INTENDED as a compliment.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia scowls. "I know plenty more than you think I know. I know that the Pyre Witch and the Trial Knight are here--did you know that? Here on Filgaia? I've met them. I've fought them. The Pyre Witch has it out for me personally. Would a kid be able to stand up to them? I know there's Malevolence at work here, which is bad enough, but I've seen things called Reapers too--there's a lot more going on than just what you guys think, and I know that we're all here for a reason, if you'd just...pull your blinders off and SEE that there's more than just this whole obsession with Lucia that you've got going on! An', an'..." And Rosaline steps in.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Something takes a second to register in Rosaline's mind.
"Wait, Reapers?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "Noooo, don't fight! Fighting is bad! Fighting makes people sad!!" Seraphita says, setting herself up between Leo and Sephilia without hesitation. She raises Mr. Shoutshout so the two can see its adorable, cute face. It's still a bunny, after all.
- "Look, you're going to make mister Shoutshout cry!!!"
- SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!! is all Mr. Shoutshout has to say.
- It echoes through the tower like a tortuous scream.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy nods, face going pale at the memory. "Yeah," she mumbles. "I'll...tell you about it when we get out of here. Ask Ida, she seemed to know more, really." And...then she covers her ears and winces.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"Oh you know," Cyre answers Leo. "Cinnamon, sandalwood..." His eyes flicker towards the stripes across the other man's cheeks. "A few peculiar varieties of mint. Some other stuff. You know, normal plants. It's a secret Baskar recipe."
He goes right back to checking the piles of stuff, glancing at Ragnell only to say, "Ragnell, explain about berries. I've got stuff to find."
"All kinds of stuff in here," Cyre says as the others deploy explosives, dolls and magic to brutally savage the bars. "Looks like... Some kind of books I can't read, a few... Relics?" Like INEXPLICABLE HOLY WATER! Wow, this is quite a pile of stuff. "Bunch of Gella, too, and... some... weird coin?" Cyre holds it up. It seems to flicker and glitch briefly, but remains solid regardless.
Cyre gets: A MYSTERIOUS FLICKERY COIN!?
"There's something in this wall too, let me--" He sits up, winds up a kick, and shoves his heel right into the bricks! They crumble, and reveal...
...Cuccoo.
Cyre frowns at what appears to be a white farmfowl flutters out of the wall and starts pecking at the ground, "Uh."
Beat.
The bird clucks.
"Well!" He turns away and hops right away from the devilchicken and out through the now-busted bars, "Let's keep going, shall we?"
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo looks down at Sephilia, his arms folded in front of his chest. He's about to shoot back when suddenly--
- THE BUNNENING
- Leo's ears flatten back against his head, and he clamps his hands over them, wincing. "What in Althena's name is that thing?!" he says, though it's possible no one can actually hear him.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell side-eyes Sephy as she shouts about not being a child. That being an argument between her and Leo, she stays out of it, but there's a certain darkness in her sudden frown, and when Sephy goes into her rant, Ragnell rolls her eyes.
- That apparent irritation is gone a moment later as she smiles over at Seraphita. "Hmmm, wow, an Element, huh! That's a problem--the name sounds familiar, so I mighta heard o' that before. You know, like water-fire-earth-wind an' all that. So what exactly d'you mean by 'Element,' so we know you've been keepin' it a secret proper?"
- SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! goes Mr. Shoutshout. It's considerably louder in these closed quarters. Ragnell rubs her ears, annoyance marring her features. Cyre bids her explain about berries while he finds loot, and she replies, "Make sure you find somethin' good for me too in return." Then she looks at the White Knight. "He's talkin' about your balls, Leo. Your sack. Your scrotum. Your testes," she explains, helpfully, as she always is. "You *do* have a pair o' those, right?"
- ...Maybe he was too deaf to hear that. Either way, it's time to move on.
DG: White Knight Leo has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - In The Vents *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- This room is full of cages, many of them in varying states of disarray. A sign on the wall--or what's left of it--reads A X L ARY X N M TTER R CE ING. It looks like it's a dead end, but there's some sort of opening on the wall, the rusty remains of a slatted cover clinging to it. With some doing, you could wiggle into it, and maybe find your way into another part of the tower! Or you could get lost in there, that's an option, too. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo sees Ragnell's mouth moving. Unfortunately, his ears are still ringing, and he can't quite make it out over the continuing hideous screeching. He assumes it was something suitable for a Seraph--albeit a misguided one--and nods. "I see," he says, raising his voice. "Very profound, Seraph Ragnell. I pray you forgive me for underestimating one of Althena's own." With the cell door open, the group is free to leave the area--and a short jaunt down a hall puts them in a large room. Part of the floor is elevated, with ramps leading down to a large area stacked with overturned cages--the sort that can hold animals. On the far end are several large doors, the kind that slide up when opened. Someone familiar with them might describe it as a 'loading dock'. The place is a mess, though--some of the cages look like they've been clawed open from the outside.
- "What is this place?" Leo says. He goes to puzzle over the sign, not noticing the grate immediately. "Is it some sort of puzzle?"
DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, In The Vents.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "Yeah! My friend is wind, I'm fire!!" Seraphita answers Ragnell, as she requests clarifications, although to be fair that statement was... self-evident. Hopefully the Seraph wasn't expecting something more precise. It's getting plainly obvious Seraphita isn't very smart.
- Ooh a sign!!
- Seraphita is distracted from the infighting and requests for information and wanders over to it. She reads out loud: "Axe... emplary... excellent... matter... icing! ICING! Guys there's icing in there!! No more fighting, let's work together so we can have cake and make everything better!!"
- Seraphita moves over to attempt forcing open one of the many openings, not paying mind to all the cages possibly indicating what lies beyond those openings. She is not doing a very good job at it due to refusing to put down Mr. Shoutshout.
- She also informs Leo: "Mr. Shoutshout is a Shriekbun! They're rare bunnies that learned to shout to make pre-dat-ors run away from them!!" Hey she can use complicated words sometimes.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, In The Vents.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Oh my God, Ragnell. There are children here. Why would you say something like that--
Well, at least Leo probably didn't hear any of it. His innocence is thus preserved.
Cyre makes a curious sound as he stares up at the enormous cages, the doors, the... everything. What was this place? Cage Tower is truly a mysterious place... Maybe all these cages are made to contain creatures like that rabbit? But then, why was it outside, and why did it trigger the quarantine alarm?
Or maybe... THEY triggered the quarantine alarm.
Well, whatever. Too late to worry now! "Looks like some kind of... almost like a warehouse, or something? Hm."
But then, Seraphita. Uh.
Huh.
Maybe she's... Spe...cial.
Wow, he almost feels bad for trying to hit on her earlier now.
"Let's take a look around. Maybe there's a sign to tell us which way to go."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, In The Vents.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline covers her ears yet again. They're going to hurt for days at this rate. Yes, talk later, fight later.
And then she catches sight of... a cucco.
"Out! Out! Out!" she says, under her breath, as she goes through the thoroughly exploded bars and as far away as possible from Valmar's most prized creation.
A moment later, she looks at the sign. "Auxiliary... Hm." And that's all she's got. She takes out her Extreme Teen Bible, heedless of Althena's Chosen being right there.
"Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A." It's never quite clear how what she's reading is relevant, but it seems to make SOME sense to her. And so, she looks... up.
"Oh! A vent. Maybe I could fit in there," she proposes. She IS rather slight and flexible. She looks down into her book. And maybe she could try those as directions to the inevitable VENT MAZE?
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy lays off for a bit, in light of the somewhat implicit threat of more of Mr Shoutshout's special brand of objection. Instead, she pulls out her Dad's journal. "Man, the people in these old ruins sure liked book-words," she mutters, as she pieces together what the sign must have said. "Dad never encountered anything like this," she continues, mournfully. "But that means I'm getting to explore stuff he never would have seen!" She pulls out her own journal and makes a few notes. "Okay, so this is uh...that's almost definitely 'auxiliary' and...uh...we should probably just...proceed with caution. No more Mr. Shoutshout, okay, Seraphita?" She's finally picked out the bunny-lady's name.
"I mean, I could fit into the vent too but I doubt Mr. Leo could." Is she sassing him by deliberately ignoring his title, or trying to be polite by being formal and not just using his first name, or worse, calling him a dummy?
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, In The Vents. DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Extreme Teen Bible toward her party's challenge, In The Vents.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Leo, in all seriousness, thanks Ragnell for her wisdom as one of Althena's own. She stares at him for a couple of seconds. Then she breaks out into hysterical laughter, leaning against a wall and banging a fist against it. She calms a moment later, leaning back to wipe away a tear of mirth. "Oh, Goddess," she utters. "You didn't hear a word I just said, did ya, Leo?" She claps him on the shoulder cheerfully with a grin as wide as the ocean. "Well, that's fine, too! You gave me a good laugh out of it, so that works jus' fine!"
- Seraphita meanwhile clarifies that Elements *does* in fact refer to the classical elements. Ragnell looks her up and down thoughtfully. "Ohhh, is that so," she says. "Well, everyone's heard a' the classical elements, so it looks like your secret's safe!" That doesn't make sense, and yet, Ragnell has a feeling (Not) Seraphita won't notice. A beat. She had the sense of *that* magic, the one that a certain someone believed to be connected to the city in the sky... "By the way," she adds, friendly as can be, "what d'you know about a place called Solaris?"
- For now, though, that matter will have to be set aside as they reach a room full of cages. She frowns as she looks around at them. There's cages everywhere in this place. The first room involved a quarantine as soon as they entered. And there's that sign with the missing letters... She rubs her chin, staring hard at the sign. Auxiliary, the others deduce. "Auxiliary..." she murmurs. "X... Xenomatter...?" Xeno- is a prefix she knows from xenophobia, and matter is obvious enough. Foreign matter? And the last word... hmmm... The first blank has to be a vowel, set between R and C like that, and the second blank, being set between an E and an I, is probably a consonant. Race, Rece, Rice, Roce, Ruce... PRobably not any of those last three. Race-ing, Rece-ing... Auxiliary Xenomatter... Raceling? Hm.
- Well, that's only a distraction for right now. There's vents to get through. Ragnell pulls out her electric fan and turns it on, creating a nice little breeze--which can easily be directed into and through the vents. "I should be able t' help ya out with that," she says. "Someone tiny get on up there an' climb through." And once they have that sorted out, Ragnell should be able to tell which ways are dead ends and which ways connect to someplace else. Should!
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, In The Vents.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - In The Vents *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- This room is full of cages, many of them in varying states of disarray. A sign on the wall--or what's left of it--reads A X L ARY X N M TTER R CE ING. It looks like it's a dead end, but there's some sort of opening on the wall, the rusty remains of a slatted cover clinging to it. With some doing, you could wiggle into it, and maybe find your way into another part of the tower! Or you could get lost in there, that's an option, too. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow=====================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 5 *>=========================== ===========================< Results - In The Vents >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 24 --(7)--> 31 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 18 --(4)--> 22 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 28 --(5)--> 33 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosaline Calice 25 --(4)--> 29 Pass Extreme Teen Bible 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 25 --(3)--> 28 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 29 --(8)--> 37 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraphita 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Slow(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraphita 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> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo's brow furrows in mild consternation. He heaves a put-upon sigh as Ragnell has her laugh at his expense, and then turns his attention back to what he's convinced is some sort of password or something. Meanwhile, Rosaline is able to make her way through the first few twists and turns of the vent maze, aided by the breeze from Ragnell's fan. They're ventilation shafts, after all, and air flows very easily within them! (Sephilia, being pretty small, can easily help out if she's so inclined.) Once a way through the vents is found, it's a fairly simple matter to gather everyone up, and proceed on hands and knees through the vents. Leo brings up the rear because the whole thing is kind of unpleasant for someone of his build, and involves him having to bend the vent in places just to pass.
DG: Seraphita has drawn a new Challenge.
=================================<* Cage Tower *>=================================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sterilizer Protocol *>=======================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
STERILIZATION MEASURES DEPLOYED
ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO CLEAN ZONE IMMEDIATELY
The message flashes across a panel on the wall, over and over, as you enter
the room. The floor is strewn with debris--bits of rock and metal, bone and
cloth. Several mostly-intact skeletons indicate more recent intrusion, one
of which lies in front of a door labeled CLEAN ROOM. Moments later, the door
slams shut behind you, a heavy deadbolt falling into place.
STERILIZATION INITIATED
That's no good. Those sensitive to magic get a moment's warning before
Symbological runes on the walls light up, and the air begins to superheat.
Can you break down that clean room door before you pass out?
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "I'm not getting rid of mister Shoutshout!" Seraphita insists, because she's bringing that thing back with her to Aveh come hell or high water. Hopefully, Gebler dorms are adequately soundproofed.
- Sadly, she fails to get one of the large openings taken care of, and the party must venture through vents. Mr. Shoutshout is pushed ahead of Seraphita, and to people's relief, does NOT scream while in the vents. That could have sucked!
- Once on the other side, Seraphita nodnods to Ragnell. "Yeah, it's a great secret!!" Then she asks about Solaris. Seraphita goes /O*O\ which in and of itself is probably an answer. "Aww, I can't tell you that! And I can't tell you I'm from... E... tur... na... Etern... Enter... Etre... nya! ETRENYA! Yeah!" Wait. Oh no, she caught on! She shuts up, picking her Shriekbun back up.
- Which is good, because once the party is gathered, the room lets them know they are not welcome here. In the slightest. Alarms scream louder than any Shriekbun could. Exits seal, as heavy reinforced dools fall into place to block pathways. The CLEAN ROOM, luckily, is easy to spot.
- Making it there before the runes appearing on the walls melt the lot of you is another story. But Seraphita, for all her failings, does love a challenge. She reaches into a pocket, grinning, as she withdraws from it... A SKIRT!!! Her skirt. She wasn't wearing it, but surely no one was paying attention to that.
- She slips it on, and then gets SERIOUS. Ish.
- That is to say an immense flare of plasma forms around her and then shoots towards the clean room's entrance. This won't help the room cool down in the slightest, but more than likely, that door is dead.
DG: Seraphita has used her Tool Lucky Skirt toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia knows how to handle a locked door. "Chauncey," she says calmly, "Let's do this." The doll is grown to its big size--is it just a trick of the light, or is he bigger than he was last time?--and begins to smash. Sephy isn't wasting words now. She's all business. Seraphita makes the room even hotter, and Sephy winces at the repairs she's going to have to do to poor Chauncey's scorched body...but the doll crashes into the door with the force of a train.
Sephy knows what trains are. She even sings a little song while she's on them! Not that she's doing that now. Just saying.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Before they head on, Ragnell takes one last look at that sign. This time, she realizes that the last space is actually a little too wide to be a single space. If that's two blank letters and not one--Auxiliary Xenomatter Receiving? Hmmm, that makes sense... more or less. What it actually *means* is another matter, but Ragnell doesn't have time to ponder it. With a way through the vents having been navigated, the group of them push in and forward to make it to the other side.
- Which is another damn quarantine room. With rather clean bones in here. And a door to a 'clean room,' while another door behind them shuts and bolts locked. And she can sense magic stirring the air, exciting it, just before the Symbological runes light up. "Aww, so you can't tell me about Solaris and Etrenya?" she says as she takes this in, affecting disappointment. "That's a real shame! But I'm sure your friend would be real proud of you, knowing you're keepin' those secrets so well." She smiles at her brightly, then pats the Element's shoulder, assuming she lets her. "Good job, Seraphita!"
- But now to business. Ragnell, for her part, is pretty sure she'll be okay--her body isn't quite made of matter the same way humans and beastmen are, so a super-heating wouldn't kill her--but it would be damn inconvenient to get stuck in here with a bunch of dead people, so better break down that door *now* before she's the only one left. As Seraphita dons a skirt for plasma-blastin' times and Chauncey smashes into the door, Ragnell tosses another electric grenade with a cursory warning to go with it.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Rosaline is very much a cat when it comes to vent-crawling, and of a more comfortable build than Leo or Cyre's, for that matter! Quickly enough, she finds a way through the vent maze that is close enough to the one in her Bible that she can still confidently claim it a miracle.
And then is yet another alarm. Rosaline's ears have taken more Exhaustion damage than the rest of her combined.
They have to think fast. Luckily, there's more TNT where that came from, which the catwoman tosses into the general area where Seraphita is performing her frighteningly firey feats. A chain reaction should take it from there.
DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Holy TNT toward her party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo falls out of the vent, and takes a moment to make sure all his limbs are still in working order. That was awful.
- Unfortunately, things only get worse from there. "What?" Leo says, his ears lowering as the doors seal shut. He glances at the terminal, frowning; he has no idea what that word means in this context, even though he's fairly sure he's about to find out. "The runes!" Leo says, because even though 'clean rooms' and 'sterilizers' are alien to him, magic glowing runes are not. As the air begins to superheat, Leo draws his blade, and strikes at one of the runes on the walls, carving deep into it. "What manner of sorcery is this? Help me disrupt it, or we'll be cooked alive!" He strikes at another rune, and another, and another. He's... fairly sure this will disrupt them, even though Symbology is not a thing. Lucky guess?
DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sterilizer Protocol.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Sterilization initiated?
That... doesn't sound good.
Cyre hisses a curse as the temperature begins to skyrocket. "This... We need to get of here quick. If this keeps up, we'll be--" Leo steals his warning. Cyre frowns. He whips his censer out from where it's chained to his hip. He barely needs to strike a spark to ignite it, the soothing vapors fill the air and might just calm the mind enough to keep together and break out of this deathtrap.
But that's not all. Cyre also begins rapidly stirring the air, using convective currents to try and get some kind of cooling going, but as soon as the air gets hotter than body temperature...
He'd go and channel all that wind right into the door. Like a giant, stormy battering ram.
=================================<* Cage Tower *>=================================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sterilizer Protocol *>=======================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
STERILIZATION MEASURES DEPLOYED
ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO CLEAN ZONE IMMEDIATELY
The message flashes across a panel on the wall, over and over, as you enter
the room. The floor is strewn with debris--bits of rock and metal, bone and
cloth. Several mostly-intact skeletons indicate more recent intrusion, one
of which lies in front of a door labeled CLEAN ROOM. Moments later, the door
slams shut behind you, a heavy deadbolt falling into place.
STERILIZATION INITIATED
That's no good. Those sensitive to magic get a moment's warning before
Symbological runes on the walls light up, and the air begins to superheat.
Can you break down that clean room door before you pass out?
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
============================<* Cage Tower - Round 6 *>============================ ========================< Results - Sterilizer Protocol >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 31 --(6)--> 37 Pass Lucky Skirt 4 Brute Effects: None ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 22 --(6)--> 28 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 33 --(5)--> 38 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosaline Calice 29 --(5)--> 34 Pass Holy TNT 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 28 --(3)--> 31 Pass Invigorating Vapors 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 37 --(17)--> 54 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Seraphita 90 --(5)--> 95 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Slow(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Seraphita 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. DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Quarantine Lock *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The clean room door leads to a short hallway, which looks like it was a very
sterile shade of white centuries ago. A glass panel flickers next to the
door on the other end of the hall.
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
LOCKDOWN INITIATED
A few wires dangle from a little silvery box next to the door. Maybe it's
some sort of locking mechanism? Perhaps if you got it working, you could
open the clean room... or trigger an even worse emergency protocol.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- Leo isn't WRONG, per se! Striking symbology ruins certainly disrupts them, in the age old saying that if everything else fails you can just HIT IT REAL HARD. But hitting runes also means getting exposed to their awful, awful heat a bit more than usual.
- That little slip-up aside, the clean room's door and a number of runes are blasted right out, and the party has no trouble reaching this so-called clean room! Sweating, maybe exhausted, but not cooked, and that's what counts at the end of the day!
- Seraphita regains her smile and energy as Ragnell understands. "Yeah! I'm a super good secret agent, see! You're nice, keeping my secrets safe!!" Tolone would probably be blowing a fuse right about now. Thank god she's not around!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Once the group has knocked down the door, interrupted the Symbology runes, and gotten to safety, Ragnell smiles back at Seraphita, Best Secret Agent Ever. This bunny girl is precious, bless her dumb heart. Her friend is going to blow a gasket if she hears about this. Oh well! That's not Ragnell's problem. "You sure are, hon. You sure are," she tells her, patting Seraphita on the head if she lets her, then scritching the shriekbun under the chin.
- But they're not quite out of the woods yet. Ragnell looks up, smile fading, to see the room has led them into a short hallway, which has faded into the shade of yellow white turns when it's grown far too old. There's another panel on the other side, now talking about a lockdown as a result of the quarantine. Her eyes narrow, and she clicks her personal fan back on to give herself a personal breeze. "Hmmm... More electronics," she murmurs. "I might be able t' get this workin', but... I'll need some support. If any of y'all has any ideas, be sure to let me know."
- Then she puts her fan away, mind and superheat cleared to let her focus, and she begins to futz with those wires--and the electricity contained within, both in them and the panel itself. If she can just figure out where the signals are supposed to go, maybe she can send a signal to open this last door...
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo is a sweaty, fatigued mess by the time the group regroups on the other side of the door. He runs a hand through his hair, allowing himself to sag against the clean room wall for a moment while he catches his breath. "That was... insidious... and sadistic," he says. "What manner of people built this place? Why would they place a trap like that?" Then again, if it's trapped, that means there's something valuable in here, right? He glances at Ragnell. "Electronics? Is there--something inside this box that opens this door?"
- Good job, Leo!
DG: White Knight Leo has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia is ready. She's trained for this. Briefly. A little bit.
Ida promised to read a book to her about it once.
She talked to the legendary Emma Hetfield about it and complained that she was using bookwords.
She pulls out her Dad's journal, looks at it, then, rolling her eyes at Leo, hands it to him. "Here, look--my Dad's journal. He encountered all kinds of stuff, if you can find the right page..." With the White Knight distracted, Sephy sets about trying to hotwire the thing.
Maybe she can figure it out.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Dad's Journal toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre, too, is sweaty and fatigued. But fortunately, his loose robes are relatively easy to throw off and sling up and over a shoulder as he saunters shirtlessly up to the circuit box. "People who were obviously very concerned about whatever were in those cages getting loose. All these quarantine alarms, they must have spent a lot of time and effort making sure this place could lock down as soon as anything went wrong."
He glances over to Seraphita. Secret... agent bunny.
...How does someone like this become a secret agent?
Or... Or is this cutesy thing just an act!?
"Hey, Rosa," Cyre says over his shoulder. "You're an... Etone, right? You know machines. Do you think you could figure out which wires go to whatever sensors this place has going? We might be able to fool the machine into thinking the quarantine's clear. Or, you know, have Ragnell fry it."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.
Out of the frying pan, and into the clean room. Rosaline has had it with this place, albeit quietly.
"O-Only a little," she tells Cyre. "Mostly ARMs, but I'll see what I can do..." She opens her Bible once more, finding a page with several electronic schematics. What kind of bible IS this?!
"T-Try disconnecting the red wire. Or is it the blue wire... Oh no..."
DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Extreme Teen Bible toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- Seraphita allows it, and makes happy noises.
- So does the Shriekbun.
- Sadly, when it comes to dealing with the dangling wires and security systems, all she can do is pout. "Aww, man! If Tolone was here I bet she'd be like, bam wham super brain power activate!! And then, we'd be out of here in a jiffy!" But she isn't. Seraphita tries to remember how messing with electronics is supposed to go, all the while she answers Leo with: "I bet it was mean people!!" Probably not untrue.
- Helpfully, while still holding onto her Shriekbun, she points at some random wires. "Oh, oh, touch these two together! Smart people always touch wires and then sparkies happen and doors open!" Probably not entirely untrue, either.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Quarantine Lock.
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Quarantine Lock *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The clean room door leads to a short hallway, which looks like it was a very
sterile shade of white centuries ago. A glass panel flickers next to the
door on the other end of the hall.
LEVEL 10 QUARANTINE BREACH DETECTED
LOCKDOWN INITIATED
A few wires dangle from a little silvery box next to the door. Maybe it's
some sort of locking mechanism? Perhaps if you got it working, you could
open the clean room... or trigger an even worse emergency protocol.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
===========================<* Cage Tower - Round 7 *>=========================== =========================< Results - Quarantine Lock >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 37 --(3)--> 40 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 28 --(3)--> 31 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 38 --(6)--> 44 Pass Dad's Journal 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosaline Calice 34 --(5)--> 39 Pass Extreme Teen Bible 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 31 --(6)--> 37 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White Knight Leo 54 --(5)--> 59 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraphita 95 --(25)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraphita has successfully explored Cage Tower!
================================<* Cage Tower *>================================ =========================<* CHALLENGE - Ancient ARM *>========================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The skeletal remains of several people rest on the clean room floor, still in the positions they'd died in. One of them cradles an ARM against its chest, and if the body has been undisturbed for this long, it's an impressive find. Provided, of course, that you're willing to take it from the corpse. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- "That's an easy one," Ragnell says to Leo, not looking away from her work, one hand on the panel. "Despite how I look, I like t' read, see. I've spent hours readin' through the books Linga, Adlehyde, and the Ruins o' Memory, an' that word's come up a time or two--includin' its meanin'." She eyes Sephy briefly when the girl attempts to distract Leo and join in on the wirework, before going back to sensing the pulses of electricity. "'Quarantine,' y'see, means isolatin' somethin' that has a sickness or an uncleanliness. That heat? Was meant to 'clean' us. Right to the bone, as it were. It's not so much a trap as a defense. The idea is, if you quarantine somethin', whatever they got won't spread to the healthy, clean ones. Havin' dirty things like us all in one spot means it's also easy to get rid of us--again, for the sake of the clean ones. But whatever they're tryin' to protect here is long gone, so..." She shrugs. "Now it's just a joke of a defense."
- Seraphita mentions someone named Tolone who'd be able to get through this in a jiffy. "Is Tolone that smart friend you mentioned?" she asks. She snorts at Seraphita's 'suggestion,' but--well, Cyre encourages Rosa to contribute, and she says basically the same thing, only in a more helpful way. Sephy connects the wires, and Ragnell holds up her free hand to stop her when she senses the synapses connecting, sparks at her fingertips. "Hold it right there. ...There we go."
- The panel lights up with green letters, ENTRANCE AUTHORIZED, and the door to the clean room slides open, neat as you please. There's not much to find in there: skeletons, skeletons, skeletons... and an ARM, craded in the arms of one of them. Ragnell strolls on over to it, looking from the corpse over to the weapon the person it once was tried to protect. "Hmmm..." she murmurs, kneeling down to peer at it. An impressive find, but... taken on its own, Ragnell doesn't really have a use for an ARM. Instead, she peers over at the skeleton clutching it. Why would they have brought an ARM in here?
- Sadly, the ARM itself probably has no answers.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Ugh, you like BOOK-WORDS?" Sephy asks Ragnell. "Eughhhhhh. No thank you. Oh, can I have my Dad's journal back now, please?" she says to Leo, holding out her hand as the door slides open.
Content to let others interrogate the terribly naive Seraphita, Sephy steps forward and crouches. "Poor people...I bet they got trapped in here by some kind of thing that they weren't sure was safe. That quarantine thing you mentioned." Sephy wrinkles her nose at the bookword. "Does...anyone mind if I take this?" She looks at the corpse sadly. "I promise you I'll use it well," she says to the original owner. "You can bet on it." Gently, she lifts the ARM away and turns, standing. "I think...I think we'll never know what really happened here." Yeah, sure, Sephy. "Whatever these people were hiding from...it's outside, not in here."
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo wrinkles his nose as Ragnell explains. "A plague?" he says, glancing down at the skeletons on the floor. "I see. And if this is the 'clean room', then is it the room where the clean things go to hide while the defenses kill the unclean ones?" He looks down at the skeletons littering the floor. His lips tighten. "It looks like their defenses failed them, in the end. Or perhaps they were trapped in here, and starved to death. Tragic."
- Leo makes a sign of benediction over the bodies, though he can't help but grimace as Sephilia just goes and takes the ARM from one.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo hands over the journal without any further incident. All he can decipher is absolute chicken-scratch.
- "Regardless of your intent," Leo says, calmly, "I would not be so quick to take weapons from the dead, child."
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
- "Yupyup!" Seraphita answers Ragnell, having already forgotten the fake-names directive. Well... Tolone only mentioned that SERAPHITA needed to give a fake name, not... everyone else. So you know.
- With the quarantine defeated, Seraphita mostly hangs out back, having no interest in shiny material possessions when she's holding onto a large ball of fluff. "Yay, good work everyone! Oh, but... there's no weird statues here! I guess that means I gotta go or people are gonna wonder where I'm at! It was nice to meet all of yoooou, thank you for the help getting all the way up here!!" Always be nice to folks who help you out!
- And then Seraphita wanders off! She'll find her way out and then vanish back to who knows where, somehow. Probably!
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia scowls. "I'm not a child, I said. Didn't I just prove that I'm as capable as anyone else here?" She's not as angry as she was before, but it's clearly a sore point. "Besides, she's not using it. I bet she'd want it to be used well, by someone who's going to take care of it, not just...left here forever.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell once again side-eyes Sephy at her sneering at higher learning via books. "Lemina likes book-words," she remarks, tone deliberately neutral. "It's how she got to be as strong as she is today."
- She looks back at the corpses as Sephy and Leo weigh in. She nods to both in turn. "Mmm. Seems like a good guess t' me, in any case. Dunno if they got locked in here an' couldn't get out, or if the quarantine didn't quite work out for 'em."
- She half-smiles faintly at Seraphita's confirmation. Seraphita of fire, Tolone of wind, was it... And--Seraphita's looking for statues too? Ragnell raises an eyebrow at her, but she doesn't try to stop her from leaving. Instead, she stands, hands dipping into her jeans pockets as she looks one more time around the room thoughtfully.
- She doesn't weigh in on the morality of taking weapons from the dead.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Lemina's--Lemina's different. She doesn't treat me like I'm dumb or like a kid just cause I don't know all the book-words, you know." Sephilia sounds a lot less sure of herself. "I'm NOT dumb, I just don't like books."
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
- Leo just shakes his head, and starts to investigate the rest of the room. He's done talking to Sephilia for now, it seems.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
- Ragnell's side-eyeing doesn't stop. Is it worth it to...? Nah. It really, really isn't. "Cool," she thus replies, then looks over at Leo and the others. "Looks to me like there's nothin' else to find in here, so Imma see myself out. Later." Then she gives a casual salute and strolls out back the way they came, leaving the rest to investigate further, or not, as they please.