2017-11-10: A Needle and Threads
- Log: A Needle and Threads
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Kalve, Gwen Whitlock, Kaguya, Hiro, Jacqueline Barber, Seraph Ragnell, Janey and Mikaia
- Where: Wayside Village
- Date: November 10th, 2017(and more)
- Summary: During Wayside's Tuber Harvest Festival, an operation goes awry, drawing those present into a realm of their collective minds. To return home, they must sort through their collective memories and find the one they lost...
============================<* Wayside Village *>============================= Wayside Village sits at the midst of a road exchange leading into the neck of the Badlands. Decades ago, this village was abandoned due to increasing pressure and risk from roadside thieves and bandits, as well as aggressive wildlife, but it was resuscitated recently by the Ebony Wings. Now, Wayside Village stands as a haven "for those who have been left by the wayside" - it houses an orphanage, school and a homeless shelter and soup kitchen to aid those that have been abetted. A vulnerable, but growing community has gathered here, slightly odd in shape, size and appendages, owing to them being mostly "Tainted" -- rumored to be broken Metal Demons, or perhaps just Beastmen and other demihumans; the real story isn't quite widespread. Besides, those that have nowhere to go seem to be happy enough to coexist here. For Drifters, a large roadside saloon called the "V4L-H4LLA" acts as an inn, a watering hole and a stable all in one. Those with vehicles that require repair can also find some mechanics who can enact some basic maintenance and a top-up of common fuels. A dojo with all kinds of martial training equipment has been set up near the village centre. Wayside Village sustains itself largely by trading and selling water for other services, owing to its recently repaired water purifier unit - served to the village via a Qanat with a robust irrigation system stands at the edge of the village, where a Garden with simple hardy crops and other agricultural pursuits can be followed. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4uR39jNeGE
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It's a pleasant day in Wayside, and a particularly pleasant treat awaits the Drifters at V4L-H4LLA!
... namely, the farmers at Wayside have just finished harvesting their first real batch of vegetables, and Val and the others have concocted a bit of a feast with a festive banner: 'Tuber Harvest Festival!'
Yeah, it's mostly just tubers, but given the difficulty of growing things on the soil around the Badlands, it's an important first step. Various different kinds of dishes like potato gratin, fried parsnip chips and radish soup are laid out in appetising manner around a center table.
Val's doing something of a stand-up routine while she serves drinks. "Some people say... love is like a rose. But a rose rots in a couple of days... so that's pretty superficial, isn't it?"
A pause. "I say... love is like a potato! It ain't look like much on the outside... but so many ways you can use a potato! You can even make a battery out of it!"
"Don't quit your day job for comedy..." Odjn's ears droop as she floats nearby and listens in on Val.
Adorable little Mikaia's helping lay the table, carrying a stack of spoons as she stands on a chair to lay them out. "Where's Riesemama...?"
Janey stares up at her from where she's carrying bowls. "She's seein' Uncle Kalve, remember? Something about a checkup?"
"Oh yeah..."
~*~
Not far from the inn, Riesenlied is seated on a familiar reclining chair as she visits Kalve for one of her routine check-ups. They'd been doing this for a long while; she frequently visits the one of the Mercurial Method when she needs healing and care with her body--
--but what had happened to her recently had certainly been of concern. Where there was once regular flesh (for a Metal Demon) on her left arm and leg had become overgrown with misshapen, scale-like growths that threaten to creep up her forearm and thigh; the same patch of scales have grown at her neck and crept up her cheek, the same colouration as her horns...
And the physical infirmities are hard to ignore. Under the lens of his devices, Kalve can see that her elementary particles that have become more and more unstable appear to have become-- moreso.
Riesenlied's reported as much: Her physical abilities and focus has weakened; her strength, coordination, dexterity and balance have suffered. In turn, her empathic senses and powers appear to have grown in power... to the point where she loses control of them at times.
It can't continue forever. This imbalance... would be more and more dangerous, if left unchecked.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is one of the least likely babysitters in the world - which would explain why she's not there with the kids, having instead chosen to accompany Riesenlied in her checkup. If nothing else, Riesenlied's continuing deterioration means that she'd rather ensure that the Tainted leader has a shoulder to lean on when she needs it - which is really just to say that she wouldn't admit it easily, but she's been left significantly worried oer the other woman's condition.
Still, she trusts Kalve - so she's patient and doing her best to be unobstructive as she lets the scientist perform the check-up, simply sat nearby with Riesenlied's good hand in hers. "... really, now," she sighs almost to herself. "We should have done this a lot earlier, I suppose."
In Noeline's place, her two ARMs have joined the orphans. Strife seems to taken to Janey, apparently eager to have a regular passenger who isn't a fully grown Metal Demon, and is bobbing at her shoulder happily as it twirls a little and shows off a party hat that's been-- taped?-- to its outer metallic shell. Trouble, on the other hand, appears to have settled its white shape in the midst of Mikaia's hair, bobbling there with an array of light electronic noises every so often.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve's workshop has become something of a de facto clinic for the Hyadeans living in Wayside. While he had intended to use it as a place to do remote observation and research, his ability to manipulate what amounts to their flesh through Method Mercury and learned technological skill means that his medical talents are significant. In a small community in the Badlands, that sort of expertise is invaluable.
The exterior isn't much to look at: a solid, rounded building assembled of cut stone, smoothly joined. Whatever arcane process he used to build it left a mark like a huge stain or birthmark on the sandy exterior. It serves as as much a sign for what it is as anything else. A porch has been added, made of sturdy salvaged wood and metal, cleaned up and set with chairs and tables. Kalve does not appreciate people needlessly taking up his space while he has to work terribly much, but has grudgingly accepted that new social norms lead to locals wanting to wait around for others undergoing some sort of procedure.
The interior of the circular building is laid out like it is at home: worktables, storage containers and racks of impliments have been arranged in two mirrored crescents around a central reclining seat, which Kalve hovers around with projected skeins of yellow-white light tangled around lenses dangling from his sub-arms. There's a constant quiet hum inside the building from whatever he's using to power the lights inside -- and the climate control, which is positioned near the ceiling above an empty pedestal that looks like a half-complete something-or-other.
"...dangerous to allow this instability to continue to grow," Kalve is saying, "but doing more than arresting its expansion may have negative effects on your abilities. Perhaps I could..." He trails off, examining something on a scrolling list hovering by one of his extra arms.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Nearby, Gwen, occasional friendly neighborhood CYBORG ASSAULT SPECIALIST, is making herself useful. The day is pleasant, the winds aren't too strong, and the sun is beaming down, so it's a great day to do laundry. Sure, she'll definitely meander towards the goodies on the table, but knowing her stomach as she does, it'd be better for everyone to get a good helping of homemade food before she came over and destroyed everyone's hopes and dreams of having a full stomach.
Fresh, clean laundry will make up for any inconvenience her eventual gluttony will produce. Damp sheets and clothing are pinned up on a stretched line to sway gracefully in the wind, a paddle nearby to excuse any sand from any rugs or heavier items she couldn't really wash.
Sure, Gwen's still laying low, but she's content. Children are laughing and running around, there's smells of food in the air, the day is full of excitement and festivities, and, well, food. Maybe, it all goes well, she could have Kalve make sure her ARM is up to speed. He may even get some ideas for how to help Riesenlied from it, but first she needs to eat some-
*growl*
Gwen's getting a little hungry, if no one can tell by now. Probably not a good day for that sort of thing anyhow. Who needs exams on a day like this?
And to think, there were days in the past where she didn't think a future like this was even possible.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya likes to get back to Wayside sometimes; she has a lot she's doing, has reasons she went off to join the CaraKin rather than settling down, but even so...
She has soil samples to take, and analyses to perform, and all sorts of things to do to help the gardens of Wayside grow. Happening to come in at harvest was nice; she can watch things and know she had to do with them. Sure, she isn't a farmer herself...
But she's a botanist, and she knows a lot of vegetable style recipes. Tubers are often under appreciated, she thinks, for what they are.
And she's dressed casually now, a loose long-sleeved garment draped about her shoulders over long pants, boots, an undershirt. Her short blonde hair shifts with her steps now and then, and as always she looks a litle uner the weather. She is... eyeing the orphans now and then, surreptitiously, before--
"Love also grows where people don't see it and turns into something nice," she offers Val, and slips around to pick up a bowl and a plate. ...And a drink. Superior Veruni agility lets her carry it all...!
OK that's not why. She bites her lip as she makes sure she doesn't drop anything, sliding around to a table.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"A potato isn't like love just because of all the things it can become! Geez I don't get what the big deal is... celebrating taters." Ruby criticizes the comedy act over near Odjn and Kaguya.
Hiro just tries to advocate for the merits, "Well I mean we're in the badlands Ruby. It's a pretty big deal if they can grow anything..."
Ruby holds up a pink pawsie in reply to Val without even listening to whatever Hiro is saying. "A potato is only like love when it's served as lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish!"
Hiro's just raises his neck, looking at the ceiling for a moment. Before turning his neck back down to look like Mikaia, "Hey Mikaia... I think I'm going to go check on her..."
Suddenly bringing himself to a standing position, he pats her once on the head, then leans over to whisper, "Be good for Ruby. ... Never obey her unless you think it's something your mama would say though."
Hiro stops about half-way between the workshop/clinic, and just sorta stands there for a while - with this pensive expression on his face, that looks a bit sad. His thoughts on Lucia with her powers suppressed by an all-consuming miasma of malevolence... Riese with her own running wild.
And that's where he finds himself, just thinking about how strong both of them must be, facing their own troubles.
With a sigh... he tries to untwist himself from the circles he's tying himself into, all while standing still.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline wouldn't miss this for the world. It might seem like a small, insignficant thing...but the fact that they were able to successfully grow something here was like a spark of hope - a sign that there was still life to be found in the Badlands. It was heartwarming.
The Caravan Kinship had contributed some minor things here and there for the Festival, but on the whole the focus was on the tubers they had grown, and that was how it should.
She's there with the others in V4L-H4LLA after finishing her deliver, having taken her seat and very carefully considering a glass of potato-based alcohol. Jacqueline wasn't much of a drinker, really, though she did have a favorite and it was a bit different from the current offering.
...But it would be just rude to turn the offer down. She takes a sip...
...Wow that was strong... Maybe it was something she'd get used to.
She glances between Val and Kaguya, and smirks to herself.
"And, of course, they both will always have eyes for you..." She jokes.
...To be fair to Ruby though, that did sound pretty good...maybe she should make that suggestion to Lunata...
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell crinkles her nose at Val's act.
"...Was that supposed to be a joke?"
Some people don't appreciate comedy, it seems. She *does* appreciate these fried radish chips, though, which are rapidly vanishing under her gloved hand. She's even dipped them into some of the other tuber dishes to sample those, but man, there's something about these lightly-salted radish chips. Maybe it's that satisfying *crunch*. Ragnell likes things with a good *crunch* to them.
"Man, I've love to try makin' these sometime," she says aloud to no one in particular, though there's plenty of people around that she *could* be talking to. Some of whom might even be able to answer her back. "Kudos to the harvest, Wayside!" A beat. "Hey, is that potato booze? *Score*."
That would be Ragnell beelining over to where Jay is, to get some of that vodka for herself.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"It is... but I'm not certain what would be useful to counteract it," Riesenlied offers ruefully, as she watches Kalve at his best, doing his work. "I have tried to cope with it with physical therapy from Lily's advice, which does help, but..." When the true root of the problem isn't muscle atrophy but a structural instability, it's a bit harder...
"What I am certain -- is that this phenomenon began with my exposure to the Guardians. At the Temple... that was when it started to -- accelerate."
There's a little shiver -- perhaps of anxiety, as Riesenlied reaches to hold Noeline's hand.
~*~
"Girl!" Val protests to Ruby. "If you leave a potato alone, it'll start growing! That's a sign that love blossoms all on its own, even in a harsh climate!"
The bartender looks to Gwen and goes, "Hey Gwen! Get a taste of the gratin before it cools, it tastes great piping hot!" A pause. "Or so people say, I haven't had taste buds in centuries! It's Kaguya's recipe, so it must be, right girl?"
She looks to Jacqueline as she downs a shot of their new potato-based drink. "Whaddya think? I think we could corner a market -- and I'd let you market it, Jacqueline dear!"
She also stops to stare as Ragnell picks up a glass -- and sees a glass floating in mid-air. "Whoa! Maybe Cetiri's mods are really working, I think I'm hallucinating! Score one to being able to get drunk again, next round's on me!"
Mikaia looks up towards Hiro and says, "O-oh, okay... um--" she looks around and holds the spoons out to Trouble, kind of-- placing it on top of its head. "Can I come with you, Mister Hiro?"
She bobbles along with the young man if allowed, with a little sensitive look of her own. "... is everything okay...? You--" A pause. "... feel... troubled."
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Taking Riesenlied's hand in hers, Noeline furrows her brow. She was never exactly a student of Metal Demon physiology - her own academic nature looks outwards, rather than in - and what little desire she had to learn about herself only dissipated further when she got the combined fragments of a Medium peppered across her face and body. Ignoring it was much better than trying to actually cope with it or invite the trouble that might be caused by someone finding out about it, after all.
So she doesn't have an answer for Riese, per se, only more worries - chief amongst them, whether Riesenlied should continue in her efforts to contact the Guardians if it might simply hasten the progression of whatever malady she's sustained. "... should we really--..." she starts to say, forgetting for a moment that simply giving the game away in front of Kalve might not be the best plan of all time. Fortunately, she catches herself, and just squeezes Riesenlied's hand.
Meanwhile: someone has set an empty glass on top of Strife's head, apparently in the rather intoxicated belief that the ARM is a table. We can only, only hope it isn't Janey.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Setting the wicker basket down as the bartender calls her over, the redhead grins. "Y'sure that's such a good idea?" Gwen quips back with a laugh. "Well, don't say I didn't warn ya! Those sheets get heavy when they're wet. I could eat a hor- something real big!" She does not want to be reminded of how poor Gulliver is off by his lonesome, being pampered and cared for by Morgan's friends.... so sad.
Halfway to the offered gratin, her stomach growling loudly at the offer, Gwen stops in her tracks at one of the few things that could make her stop on the way to food.
Someone looking the way Hiro looks, just about now. Sad. Quiet. Solemn. Things she couldn't exactly pin to Hiro before, even if it wasn't like he was this giant goofball before.
And Riesenlied. How is she *really* doing? Gwen had placed her faith in Kalve in setting things back on their usual course, with him being much more of an expert on all things Metal Demon than anyone Gwen could name.
All these festivities out here, and Riesenlied's stuck inside.
And Gwen's out here, laughing and planning the day out as if nothing could go wrong.
"... Guardians, I'm such a hypocrite," Gwen relents with a sigh and a shrug. "Gimme a sec. Gonna see if anyone over here wants anything." She gives a pointed look towards Ragnell and Jay. Kaguya? Well, she seems serious and someone to be trusted on the matters of not eating everything in sight. "Y'all better not eat up all the food while I'm gone." Her look becomes a playful wink. "But the alcohol's all yours. I think I've had my fill of drunken escapeades fer a while now."
Wasn't Gwen just thinking about how she might just eat everything there? Such a hypocrite.
Walking on over to Hiro, Gwen puts on her best grin. "Hey. Wanna see if those guys want any grub? Maybe you'll feel better when you see how things're goin'."
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Huh? You sure you wouldn't have more fun at the festival?" Hiro turns to the child, "Your mama would want you to enjoy yourself..." But after a moment, "... you just can't help but worry either huh?"
And with that, he walks with her... and then pausing it's like he'd forgotten they weren't alone. "Huh?" He turns to look at the kid, then manages a small smile, "Oh right you feel those kind of things don't you?" There's sort of this light sigh. "My troubles aren't something you should worry about yet Mikaia..."
Though distantly he wonders if a kid could relate to them.
"... it's just sometimes I feel like a kid myself when it comes to a lot of things. Especially compared to the people I care about... they're so strong dealing with the things they do..."
He raises his shoulders once as if in this light shrug.
"...it feels like I don't understand them enough to be able to do anything for them."
Gwen walks up however about that time- and he offers a light wave, before putting a finger to his lips and looking at Mikaia as if to say it's their secret.
"That sounds like a fine idea Gwen, but I promised Mikaia here we'd go check up on her mama first... I can't back out now." He raises a thumb and points it over his shoulder. "Wanna come with us? Before we stuff our bellies?"
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Giving away some sort of potentially treasonous game in front of Kalve, who is still pretty committed to trying to give them a place to live (possibly at the expense of most humans; sorry, most humans), is a pretty bad idea. He gives Noeline a glance, but it doesn't seem to be suspicious. He assumes it's part of her affectionate gesture of concern. He watches the two of them for a couple seconds, and then starts pacing again.
"The problem is not a physical deformity. That sort of structural alteration is a result of the underlying issue. I do not believe it will be solved purely through physical remedies." He stops again, turns, starts walking back in the other direction. "However, that does not mean there are not... options."
Kalve turns towards the empty pedestal. He touches a panel on it, depressing it and sliding the top open. One of his sub-arms snakes into it for something, and comes out with a pair of etched glass tubes. It looks like some kind of Symbology, albeit a crude and simple sort that is beyond someone like him. One holds a fragment of stone, while the other contains a chip of bone.
He extends his left primary hand, palm up, and a construct materializes in it made of glassy yellow hard-light. It looks like a series of interlocking rings built around a short spike, like an etching tool or a particularly uncomfortable-looking hypodermic. "This stone comes from the Temple's inner sanctum, where I was shown the... displeasure... of my presence by the Guardians. The bone was harvested from a creature created by an energy-form I am told is commonly known as 'Malevolence' during my exit from the same." There's a sort of metaphysical weight to them. Kalve got a funny feeling, so he kept them.
"Using these as a focus, I believe it may be possible to force a sort of realignment with whatever has afflicted you, allowing it to re-integrate with your body now that it has been more suitably prepared for it. It may slow or stop the degradation. Or..." Kalve stresses that for a second. "...it may cause you to reject it entirely, which I doubt would end well for anyone in the vicinity."
"I am no sorcerer." Kalve lifts the vials, letting the light catch them. "This is on the leading edge of anything I have ever attempted. With sufficient time, I am certain I could increase the odds of attaining more favorable results... but I do not think you have that time."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Hear, hear!" Ragnell declares, raising her glass to Val's declaration that the next round's on her. That glass of potato alcohol she just grabbed, she then knocks back in one hearty slug. She roars her approval as she slams the glass down. "DAMN, that burns good!! Gimme that next round already! Ah never mind, I'll just help m'self!" Because why wait when you can act? And so Ragnell aims to fill her glass again. At least this one she won't guzzle down... *quite* so rapidly...?
As she does, Gwen gives her a pointed look. Ragnell responds with a cheeky grin and a jaunty two-fingered salute of greeting. "I won't make any promises~!" Fortunately for the future of Gwen's stomach, Ragnell doesn't seem to be in a hurry to return to the snack table now that she's found the booze. And, before she starts to down that second glass, she glances over towards Hiro... and Mikaia. Sounds like they're off to go check on Riese. Well, despite her recent escapade into Riesenlied's head, Ragnell has no reason to believe she's in *immediate* danger, so she instead ghosts on over towards Janey, literally, to tease the little girl.
She starts off by plucking up the party hat someone taped on top of Strife and sticking it on Janey's head, making sure to press the tape right into her hair. It's okay, it probably won't stick *that* hard!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Hey, Val's great," Kaguya counters to Ragnell, who she can see apparently, though she waits a beat to add, "I happen to know how to make those..."
A laugh, suddenly. "At leastyou're doing your best!" she says to Val, and beams--obviously she's pleased for her recipe to be praised. She pauses as--huh. "...?" Hallucinating...? "Maybe you should sit down." SHe pauses.
"...I want more of the vodka," she points out, and starts to down some of hers. SHe is... kind of focused on the food, and the vegetables, and the everything, so she doesn't actually notice everyone else, just makes a gesture as she sits down, "I'm sure it's fiiine." She takes a drink. ...And hides a little. Except to add, "Ahahah, eyes for you. That's great. " She thinks a moment. "...I wonder if she likes these..." She's... also hiding mildly from Ruby. She's not sure what to do with her.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Never said she wasn't," Ragnell counter-counters to Kaguya. She's distracted in bothering Janey, though, when Kaguya mentions she knows the recipe. "Oh yeah? Which one?" she says in interest. "Care to share the recipe?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I-It's a little strong for me, I'm afraid..." Jacqueline admits sheepishly.
"...But that's not a bad thing! There's definitely a market for a drink like this, you're right. Hm...and with the right slogan and brand-naming..." She says with a smirk. She leans back in her chair a bit, considering various possibilities. Clearly they'd have to continue on the potato theme somehow...
Gwen interrupts her train of thought, and Jacqueline glances back at her with a smile.
"Of course. You won't have to worry about that...at least where I'm concerned." Jacqueline replies, and offers her a polite wave. She couldn't vouch for Ragnell, though...
...But fortunately, she seems more focused on the vodka than anything, as was Kaguya.
Jacqueline offers her a smile, and chuckles a bit at the compliment before turning her attention back to her glass.
Another round, when she hadn't finished her first one...?
She takes another very careful drink.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby meanwhile argues with Val, "What like love blossoming on the battlefield or something? Shyeah, like that would ever happen!" Ruby however verges closer to Kaguya as she notices her seeming to hide from her. Closer, and closer... and closer... until slowly she turns her head straight into Kaguya's vision at point blank range. "Are you just acting all shy or something?"
A pink pawsie touches Kaguya's nose lightly, as she teases, "Hey Ragnell. Kaguya's got a cute side."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied can't help but -- suck in a breath, even as she stares towards the hypodermic that Kalve produces. She trembles a little. "... I can sense-- I can-- I can sense it. Faint amounts... but it is there. Malevolence."
She shivers as she whispers, "Forcing it to realign... will-- will it work?" She's already feeling her spine chill in its presence.
She sucks in a breath, her hand tightening around Noeline's. "I will not say no, but..." Well, she's anxious. That much is clear.
~*~
Janey, unfortunately, hasn't had any wodka, though she's gawking at the bottle as people drink to go, "I wanna try some! The Lord of Calamity demands a drink!"
She gets a paper hat plopped on her, and she flails a bit. "W-woah, is the ghost here again?!"
Val grins before Gwen goes off to say, "Hey, lots of food t'eat around here, and I don't mind seein' someone splurge like they live sometime!"
~*~
Mikaia might not be a full-fledged empath, but it's clear that... she 'sees' or 'feels' things she can't understand. She sees Seraphs without issue, she's intimidated by powers like those of Id.
"I--I don't really know, myself... sometimes I don't think I really know Riesemama either?" she tries to offer, not sure what to say--
--but Gwen comes up and she smiles brightly. "Mm! Just quickly!"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline stares at the needle herself, naturally wary of such things; she puffs up a little in concern herself, then slowly tilts her head towards Riesenlied. "... if need be, I might be able to assist in some fashion. Or-- well, I have a little sorcery I might be apply to the situation, I suppose," she adds - but her rather wan smile indicates that she's far from certain about that statement, as much as she tries to put on a braver face about it.
"... in either case, I will be here," she decides to promise instead, with a slight tilt of her head. She has no idea that an entire army is going to barge in on poor Kalve, of course, but that's half the fun.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Juuust checking," the small teenager says brightly enough, and adds, "The chips mostly--but I know a bunch of them actually. You pick a few things up when you're vegetarian around these parts."
But.. Rub approaches... And... She blinks as she turns and suddenly Ruby is there--
"AIpe!" she jumps lightly. The pawsie on her nose--her nose is chilly, like her skin generally--"H-hey! No, I'm not! And I do not! There is nothing cute about me!" She flushes bright red, and abrubtly downs her drink. "See?? I-I'm not shy or something! I just don't know... uh..."
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
'Will it work?' That's the question, isn't it?
"I cannot say for certain. There is a distinct possibility it will do as I have anticipated. There is also a possibility it will cause the damage to worsen, though I cannot say how. Limited experimentation shows that the two energy sources--" He stops himself. Kalve takes a breath. "There is a reaction. I believe your own ability combined with the mitigating effects of the shard will prevent the needle's Malevolence from doing more than providing the necessary trigger."
Kalve takes the Device in his many hands. He snaps it open, and slides the glass containers into it. A more local-type might observe the similarities to loading a double-barreled shotgun. "Your own abilities may very well help keep it under control," Kalve adds, nodding at Noeline. He steps up to Riesenlied, inadvertantly looming over her as the Device approaches. "Now, if you would attempt to relax..."
Suffice it to say, this would be the worst possible time for someone to kick the door down.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Lords of Calamity don't drink." Gwen offers this factoid to Janey with a solid nod. "I should know! I'm a ceramics expert! Or whatever it is that poster said." It's probably a good thing she keeps misremembering the word as 'ceramics', because if there were spies, it'd turn heads otherwise. Unless someone's just really into pots and clay. "Lords of Calamity listen to what their parents or guardians tell 'em, go to bed at the same time each night, eat their veggies, n' keep up on their lessons. Because that's how you get powerful."
Her miniature speech of expertise on all things ceramics and lord(s) of calamity over, Gwen changes her focus to the air besides Janey- that is, to Ragnell. "Hey, now. You be nice, or you'll hear it from me. N' make sure Jay doesn't drink too fast!" The tone of her voice is too casual to take it as anything other than playful banter. Ragnell's gonna do what a Ragnell's gotta do.
Besides, it might make her advise seem all the more appealing to Janey if she can ~talk to ghosts~.
With those matters done with, Gwen walks on over to Hiro. "Wellll, I figure offerin' them grub'd be a good excuse to be all nosy." Gwen winks. "As long as they don't mind us. Wanna make sure Riesenlied's not busy." That she wants to be seen, at that moment. With Mikaia involved, Riesenelied may want to ensure the child doesn't see something they shouldn't, if Kalve is trying to attempt something... complicated.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Oh hey, Ruby," Ragnell drawls, tipping her glass to the little Red Dragon and knocking back a quarter of it in a couple of mighty swallows. She smirks back over at Kaguya, one eye shut. "Kaguya, huh...? Think I mighta seen you around somewhere before." She grins and winks with not even a lick of shame. "Maybe it was in my dreams~?"
Oho, though, she says she's got the recipe for those chips. Ragnell brightens. "Awesome! ...Huh, you're vegetarian? To each their own, I guess. I can trade you for a recipe I know for kebabs, an' it's easy enough to just not include meat--" Then Kaguya squawks that she is *totally not* cute, and Ragnell roars with laughter. "The more you protest you're not cute, the cuter you look, y'know~!"
This is probably a good thing for Janey; Ragnell is now thoroughly distracted from further teasing her. YOU GOT LUCKY THIS TIME, JANEY. Enjoy your hat! She does laugh when the little girl demands a drink--good thing Gwen's there to tell her no, and also that Janey can't actually see or hear Ragnell, or else we'd have a drunk child on our hands before long. Ragnell laughs again, this time at Gwen's lecture. "LAAAAAAAAAAAME," she crows, just to mess with her. She laughs again, more of a cackle, when Gwen banters back. "Hey, Jay's an adult! She can get shit-faced if she damn well pleases!" And, just to underscore her point, Ragnell knocks back what remains of her glass.
It's a good thing Seraphim can't actually get drunk, probably. Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
There is a slight, good-natured chuckle at Kaguya's response to Ruby's teasing. Jacqueline doesn't comment, of course, because she's too busy flushing a bit from Gwen's comment.
Or maybe it's the drink? It's hard to tell.
"H-hey...I'm fine, really! I can pace myself." She says with a slight frown. Ragnell sticks up for her, though.
"Yes, thank you!" Jacqueline says. She's about to down the rest of her glass...
...but decides this would be a really bad idea and just takes another small sip.
...Look, just because she's an adult doesn't mean she's exciting about it.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"You're blushinnnnnggg~" Ruby continues to tease Kaguya - but when she stumbles on what she doesn't know - "Oh I get it, you just don't know how to process my magnificence. Well I'm a dragon from the moon. That's right. The moon. Aren't you impressed?"
-=-=-
Hiro gives a nod at Mikaia, then he smiles a little and says, "Well don't worry. I'm sure you'll learn all about your mama as you grow older." He says in a casual sweep of his own fears under the rug.
Gwen's comment takes Hiro by surprise, "Oh. Hey-" He holds up a finger, then grins, "... that... is a really good idea. Right, we'll just go ask them if they want some us to... bring them a plate or something..."
He chuckles, "Didn't know you could be that sneaky Gwen... come on you two."
And with that, they start walking the rest of the way to the clinic, as nosy wellwishers are wont to do.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's eyes widen for a moment as she stiffens. She can't... she can't help but grimace, as she lets out a breath and tries to relax as he requests her to. "M-mm..." Well, the fact that Kalve, in his many-armed glory, is looming over her probably doesn't help.
The Dragon's Tear is begining to shimmer, at her necklet, as if reacting to her own thoughts, and the presence of the needle laced with Malevolence.
Right as Kalve's about to lower the Device onto her, it's not Hiro, nor Gwen, but--
"Mamaaa, are you in there?"
Riesenlied jolts in surprise to go, "M-Mikaia?!"
And then...?!
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve looms closer. He raises up the Device, and moves to take hold of the swung-open side. "This may hurt," he warns, a bit of bedside manner adapted when the rare humans complained about the lack thereof. He starts to seal it up, focusing instead on the lenses in front of him and the slew of instrumentation --
-- and then abruptly jerks his head towards the door, jolted upright in surprise. He lifts the front end of the Device defensively without thinking.
The back end, still open, unceremoniously dumps the Malevolent needle right out into open air -- and the warded container cracks open as it connects with the back of the examination chair, right next to Riesenlied's head.
The look on Kalve's face will be one to remember.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The needle pops out of the back of the Device and falls, the warded container cracking as the Tear at Riesenlied's necklet begins to react violently in turn.
"Oh--" Mikaia goes, eyes wide.
"Oh--!" Riesenlied goes, eyes wide.
It rattles with a truly iridescent rainbow of colours, before everything turns white--
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
--and from afar, a cucco watches as a white dome of energy engulfs Wayside.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The dome of energy engulfs Wayside.
The sensation is abrupt, confusing, and yet... calm, inviting... serene, at the same time. It feels odd in the sense of being shocked into a body of water in freefall, but then becomes second nature the next moment.
For a moment, it's like your mind is opening -- to the sensation of others around you; their mirth, their sorrows, their anxieties, both long-term and day to day, fleeting and mercurial... not concrete enough to be a gelled, coherent thought, and yet unmistakable in their sensation.
Then it hits you, hard -- like reality...
... except it's clearly not. You stand on the precipice of a landscape that defies the concept of reality; a tumultuous, tempestuous mishmash of scenes that float around you--
--gathered around a massive, ominous purple spike entrenched with Malevolence in the middle.
It's unmistakable -- it's definitely the needle that dropped onto the bed just moments prior before... but now, within this strange landscape, its influence has grown.
Your immediate surroundings sort of resemble that of V4L-H4LLA, with the covered table with the potato dishes, with the tuber salad... but instead of walls, waterfalls of inscrutable mash and gravy freefall into a deep abyss, and only the shells of fried potato crisps prevent you from diving off the deep end.
Riesenlied is missing, and-- so is Mikaia.
Janey is lying on the ground, groaning to go, "Uhhgh...?" She slowly sits up, and... a giant pair of floppy... mouse ears? Perk up as she does so. A thin rat tail flicks at her rear, lightly agitated.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve stands up. He looks... totally normal. Almost annoyingly normal, actually. He looks exactly like he did when he was performing the examination: human-like, but with the Manipule Array's additional arms at his sides to show that he actually maybe isn't. The only real difference is that his poncho is bright side out and in good repair instead of beaten to hell like it usually is.
It turns out when you're a shapeshifting master of space kung fu, you can look like your ideal shape whenever you want.
He looks around. He stares at the walls for a moment, and then steps to the edge of the potato'd landscape to look off the side. He sees the abyss, and the spire of Malevolent power at the middle of it all.
"Well," Kalve remarks offhand, "that's somewhat distressing, isn't it."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Your dreams?" Kaguya asks, with that sort o halway look between wary and interested. In the end she sticks with the compliment itself and grins a little. "I doubt it," she answers. But uh...
"Mm," she answers. "I am--" Before she can answer anything more about recipes, Ragnell is going based on her starter comment and going... further with it. Stuck. Because--
"I-I am not!" she protests, frowning. "I'm--" Well she's not going to say what came to mind first. Instead she remains red even as Jay actually laughs. But Ruby explains and--
She tilts her head, half-forgetting her embarrassment. "From the moon?" she asks. "Huh." That is pretty cool and noticeable enough to shake through her demeanor, though...
But the dome erupts, and abrubtly Kaguya is calm, a strange calm because of the shock and then the... something...
Kaguya has many anxieties to be felt, many sorrows, all at once for those near her, a deep, weighty fear upcoming. But her mind opens, except--there's...
She stares at the needle in the center, ominous and purple, stepping back from her food immediately, her empty glass falling to the floor as she narrows her pale green eyes. ...However, from the outside, she may look altogether different. The hand that moves for her ARM is small, yes, but it is not thin and fragile; there's color in her skin, strength in her fingers.
She looks almost unrecognizeable with the glow of health about her, younger somehow and older at the same time, hard to read on that front. Her cheeks are fuller, her pallor less pronounced, and she is dressed in unusual clothing, too-smooth fabrics that shine, a draped fabric about her shoulders and her hair longer. She is wearing boots and gloves, pale green accents setting off her eyes.
...Kaguya doesn't notice. "What?" she asks, and then sees the bzarre waterfalls of the walls. "...What??"
She stares. "What the shi--" She hears Jney groaning and abrubtly stops herself cursing, "What the... shoot...?" Pause. "You okay, kid?"
...No one probably recognizes casual Veruni attire, circa long ago.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline prides herself on knowing her own mind; she's boasted before about a rock-solid grounding in reality, and the way in which her thoughts are hers and hers alone. Which doesn't exactly gel with the concept of having a Medium lodged inside of her, of course, but does at least speak to her sense of groundedness and independence, and her ability to cope with whatever comes her way.
Normally, at least.
There's a spike of anger and fear and confusion that ripples through the immediate surroundings like a wave, almost wobbling the potato chip platform for a moment - then the metal demon's prone form tightens her fist as she shoves herself up to her hands and knees, and then up to her feet in turn. "What-- the-- hell happened?" she growls, that spike of negative feelings gone just as quickly as she seems to intentionally bury it, looking around herself with a rather drawn and guarded expression.
Noeline pauses to glance down at herself - and she's a far cry from her usual self, her hair down around her shoulders in a mildly unkempt mess, wearing a simple bodysuit that Kalve can certainly identify as a Photosphere neonate's standard issue. She narrows her eyes at it for a long moment, then mentally pushes - and in an instant, she's back to what passes as 'normal' for her.
It seems to reassure her a little; her shoulders drop slightly, the tension going out of them as she reaffirms she has some semblance of control. When she next speaks, it's a little more moderated, as she tries to pick out what she can of the realm around them. "... and how do we fix it?"
Almost absently, as if to cheer herself up, she tweaks one of Janey's ears.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"So hope we didn't come at a bad-" White engulfs him. "-time?"
"What... just happened?" Rumbles Ruby - who now is about 0.5 Pete's Dragons in size and decidedly less catlike but not quite reptilian either. Covered in pink fur, her pink pawsies are preserved in all their glory, save being far more sizable, lean and muscular. A bit feline only in her dragon proportions. Her wings are comically small in comparison, but still capable of bearing her weight - somehow in how she's floating about.
Meanwhile Hiro - takes a step forward, jostling something on his head. In confusion he takes it off. It's a pot. A simple kitchen pot. "Uhhh..." And it's lid seems to be tied around his arm. "... uhhhh..."
And that sure is a stick sheathed in his belt. In confusion he sets the pot back on his head.
This is all very unusual but he has no time to understand why and what has changed, he scratches his head, and suddenly looks around.
"Where'd Mikaia go?" He hops off a potato crisp, "... MIKAIA?"
He calls out worriedly, stepping over some scalloped potatoes unto Janey- "Janey! So uh..." He squints at the mouse ears, "Something's different about you..." At Noeline's comment though, all he can suggest is, "I don't know..." And then he squints at the malevolent spire in the distance. "...but I'm gonna guess it has to do with that."
For Ruby it finally sinks in what she looks like and she whoops, "BOOYAH! Just wait until Lemina gets a load of me!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Yes you aaaaaare," Ragnell drawls, grinning at Kaguya and her discomfort like it's a fine wine. "It's not a bad thing, you know~! Being cute's what gets you a cute girlfriend. <3" And then she follows this out with an *outrageously* flirty wink. She laughs along with Jay--
And then the dome consumes Wayside.
It's a strange feeling, like freefall, like diving into a body of water, like opening up and feeling, intimately, everything around you as it flows and exists and *thinks*, and you can feel them feel you too, and it's a beautiful and wonderful and peaceful sensation.
Except Ragnell doesn't like letting others into her heart.
The moment of being bewilderingly, nakedly open comes. Ragnell stares at Kaguya, at her fears and anxieties and sadnesses. Kaguya, or really anyone near Ragnell, might stare back at her and feel her bitterness, her contempt--her joy, her love. And then Ragnell narrows her eyes and takes a step back, and those emotional walls rise around her, palpably, almost tangibly. Actually tangibly: a gravy waterfall near her back crystallizes and solidifies. It's only a sliver so it's not as though everyone could cluster over here, but even so...
She looks around, up, down, side to side, at the others, at their surroundings, at that Malevolent spire, at the delicious chips that keep them all from falling into the abyss. Ruby turning HUGE is of note, as is Kaguya looking a lot younger and healthier and Janey having mouse ears and a tail and Hiro wearing a pot on his head for some reason, but that doesn't really mean much to her. For Ragnell's part, she's no longer dressed in the Filgaia style: she has a green-and-gold tunic and breeches, a pair of armlets on her biceps, lace-up boots, wrist-mounted crossbows--and, for some reason, her usual hat, even though it jars completely with the rest of her outfit. It's also what Ragnell checks for first when she notices she looks different.
After breathing a sigh of relief, she then makes a noise of pure irritation, rolls her eyes, and roars, "RIESE! Could you PLEASE not?!" Riesenlied may not be here, but Ragnell is absolutely certain this is because of her failing mental defenses.
...Whatever 'this' is.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
One moment, there was an unexplainable spike of energy, and the next there was...
Nothing. And yet, at the same time...everything. It felt like she had left her body, and thoughts and emotions were flooding in...not just hers, but others, as well.
There was darkness...and then, there was light, as feeling suddenly returns to her body. Jacqueline groans and sits up from where she was sprawled out on the ground.
The first thing that catches her attention is the oddity of her surroundings - things had suddenly taken on a very...potato theme. With the exception of the second thing that catches her attention - that spike, jutting out from the ground in a rather jarring manner and radiating a thick sensation of Malevolence.
Jacqueline forces herself to her feet, and immediately takes notice of the third thing - she's looking a little lower to the ground. She's still dressed like Jacqueline was, but she's...smaller. Younger. ...Weaker.
This is far from her ideal form. If anything, it's more...her fears and insecurities made manifest.
She looks around at the others, her eyes lingering on Kaguya for a moment. It was a jarring change from what she was used to - the botanist looked...healthier. She doesn't immediately notice her clothes, though they get a second glance too after a moment.
"Does anyone-" Jacqueline stops herself. Her voice sound weird to her own ears. She frowns slightly, but clears her throat and continues.
"Does anyone know where we are?" She asks, glancing around at the others before landing on Noeline.
"Y-yes, that's...also a good point...I don't know, though, but..." Jacqueline agrees with a nod. How do they fix this?
She...really wanted to fix this. Immediately, if possible.
...She fixates on the Malevolent spike.
"...I imagine that has something to do with it."
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey looks baffled and stunned, and without answers, really. I mean, of Riesenlied, Mikaia and Janey, Janey definitely has the least answers of the lot... not that Mikaia would have more--
--and what's more, she's gawking at what Ruby's grown into. "W-whoaah!" she exclaims, and-- Noeline touches her ears, which causes her to just kind of flinch and realise.
Odjn, on the other hand, looks incredibly impressed -- even if she hasn't turned different even an ounce. "Whoah, Ruby! You look amazing! Is this your true form?!"
"E-eh?! Why're--" A pause, and she hesitates, looking at Kaguya. "E-er, yeah, I'm fine! Ha ha!"
She looks decidedly anxious, though. She brushes her hand over her ears for a moment... A pause, as her eyes widen. "Y-yeah, mom?! Mom! Mikaia! Where're you??"
There's no answer, however...
Much like how Kaguya, Kalve, Ragnell and the others have surmised, this certainly is almost entirely the work of the needle in the distance, isn't it...?
"What the heck happened?! Mooom!"
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Thankfully, Ragnell's outrageous flirting is banished to the back of Kaguya's mind in the face of... potato.
Kaguya is a devoted vegetarian but this is not exactly the sort of relationship she usually has with her plants outside of very unusual dreams and sleep-deprived hallucinations.
No such wall appears about Kaguya unlike about Ragnell, but she is startled to notice the sheer feeling out of Ragnell. It... makes little sense, frankly, as she tilts her head at the Seraph. "Huh..."
Riesenlied? Did she do something?
Jay seems small though, which Kguya notices at the squeak of her voice, and she blinks at her. The botanist looks to the compounder and... steps a little closer. "...No," she says, and wonders when Noeline got here, "But it's..." She pauses. "..."
"Stick close to me, Jay, okay?" Then she spots Ruby and she is suddenly a foot back from where she was before. "W-whoa--" Pause. Wait. "...Henry?" she asks Hiro, staring at his attire. "You uh..." Pause. "You're really prepared for dinner..."
But she spots Janey's anxiety, and something twinges in her heart. It shows on her face. "Hey..." Her voice softens a little, "We'll find her, okay? Both of them."
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
"I notice you still lack a proper shield," Kalve idly asides to Hiro. He stares off at the needle for a moment longer.
"I suppose," Kalve observes, "this means the procedure has turned into a different sort of experiment." He turns from the precipice, frowning mometarily down at Janey. 'Mom'? Ugh, the shorthand again. He doesn't really know what to say to... children, so he looks over the assembled not-quite-normal group instead.
"An attempt to stabilize Riesenlied's abnormal abilities with an opposing force appears to have had unintended side-effects." One of Kalve's arms points out at the spire-like needle in the distance. "That is a larger-scale version of an object bearing small amounts of Malevolence I had in my laboratory. I recommend we find our way to it and destroy it before anything else unfortunate transpires."
Gravy sharks come to mind. He's not sure why. He blames the collective consciousness.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's form seems to waver slightly; whenever her thoughts start to wander to other topics, such as how they might get out from this odd mentalscape, her 'original'(?) look begins to reassert itself. She's frowning from the effort of maintaining her 'disguise' by the time she lets go of Janey's ears, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder for a moment as she lets out a slow breath. For a moment, her form even licks with a black sort of flame, a telltale sign of the Medium stuck within her - but it dissipates quickly and confusedly, as if even Duras Drum doesn't quite know what to make of the scenery in front of them.
"While I can't begin to speak towards the 'why' or 'how' of what's happening - I'm afraid that's usually Riesenlied's domain, rather than my own - I can at least suggest where to go," she ventures after a long moment. "... where else would it be, but the focus of this place?" she adds with a huff of air as she glances between Kaguya and Ragnell with something of an aggrieved expression, then nods towards that odd Malevolent spike.
"She's always felt affected by such things - in such a confused situation, it seems clear that confusion would reign. I don't suppose we could fly over there, hm?" she adds as Ruby gets a long and searching look, while Jacqueline and Hiro-- both get an amused and polite sort of smirk as Noeline tilts her head to one side in something like a shrug.
Still... she pauses, and kneels down a little to heft Janey up into her arms, then onto her shoulders. "If I had to guess, Mikaia is with her. I suspect she might have an easier time here than we will. ... still... we'll find her, hm?" she encourages the little mouse, or at least tries with a rather wan smile.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
A ripple of negative emotion surges out from Noeline, and Ragnell shoots her a look. There's an instant in which she's dressed in something... unlike her, and then a moment later she's in her normal outfit. "Huh. So you can do that, huh...?" She looks down at herself--and while she may not mind this particular appearance, she doesn't like having it changed for her. A moment of concentration later, and she's back to her normal poncho and jeans. The hat remains untouched. Pristine, even. "Better," she declares, looking satisfied. "Anyway, I'm all for fixin' this too, Noel." She rests a hand on her hip and turns another annoyed look at their surroundings. "Damn... I know I said her defenses were worse than we thought, but I didn't know they were *this* bad."
Where else would it be, but the focus of this place? Ragnell follows Noeline's gaze to eyeball the Malevolence spike. "Thought Metal Demons didn't *do* Malevolence," she comments. The explanation for that comes from another corner. Experiment? Ragnell frowns over at Kalve as he gives the basic rundown, both on Riese and the Malevolence. ...Oh. "So this is YOUR fault, is what you're sayin,'" she translates. "Fine, whatever. Shit happens. Let's get this done."
At least Noeline's got Janey handled. Ragnell wonders briefly if the kid can see her in the mindscape, but she's not in a mood to prank or tease right now. If she sees her, she sees her. She looks again over at the others, then folds her arms and taps a foot.
If anyone noticed her *own* surge of emotion, she ignores it. Case in point: Kaguya. She can go ahead and focus on Jay and Janey all she wants.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby floats over past Odjn looking as pleased as punch but her answer - "Probably! Except even bigger and more magnificent! Anyhow - Odjn hop on! You get to be my first rider!" Hiro looks like he's not certain what to make of this giant Ruby development. Apparently he was really used to her being cat sized. "Heh... well that's really something Ruby."
And at Kaguya's statement, "It's Hiro." He corrects, but he doesn't seem upset. "And I don't think I'm wearing this to serve potatoes Kaguya..."
Kalve's statement causes a head shake, "I actually do have a proper shield now. Just... not... here apparently?"
He gives it a closer inspection, "I think this is the same pot I used to wear as a kid... when I was pretending to be Dragonmaster..."
So why doesn't he have magnificent armor and a sword or something?
Good question.
Hiro squints at Kalve, then slowly raises a hand as if in a lecture, "So uh you were using malevolence as like some balancing - contradictory force there? That sounds..."
And then he thinks of Lucia... and what she deals with every day, and how much of her power is repressed.
He thinks harder, then he sort of awkwardly clears his throat, "... like it might work... but what would happen if the malevolence... grows? I've seen what happens when someone gets too much of it with Lucia. Even if they don't become a Hellion... they really start to suffer."
Ruby at Noeline's suggestion seems pleased but- I can maybe carry a few of us? Maybe Janey would like a ride too?
And then her eyes sweep the crowd, eventually falling on someone in particular, and she double takes, before her expression softens as if naturally wanting to protect her, "Jay? Would you like to ride?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline looks back at Kaguya and shrinks(not literally, thankfully, she was already small enough for her own tastes) back a bit as the botanist takes a step toward her incredulously.
"I, well...yes, alright..." Jacqueline eventually agrees. They didn't know what exactly they would be dealing with here, and in this form she wasn't at her strongest. Fortunately her equipment had scaled down with her...though she didn't know what effects that would have on its efficacy. With any luck her Sorcery would still be effective, but...
She listens to the others speak, in particular focusing on Kalve.
She listens and nods as he explains the situation...and then to Ruby, who offers a ride.
She was conflicted. A part of her didn't really want to have to rely on everyone else to do anything here...the last thing she wanted was to be a burden. But at the same time...
"It...is a little difficult getting used to this...if you're fine with that, then." Jacqueline agrees with a nod, and moves closer to Ruby.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby as Jay says that, lands - sinking just a little into baked potato fluff, then flattens herself onto her belly to give her a chance to hop aboard. "Of course I'm okay with it!"
After all. The instinct of Lunar Dragons were to be Guardians. "Too bad I don't have a sad-" And then a saddle appears that's just Jay's size, strapped around her front half, as her long neck wraps around to sort of watch over her climbing on, "-dle. HECK YEAH! I could get used to this!"
She stays on the ground long enough for any other who might want to hop aboard.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Yeah, we can just go up n' knock." Gwen grins. "If it's a bad time, we can just wait. Oh, hey, wait up, Mikai-"
Then, there was white. And something opening, like Pandora's Box. That's what it feels like to Gwen. Everyone's emotions, both good and bad, make their presence known, like an audience behind a theater curtain she's just now realized was there. And in turn, she's open to then, whether she likes it or now, as that very curtain begins to rise.
In all the confusion, it's very easy to miss the girl in the plain white sleeveless sundress and bare feet, standing dazed near the edge of the landscape. The crop of short pale red hair and the freckles would be enough to give the girl away as Gwen, but like many, she's younger. At least, by about five years. Maybe more.
If the skin wasn't enough, the metal ARM on her right side is a dead giveaway, even if it looks completely unsuited for the shorter, younger, frailer body it's now attached to. Newly attached to, if any eyes are able to spot the healing scars and delicate stitching are of any indication, at least to those who would have the knowledge to spot it. Which would explain the dress's cut: easy access and something that could be taken off without disturbing the surgical site.
And beyond that, over her right shoulder, curling down her back and the side of her neck, and down the right side of her chest-
"...!" Ruby will suddenly have the girl hiding behind her, her hands balling up against the cat dragon's pink fur. "What's goin' on?! Where are we?! Why am I lo-... don't look behind here yet! I need somethin' to cover me!!"
There may be nothing there to cover her, Gwen begins to realize. She's slowing people down. "Just... Uh. Gimme a sec!! This is real sudden, okay!"
It's probably the first time anyone's heard Gwen sound that upset and confused. "Look, just, uh, don't look at my scars, okay?! You can look anywhere else, but not there, not until I feel okay about it!!"
She might take a little longer to get up to speed.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Odjn pumps her hands and goes, "Heck yeah! All aboard the Ruby-mobile!" A pause. "Ruby-plane?" The littlest, cute dragon holds her hand out for Gwen to help her up, if she'd have her. "I--it's okay...! It'll be okay!"
Janey gawks up at Ruby for a moment, before hesitating as she lets Noeline pull her up to her shoulders. "I-I'll stick with mom..."
Aww, she calls Noeline mom too.
"... you weren't kiddin' when you said mom's powers are spooky..." she mumbles, then squints. "I feel like she might have left a clue or something, maybe? A way to find her--"
A white little thing ambles into sight, on a bed of feathers and lights.
It is a line of cuccos, arrayed like they're a breadcrumb trail. Of course.
"Follow the line of cuccos!!" Janey suggests, pointing.
DG: A party led by Noeline is now entering Spirit Quest. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Madness Begins *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- However it is you've found yourself here, your poor fragile mortal mind probably isn't properly equipped to deal with it. Adjustment isn't always easy when the rules of physics as we know and understand them no longer apply. This is the realm of the mind and the imagination, where up can mean down, down can lead into a maddening spiral from which there is no recovery. Do you have the stamina to endure? Can your body withstand the otherworldly sensations as your mind and soul are thrust into the unimaginable? =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Hiro? "Oh, sorry Miro," Kaguya says distractedly. "But why--" When he was... a kid? Kaguya blinks at that, and glances down at herself. "...H-huh? These clothes...?" Pause. "I feel..." She smiles slightly, realizing something, and entirely fails to think about Malevolence for a minute because it's probably some kind of human nonsense anyway and who really cares.
"Side-effects. Huh. Well, I guess you can't do science without a few explosions. I mean, f--" She pauses, looks at Janey. "C-come on..."
Where to go...
"Hey Ragmund," Kaguya says, "Chill. We're not going to get any better by being mad at each other." she's practically serene. But... Uh... She doesn't try to get a ride. She wants to walk. Instead... Gwen shows. Gwen freaks out a bit. ANd Kaguya--
She blinks at the girl, sees her young, and injured, and scarred, with problems, despite what Gwen said about not looking. So... she glances away, suddenly, and pulls off her mantle, her sort of almost-cape draping about her, and steps forward to put t over Gwen's shoulders. ...She has to reach up, but...
Then she looks at the Cuccos. "Guess we've got a way..." A beat, "Don't worry okay?" to Gwen. "I've got you."
DG: A party led by Noeline is now entering Spirit Quest. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Madness Begins *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- However it is you've found yourself here, your poor fragile mortal mind probably isn't properly equipped to deal with it. Adjustment isn't always easy when the rules of physics as we know and understand them no longer apply. This is the realm of the mind and the imagination, where up can mean down, down can lead into a maddening spiral from which there is no recovery. Do you have the stamina to endure? Can your body withstand the otherworldly sensations as your mind and soul are thrust into the unimaginable? =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Yes, well-- your mother isn't the only one that can be spooky, hmm?" Noeline grins up at the girl on her shoulders. She's obviously trying to put on a brave face, but there's a mischievous light in her eyes at the same time, and with an effort of concentration her Crimson Noble styling suddenly includes a pair of black, leathery wings, and Noeline hums in pride as she lifts slightly into the air.
It's-- it's pretty nakedly an attempt to cheer Janey up, but on the other hand it seems to be working. "Now, then, let's go get her back, hm?" she adds as she eyes the line of cuccos, her eyebrows lightly raising; she's impressed, and thankful, but also kind of full of resigned irritation. "I suppose all we have to do is follow the--"
There's a lurch, and a sudden shift, and abruptly the potato-and-gravy landscape has shifted away from you. Where previously there was a wide-open vista leading down to the Malevolence Spire, now there's flat grey corridors, claustrophobic and leading off far into the distance, unchanging and uniform - a rare glimpse inside of Photosphere, for those who haven't been there before. There's the hum of machinery all around you - but no signs of life, no greenery or sun or anything beyond a constant dull neon glow and the constant thrum of energy.
At least, until a faintly familiar figure is abruptly knocked out of a side passage to impact against the wall, rebounding off of it with a short and muted cry of pain that's only answered by a cackle. Two Metal Demons appear to have taken it upon themselves to bully one of the younger ones - but it isn't until she lifts her head that it becomes obvious it's Noeline. When she looks up it's almost dully - she offers no resistance, nor argument, nor even a fight, instead just lowering her head again as the second punch winds up--
"--my-- apologies," Noeline grinds out from between her gritted teeth, grimacing as she tries to focus; not the one up against the wall, but hovering next to you on your descent along the cucco line, the air fuzzing with static as it wars between the two scenes.
Another glimpse - the silent Noeline watching on from a high outcropping over a deep, wide cave. Beneath her are the forms of... Tainted, and Metal Dragons, far more than there are in Wayside. Is this the full extent of the forgotten faction? Whether that's truly the case, the figure at their head - addressing them with an impassioned speech - is unmistakable, and the spy watches on quietly--
"That is quite enough, thank you!" blurts Noeline to the open air, obviously involved in a battle of wills with the emotionscape; she swallows, and steels herself further as she does her best to focus past the disorientation of the shifting vista.
"Focus on--" she has to pause, and immediately regret it: "--focus on the cuccos!"
DG: Noeline has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
All aboard! Ruby echoes after Odjn- seeming unoffended by Janey wanting to stay with her mom. Kids will be kids after all.
Before something blurs in a dash behind her. Ruby's neck suddenly cranes to the other side, "Gwen is that you?" Ruby curls her now long tail around her protectively, "It's okay it's okay... you're among friends." Even she is averting her head a little though at Gwen's request.
Hiro doesn't look at all because living in a camp with so many girls he enjoys living - so when a girl tells him not to look, he obeys instinctually - before groaning at Kaguya, "Again - it's Hiro. You're doing that on purpose."
Ruby nods in approval of Kaguya's measures, before offering, "There you go. You're always welcome to climb on too Gwen if you want to hitch a ride."
Hiro only finally looks when it's safe, gesturing to the pot on his head, "Looks like it's a day of embarrassment for everyone Gwen... don't worry about it." "Eheh... I'm surprised you're not a decade younger." "Don't tempt this place Ruby."
Once everyone who's going to be climbs aboard, Ruby takes off again on her adorable little wings that contrast her fearsome body following along with the group.
Ruby and him follow the Cuccos, and the world changes. Flat grey corridors upon flat grey corridors and-
Two metal demons appear bullying another- and Hiro looks like he's going to rush forward to do something about it-
And then she lifts her head.
Hiro points her way, before pointing at Noeline in absolute confusion. "That's... you?" And then he gets the sense that it's a memory, wincing at the memory of Berserk bullying Zed.
"... ... Noeline... you've come a long way." He says quietly, before doing what she says. He's not exactly certain how to work this place, but he tries his best to concentrate on the cuccos. "Okay... okay... focusing..."
There's an immediate strain as he does so in the chaotic mess... "...why do I keep thinking... about Riese's story... about the rooster Vidopnir?" "Now who's the one tempting fate!?"
DG: Hiro has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey grimaces and rattles as the image begins to change around her, and she flails and kind of-- tumbles and falls as her mother goes places; she yelps and rolls, but lands on her feet, with the kind of agility as might be befitted a beastman of her type...
... if she is one, anyway.
"I--is that Sibyn? And-- I've seen some of the other ones around-- hey, don't leave me...!"
She grimaces harder as she asks, "Mom... where is this?" to Noeline. She shakes her head, jittering.
Down below, the very familiar figure is certainly... Riesenlied, albeit one of many centuries ago -- before her deformities, before her exposure to Ignas and the world outside... she's certainly more commanding as she addresses her troops.
"That's-- that's not the mom I know. And you're stronger than that, mom!" Janey balks out loud.
"The Mommaline I know's cool and confident and sure of herself!"
DG: Janey has contributed a Ganbatte!! Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Very carefully Jacqueline slides into the saddle.
"Thank you..." Jacqueline says with a nod, then glances as she hears someone else, someone she hadn't noticed until now.
Gwen.
Jacqueline gives her a sympathetic look. Not because of the scars - which she was looking away from as requested - but because, like her, she also found herself looking younger.
...She looks down at the saddle, though, and thinks for a moment. This hadn't been here before. It had only arrived once...
Jacqueline attempts to will herself into returning to her original form...but it doesn't work. It was like something was holding her back.
...Not helping things is the sudden shift in scenery, where she finds herself and the others suddenly somewhere...else. A flat, grey, lifeless corridor.
Jacqueline looks around, a hint of concern appearing on her face...and then she sees the familiar figure. She stares in horror as she realizes who it is and what is about to happen, and claps her hands over her mouth and averts her eyes.
The scene soon changes, revealing something else - more Metal Demons, and more familiar faces...
These are memories. This place...Jacqueline understands it now. There's something about this place that has connected their minds together. If it was Riesenlied's powers then...yes, that explains it.
She reaches into her now-tiny bags and pulls out a now-tiny potion.
She didn't know if it would have an effect, but it might help her focus. To stabilize her mind and her body - or at least the mental construct that currently served as her body, however that worked...
...Maybe if she was even lucky she'd return to her original, not tiny form...though she doubted that. No, she was probably stuck like this, at least for now.
She downs the contents, and then produces more from the bag and hands them to anyone who wants one.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell half-smiles at Ruby's antics as she conjures up a saddle for Jay to ride upon. However, she doesn't remark upon it, partly because--woah, there's Gwen, previously unnoticed due to being hidden behind Ruby's large bulk, and looking very young and full of scars... Ragnell's kneejerk reaction to anyone telling her not to do something is to do it, so she immediately glances towards Gwen's scarred-up arm/ARM. At least she doesn't comment on it, though it's still kind of a jerk thing to do, especially as Kaguya kindly gives Gwen something to cover up with.
"Don't let it get to ya, Gwen," Ragnell says once that's done. She taps her temple. "This is a mindscape. You look how you wanna look. Don't let this place push y'around--take control." She gestures at herself and Noeline to demonstrate; both of them started out looking... rather different, but now they're back to their respective normals.
But then, Noeline and Ragnell have both always been the willful type. Case in point: when Kaguya tells Rag"mund" to chill, Ragnell raises an eyebrow at her. "Okay, Snaggleya," she responds, and then heads with the others to follow the lines of cuccos, rising up on her own personal thundercloud that emerges from out of nowhere.
But then the world *lurches*, and the potato-gravy waterfalls fall away into narrow, flat corridors, endless and unchanging. Ragnell hasn't been to the Photosphere before, but as essentially a nature spirit, there's a sense to it all that's just *wrong*. She looks back and forth at the lifelessness of it, frowning, and then notes a scene of Metal Demons bullying a third, one that's soon clear to be Noeline. Ragnell stares with eyes hooded and narrowed.
And then Noeline interrupts it of her own will. Ragnell nods in approval towards her, already steeling her own mental defenses as she looks towards a second scene. Her frown deepens as Noeline calls for the others to focus on the cuccos, and she raises a hand. Lightning sparks between her fingers, sharp and bright and smelling of ozone. Then she chucks the elemental force towards the first of the memory-scenes, the intent to dispell or destroy it--give Noeline some respite on one front so she can concentrate on beating the other back.
"Who needs to see this bullshit, anyway," she says curtly. "We've got better things t' do."
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Electric Grenade toward her party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
"It is difficult to disbelieve a force that has an obvious effect on the world. Malevolence is..." He exhales through his nose, almost growling. "...troublesome."
The party takes off into the madness, and Kalve follows. What else can he really do?
On the bright side, Kalve doesn't know most of the people trapped in this conglomerated mental landscape, so the significance of their individual plights doesn't mean much to him. He isn't discomforted by it overly much, especially when the first leg of their journey becomes apparent: the Photosphere, a familiar and comfortable place to someone who has spent the better part of two centuries within its depths. Even considering the scenes he's seeing...
His lip twitches towards a scowl. His clothing seems to melt into his body as he strides forward, following the trail through the flickering landscape of the almost-familiar. He looks more insectile, with his normally-armored appearance seeming to be blended with what should be flesh on a human and what clearly isn't on a Demon. Lines of crimson and silver stand out on his face. His extra limbs aren't covered at all. He's more comfortable like this, in this false place.
Kalve moves to push past figments that strike the remembered Noeline. He doesn't do it gently. This is one of her memories, altering the world, he assumes, and if one would fit the pattern, why not take advantage of it?
DG: Kalve has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The ARM may look like it mismatches Gwen's general build and height, but the way she uses it is comparable to the ease she had before, to some degree. That part of her's still here. The ARM and her body's synchronization is a different matter, however. As Odjn coaxes her onto the Ruby-plane, Gwen's ARM quivers, responding a moment slower than Gwen's quite ready for. Which provides a nice distraction from her initial anxiety long enough for Kaguya to lend her her mantle, which Gwen gratefully accepts, using her left hand to smooth it down. "Thank you," she says, with a bob of her head.
Wait, was Kaguya that short before, too? She didn't really look. With her shoulders covered, Gwen just lays her head against pink fur of the giant Ruby, breathing out a soft sigh of relief. "Okay. I'm okay now." She thinks so, anyway.
Finally looking back to Hiro, Gwen sits up and squints at him, as if seeing him for the first time. The pot on his head, the lid on his arm... "You're... trying to be a Dragonmaster, aren't you?" She looks at everyone else, their guises and mentally comparing them to how they were before.
She looks this way because of... yes. Yes, that's it. The horizon that stretched before her on that early evening, the first day she was well enough to walk.
'Don't let it get to ya, Gwen.' The redhead turns her head towards Ragnell, then turns to her ARM, clenching her fist as she concentrates. Something shifts in the appendage, the ARM shaking as it adapts its form more clearly to her current one, resembling something much closer to the slim, compact form it was before. "I'll be okay now. I'll be able to keep up." She still has a dazed, subdued quality to her words, but a steely thread of determination now runs through them. "... Still stayin' on Ruby's back, tho." A pause. "As long as she's okay with it."
Soon enough, they've entered a new, chilling landscape, making Gwen instantly regret the food-themed stuff of before. Glancing over at the harassed Noeline, Gwen's left hand balls into a ready fist, a strain of anger running down the arc of her back. But as others stand down, she does as well, remembering herself.
It'd feel a little too naked to sling her fists, looking the way she does now. "Will it... hurt people, if we do this to their memories?" she idly wonders, anxious eyes turning towards Noeline. "Besides th'whole, er... seein' it, deal."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Huh?" Kaguya blinks at Hiro. "Hiro's what I said, right?" She shakes her head, "Whatever. We've got iportant stuff to do." She... really doesn't seem to notice. Similarly, Ragnell calls her Snaggleya, and Kaguya hears the tone but doesn't seem to register the change in name. "...But a mindscape, huh?" She shakes her head, looks down at herself again. "...I don't know. I don't think I'm having any problems."
She looks better, after all. In more ways than one.
"Okay," she says to Gwen. "If you're sure." She doesn't know what a Dragonmaster is, but... Even so. She glances at Kalve, seeing his alien form now... But it bothers her less than it might some. "Malevolence, huh?" she asks. "I don't like it much."
The world shifts again, and while claustrophobic doesn't bother Kaguya, the change is a little nauseating, and surprising to say the least. Machinery... It's not as lovely as what she knows, not as aesthetically careful. But this, this is different. Pain, laughter...
Kaguya's eyes widen as she sees Noeline. The air flickers with static, and there's a glimpse. Noeline there, Noeline watching... And she fights with her will.
"...Noeline," she says. "You really..." She doesn't feel as young, compared to her now. Her eyes set as she pulls her ARM. "...I'll help," she suggests, and takes aim after a cla-CLACK of a loading cartridge. She picks it up, waits for the violent scene--and aims for the feet of the bullying demons, to distract and pull their focus to her, to ease the strain on Noeline's mind through brute force. "...If it hurts her," Kaguya says to Gwen, "Then my bad, I'll bring her soup or something while she heals."
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Concussion Rounds toward her party's challenge, The Madness Begins.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - The Madness Begins *>===================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- However it is you've found yourself here, your poor fragile mortal mind probably isn't properly equipped to deal with it. Adjustment isn't always easy when the rules of physics as we know and understand them no longer apply. This is the realm of the mind and the imagination, where up can mean down, down can lead into a maddening spiral from which there is no recovery. Do you have the stamina to endure? Can your body withstand the otherworldly sensations as your mind and soul are thrust into the unimaginable? =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
=========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 1 *>========================= =======================< Results - The Madness Begins >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Electric Grenade 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kalve 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Concussion Rounds 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Noeline 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Madness Effects: Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Noeline has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Spirit Quest *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Nightmare Fiction *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The world shakes apart. It shakes you apart. Your mind comes unspun. Dozens of fragments of memories, thoughts and emotions float in the void all around you. But something is wrong. Some of those aren't right; can't be right. There are lies mixed in with these truths. Conjured calamities, imaginary futures past, events you feared would come, but never did, dance amidst the truth. Put yourself together properly, or you might just leave this place more broken than when you entered it; but that might be hard when it feels like your brain's suddenly gone numb. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... that is me," Noeline grins to herself in the midst of the shifting, starting landscape; the switching between perspectives is starting to summon one hell of a headache in her mind, and she squints past it as best she can with something of a chuckle. "And, to be quite honest, I truly wonder how far I've come. Most of my time has been spent 'going' rather than 'coming', you know." Still-- she doesn't sound upset, or angry - on the contrary, her tone is almost accepting, kept deliberately light.
Noeline grunts with some kind of effort, as if it's a personal pressure on her mind, but she shakes her head again as the second of the scenes resets itself around them. This time, it's momentarily stable - and this time, the perched figure of the spy has Janey sat atop it. "Don't be fooled by the way she looks," she hums quietly to herself, addressing the mouse on her shoulders. "Listen to what she's saying, instead. ... even back then, she was thinking of her family. Of her people. That kind of strength is something she won't let go of. It's always drawn-- people to her." ... she avoids stating it outright, but when her gaze goes back to the altar, it's obviously and utterly fond, letting herself indulge in the memory.
--at least until she breaks out of it to look momentarily horrified. "Not to be rude, but perhaps we could not try literally shooting my memories--" she starts to blurt, but the warning comes too late as Kaguya and Ragnell pelt the shifting scenes with bolts of electricity and ARMs fire, and Kalve shoves his way through another view of the same scene, repeated as if it had stuck vividly in her mind. Jacqueline's potions-- warp and distort, fading in and out of the scene along with the background. It's not like the Photosphere has any kind of concept of alchemy, after all.
But slowly, Noeline's breathing begins to ease, and something seems to change in the changing backdrop; slowly, piece by piece, the odd potato-based mentalscape reforms around them as if it had never left, with everyone where they were and Noeline still beating her new wings slowly as she follows the line of cuccos down. Gently, the 'Crimson Noble' allows herself a breath. "For the record, I was always cool and in control," she grumbles at Janey, folding her arms almost bashfully. "Just less talkative about it, thank you very much."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"It's fine," Kaguya reassures Noeline, and it tuns out that she seems to be right. They're in potatoes again as she looks to Noeline's cool wings, lowers her weapon. "Sure," she says, "Super cool." She grins, and stretches a bit where she is. "Is this where we're ending up...? Did we make progress?" she asks, thoughtfully. "No, it looks different..."
The cuccos are still there. "I mean, so far this is pretty easy. I don't know what everybody's worried about." The flowy attire she's wearing shifts as she stops to look over her shoulder, her long blonde hair shifting behind her in an unseen breeze. She feels light, flexing her gloved fingers. Her sleeves are deeper green, emerald even, with her mantle gone. "C'mon, just follow me."
With that, the young(?) Veruni goes on ahead, young and ageless both, following the cuccos. She walks--and the world rumbles, once. She keeps going, heedless of it. The waterfalls of soup shift...
Around them they are on solid ground again, graceful curves marking hallways, floors, metallic places and beautiful patterns here and there. There are plants along the walls, unfamiliar and alien, but potted. But above all there is a gigantic window.
Outside it is utter blackness, dotted with white, with blue, with strange swirls... It is the sky, from another angle. It is space, in a place long distant from here, unfamiliar to any in its configurations, familiar to none here in its strange constellations.
Shake. It starts to seem farther and farther away then, the hallways extending, like a heartbeat, like breaths moving through the filtration system, slowly... and slowly...
From behind Kaguya, staring out the viewpoint, a much taller woman, blonde like her, dressed in something more military, comes out and sets a hand on her shoulder. "...It's out there somewhere," she says, in a voice like Kaguya's, seen only from the back. "Filgaia. Our world."
Shake. The shake is harder this time, rougher. The lights dim. A ruined world stretches out, a brown globe in the darkness. "...It's dead," someone murmurs, the rumors fly. But this fades. The world is bright again, rimmed with clouds.
The halls are there again, the beautiful skyscape open, but they shift; Kaguya is working among alien plants high up, in a garden of strange, futuristic metal and plastics. "I think..." Familiar flowers--flowers she brought with her--are there.
There are unfamiliar flowers, too, and then all dead. Then they're alive again. Pulse, the world shakes again, harder, and it all starts to feel as if everyone is tugged.
People fall, everywhere, in their strange clothes, hollowed out like Kaguya looks to be every day. This fades too. The tugging goes on, and on, until it reaches a room filled with blue, with strange tubes.
Kaguya is in one, on a bed, nervous--and then falls asleep. Asleep, as the world moves on. The world blanks out. There is nothing, there is everything.
The sky changes, the stars in the viewport different, and different style, until the small teenager is there. Except--
Except she turns ill, and worse, time accelerating as her cheeks hollow and her skin pales. Stutter.
She pales more. Stutter. Her breathing is already stopped, but the monitors outside her chamber pulse and beep. Stutter.
They beep. They do not stop.
"S-stop it," the real Kaguya, flickering in her form, between what she was wearing and a long, white gown, hospital issue, sick as she ever was, unable to stand, stumbles against nothing. "STOP IT!"
Her breathing is hitched; she's still flickering, ont he ground, trying to remember, trying to force things as they should be. The stars stretch on for everyone. They stretch on, pulsing with menace.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey finds herself grappling onto Noeline again when she reasserts herself, with a grump. "Well... well good! Because, because, you know, that's good." She's suddenly back at awkward denial now that the immediate danger has passed! She'll grow up to be such a good Noeline--
--and then Kaguya's landscape starts to enter. "U-uwaah... is this-- is this space?? Asteroid told me and Mikaia about space once, but--"
She looks a bit sick as the world shakes and she's tugged. "B-bweeh, it feels weird..." And then the world moves forward, looking towards Kaguya.
"Kaguya...." Janey trails off, before pumping, "W-we're here for you! You can beat that silly sickness...! Just shoot it in the face, Kaguya-style!" It's a bit of witless bluster, but... well, it's Janey. Janey does what Janey does best.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby is thoroughly enjoying the role reversal, though she's not rubbing it in either Gwen or Jay's faces, being too fond of either. You're welcome Jay - and hey don't worry. It's more than okay Gwen. She's downright gentle in how she flies with them, neither too fast nor too high. Just keeping up with the group during her maiden flight with riders.
"You didn't say that before at all..." Hiro says to Kaguya before he tips his pot helm at Gwen with this rueful chuckle, "More like how the kid me was trying to be Dragonmaster I guess... Grandpa's history books rarely had good pictures, just his journals."
Ruby downs one of the potions that Jay offers and she simply - flies over the line of memories with both of them and a cry of "Aerial superiority - whoo!" as it reforms back into the potatoscape. And Hiro follows the cuccos, Ruby does as well, floating along after. And then the soup shifts-
And in the press of chaotic memories, Ruby is forced to fly closer to Kaguya just to get a little sense of what's going on - Kaguya! Kaguya! Calm down! You know what I do when something upsets me?
Ruby leans forward towards one of the worse looking memories - the beeping monitor over the fake one. "I light it on fire!"
And that sure is a large gout of flame heading straight for what Ruby thinks is a false memory.
Meanwhile Hiro seems to be consulting a book of all things. Except in the distorted mindscape, it's actually on a page which is titled 'Psychotherapy on the Potatoscape.' After a moment he calls out, "Kaguya! Focus on a memory of someone you know well! Let it anchor you. Someone real to you... like uh - how about Astie? Think about Astie!"
He hopes they're not suddenly bombarded by a ton of meteors with grinning Astie faces as a result...
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey stares at Hiro, looks across, and then balks: "Think about Atida! Think about-- about her smooching you right on the kisser!!"
She looks up at the Malevolent spike in the distance. "I didn't say a bad word!"
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Darn straight you didn't Janey!"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's seen space before - not directly, but in old fragmented Photosphere records. Seeing it in person, even through a port window, doesn't really do it justice - but her attention slides away from it remarkably quickly, the spy all too ready to make the distinction that the vision isn't truly 'real'. What strikes her more are the similarities - comparing the Veruni ship to the Photosphere's architecture, having a rare chance to study something that no Metal Demon has seen, even if via a vision...
... well, it's a bit of a double standard, but that's just how Noeline is.
When the world lurches again, she has to take a moment to find her feet - because they feel suddenly very far away, the metal demon somewhat affected by the terrified vertigo of the situation. "-----------!" she yells over the sudden rising din of the beep, furrows her brow, realizes something is wrong, then tries again. "--do not --- your fears --- away from you! --gods, can someone shut that ------- machine up!?" she adds in exasperation, also not saying a bad word. Just about.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
As far as Ragnell knows, Kaguya either a) sincerely can't tell or notice when names are gotten wrong, even her own, or b) is doing it on purpose and just doesn't care if it gets done back to her. Either way, since she doesn't press it, Ragnell focuses on other things. Like shooting lightning at memories, just a heartbeat too quick for Noeline's protests. Whoops.
'Will it... hurt people, if we do this to their memories?'
"Guess we'll find out," Ragnell drawls. Still, when the memories are shot and shoved through, Ragnell frowns over at Noeline. "How you feelin'? Still okay?" Gwen's renewed determination, and the change in her ARM, gets her a slight smile and a nod of approval. "Good."
Slowly, the potatoes-and-gravy landscape returns. Ragnell nears the 'floor' but doesn't land, opting to hunker down on her thundercloud. She looks Janey over, then chuckles, low and husky, at Noeline's grumbling. "Less talkative, huh?"
But it's true. The cuccos are still there. Ragnell reaches out to prod one of them, then thinks better of it and leans her hands on her knees. But then the world around them... *shifts*, to stars that Ragnell has never seen in constellations she'll never know. She frowns as she looks up at them, trying to make sense of them and failing as everything feels more and more like it's tilting in two different directions at once.
'It's out there somewhere,' someone says. 'Filgaia. Our world.'
"Hmmm," she murmurs. But everything gets more and more chaotic, more meaningless... or perhaps it's plenty meaningful to a certain Kaguya, and Ragnell simply doesn't know her well enough to divine what meaning there is. Flowers dead and alive, Kaguya healthy and sick, and the stars pulse with menace, glaring daggers down at their enemy... Hiro and Janey offer certain memories to help ground Kaguya while Ruby sets false(?) ones aflame and Noeline yells, and Ragnell... hunkers down, sitting cross-legged as she pulls out her personal fan. Clicking it on, she gives herself a refreshing breeze... and starts to whistle, the melody carried on the wind.
It's a tune from another world, sure. But it's a calm, soothing, nostalgic tune. And Ragnell, as it turns out, is a very good whistler. It might not help at all, but maybe it'll help calm Kaguya down. Who knows?
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve feels himself shoving past bullies. His disapproval is turned not to them, but to the false Noeline. They attack her; why does she not fight back? It is not their way to show such... such...!
They move on. The world changes. Kalve finds the corridors less comfortingly familiar. The greenery does not sit well with him. It feels foreign, an affectation that does not belong in a place so artificial. He remains in his more demonic shape, standing out like a sore thumb. The ship is fascinating from a foreigner's perspective, but if he's wrapped up in it, he'll --
-- miss the repetition. The stuttering. Kalve raises his left primary hand, a flicker of yellow-white from the palm rising into a sphere just above it. It expands outward, running along walls and across the plants, flickering hazily over instruments and people. He lays a wireframe over the altering space --
("it's dead," they say, and his heart is, for a grim, awful moment, soaring and glad)
-- and lays out the foundation for keeping the path intact, though everything else may be changing in a maddening fashion. "Follow the path," he insists. "This chaos will lead you astray."
DG: Kalve has used his Tool Traced Codex toward his party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"I'm beginnin'... to see why people on Lunar wanna be Dragonmasters." A part of her is still coming down from that initial ride, even if she's still recovering from the sight of Noeline's past. At least, in this form, she's lighter, even with the ARM attached.
There's an eerie tingle of vague nostalgia as they go into this next area, Gwen still holding onto Ruby's back. There's something familiar in the motifs, the patterns, but it's all in a way Gwen can't begin to place her finger on. It's less memory and familiarity and more... a reaction, like catching a wiff of the perfume a deceased family member wore, or the taste of something sweet you ate as a child that you couldn't remember the name or shape of.
They don't have long to spend on this place before it shifts again, from the expanse of... 'space'? That's a word she's read about before, in that library Frea had. That part doesn't feel familiar, nor did the colder plastics and metals. The tugging further disturbs that fragile recollection, rudely dragging her into more definite memory.
Gwen's had nightmares like this. Still.They're not as common as the ones where she's missing her neckerchief and there's a sandstorm coming (that one's annoying), but she still gets them. She never had the people dying around her, never had the same mode of death, but this sort of nightmare is as familiar and brutal as a knife wound.
Those dreams came shrieking back to her after that one encounter with Kalve's insectile form, in fact. Not the one he's adopting now, exactly, but similar enough that, when she looks up at him, a cold prickling shiver runs down *both* her arms. At least Gwen shouldn't really worry about Kalve remarking on anything on her; he's pretty much seen all that when he first examined her.
Which is how he was able to-
Gwen carefully climbs off Ruby's back, her bare feet walking across the artificial surface as she kneels down by the flickering Kaguya, hand outstretched to rest on her shoulder. "It's okay. You're still alive. You're here. You're still breathing. I can see you."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline still can't help but be concerned, in a place like this...maybe it's just everything weighing on her. The atmosphere was almost oppressive, even when everything shifted back to fluffy piles of potatoes.
They don't last long, though. Soon, they're in a place that's...like nothing she's ever seen. There are no words for it. Architecture that defies anything she'd ever seen, and through the window...
Through the window...
"Where...are we...?" Jacqueline whispers, her voice a mixture of awe and reverence.
She's never seen space before. She's seen the stars, but never from an angle like this...and always from the surface of the planet. She can't help but be overwhelmed for a moment.
And then a woman appears. Somewhat familiar, but only due to her slight resemblance to Kaguya.
Jacqueline...doesn't know what to make of it, of the planet that appears next. First, dead and brown...and then...bright, and full of life...
She can't remain overwhelmed for long, as the vision soon turns horrific. There's Kaguya, lying still on a hospital bed, and the real one...
"Oh, Kaguya..." Jacqueline murmurs. She slides down off of Ruby and walks over to her. Gwen is there first, trying to reassure her, and Jacqueline...
She'll assess the situation first just to make sure, before reaching a hand down to help Kaguya up, and from there, pulling both Kaguya and Gwen into a hug, even with her currently-tiny arms.
"We're here for you..." Jacqueline adds.
...She wanted to help, but...would it really be enough, when faced with what Kaguya was faced with...?
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Nightmare Fiction.
===============================<* Spirit Quest *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Nightmare Fiction *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The world shakes apart. It shakes you apart. Your mind comes unspun. Dozens of fragments of memories, thoughts and emotions float in the void all around you. But something is wrong. Some of those aren't right; can't be right. There are lies mixed in with these truths. Conjured calamities, imaginary futures past, events you feared would come, but never did, dance amidst the truth. Put yourself together properly, or you might just leave this place more broken than when you entered it; but that might be hard when it feels like your brain's suddenly gone numb. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
==========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 2 *>========================== ========================< Results - Nightmare Fiction >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kalve 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Traced Codex 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Noeline 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Madness|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Noeline has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Hiro has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Strike Down The Stars *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The sky and all the stars within its vault array themselves against you. Countless stellar shards, the inscrutable moon, the darkness of the unfathomable firmament march as one with infinite gravity and unstoppable starlight and irresistible darkness to shatter the world and you who walk upon it. Conquer heaven itself, or succumb to the cruel reality of celestial law. =Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Ruby suggests that Kaguya calm down, amidst the shuddering remnants of reality, but she only looks worse as the beeping goes on, and on, and on. ...But the fire comes, and unfortunately the machine comes through singed but still working, the ice too cold to burn.
Kaguya can't focus; not on Astie, and not on, "B-but we haven't even--maybe we'll never--" Janey's words are well-meant, and they seem to provide an instant's relief in the worry, but...
Fascinating as itmight be, Noeline moves past simply thinking of the ship to calling out. She wants to shut the machine up just like Kaguya does, and talks about Kaguya's fears. ...Letting them get away from her.
Ragnell may have figured something out, but what comes from her is the melody, a melody that starts slowly to counteract the horrid, increasingly-loud beeping of the machine as it marks on the death of its occupant. Kalve, meanwhile, reasserts the path with his abilities, insisting against the chaos here.
Kaguya's body is fragile, as Gwen leans down, mentions that she's here. Jay murmurs to her, reaches to help her up, and all of them are hugging, but Kaguya is not present in her body enough to notice them at first.
But chaos. Follow the path. Don't let her fears dominate her. Slowly, these things settle in, and a smaller Kaguya, still in her hospital gown, still ill, opens her eyes.
The beeping stops. The machine is calm, with Kaguya's bed inside it...and with a hiss, it begins to open. The stars are far away now; green eyes slowly open.
There is only one Kaguya again, and while she cannot walk, she is supported by two others. "...No," she murmurs, almost calm, "...I didn't die in the chamber... And this world isn't..." She draws in a ragged breath.
The world settles again, and they have made progress, but still potato moves, still cuccos mark a trail. "...Sister..."
Kaguya's murmur comes out like it had to be ripped quietly out of her heart, and she leans heavily on the tiny Jay and Gwen. Her healthy form does not return. But she is with them again.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Nope! Nope you're still alive Kaguya! You're still with us! ... You've still got a cute side!" The cuccos mark a new trail within the potatoscape leading them away from the chaotic storm of what could have been in Kaguya's head as the landscape starts to blur and shift. At first it looks like a small outpost in the middle of nowhere. There's a kid playing outside it- wearing a pot helm, bearing a pot shield and a stick. He's swishing around the stick like a sword while playing with a familiar pink flying cat- "... sword dance!" "Ehehehe Hiro that doesn't look very much like a dance! You're just swinging it everywhere..."
And then he's in a small library. Pouring over a dusty book, his legs kicking in the air as he reads along excitedly. There's another figure in the background by his desk, an wizened beastmen with long pointed ears, "... and then the Shepherd rallied Glenwood's defenders to confront Ghaios - the Lord of Calamity..."
It changes again to hallways of crumbling ruins. There's a boulder chasing now older kid, and cat down the corridor, which they round to face a horde of inferno ghouls. The two shriek and double back just quickly enough to avoid the boulder from crushing them.
And then there's a bright, all-consuming flash of blue light.
And the blue gives way to sickly violet. What they feel next is almost indescribably awful. It feels alive, and horrible in the sense of having an all-consuming hunger. Its identity seems to surround that awful, all-consuming hunger.
BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOIwB_25E9g
This entire section of the mindscape reverberates with cruel humor.
AHAhaHAhaHAhahaHAHA! LUCIA THAT WAS MOST - UNIMPRESSIVE!
And in the middle of that maelstrom is a familiar red cloak - long blue hair. There is Lucia, standing against it. Though standing may only be in the academic sense. She looks like she's about to swoon.
I'M AFRAID I HAD TO SEAL AWAY THE POWER OF THE FOUR DRAGONS! YOU SEE VERY SOON - YOU WILL BE ALL THAT STANDS BETWEEN ME AND UNIVERSAL DOMINATION!
But here in a mindscape, surrounded by malevolence those thoughts seem to have an identity. As it smothers the figure of Lucia who screams before vanishing in an orb of purple energy.
MY - WHAT'S THIS? WERE ALL OF YOU WATCHING THAT? TELL ME ONE THING - WAS SEEING THAT AS GOOD FOR YOU-
And that's when the miasmic tendrils start to consume the immediate mindscape around them with that same hunger. Everything solid is being consumed by this celestial ravener.
-AS IT WAS FOR ME?
While it may only be a mental illusion wrapped around a single shard of malevolence, here it seems amplified by both memory and exaggeration. It's an inexorable unnatural force of contradiction. A breathing darkness that's attempting to take over. As it is shared by both Ruby and Hiro, the two scream as the initial wave reaches them. In the past they'd only seen it... felt it... but were utterly ignored like insignificant pests.
And against something like this. What good is that little stick he has? Or even Ruby's fire breath?
He swings it anyway, she breathes a blaze anyhow, both of them in a desperate panic - to beat back something that feels like it can't be fought.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey lets out a little relieved sigh as they go through the fast-shifting landscape, attracted by the kid playing with the pot helm and stick. "W-wow, who's that? I play knights like that sometime!"
She listens rather eagerly... "The Lord of Calamity? This Ghaios... I've got a rival!" she's getting pumped.
That Hiro grows up to be an exciting adventurer running down corridors chased by boulders just amps her up trifold. "Yeah, yeah!!"
She's -so excited- she just loses it for a moment as she jumps at the same time the memory Hiro and Ruby does--
--and latches onto half-insectoid Kalve's back.
...
"W-weh? What's this?" she looks around as the laughter shakes, trembling. "H-hweeh...!!" she shivers, flailing against the miasmic tendrils and-- dangling against Kalve's arms tighter and clingier. "T-The Lord of Calamity's not gonna lose to this...!!"
She trembles and whimpers, before exclaiming, "Do something, Awesome Bug Man!!"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Previously, Noeline's admitted she's not one for knowing about mental landscapes; the way in which the various extraterrestrial forces of Filgaia interact is rather unknown to her, and she wouldn't dare to guess how they interact even at the best of times. On the other hand, what she lacks in knowledge she makes up for in being a quick learner - and if a certain strength of will equals the power to influence this place, then she can at least figure out how to bend her own mental reserves to that end.
Noeline's eyes narrow as the Malevolent tendrils suddenly rush towards them in an unstoppable wave; in the face of the improbable wall of energy she concentrates, summoning her scythe to her in the blink of an eye as her fingers run across the edge of the blade. In comparison to the power of the Lord of Calamity, she looks like a tiny, defiant speck--
--but she suddenly blazes with a dark umbra, grinning manically as she draws upon her memories of invoking Duras Drum and then extrapolates wildly. It could almost be called reckless, the way the power lashes around her - but clearly Noeline's keeping a certain barrier of perception between what's real and what isn't.
"You will not go further," she declares with another beat of her fake wings - and while her swing might be wild and uncontrolled, it carries with it an enormous wave of energy that buffets against the incoming tendrils, evoking the power of the Guardians even if it doesn't strictly carry it.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
So it turns out the power of music is effective if you're using it to drown out THE SOUND OF THAT HIDEOUS HEEEEAAAARTTTT. Or beep, whatever. Ragnell is not entirely sure *why* it's effective, but it's effective, so hey, whatever works. The experience, confusing as it is, does leave her with some interesting insights into Kaguya, and while she wouldn't presume to know the girl *well*, she certainly knows her better than she did, say, fives minutes ago.
Fun. In a totally not-fun way.
Ragnell leaves actually carrying the very sick Kaguya to someone else, though, now turning her attention to the next visions: this time of a tiny Hiro playing at being Dragonmaster, reading up on the Shepherd, adventuring with Ruby--
Facing the terror that is Zohar as he strips Lucia of all her divine might.
Ragnell's eyes widen slightly. It's impossible for her to know how much of this is accurate and how much is exaggerated by fear and a distorted mindscape, but she *does* think the way Mind Zohar feeds off the Malevolence spire is not something to be shrugged off. As those tendrils shoot out, she shoots back with her paired pistols, firing lightning bullets with grim efficiency.
'WAS SEEING THAT AS GOOD FOR YOU--AS IT WAS FOR ME?'
"Piss off, ya incontinent octopus," Ragnell quips. Well, what else would you call something that has so many black tentacles?
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Forward. Always forward.
The landscape changes again. More flickers of memory. Whose -- Hiro. He thinks this is snapshots of the human maturation and education process. He didn't expect them to involve quite so many boulders. It makes him feel a little better.
Then, a familiar figure, one he's seen in a less odd stance. He relaxes at first -- it seems like they're going to see something less horrible, except... then the darkness spreads out. The Malevolence gaining hold and shape. He feels a chill that reverberates to the core of his being. It makes him feel ill in a familiar sort of way. It --
Kalve feels something grab hold of him from behind. He twists his head (a little too far, to be told) and looks puzzledly at... "...Janey." 'Uncle' Kalve's voice is flat. "What are you --"
The wave of darkness lashes out. Kalve snaps his attention forward, breaking it on a bank of yellow-white light like sea-foam smashing against a prepared shore. He starts to move his arms, and Janey's clinginess makes him aware that he's going to have to play this one a little more precisely. "Janey. Whatever you do," he says firmly, "do not panic. Now, take a deep breath... think of something that always brightens your day... and --"
Kalve moves -- forward. He attacks the mass of darkness while he has a small child clinging to his back, his sub-arms shifting around a central crescent of metal jutting from where his spine probably is. Janey is abruptly dealing with a jungle gym that wants you to keep climbing it like a ladder or swinging from it to cross a gap, something Kalve has to keep in mind while he manifests more and more elaborate weapons in his multiple hands to fight the darkness with. They rapidly advance from gunsmoke weapons to sleek and dangerous-looking energy projectors, firing angry red flares that burn away the animate night like the light of a distant, alien star.
Kalve is simultaneously creating new ARMs, juggling a child, and fighting against a mental monster that might just be more powerful here than she was in person. If he wasn't irrationally concerned for this human larva's safety and thus the pattern of steps and grabs he's making her follow (and helping her follow) to keep behind the very solid cover of Awesome Bug Man, this would be far, far easier.
DG: Kalve has used his Tool Optimized Array toward his party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
"Brightens my day... brightens my day... brightens my day..."
Janey sucks in a deep breath, closes her eyes, and yelps as she keeps flailing and climbing upwards as she rattles in something actually sounding like a mnemonic song:
"Mint and chocolate chip and peppermint and toffee!
Caramel and afghan crunch and oats and raisins a-plenty!"
Kalve's ARMs keep firing away at the cerebral, dark mess, and she keeps hopping up with surprising adroitness as she continues,
"Peanut butter and cranberry and don't forget banoffee!
Yes I love me cookies now won't you give me a-twenty!"
... this may or may not boost confidence in Kalve. Why do these larval humans have such an irrational addiction to sugar, flour, egg and milky treats?
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is panting hard with her exertion; the simulation of a Guardian's power is taxing, and probably taking more out of her than she'd really like to admit. Still, she has enough time to pause after one enormous, wrenching swing, watching the darkly shining curve of energy slam into the sickly purple mass around them, and muse: "--you are going on a diet soon, young lady."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
So this is what Hiro and Ruby were up against, all this time.
All the times they cheered Gwen up, joked around, with Hiro sparring, cracking corny jokes, and struggling with the most adorable form of puppy love ever as he helped Lucia, while Ruby, well. Jealousy, perhaps? They joked, laughed, and compared their childhoods, their wishes for the future of their planets. Lucia was sick, but there could always be something that could help her, and she could always get better, eventually, you'll see-
Gwen could only relate to dangers that were 'mundane' to her, like bullet in the wrong spot, dying of a failing heart, being exposed to an barren landscape without provisions, being killed by assassins or bounty hunters. Somehow, she just wrote them all off as part of some contract for being still alive.
People respond, coming to Hiro's side. And, bewilderingly enough, Kalve is joining the fray, battling this uncertain enemy as if it were attacking his own species, rather than stand aside and observe, attacking away even as Janey sings on his back.
Gwen moves to join them, shifting Kaguya's weight to her back, somehow carrying her despite her frail frame.
...
.....
The Gwen that stands by Hiro is older now, back to the same age as before. Her outfit's the same sundress, but her body's grown to match the ARM, the muscles along her shoulder bunched up as she holds the weakened Kaguya on her back. It was never quite that evident when she wore all that clothing, but in having to carry the weight of that ARM, not all of Gwen's strength is entirely dependent on just the weapon itself.
"The day I lost my right arm and my normal life, I've could've lost a whole lot more. But because I wasn't abandoned, I'm here now. Even if I don't remember the specifics, I remember that kindness. Sometimes I forgot it, but I always came back to it, in the end." She aims, carefully balancing Kaguya's weight on her back and shooting a beam of electricity at the purple mass of cloud. "I'm here because people were kind to me, even in a place like Little Twister. So I'll be the one to pay it forward!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline eventually releases Kaguya and Gwen. They continue along, through the cucco trail and the potatoscape.
This was...Hiro's past? Jacqueline watches with interest. It's nice to see after what they had faced...but this unfortunately doesn't last long. The world disappears into a blue flash, a blue flash that becomes violet and fills the world with a awful, terrible sensation. There's a woman - Lucia, Jacqueline recognizes - and then...a voice. A voice thick with malevolence(as opposed to capital-M Malevolence, though it may very well possess that). The woman disappears, and before that...being, Jacqueline felt...
...very small.
What could she do? She was small, and weak...in her current form, she couldn't do anything without the others. ...That was how it always was, in here and outside. She takes a few steps back away from it in a feeble attempt at escape, unable to really find it in her to do anything. She can't really match the confidence displayed by any of others...even Janey's surpasses her own.
What could she do...?
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Still..." Kaguya closes her eyes briefly and manages a faint scoff. "Cute, huh? I don't look cute like this." She knows what she looks like. She knows where she is. And she remains with Jay and Gwen, even as she's released. ...She doesn't move, because she's too weak to move. Being in that moment lingers for her.
Watching Hiro is something she can do though, and she does; as a little kid, with his silly toys and with Ruby, as older in a lbrary, reading books... And the boulders. The ghouls. Blue light...
That awful hunger grips at her heart, and she stares,eyes widenig, heart pumping, breathing hard. This awful voice--Lucia she has seen, but this voie, what it's talking about, as it suddenly sees them--
"N-no--" The Veruni's eyes widen, and this force, this darkness, reaches towards them. Hiro swings. ..Janey screams. Noeline does something amazing. But Kaguya can barely move. As all the others do what they can, as Ragnell quips... Kaguya stares, barely breathing. Janey's song echoes in her ears, Gwen picks her up, and suddenly Kaguya is holding a small pouch, scented, fragrant. Gwen can smell it when it comes close to Kaguya's face, pungent and exotic, scents unfamiliar to Filgaia. And yet...
Gwen speaks of kindness. Kaguya takes a deep whiff of her dreamscrap potpourri, and her pains melt away into unawareness, into a floating numbness that brings a smile to her face, an unsteady, unsettling look as her ARM re-materializes and the fragile girl whocan't even walk takes aim.
"...It's easy," she murmurs, "If I just let the fear go... If I just..." She takes aim with her ARM, the silvery and white and green shotgun in her hand. "...Maybe it was a little good. You..." If she thinks about it at all, she's lost. If she lets herself focus on that awful void, on what's coming, she--
"Heh... Heh..." She wheezes, still weak, and fires. And fires. And fires. On and on, until her ARM falls out of her hands, staring murderous and dazed.
"Won't... Like that..."
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Strange Potpourri toward her party's challenge, Strike Down The Stars.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Strike Down The Stars *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The sky and all the stars within its vault array themselves against you. Countless stellar shards, the inscrutable moon, the darkness of the unfathomable firmament march as one with infinite gravity and unstoppable starlight and irresistible darkness to shatter the world and you who walk upon it. Conquer heaven itself, or succumb to the cruel reality of celestial law. =Dungeon Conditions: Maim=====================================================
=========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 3 *>========================= =====================< Results - Strike Down The Stars >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 10 --(15)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 10 --(15)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 15 --(10)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kalve 15 --(10)--> 25 Pass Optimized Array 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 15 --(15)--> 30 Fail Strange Potpourri 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 15 --(10)--> 25 Pass Full Metal Courier 3 Combat Effects: Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Noeline 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Maim Effects: Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Noeline has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
How many ways can malevolence be destroyed?
Here it can't be purified. But this place doesn't actually obey the laws governing such things. Great swaths of it are cut down from Noeline on vampiric wings and her wave of energy.
Whereas electrifying shots from Ragnell's guns seem to cause electricity to run through the mist, like an electrified stormcloud, causing it to pause, and disintegrating more of it.
Kalve advances at that time, and his assault is relentless - despite juggling a cheering child on his back singing. Gunshots fire, energy beams blaze from his array...
Gwen comes to stand by a Hiro who is frantically wielding a stick like a weedwhacker rather than a proper sword. A hand upon his head, as if he's trying to sort out those thoughts, "Gwen..." There's a pained note of something in his voice, like the pain is fading some, with the thought of her kindness to focus upon, "...always... comes back..."
In that moment, the voltage that had been building up since Ragnell's shot grows to a fever pitch in the ionized cloud.
And a god of destructions laughs. ahAHAHAHahaHAHAha... YOU MUST ACTUALLY THINK YOU'RE WINNING - THAT VICTORY HERE WOULD EVEN MEAN SOMETHING. HOW PRECIOUS...
WHEN HER VERY DEFENDers in the very act of moving around- Something is changing in his voice. Like one memory is shifting to another voice that has moved from sounding all powerful to something more vulnerable. "-all I do is spread his taint..."
Ruby however, moves in front of Jay protectively, You pompous - preening - pushover! Ruby growls from a wyrm's maw, "Don't you dare... act like she's your servant! When all you are is a parasite!" Ruby's rears her head back, and then there's an inferno in front of her.
Silvery white shotgun blasts rend the air as Kaguya fires until she can't fire any longer.
But the malevolence won't be denied. It's closing in. Closing in, smothering. It's like all one's senses are vanishing beneath it's onslaught. At least one's senses in this mental plane. And through it all, Janey sings about sweets.
Then Hiro seems to blearily shake his head, which throws off his pot helm- it clatters to the ground soundlessly. Gwen's thoughts manage to clear his head just enough... to make this think it's actually something that can be worked through... the power of optimistic thinking...
And that's when he gets the dumbest idea. Blame Zed and perhaps Noeline for what happens next as he scythes his pathetic little branch sword upward. "...Dimensional Slash!" Is he trying to fight it or something? The way he cuts the stick upwards rends the air and- it actually creates this white tear in the landscape, "In- in- in...!" He calls wearily, waving for everyone to move away from the consuming malevolence into the conjured mind portal...
... and sink into a sickeningly sweet landscape of banoffee. Cranberries dot it. There's a caramel river floating with afghan crunch and oats and raisins all drifting lazily down it. Cookies jut out like mountains in the distance. - Oh and there's the malevolence spire. Still right there on the horizon. Everything just had changed from potatoes to sweets briefly as some brief reprieve.
And Cuccos waiting for them in annoyance, spreading their wings and clucking as if waiting for them to follow.
With a sigh of relief, Hiro gets up - walks over, and ruffles Janey's hair, "Hey good work. The Lord of Calamity saved us all from Zophar."
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey is climbing at such an exhaustive rate given her tiny limbs and young self that she at first misses that Hiro literally cuts through space-- mindspace-- and the power of wishful thinking literally becomes real.
At about that time, Kalve's arm wheels forward and she -stops-, distracted, and this causes her to get launched on Awesome Bug Man's spinning arm to go--
"Aaaaaaaaaa---"
--flying straight into a crunchy cookie and leave a Janey shaped hole through it (complete with mouse ears).
"AWESOME!!"
Noeline's comment on her going on a diet goes out of the other ear as Janey takes bites so big that it defies reality and crosses over into cartoonish fantasy.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Spirit Quest *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Escape the Earth *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Before you stretches a vast mountain range. Beneath you is the greatest among them. Beyond them is the way forward. Within you is the strength to vault the very mountain peaks themselves. Distance is only an illusion to a mind willing to go further beyond- but can you truly abandon the world to transcend it, or will your soul be weighed down by gravity? Make your choice quickly. The land beneath you is giving way; the earth will swallow you if you do not stay one step ahead. =Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Space is an illusion, and time a mirage. As the cuccos burble, resuming their line forward, mountains rise under their feet--literal mountains, miles apart, forming and crumbling under their footsteps. Zophar may have been defeated, but the world is forming and falling under everyone's very feet. The only choice is to move forward--but how can one do that when the next mountaintop is so far away?
It's a simple enough answer. Dreams don't make logical sense. Sometimes, one simply knows the answer instinctively. And everyone here knows, as if it were the most basic of facts, the most common of senses, that they just need to walk normally, and they will
s t r e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e t c h
over to the next mountain, just like that.
Of course, these things can't just be simple. Ragnell, who takes the initiative to move forward and appears to split apart over a massive distance as she goes, sees the change on the next mountaintop first: a poor and destitute village at its feet, dusty and near empty.
The next mountaintop overlooks a military camp near a city.
The next mountaintop overlooks a great and fierce battlefield, the star of which is someone flying on wings of lightning--anyone who looks closely enough, because space is an illusion and surely one can see if one just wants to see hard enough, may note that it's an unknown woman dressed much like Sorey looks when he's Armatized...
The next mountaintop, a city thrives below, shining, shimmering, splendid.
The next mountaintop, the same city, but the purple-black tendrils of Malevolence creep in the cracks.
The next mountaintop, some kind of public gathering. There's a bonfire in the center of a public square. A woman stands in the center of it. She isn't resisting...
Next, the beautiful city has been overcome by Malevolence. It burns, burns, burns, and violet flames lick up violently, and the smoke above curls in the form of a Fell Dragon...
For a brief moment, its eyes meet those who look down from above.
And then Ragnell returns to attempting to outrun her visions. There is no pithy remark or dismissive joke. Forward is the only way to go, and forward she will advance... even as the mountaintops crumble at her feet, threatening to send her and everyone hurtling down towards the waiting jaws of the dragon below.
Watch out. That last step's a doozy.
But make it, and the spire awaits.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
There's a big, gawking look from Janey from where she's in the midst of munching on her cookie -- but once Hiro's vision of the dream disappears and is replaced by Ragnell's, she pouts and goes, "Aww, no fair...!"
It's enough, though, and she's hopped onto her feet to run after the rest of the group, going, "Heeey, wait!"
She launches herself into the air and just--
--latches onto Kalve's back again. "Let's go, Uncle Kalve!"
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
For her part, Noeline seems to prefer making a small jump out of each mile-long step; there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or purpose to her decision, outside of perhaps wanting to avoid the visual gymnastics involved with resolving such a sight in her brain. At least her transition is smooth, one moment walking through the Zophar-blasted landscape and the next hopping slightly over it, hanging in the air as if unreal.
"A long life leads to such things," she comments to the open air, frowning a little as she almost dully watches the scenes below, picking out similarities between the scenes, the sign of ages going past. After a moment, she huffs softly to herself, landing from one of her impossibly long jumps as easily as if it were a hop down the stairs. "... I've walked through human lands for years, and yet it is still a great shame whenever it has to change underneath my footing. Arctica was my home. Adlehyde, my next."
The spy pauses, and sighs almost in amusement. "Let us hope Wayside fares better. ... still, I feel as if Riese is better at moving forward than I am, frankly."
The next shift of the air around her makes her hesitate, something tweaking her instincts. "We-- should hurry," she decides, moments before the roar of the Fell Dragon echoes from below and her latest foothold crumbles under her far faster than expected; she bunches, grimacing as she launches herself off of it just in time. "We should really, truly hurry! Nearly getting eaten by this thing once was quite enough, thank you quite enough!" she blusters, her voice huffing in anger as she does her best to bolt forwards, pushing against the almost tranquil nature of their movement thus far.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"All aboard! This is your Captain Ruby speaking... the flight from Janeyland to Malevolent Deathspire is departing shortly."
In the aftermath of his own memories Hiro is quiet. Ruby less so. They each deal with such things in their own way. In reality it was simple enough not to consider the magnitude of what they witnessed because they were ignored.
Not so in his mind, in his deepest fears - where he's forced to face it.
In short order he's just smiling again like a fool, like none of it was anything. He certainly knows better.
The mountain range is sort of a surreal experience for him. "So everyone ready to climb d-" And then they're at the next mountain over - "-own? Oh."
For a moment he actually looks keenly disappointed because - "He was looking forward to exploring the mountain range I bet..."
But whatever disappointment he feels from that facet of the adventure being lost. The mountaintops... change.
The first shifts to the second, and he says nothing - just glancing at the banners.
By the next one though on the battlefield, he looks at it dumbfounded at the lady in wings of lightning.
"Hey is that the Shepherd? Uh sorry I mean... 'a' Shepherd?" Without a word Hiro gives Ragnell a glance, then coughs, "Better... keep moving."
He gets a keen feeling of the passage of time at the next. Saying nothing as he passes through a shining city. He might have smiled. Might have, but the thought of progress doesn't quite bring one to mind.
He's not even certain it's connected to who he thinks it is by this point, one town might be someone else.
But then at the next - he's certain.
The glances he gives Ragnell's way is more furtive, and there's a certain sadness there like his mind is acutely aware of how it's connecting the dots of this story to what he already knows.
Strangely he doesn't ask any questions - doesn't do more than look, as if he was studying her face. He respects her privacy far too much to ask about any of this in front of anyone - and maybe not even while they were alone.
But in the face of the Fell Dragon, Ruby - she looks uneasy and upset in the face of the carnage, "That can't really be a dragon! It can't! Dragons on our world are protectors, guardians." The more dragon than cat right now gets the shivers. And finds herself agreeing with Noeline and Ragnell - Yeah... definitely.
Hiro finds his eyes lingering on a burning building a little long, even in a dream he's wondering about the people who were inside, even if it was real. A little pale himself - he keeps moving forward too, and from thence forth tries not to look at Ragnell.
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline is pulled along with the others into the rift, into safety. She's still shaken from their recent encounter with that terrible being of darkness, even in this sickly sweet land of treats formed from Janey's desires.
It doesn't last long. As they progress forward, the world seems to take the form of a great mountainscape, with them at the top of one of them. She looks down, staring at the scene unfolding below them until Ragnell's movement catches her eye.
...She's gone, moved onto the next one.
Jacqueline...hesitates.
She knows she needs to follow them. Making their way to the Spire was the only way to put things right again. A part of her knows, instinctively, that in a place like this, she only needs to take the first step, that the distance between the two points was only in their minds, and could easily be overcome if they simply wanted to.
But...she can't. She finds herself filled with fear. Fear of not being able to make it like they could, fear of dropping into the abyss.
She doesn't feel like she can go to the lengths that they can... But...she doesn't want to be left behind, either. That might be a worse fate than falling to whatever fate awaited her if she failed.
Jacqueline shuts her eyes tight and takes a step forward...but will her fears hold her back?
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve goes from being a child-carrying object with sweet laser guns to just someone with sweet laser guns in the course of a flashy battle against a source of not-quite-real Malevolence. It's a little bit calming to shoot at something, even if he's aware this doesn't truly count. He dismisses his weapons, looking this way and that for the trail -- and spotting the Janey-shaped hole in the cookie instead.
He goes that way a little, stepping out of line with the rest of the party long enough to let the FLYING LEAP work out fine. Two of his sub-arms are folded back to serve as sort of a seat and a convenient place to hang onto that doesn't involve potentially choking him, like all children seem keen to do. He wonders if it's the poncho.
"Yes," he says over his shoulder, "let's." Kalve steps out --
-- onto a mountaintop. He pivots on one leg, swinging the other out in front of him as he does his best not to fall off. He blinks a few times, and then tries to gauge distance to the next while observing the distant sights of civilization around them. He sees the wings of lightning, and he shudders. Kalve takes a breath, and takes a loooooong step... and hastily tries to adjust so he doesn't fall off or fall behind. He'd feel a little guilty if he accidentally pitched the rugrat on his back into the void.
...
...a medium amount of guilty. They grow on you like a fungus.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
For a moment, Gwen was back to her normal self. Good ol' optimistic, happy Gwen Whitlock, quick with a smile and a helping of home-grown charm, ready to chase away negativity with a can-do attitude and a healthy dose of good luck.
... If this landscape followed the rules of the physical world, this would be where Gwen would have returned to 'normal', having briefly deviated away due to some incident that somehow shook her up.
However, in this terrain, this bridge of minds, where emotions and feelings are shared as easily as the scent of incense on the air, Gwen isn't granted that luxury for very long. As the moment of bravery passes, the low thrum of anxiety remains, accompanied by the sensation of feeling exposed. The sight of sweets alleviates these feelings to a degree, but they can't afford to stay here long.
At some point, when anyone looks back towards the courier, she's back to the form she was just a bit ago: shorter, gawkier, bearing little of the muscle and definition her older body had before, with Kaguya's mantle draping over her frame. Even Kaguya wouldn't notice the change, despite still being carried by Gwen- just the before, and the after.
That's just how dream logic works. How is it any different than the series of mountaintops before them, shifting through time like pages of a child's flipbook.
"What... is that...?" Gwen shrinks back, unable to understand just what is looking back at them. There's no one to stand by and act brave for, just Ragnell, understandably wanting to get as much distance between her and the images as possible. Mountains crumble, and the ready maw of the Fell Dragon waits below.
But not everyone's here. Someone's missing. Who is it?
You don't leave anyone behind. Don't leave her behind. Don't leave her behind.
"Jay!" Gwen calls out to the black-haired young woman. "Keep following me. Don't worry. We're all comin' together! Just keep goin'."
Her mouth sets. "No one gets left behind."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Malevolence. Strange, bizarre, a part of this world that shouldn't be there for Kaguya even though ths thing isn't from this world either. ...Or Filgaia; does it even count as this world now, with all of this? Kaguya hears the changing, sees everyone moving and talking and Ruby's inferno and--
And... they get out of the fight they can't win. In ths space it doesn't matter where Kaguya puts her ARM, in this different space with the dimension itself rended, until they are... here, in a sweet landscape. Cuccos. Janey saved them?
"...W-what even?" Kaguya says to Hiro, and looks exhausted and bothered and something at him. It hurts to think about. She shakes her head, stays with Gwen. ...She barely weighs anything, frankly, bony, poking into the now-younger Gwen wthout even meaning to, fnding even moving difficult. Having been put bak in this place it's hard to escape.. harder still after all of that. But...
Ragnell. She doesn't undersand most of the images, save for the city, its story, the way it moves and changes and something happens... It burns. It burns, and it burns, and there is a dragon meeting her eyes. The mountantops crumble below them. They're moving to the dragon...
Gwen calls out for Jay. Kaguya focuses on breahng, closes her eyes, lets herself be carried along like she has been to this planet to begin with.
"...Home, huh?" Kaguyha manages to rasp to Noeline.
"...Leaving nobody behind, huh? That's a nice thing to say," Kaguya says, skeptical, to Gwen. "...come on, Jay." She feels disembodied; the sense of movement keeps her eyes closed to keep her dinner down.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Escape the Earth.
===============================<* Spirit Quest *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Escape the Earth *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Before you stretches a vast mountain range. Beneath you is the greatest among them. Beyond them is the way forward. Within you is the strength to vault the very mountain peaks themselves. Distance is only an illusion to a mind willing to go further beyond- but can you truly abandon the world to transcend it, or will your soul be weighed down by gravity? Make your choice quickly. The land beneath you is giving way; the earth will swallow you if you do not stay one step ahead. =Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
==========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 4 *>========================== =========================< Results - Escape the Earth >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 35 --(20)--> 55 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Ruby Being Helpful 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kalve 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 25 --(20)--> 45 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Noeline 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Maim Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Noeline 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. DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - The Mountains of Madness *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You suddenly find yourself staring up at a massive mountain that seems to go on forever. Somehow you're certain that you can reach the top if you just give it a try. How long will it take you to reach the end? How much strength must you expend? These questions are immaterial. Time is immaterial. Forget yourself and rise. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Gwen is correct. No one gets left behind.
When they fall, they all fall together.
That last step seems so close, too. Ragnell is nearly there. She knows, better than most, that the past is passed and there's nothing that can change it. She has regrets about what's gone by, perhaps, but she has a path forward. One she believes in with everything she's got. One she'll follow to the very end, with the force of all her conviction.
All the same, she is still chained.
And just as it seems she might land that last step, a tug comes at her ankles. She looks down, and the instant she sees the ropes there, it *yanks* down, and her with it, and the final step crumbles, sending all down, down, down, all the way to the ground.
Purple fire blazes all around them, consuming a once-glorious city. Darkness encroaches. The Fell Dragon peers down at the group. It's a different feeling from facing against Zophar, an active force of malevolence *and* Malevolence. While this creature may seethe with the same power, there is something about it that's different. Something... something... what *is* this feeling...? It's like... a compassionate smile before smothering a dying man to death... a tender kiss goodbye before one is rent asunder...
Yes. As gentle as the eye of a Class 5 hurricane.
Ragnell stirs, then pushes herself up as the world around them burns into blackness. The Fell Dragon peers down at her.
"Heh," she croaks, baring her teeth in a grin up. "Fancy meetin' you here."
The creature's face contorts. If one didn't know better, it might even look like it's smiling.
Then it opens its great maw and
all
is
darkness.
...
Presently, there is a light, flickering on. All around them is oblivion--or wait... maybe not. There are shapes, and they might be formed into something with a will to guide them. At the very least, they don't seem to be in a dragon's guts. What was that about, anyway...?
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Ragnell should know. There's no running away.
Something shifts in that darkness. There's a muddled voice. Or voices? Whatever it is, there's a kindness found there, a small element of safety. A presence in the chaos, something grasping, lifting the dark, revealing some semblance of light to the party to go forward.
Everything will be alright.
Gwen's the one that takes the lead, Kaguya held on her back. "... I think we'll be fine for now," she says, the tenseness in her shoulders beginning to relax under Kaguya's weight. "We just need to keep moving."
-----
The light is bright when they emerge. Too bright. Dusty. Dry. The callous sands of a ramshackle town lie all around them, and just in front-
"Y'wanna say that again?!" A cheering circle of children encircle a young girl pinning down a slightly older boy. The hold she has on the boy beneath her is notable, in that she's managing to do so while missing an arm. The blouse she wears has had the right sleeve pinned back, the cotton fabric swaying in the wind as she shifts the position of her legs so that her left hand could come free from the boy's neck. The hand closes in a fist and starts punching down, over and over, at the pinned older boy's face. The crowd cheers.
In one corner is a young boy with dark hair and eyes, his eyes and nose running down his red face with tears and snot. "... It's okay, you can stop now... Please... Gwennie..."
The girl glances over her shoulder at the young boy, the long scarf draping over down her shoulder. She notes the boy with a cringe of empathy, shrinking at the fear in her friend's eyes. "Si..."
At that moment, the pinned older boy manages to free a hand to grab at the girl's head, drawing her scarf off, to the horror of the crowd. A healing head is exposed to the sun, red hair unevenly peeking through healed, new skin. The girl looks up at the mixed reactions of the crowd, how some back away in disgust or fear, some with renewed interest, a few looking on with disinterest, having seen it before.
Long-buried emotions. Anger. Hate. Shame. Sadness.
The scene shifts even as the real Gwen cringes, shame ebbing from her like smoke ebbing through the cracks of a wall. "Damn it..." The crowd is blown away like smoke, muddled shapes licked away by fire as a copy of Gwen's current form stands in that same spot, looking up from the floor at her ARM in shock. "It just went off..." Fire licks across the old documents and bookcases of what seems to be some sort of lab, the smell of ozone lingering from a recent electrical discharge.
A few yards away, a small group of rough looking bandits stare her down in fear. "W-what the hell, man, no one said anythin' about a weird demon down here?!"
"Dude, she just shot at us, she's gonna shoot again!!"
"It's all a wash here, man, no money, just books!! Let's just get out of here before we get trapped in this place with em'!"
Behind the shocked girl, an older woman lies, her form pinned down by a heavy bookcase, documents spilled everywhere. "Gwen, you need to get out!" she yells, her voice sharp. "Forget about them, just get out!"
"Auntie..." That's Gwen's voice now now, fully entrenched in the scene in front of her. "We gotta free her! I don't care if it's just a memory, I'll never leave her behind!!"
You can't run.
But you can rise to another tomorrow.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
There's a kind of terrified little scream, beyond the facade, as Janey faces the Fell Dragon head on, and... ... then they're in the darkness.
"... m-mom? Mom..." she finds herself calling out.
The next scene isn't something she can bluster through. Big Dragons, the faces of evil... of course, they're terrifying, but it's so big that--
--that it doesn't hit like home like the next one.
"W-wait, this is-- this is Little Twister!" she finds herself exclaiming with a dry voice, her face draining of color as she looks around--
--and stares towards the scene where the kids are fighting.
She swallows, and watches for a moment longer, staring at the kids and suddenly yelling, "Y--you're all just a bunch of cowards! Cowards, all of you!"
She's found herself storming off Kalve's back as she tries to tackle some of the kids, like she's cognisant of something in the memory, but-- the scene shifts before too long. "W-weh!!" she trips and falls onto the floor.
She trembles further, before nodding at Gwen as she tries to shove herself against the full weight of the bookcase. ... it's-- it's not like she's going to be able to do anything with her little weight, but she's really trying.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
A malevolent inhalation. "Wuh-oh." And a pair of screams are smothered by darkness that overtakes even sound. Cast into a void where there's only a singular light.
The light leads them out of the darkness, and sort of wearily he rubs his eyes and smiles in the squint of the bright light. They keep moving and- "Oh Gwen..."
Hiro has no experiences with the cruelty of children. He grew up alone, his only childhood friend to play with was Ruby. And so he finds himself a little flabbergasted by the horror of it.
He's been to Little Twister. He doesn't have to think long on how this place could twist a person around.
The hatred which Riese spoke about before seems like it's inherited, placed on Gwen.
And in the face of it, he sucks in a breath - just as the crowd is blown away.
Staggering, taking a step forward, his ears are ringing even if he didn't really feel any blast wave. Buzzing over what the kids are saying - yelling - accusing. His eyes move over to Janey as she accuses all the kids, all the people of cowardice.
Closing his eyes it's like the images of what Ragnell told him about herself are blending together with what's happening now.
The responsibility humanity has for things
After a moment, his eyes trail down to the older woman beneath a bookcase. "Is that-?" He only has that shell-shocked look for a moment, before Gwen snaps him out of it, and he runs forward to the book case, gripping it. "Of course we won't leave her behind. One... two..."
Ruby lands beside the bookcase - and nudges a claw under the edge, talons trying to grip the edge. Perhaps because she believes she's stronger like this, she actually is - but the bookcase is metaphysical, so maybe even a dragon's strength won't add much to it... "...heave!"
Even if it is just a memory - the two of them fully understand not wanting to leave Gwen's Aunt Frea behind. They know they'd feel the same way for their own Grandfather.
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
That's right. There's no running away. You just end up coming full circle.
Ragnell blinks rapidly as the light dawns, hand lifting to her hat and pulling it off for a moment. She looks odd without it... A glance down at it as she tilts it back and forth; then she puts it back on and strides out after Gwen. "Yeah," she says, curt.
Dusty, dry, and bright. A dilapidated town awaits them on the other side, and with it, several children circle a fight between a boy and a one-armed girl. Ragnell stops nearby, peering over the children's heads, and watches events unfold. It's a dream, so who knows how literal or accurate the events are, but she watches stone-faced as Janey yells, calling the children all cowards. She watches the shift, the firing, the fire, the collapsed bookcase, the escaping would-be thieves, and Gwen as she hurls herself into her memories, insisting on not leaving her behind.
Ragnell walks up behind Gwen and rests a hand on her shoulder.
"What happened in the real past?" she asks. "Did ya save her? Did ya fail? Or did ya run?" Because if her aunt was already saved in the real past, remembering that ought to bring forward the memories of her being saved, and thus being safe, in turn. But in case not, at least Hiro and Ruby are working on heaving that bookcase off.
Notably, Ragnell has not met Hiro's eye since their journey across the mountaintops.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
They fall together. Kaguya finally opens her eyes as she feels the wrench of it, as she feels them all falling down, down, down, looking up to the dragon. She cannot identify that feeling. She does not know what it is. It is only different, and powerful, and somehow twinging something in her heart. Ragnell knows this being, but...
Light is back on. Kaguya looks to Ragnell, saring for a few moments, trying to work something out... But it doesn't go anywhere.
Instead soon they are something else. There is a presence, and Gwen leads on ahead. She feels the way Gwen shifts. "Keep moving," she repeats a little hollowly, sighing. "...Yeah. Sorry."
She still can't make herself change back to that healthy girl she was. The one she wants to be.
But it's too bright, and Kaguya doesn't recognize this place. "Uh?" The chldren surprise her; Gwen surprises her, missng an arm though obviously that makes sense. She stares at the cheering crown. "...How barbaric," she murmurs, revulsed by these tiny humans acting with such savagery. Until--the tde turns.
Gwen cringes, and Kaguya can feel every bit of ait, looking down at the smoke. "Um--"
The bandits are tehre, afraid, calling. Kaguya can make some of this out... Except--
The voice. She knows the voice dimly. Concern for a daughter, a girl, a--niece? A--
"You--" Kaguya's eyes widen. "Frea? ...There's no w--"
Gwen says they have to free her, entrenched here. Kaguya sets her teeth. "...You're carryng me around, so..."
She shifts herself, "Drop me. Just for now." Wth that in a moment she collapses to the ground, her legs barely functioning... But her arms do.
She doesn't run. She digs her fingers under the shelf, and begins to pull upward. Even deathly ill...
Even deathly ill Kaguya is stronger than a human has a right to be. She pulls upward, straining with the weight. "I--" Huff, "Want to know that too." She tries to help Ruby and Hro both, from where she s, teamwork in a way, though she's not used to it. Responsibilty...
"Won't..."
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
This entire place is a place of darkness and madness. Kalve's tension from the proximity of the weird figure fades as the land around them does, too. His legs bicycle, seeking any kind of purchase --
Solidity. Light. They emerge.
Kalve blinks a few times. He sees... the small ones. Young ones, he reminds himself. Children. Larval humans, he inwardly thinks, smirking to himself for a second. He stops, assessing the scene with a critical eye. Do they watch the battle knowing they should not interfere, or do they look for a chance to offset the balance? At least one of them is a good fighter, even with its critical flaw --
A disaster. Kalve doesn't see immediately why he should do anything at all. Going to the rescue for a human is not an instinct he has cultivated. Others do it, but he doesn't. He circles around, searching, stepping carefully through smoke and seeking the actual exit: their merry trail of ill-tempered birds, leading towards the needle at the center of it all. Let someone else feel good about being the hero.
DG: Kalve has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The twintailed demon finds herself gritting her teeth as they fall towards the maw of the Dragon below, her face scored with a frown; there's effort written there, a tight hope that perhaps if she can concentrate hard enough she can take control of the space around them, decide that they're not actually falling through the firmament as they appear to be. It doesn't work; the rush of emotions and 'reality' around them is too chaotic to be ordered so easily, but at least she faces the plunge with a resolute air, and the strength of her thoughts lets her realign herself that much faster in the aftermath.
Especially when-- "... I'm here," Noeline reassures the young orphan, her voice so much softer than it normally is; her hand rests on the girl's shoulder, staying there as she offers a soft huff of noise. "... come on," she encourages after a moment, and tries offering an almost cocky smile. "We've a Riesemama to save, haven't we?"
When she scene shifts, she has to take a moment to squint against the sun; it takes her a moment to really even register the scene in front of her, but she can at least tell that it's something that needs treating with respect. Instantly, she's quietened down. It's easy to compare this to her situation amongst the Tainted; how easily she could see herself as one of the onlookers, unmarred and looking down upon Riese and her ilk. There, but for the grace of-- what, exactly?
Well, who knows.
"--let me. A demon's strength can at least be useful, hm?" she offers curtly, though she doesn't try to stop Janey from helping; what she does try, though, is something that's been on her mind for a while. She's always thought of her ARMs as being rather human, after all, and so perhaps they can manage some kind of manifestation.
"Strife! ... will you stop being lazy?" she grumbles to the open air - and improbably, next to the trapped woman, there's a sudden answering beep, as the little robot that's appeared ready-'trapped' engages its engines and pushes upwards.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline hears Gwen calling out to her. With her eyes still shut tight she follows her voice...but her mind holds her back, and soon she's falling with the rest of them, swallowed by the darkness...
...But it doesn't bring them the pain she feared. She can hear voices, indistinct but there, and she hauls herself to her feet and begins to follow the others quietly. As they travel, the darkness begins to take shape and give way to light. ...A bit too much light, in fact. Jacqueline has to shield her eyes until she reaccustoms herself to it.
As the scene plays out before her Jacqueline glances toward Gwen, sympathy in her eyes. She doesn't speak, even when the scene shifts to a burning building.
Gwen asks for them to save her, but...what can she do? She's small, and weak, and her Crests and potions aren't appearing to her...without her sorcery or her potions, she's nothing.
She feels helpless, unable to help Gwen in her time of need, even though the courier's been looking after her all this time. But...even Kaguya, in her current state, is trying to help.
...She has to do something to. She moves over to join them, attempting to lift with what little strength she can muster.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Mountains of Madness.
===============================<* Spirit Quest *>=============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - The Mountains of Madness *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You suddenly find yourself staring up at a massive mountain that seems to go on forever. Somehow you're certain that you can reach the top if you just give it a try. How long will it take you to reach the end? How much strength must you expend? These questions are immaterial. Time is immaterial. Forget yourself and rise. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
==========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 5 *>========================== =====================< Results - The Mountains of Madness >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 55 --(15)--> 70 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 45 --(15)--> 60 Pass Ruby Being Helpful 2 Agility Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kalve 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 50 --(20)--> 70 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Noeline 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Cripple|Maim Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Noeline 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. DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Spirit Quest *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Fathom the Flame *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your arms are bound to a stake driven into a vast field of fire. The flames whip and whirl, whispering in the language of sunlight and judgment, of castigating heat. It speaks in accusations which set your pyre alight, burning through your soul like candlewax. It spits slander at you, judges you for sins real and imagined. It is the thoughts you know are in everybody's heads- what they would say, if they were truthful. It is anxiety, guilt, self-loathing. It is the flame that burns from the inside, consuming all that you are. Defend yourself from it. Refute its lies. Acknowledge its truths. Know where you are innocent, and where you are guilty. Be sure of your sins, accept them for they are yours, and in so doing, rise from the flames. =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Cowards, Janey calls them. The children are cowards, but so are the bandits, Gwen, everyone. All scared cowards doing what they needed to to survive. It's how a town tainted and corrupted everyone it touched.
But that didn't mean people couldn't change.
The bandits flee. The memory of young Gwen starts, flames swirling around her white, simple sundress as she lifts her ARM. Debating. The fire scared her, but the newborn presence of the ARM seemed to give her an unnecessary amount of courage, even if it was towards the ends of possibly shooting someone in the back.
The temptation to give in to that hate only lasts a minute. Frea's safety holds a stronger hold on the girl's heart.
'Drop me. Just for now.' Gwen mutely does as Kaguya bids her, placing her by the bookcase as Hiro and Ruby join Janey and begin to lift at the heavy bookcase. Kalve, free of his charge, moves to search for an exit, though he won't have to search for very long. Following the fleeing bandits will lead him straight towards it.
"She..." Gwen speaks as Ragnell puts a hand on her shoulder. Noeline adds her 'demonic' strength, the helpful ARM Strife, to the efforts. As Jay adds her strength to the party's efforts, the bookcase begins to shift.
"You idiot!" The memory of Frea curses at the memory of Gwen as the girl joins the group, memory and the strength of sympathetic wills entwined to lift the bookcase up.
"She lived, because I saved her." Gwen smiles, tears shining in her eyes. "And she was real pissed, too."
---
As they escape outside, a limping, wounded Frea helped along by the memory of Gwen, the older woman clasps the girl as she begins to cry. "Auntie... your books..."
Frea looks on, stone-faced. "I doubt my library is so rare that there aren't copies of every document elsewhere. It's fine." The girl looks at the stern woman as she kneels down, confused at the rare glance of tears on her ageless face. "Stop crying."
"But you're..."
"It's not every day a charge gets to show her guardian that her reckless and foolish nature has its... benefits." The woman's breath hitches. "There aren't copies of you lying around." A wry smile slips on her face. "Or your ARM. Try to remember that recoil is a thing next time, hm?"
The two embrace, a family of two, the intimate moment of familial love exposed for all to see.
Everything will be alright. For them. But as the fire grows brighter, obscuring the memory, it's now up to the party themselves to get through what may be next...
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The bookcase shifts. Jacqueline winces, giving it everything she's got...and before long, Frea is free.
...But Jacqueline can take little solace in that. That was how things were supposed to go, after all. She did everything she could...but in the end, the only thing she freed was a memory. She can't focus on that, her eyes drawn to the flames that still raged in the background of Gwen's memory.
They reach higher, and higher. They surround her, threaten to consume her. Jacqueline collapses...and when she awakens she finds herself bound to a tree covered in candles, in the center of a circle of raging fire. The party stands outside it...and their surroundings start to shift and warp into a scene that may be familiar to some.
There's no signs of life, human or Hyadean, but they are unmistakably in the city of Adlehyde - damaged and ruined by the Metal Demon invasion with the flames still burning brightly.
Jacqueline can't bring herself to look at it, instead focusing on trying to free herself from her bonds.
It's an intense, unbearable heat that surrounds her...were this a physical world, she would expire quickly. But in this mindscape, the heat is the least of anyone's worries. Worse still is what it draws from you, your fears, your memories, your sins laid bare for all to see.
"Jacqueline Barber..." It's a whisper, yet loud enough for all to hear. The flames graze the side of her face, a sensation like a hand clasping her cheek and forcing her to look into the burning city beyond.
"Jacqueline Barber..." The voice repeats, and it's apparent that it's her own voice speaking.
"You gave up that name, claiming a desire to make a name and a life for yourself, separate from your family's...and yet, without them, you would have been nothing. You became a merchant who profits off the pain and suffering of others...and in that way, you became reliant on that pain..."
"I-I..." Jacqueline stutters weakly, but the voice continues.
"...You are nothing on your own. You desire to be a pillar of support for those around you...but they are the ones who support you. What are you, compared to them...? Without your sorceries...without your alchemy..."
The stones outside begin to crack and something seeps through, a liquid. Specifically, the blood of a certain Metal Demon - Riesenlied.
"A single vial...a single vial could have alerted them what was to come...averted the tragedy, or at least allowed them to prepare... But you did nothing. And so...Adlehyde, your home, and its people, burned."
"But you...from its ashes, you gathered allies around yourself. People who trust you, respect you, love you... Despite your claims at peace and neutrality, you have sent them into battle after battle...they have spilt blood for you...suffered for you... They would spill more...they would die for you..."
"Jacqueline Barber...you truly are despicable..."
Jacqueline has since ceased struggling, instead staring quietly at the ground.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey's lost her usual mirth and bluster, but-- but her eyes are full of relieved tears at the sight of Gwen reuniting with her aunt. ... it makes her feel happy that there's some measure of right in this weird place... it gives her a chance to just take a breath and rub at her eyes.
She looks at Gwen, and runs over and just-- gives her a hug. Wordlessly. It might be as much from the prior scene she saw as it is from what they've just endured.
And-- her eyes widen, when she next gazes outwards--
"... w-what is this?" Janey finds herself sounding scared again. Her eyes are wide as she exclaims, "Jay!"
She runs forward, but finds herself scorced for a moment, holding her hands to her head. "That's-- that's not true! That's not true at all!"
She grumps as she throws her head around at the voices, and barks, "Jay and her folks've been super-duper helpful! She's been teaching Mikaia how to play with alchemy! She made those vent treats for us!"
She clenches her hands and exclaims, tearing again, "If that's a despicable person, I'll be despicable Janey right alongside her!!" she's shouting at the air, shoving herself into the fire again recklessly.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya is there on the ground for a bit, working. Noeline mentions a demon's strength, Jay helps... and eventually it manage. Gwen did as Kaguya asked, and she's at work with it, hearing the cursing, the sort of warmth there as a result. She lived...
What does it mean? Kaguya can make a guess about he library--bt she doesn't. She watches the two of them instead. What does it mean?
"Mm..."
...But here, they are. The flames go on, and sudden Kaguya s watching them, watching Jay within them, this friend of hers who has broughther along, mde her part of something even given what she doesn't know about her. The things that voe says to her..
Kaguya bites her lip, suddenly, sighs. "...Hey..." She looks up at Gwen, wordlessly asking her help again as she props herself up wth her hands, and stares towards Jay. "Look..."
"May," Kaguya says, sincerely, even as she gets the name wrong again. "...It's notlike you're the only one... Who worries she's just a drain on everybody. Who doesn't know tha she belongs where she is, what she's doing."
"...Sure, you're weak on your own. People are. H--" She stops, rethinks her choice of words, "...It's not like you manipulated me into joining you or anything. And you know..." THe ires, Adlehyde--it's all unfamiliar to Kaguya. She never went, afte all. "It's not like people wll stop getting hurt if you stop making medicine." A glance to Janey, "...And sure. I'll be bad too."
She would anyway.
DG: Kaguya has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... one vial... would have done very little, I suspect," Noeline cuts into the monologue, her gaze fixed on the ruined city around her; carefully, in a manner she's done many times in the real world, she picks across a ruined building, lifting and heaving a beam up out of the way. "It would have been a curiosity. Nothing more. Riese's blood is too different to that of the vial stored in the Exhibition, squirreled away by Mr. Hesiod - and can you really say, at this juncture, that stopping Riesenlied would have averted the whole attack? Can you really say that there were enough guards in Adlehyde, full stop?"
Her questions are directed at the open air; the quiet in her voice is at odds with the way she tenses, and hurls the long lump of charred wood to one side with a huff of effort. "Stopping an attack like that was not something that could have fallen on one person's shoulders and left them standing in its wake. Not given the ferocity of Berserk, or the calculating nature of Alhazred. I did not have the courage to do anything much - nor did Riese, for all of her resolve. If you truly wish to dent something like that, it will take a great deal more effort than anyone could have put forward then. It would take time, knowledge, and care."
... she's aware that Kalve's there, and perhaps that's why she's a little harsh - but she lets out a breath, sighing out a low noise. "Really, there's such a thing as taking it step-by-step, and being aware of your limits."
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
The bookcase finally shifts - and Hiro winces as Frea snaps, but he doesn't look upset. In fact he looks like something of an embarrassed kid himself on the receiving end of a lecture. He'd seen plenty from Grandpa Gwyn's hands. Even with how she curses, he can hear the affection into it. "I bet she was..."
Hiro says with a smile towards Gwen, patting his pocket, he finds a handkerchief - he doesn't actually have one there in the real world. This place just provided. He offers it over just in case.
What he sees afterwards - "Awww..." Ruby says as she watches the two memories embrace, and Hiro's own eyes mist. "Have I told you lately how lucky you were to have someone like her Gwen?" He allows a light smile, "Well... don't think I need to even say it again."
After all, after seeing that, it was like stating the obvious.
The fireglow is bright. And then they are in the city of Adlehyde.
In his mind's eye Hiro thinks of their own experiences at the castle, of their flight - but then there's a whisper. With a name. And he finds himself looking towards Jay dumbly in expectation.
And then he just listens. Whereas Ruby blares off "Hey! Leave Jay alone! Hasn't she gone through enough already?"
Mutely he takes out a journal. Looks at the cover.
He doesn't even need to look inside in this mindscape to know what he's looking for - he taps his fingernail on the cover, "You know I think it's easy for people in a tragedy like this to blame themselves some. To think indolence or inaction had a role in it... and you know maybe that's true. But for something like that. It's too big. Responsibility is shared by so many folks... that one vial feels like a drop in the ocean." He says in agreement with Noeline - and with a certain author.
Giving Jay a look, "Jay, maybe I don't know you too well, but I do know you're trying - and that on a place like Filgaia - even the attempt shows such strength. Don't let some voice fool you into thinking that strength is weakness."
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook toward his party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve strides forward, following the cowards that flee what they cannot understand. The troubles of the humans are left behind. He feels a twinge of guilt at not facing it alongside them. He suppresses it, quashing it before it can take root and grow.
He doesn't get far. The fires that he thought they'd escaped rise up, barring passage -- specifically, to one who, if the voices are to be believed, had some kind of leverage to potentially blunt the invasion. Kalve looks at her and then into the fires, humming quietly as he digests the idea. He sees familiar ruins, and turns to look out at them. One hand opens and closes, a ripple like a drop in a metallic pond rolling over his forearm.
He casts a glance at Noeline. A bit of a look, maybe. He'll remember that. "And even if you had an untainted sample," Kalve says, after a moment, "the similarities to what may be found in a chemist's laboratory are not insignificant. The idea that they would accept such a thing at face value is laughable."
He turns his hand over, palm up. There's a flicker, and yellow wireframes dance through the ruined streets: drifters and city guards fighting the silhouettes of Metal Demons assaulting the city, defeating them in silent shadow-duels that play out all around them. To someone who had been there, the sights are perhaps a bit too realistic in motion and result for comfort... but they're truth, and cut to the heart of his point:
"It is foolish to harbor guilt over an action that would have led to the same conclusion. Realistically speaking, there was no way for you to stop us." Kalve doesn't sound proud; he sounds... clinical. "Better to seek self-improvement for the next battle rather than linger on an insignificant detail. The time for guilt has passed."
DG: Kalve has used his Tool Traced Codex toward his party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It looks like that question helped. Ragnell half-smiles at Gwen and nods at her, then backs up to let the others finish the job. Soon, they all escape outside, and the memory of Gwen and her aunt hug. Ragnell gives them a sidelong glance, and then strolls forward, this time into a vision of the city of Aldehyde. A remarkably *empty* Aldehyde at that... save of course for the fact that it's still aflame. Jacqueline herself is bound within those flames, having been the source of it; perhaps her increasing anxiety about the situation caused this? But either way, the voices soon begin, accusing Jay, vilifying her, tearing her down as she can only hunch over.
Janey shouts at the voices, and Ruby chimes in. Kaguya commisserates with Jay's weaknesses. Noeline points out that a single vial probably wouldn't have helped much. Hiro gets psychological--therapeutic, even. Kalve gets matter-of-fact, encourages her to improve herself rather than dwell on her failures. And Ragnell?
"It's too hot out here," she complains, flipping out her personal fan and turning it on to blow a breeze in her face. "Can you turn the self-loathin' down to, like, a four or somethin'? Thanks."
Ragnell's just kind of an ass. But there might be a kind of normalcy in that? Maybe??
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Portable Fan toward her party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Even Noeline has to hesitate at that, her eyebrows going up in a mildly astonished manner. "... ... I will tell Riesemama on you," she states at Ragnell, voice held in a perfect deadpan as she echoes the words normally told to Janey.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell looks Noeline dead in the eyes and says, "She ain't *my* mama. Don't know 'bout you, though."
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey has the werewithal to turn back at Ragnell and complain, "Jerkface!!" even as she's getting set on fire.
Maybe she's got Lord of Calamity potential in her.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell winks and points her free hand at Janey as a fingergun with a little *kh-chk* sound effect. "You know it, kiddo."
What can she say? She *does* like Janey's moxie.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"...!" Gwen takes in a breath as Janey hugs her. Looking over at the mousey (if only in a literal sense) girl, Gwen crouches down, mindful of Kaguya, and gives Janey a might hug back. "... Thank you. Sorry y'had to see that."
It's now Jay's turn, and Gwen feels a stab of guilt, realizing she *had*, in some ways, taken Jay's knowledge and gift for all things alchemy for granted. Her potions were great, and knowing the person behind the potions made buying from Jay so much easier.
"Medicines like yours save lives, Jay," Gwen states solemnly, letting Kaguya off her back so she can also have her say. "There wasn't anythin' like a Plant to power a hospital or other kinda technology in Little Twister that we could depend on." There's no sense hiding what town she's from now; they're sharing mindspace, after all. She's just lucky the pathways of traffic haven't indulged more about her past. "Y'can't hold yerself down by what ifs and what nots. I pretty much became the most hated person in a few bars for the span of a day. And y'know who helped that happen?" She thumbs towards Ragnell. "Small things push others to do things. We lean on each other 'cause that's the way we're built."
Looking to Kalve with a weak, but earnest smile at his words, and then at Ragnell, Gwen nods to the seraph. "Ragnell's right... in her own way. You can help people in the here n' now. Granted, the only reason you're even pinned down as it is is 'cause this crazy place is makin' us all run a gauntlet of our issues. You can't put em' to bed now, but y'now know we're here. N' we feel it too." She itches her head. "Kinda literally, right now, but y'get what I mean."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fathom the Flame.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Fathom the Flame *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Your arms are bound to a stake driven into a vast field of fire. The flames whip and whirl, whispering in the language of sunlight and judgment, of castigating heat. It speaks in accusations which set your pyre alight, burning through your soul like candlewax. It spits slander at you, judges you for sins real and imagined. It is the thoughts you know are in everybody's heads- what they would say, if they were truthful. It is anxiety, guilt, self-loathing. It is the flame that burns from the inside, consuming all that you are. Defend yourself from it. Refute its lies. Acknowledge its truths. Know where you are innocent, and where you are guilty. Be sure of your sins, accept them for they are yours, and in so doing, rise from the flames. =Dungeon Conditions: Madness==================================================
=========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 6 *>========================= ========================< Results - Fathom the Flame >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 65 --(5)--> 70 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 65 --(5)--> 70 Pass Portable Fan 3 Wits Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 70 --(5)--> 75 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 60 --(5)--> 65 Pass Grandpa Gwyn's Notebook 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kalve 65 --(5)--> 70 Pass Traced Codex 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 70 --(5)--> 75 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 65 --(5)--> 70 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Noeline 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Madness Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Noeline has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Kalve has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================================<* Spirit Quest *>======================================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Breathing on the Black Mirror *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------------ At the beginning and end of all journeys, the ultimate obstacle is the self. With your destination in sight, you feel all those things holding you back suddenly begin to manifest in one final bid to stop you from reaching your goal. It was inevitable. By staring into the mirror of the soul, you must after all come face to face with the darkest parts of your very self. Your surroundings darken, the world seems to tear itself apart as trauma, nightmare and raw id are unleashed and congeal into a form that your twisted minds can comprehend. But what you can comprehend, you can fight against. What you can fight against, you can defeat. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
She can hear them faintly over the sounds of the roaring flames. People, coming to her defense...but the raging flames intensify, attempting to drown them out.
"Even now, you draw more people into your lies..." The voice murmurs.
In the end, it's not the sympathy and reassurance that reaches her. It might've helped, could she hear them, but it's Kalve's cold logic and Ragnell's flippant complaint that gets through.
Even now, she can't help but blame herself...but a part of her knows, and perhaps always knew, that there wasn't anything she could really do about that. The guilt will probably stay with her for quite some time, but it's a reminder of something else.
There were more important things to worry about now. She could push her own feelings aside for now.
Slowly, the flames around her die down. They're still present, but for now, they've receded, and her bindings slip away and cause her to fall forward. She manages to get to her feet on her own, though.
"I'm sorry, everyone..." She murmurs, then looks toward Hiro.
"I'll...I'll keep trying...that's all I can do for now..."
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve nods. He doesn't know what else to say. He's never been good with this sort of thing. But they're almost done... so maybe he doesn't have to be. The others can handle it, once they're out of here. He'll... think about it later.
The cuccos lead off into the distance. They trace into areas of twilight, the world darkening. Each bird seems to radiate a little bit of light, picking out a path that stitches across the increasingly uneven ink-black ground. The temperature drops suddenly, plummeting to freezing over the course of a minute.
Abruptly, the sky is split by a pillar of bone white. The needle of Malevolence, wrapped in awful tendrils of liquid darkness, juts out of the world ahead. It's the only light on the horizon. It brightens, turning to an object of painful luminescence --
A city. It's not Adlehyde. The architecture is different. The climate, too. The world-wise will recognize Arctica. The rest, following the road into the plaza at its end, will see the bodies.
Figures in armor are strewn about the streets. Some have been pounded into the ground, or through buildings; others are barely more than scorch marks. One looks like it's kneeling and merely asleep, propped up against a spear planted in the stained soil. It's different with each and every one, a study in the many ways a man can die. Some of them look... familiar. Too familiar. It's like seeing your own terrible, awful reflection.
They aren't all warriors, though... and they aren't all humans.
On the far side of the wide plaza, the sight is mirrored. Many of the figures are humanoid, but the similarities go out the window the closer you look. Metal Demons in dozens of shapes and armed with a dizzying array of weaponry are felled to the one, all of them once locked in mortal combat and left to rot where they lay -- if, indeed, that's something they can ever do. There has been no winner in this battle.
Kalve steps into the plaza, off the path. He tenses. He sees a figure sitting on the edge of a shattered fountain, cradling something. One of the figure's hands is gauntleted, wrapped in black metal that blends with the rust-stained chrome that runs up his arm and disappears under the ragged edges of a smoky camouflage cloak. The other is pale, bare flesh, covered in black tattoos of a more mystical nature, the markings twisting and writhing the more one tries to discern them.
"No," Kalve breathes.
"It didn't work," the other Kalve says brokenly, seated on the ruin. "Giving Mother all of it... it didn't work. There was never enough." His hands tighten around the object -- the weapon, some kind of twisted wreck of a gunsmoke ARM. The barrel is still smoldering. Devil's Due refuses to cool.
The other Kalve stands, suddenly. He turns to stare at the collected dream-travellers. "A little more," he whispers, his voice carrying far too well. He sounds desperate in a way the real Kalve never has. His gauntleted hand twists, fingers contorting into awful claws. The scent of ozone and the visible crackle of lightning wreathes his other hand.
He drops the ruined ARM. Six other sub-arms unfurl from behind him, each one different, a terrible fusion of flesh and steel. He steps forward. "More fuel for Her fires. There are still some survivors for Her -- you're left. With you... I have to. I have to --!"
The real Kalve screams in incoherent fury. A weapon begins to materialize in one of his hands -- and then he's pitched off his feet by a stroke of lightning, felled like a tree in the forest with contemptuous ease.
This may not be as easy as moving a bookcase.
DG: Kalve has used his Tool Optimized Array toward his party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
Janey looks tired and battered by the time they're out of the fire -- and even where there isn't real flame, she can feel its sting. It isn't the sting of fire, though; it's the burning of scorn of those that would make you doubt, and doubt yourself until you've turned your convictions into a twisted mess that scarce resembles what it was in the first place.
But... she reaches her hand out to Jacqueline, holding her hand in turn. Her eyes are teary as she mumbles, "... I'm not gonna let you push yourself aside, Miss Jay! Y-you're really important to us kids in Wayside..." with conviction.
From the flame... to the frost. Janey doesn't recognise Arctica, but the sight of battle is... well...
...
From the nearby distance, at the apex of the Malevolence-laced spire where everyone can see them -- there's a powerful cascade of light streaming out from its point, further beyond Arctica. Noeline might find it poignant that their last step before the end is the wintry kingdom.
The light is as an aurora, flowing in an endless stream cascading ever which way -- a trail of familiar, shimmering photons.
And in response to Kalve's rumination, there seems to be a sentiment of grief and regret from within the curtain of light.
"Mom...?" Janey whispers, glancing in that direction, then towards Kalve again. "I don't-- I don't get it... Uncle Kalve..."
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
...Well. She tried. Kaguya spots Jay, sees the way she's stll looking, alling forward, apologizing... And that's about all there is for now. She can keep trying, and Kaguya can shift her arms about Gwen's neck holding herself in place, leaning against the other girl. She sighs, lightly.
"I guess logic is a good way to go." She almost appreciates Ragnell's blunt talk of it being hot; it's at least a little texture to all the... well.e..
...The city. The dead. Kaguya goes very quiet as she watches them, as she looks to this new devastation. ...So much of it, from all of them. So much, all the time...
Untl they reach this mumbling, this smoe, these strange tattoos and this weapon and this--whatever tis. There's the talk of Mother, of what to do with the survivors, and briefly, Kaguya wonders about bothering.
...Only briefly. It rushes back at once as she narrwos her eyes, and this tme Gwen can smell the exotic bouquet of scents from the little pouch Kaguya brings to her nose. It's... Strange, but maybe not entirely unfamliar, maybe including some scents Frea might have favored, or some like them.
Her pupils dilate as she stares forward. "...Heh heh heh..." She sounds out of it, uncaring, laughing faintly, creepily as if a some untold joke. SHe twtches her fingers.
Gwen, first, is made faster, stronger, as a rush of petals on the wind whirls about her. Kaguya does not shoot this time; she uses her strange, plantlike magic, letting it erupt from the ground as she feels no pain, no concern.
"Hahaha... It's all so shiny... Haha... ha..." The petals for the false Kalve are sharp like blades. The winds for the others are scented. There is always more. ...SHe might fall off.
DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Strange Potpourri toward her party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... concentrate on that light," Noeline tells Janey quietly, her gaze fixed on the despairing half of Kalve in front of them. Ever since Arctica appeared around her, she's seemed a little fidgety, and now her face is drawn in a solemn kind of frown. "Reach out for it. I'll protect you while you do," she promises, as she holds a hand out to allow a familiar crimson scythe to coalesce in her grip.
She flicks to one side, letting Kalve get swept past her from the impact of the other Kalve's strike. "... do you really believe it would be enough for Her?" she asks-- the both of them, amidst the empty air. It's not accusing, so much as it is-- simply a question borne of curiosity. "What next, once the last of the humans go? The Tainted? The weak amongst us? Then whom? ... then whom after that?" She brings the blade around in a slow motion, setting it in front of her. "... that is what Riese and I have had to ask ourselves, time and time again."
"But it won't be us, not today. Let Arctica's memory rest," she growls, and in a flitting sort of motion she's suddenly bolted - not forwards, but to one side, and down a tiny alleyway between two mostly-intact buildings. A moment later, one half-ruined wall erupts with gunfire, the telltale shape of a spherical ARM beeping happily as Noeline directs it to pepper the area around the fake with a barrage of fire. She's not there, though - because she's suddenly rocketing down from above, her scythe thrumming as it spins into a culminating strike that shears one of the arms on the other Kalve's back away.
Barely has she hit the ground before she's moving again, darting back off to one side; a twist heralds a sudden shimmer of light that denotes the change from scythe to her slab of a sword, bringing the flat around to baseball bat a large chunk of rubble in the other Kalve's direction.
In its wake, she's disappeared behind another building, her tactics led by hit-and-run strikes and an intimate knowledge of the layout of the area. After all, this was once her home turf.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro barely felt like it was his place to step up - but Gwen had taught him a lot about the strength of the people of Filgaia. All of them had. And he manages a smile as Jay shows that strength again. Even when tested, she keeps going rather than buckling.
But the Cuccos keep leading them on.
Into a place of new horrors.
And the silence in this place is so loud - in reality it's imagined.
Silence is how his mind imagines this cold and ruined city - this plaza. His eyes move from one body to the next. Then trace a line over to the Kalve of the plaza.
It would be so easy to think of Jean in these moments. What Jean would be seeing if she were here.
But right now there is Kalve. And he looks at the real Kalve as he hears the other speak of Mother. His expression blank.
One can imagine judgement there if one wishes - but there's none.
Not right now. He doesn't know if Kalve's past - if this never happened - if it absolutely did and he's in a different place - or if he's the same one.
He just knows it's horrible.
Then his eyes narrow and his brow sweats as the other Kalve - stares and -
Decides not to think of this one as Kalve any longer.
He thinks of him as another Metal Demon he knows too well.
"Ferocious Winds." He says grimly with just a touch of coldness. On a mindscape wind isn't wind, but the boy's call for it manifests anyhow. A cyclonic vortex of a thousand cutting blades - that somehow manage to suck in a few squawking cuccos serving as spirit guides as well before dissipating.
Even if a mere stick has power here, it's a sign of respect for Kalve's power - that he doesn't immediately run to engage the one seeking to turn them into fuel for Mother's return otherwise. But instead starts running all the same to try to make it harder to track him.
It's only after trying to flank for some time - watching Noeline go in for a strike at one of the arms at his back - that he darts in to try for a vicious lateral slash. It may be a stick, but it sure slashes like a sword - before he tries to leapfrog away on the winds to get his distance again.
This isn't going to be an easy battle - and after what he saw with how easily the real Kalve got swept aside. One false move might be his end.
DG: Hiro has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"That's all anyone can do, ever," Ragnell says to Jay, of continuing to try. "Jus' remember that feelin'." She puts her fan away at least now that the flames have died down. At least one can trust Ragnell to cut right to the heart of the matter and say what she really thinks...? If that makes her unpopular, she doesn't really care, after all. As far as Jay goes, though, the important thing is that she pulled herself together and stood up on her own two feet. The follow-up, Ragnell leaves to the others.
The cuccos continue to lead the way forward, twilit in the freezing dark. Ragnell steels herself as they get closer and closer to the spire and to a sudden illumination... When it fades, a city Ragnell doesn't know is in its place, but unlike the vision of Adlehyde, this place is strewn with corpses. Ragnell frowns as she looks back and forth at the scene of death, until finally it rests on... another Kalve.
'It didn't work. Giving Mother all of it... it didn't work,' the other Kalve murmurs. Ragnell glances towards Noeline, noting what she says about Arctica and Mother and so on, then back at the other Kalve as he staggers to his feet and turns into a massive living weapon, including six big guns, while the real Kalve howls with rage.
Ragnell draws her twin pistols in reaction. "As interestin' as this conversation is, 'fraid you're in the way, buddy," she says conversationally. "Be a charmer an' die for us!" She opens fire with both pistosl, first with a rapidfire barrage, then phasing into an upward firing into the air to come down as lightning and rage, and then finally segueing into a powerful Seraphic Arc. Arte chaining at its finest, people.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Not even Kalve is spared. Gwen's not sure if this joined landscape shows any awareness of its own to be aware of 'turns', or if it's the influence of the Malevolence that spurred the formation of this place. Either way, as Gwen sees Kalve get thrown aside. she knows things are going to get rough, since Kalve's mind is probably the most alien to her (no pun intended) out of all assembled. There's no way to really prepare; is this a foil to Kalve's actual self, or some inkling of his inner, darker feelings and desires?
They all desire this Mother to awaken, don't they...?
Janey's confusion prompts Gwen to look behind her, her grey-blue eyes growing sad at the orphan's confusion. "There's gonna be a lotta questions n' confusion that everyone's gonna have for each other after all this," Gwen tries to assure the young girl, just as she begins to load her ARM. With bullets that seem to naturally come to her from thin air, as long as she reached for the places her memory wants them to be. "Just keep by us, Janey. No matter how scary we look, we just wanna protect each other here."
The courier extends her ARM, mindful of just how she looks as it begins to power up, noting everyone's positions. Is it the vague, comforting memory those scents produce that makes her body feel a burst of speed, more alive? Or is it the effects of a drug, or the memory of one, in this case?
As Ragnell fires, Gwen moves in with her own dash of electricity and bullets, trying to compliment the Seraph's movements, the timing of Hiro's magic, the swinging of Noeline's scyth, and other attacks. This time, she remembers that recoil is a thing.
One thing's definitely clear: this will *definitely* be harder to accomplish than moving a bookcase.
Gwen's ARM will handle it, all the same.
It knows how to handle Metal Demons, mental constructs or no.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline's about to follow the others, but she stops when she feels something grasping her hand, halting her in her tracks. At her current height she's about eye-level with Janey, putting those tears in full view. She stares wordlessly for a moment...and then smiles. It's a fairly weak one, but it's there.
"...Thank you." She replies, then nods toward Ragnell.
She turns and begins to follow the others. She supposed...that even if she did rely on others, there were those who relied on her, as well. She had to stay strong for them...or at least try to.
The environment shifts and changes as they continue to follow the trail of cuccos. As they travel, that spire of Malevolence comes into view, looming in darkness. They're close, but...
...they soon find themselves in a city Jacqueline's never seen. Seeing another ruined city so soon after being force to look upon the ruined Adlehyde is a little...difficult. Jacqueline forces herself to avoid looking at the corpses, instead focusing on the path ahead...at least until they come upon what appears to be a survivor. Jacqueline stares at him for a moment, then toward the Kalve that's with them...then tenses up as the other unfurls his arms and approaches.
...It was a fight, now.
Jacqueline reaches into her bags, drawing out a bottle. In reality, this might not work...but this wasn't reality. She holds the bottle tight for a moment before hurling it at the other Kalve. It will shatter on contact, spilling out a liquid that will attempt to coat him and hinder his movement.
With how powerful he appeared to be, they needed all the help they could get.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Breathing on the Black Mirror.
=======================================<* Spirit Quest *>======================================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Breathing on the Black Mirror *>========================= |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | -----------------------------------< Challenge Information: >------------------------------------ At the beginning and end of all journeys, the ultimate obstacle is the self. With your destination in sight, you feel all those things holding you back suddenly begin to manifest in one final bid to stop you from reaching your goal. It was inevitable. By staring into the mirror of the soul, you must after all come face to face with the darkest parts of your very self. Your surroundings darken, the world seems to tear itself apart as trauma, nightmare and raw id are unleashed and congeal into a form that your twisted minds can comprehend. But what you can comprehend, you can fight against. What you can fight against, you can defeat. =Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire=============================================
==================================<* Spirit Quest - Round 7 *>=================================== ===========================< Results - Breathing on the Black Mirror >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 70 --(13)--> 83 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Ragnell 70 --(13)--> 83 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 75 --(5)--> 80 Pass Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro 65 --(13)--> 78 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kalve 70 --(5)--> 75 Pass Optimized Array 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaguya 75 --(5)--> 80 Pass Strange Potpourri 1 Combat Effects: Rally and Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 70 --(5)--> 75 Pass Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden --------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------- Leader: Noeline 90 --(0)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ========================================< Dream Chasers >========================================
DG: The party led by Noeline has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 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> Kalve has posed.
"It's simple, Janey," the false Kalve says. He smiles. The corner of his mouth cracks like breaking pottery, spiderwebbing across his cheek. Flakes of metal fall away. "Your mother..." Malevolent eyes slide towards the Demon bodies. "...is --"
A shot from the ground. The real him fires a large-bore hand cannon (literally -- it looks like a copy of a small artillery piece) across the plaza, shutting the fake up by drawing another blast of lightning out of him. It explodes the shell, fragments of cannonball scattering like a shotgun blast. It tears skin on the human arm, drawing blood. It oozes rather than bleeds.
Petals erupt from the ground. The mirror-Kalve is torn, shredded by a razor wind. He replies in kind, making an open-palmed thrusting motion with his flesh-hand at Kaguya and causing the icy ground to explode upwards at a forward angle, an eruption of stone fragments and frozen slivers. "You do have power left. Surrender it, and..."
"It could have been enough," Kalve says from behind where Noeline just stood. "We were instructed to remove humankind regardless. Using them as fuel for Her restoration could have..."
"...worked," the doppelganger continues, his voice a grating metallic rasp. Silver blood flows from the fresh wounds, through the freshly-shredded cloak. Noeline's incoming fire adds to it, sparks flying and fluids scattering into the streets. One of the arms twists in on itself, firing bone-hafted quarrels tipped with a mercurial silver that chase her down the streets. "It didn't, though, did it? It -- guh!"
One of the arms comes spinning off. The fake spasms, the pain translated through the attached ARM... if it's still that. The enormous chunk of rubble comes flying at him, and he takes a step to the side and practically glides across the paving stones, striking it with a backhand that pitches it into another building. He raises his human arm, and with a snarl, calls down another stroke of lightning to rip its way down the side streets and bring ruination to the city.
He whirls around on Hiro's flanking maneuver, a hair-thin wire whipping out of the three-tined manipulator of one arm and hacking like flexible razor blades on his way past. There's a spray of not-quite-red blood from the passing stroke of a stick that cuts too well to be just that. He presses the clawed gauntlet to it, and looks to the weapon almost incredulously. There's a low laugh that sounds not altogether... correct... that follows Hiro away from him.
The real Kalve sees the spray. The color looks somewhere between human blood and the quicksilver in his veins, a far cry from his own strong quickening. It looks... Tainted. "I suppose it would be that, here, wouldn't it," he grunts, drawing himself to his feet. He sways. The lightning blast looks like it took far more out of him than any single spell should have. The left side of his body is intermittently charred from neck to waist and smoldering still.
"I am afraid I must insist," the fake remarks, turning to face into the barrage of gunfire that Ragnell unleashes, "you not take words out of my mouth." Gunshots rip into him. She can see holes straight through him to the other side -- holes that quickly fill with tiny needles of metal shooting across the gaps, filled in in fast forward. He raises his own guns, barrels whirling as a thundering fusillade of automatic fire pours down the street back at her.
The Seraphic Arc hits him. There's a blast of smoke and a peal of thunder. He vanishes in an obscuring cloud, and Gwen is already there, coming at him like a precisely-aimed freight train. There's a cacophonous clash, and she's suddenly trading blows with the martial artist beneath the zealot's mask, blind eruptions of sparks and the brief, alarming sight of long, narrow blades diving for that weak point he's struck before with less precision and more viciousness. A moment later, he's tossed from the cloud, landing feet-first against the door of a boarded-up building nearby with a crash. He's about to spring off of it --
Jacqueline's bottle hits him right in the face. He yells, losing his balance and hitting the ground. He starts to drag himself back to his feet... much more slowly, the numerous joints and bends gummed up by the liquid. "Why do you fight the inevitable?" he wails. "This is the only way! Nothing else works! Nothing else will save Her! Save us! Will you consign us to oblivion?!"
The real Kalve drops out of the smoke-laced air and pounds the fake into the ground with a haymaker out of approximately nowhere. Two of his other arms stab downward, taking hold of something in the fake's upper back and wrenching it with a shriek of metallic protest. He straightens slowly, the black charring slowly flaking away to cleanliness beneath.
"There exists no possibility you and I are the same," he hisses. "When no 'other way' exists, I make one."
Kalve steps away from the building with an all-too-real stagger. He takes a breath. The fake is nowhere to be seen. The ghoulish signs of battle have gone away in silence, leaving quiet streets devoid of life or death that is not their own. He looks towards his allies, and seems... embarrassed? "I... apologize. That... ah. Hm."
The path ahead lays clear. Kalve starts on it, limping along ahead rather than risk a touching moment.
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
There's a strange, tired, bated breath from Janey as she -- sort of half-watches the battle by virtue of being tangled up in it, and trying to scurry her way towards safety behind her real uncle's assaults.
"... I--I know my Uncle Kalve to do just that! Where there's nowhere to go -- we'll just make another hole to go through! That's the Wayside way!"
She knows she's blustering still, because she genuinely can't comprehend everything that both her mothers are wrapped up in. That her uncle, and in a way, everyone at Wayside are inevitably part of... ...and it's horrific, filled with dead bodies and smoke and fire and thunder in a way her young self's only briefly glimpsed before.
The constructs of Arctica soon wash away, led away by the shimmering trail of cuccos, to.... a large townhouse that stands at the end of a dry, cracked street. It is a street that Gwen and perhaps Hiro are undoubtedly familiar with, for it is a locale on one end of Little Twister. A little shrivelled road that carries no hopes with it, only signs of the end of the world. A parched white fence in desperate desire of renewal lines the house, which is nondescript save for its vividly red roof, thus named: 'Red Roof Orphanage'.
It's one of the few orphanages in Little Twister, a town of ill repute such that orphanages seem unthinkable.
Several bystanders pass by -- a farmer, a merchant, a Drifter, dressed as their ilk tend to... yet, they each have goat heads, lulling about with no focus on any one thing. Unhearing. Unseeing. Uncaring.
Just walk by. Nothing to do with me.
Just a bunch of kids. Nothing to do with me.
Gotta just make it through the day. Nothing to do with me.
Janey's eyes shoot wide open as she thrusts herself forward and stares up--
--up where the spire of Malevolence looms over them, enormous and potent. But it does not harm them, because that same border of light cascades like an aurora in the sky, spreading ever which way to protect them from it; in the centre, Riesenlied can be seen floating in the air, extending her photons to the fullest of her powers. She looks deeply strained.
"M-mom!" Janey exclaims, wide-eyed.
"Janey! I'm-- I'm so glad you're all right--" Riesenlied finds herself at the limits of her power, her voice strained and exhausted. She redoubles herself, with effort, the Tear shimmering and threatening to crack as the Malevolent spike rises once more. "Inside-- she is inside that house...! Please, find Mikaia..."
Janey stares towards the door, and she's trembling. "I don't... want to... I can't..."
She's rattled by the loud *CRACK* as the spire of Malevolence grows ever closer.
"Before my power fails, please..." Riesenlied urges, looking towards the group. "The Malevolence is seeking her out... find Mikaia, please!"
Janey looks back to Noeline, glowering for a moment in fear -- and then she thrusts her hand forward as she shoves through the front door.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"... we've got a lot to tell you, I suppose," Noeline chuckles gently to herself as the other form of Kalve fades away; the world begins to shift around them again, and Noeline lets it happen, by now rather used to the shifting forms of the strange landscape they're in. Instead, she'd rather rest her hand on Janey's head, letting out an uncertain breath. "... the two of you are old enough, can understand enough, that perhaps it's time we do that. Just-- rest assured that the two of us will always do our best to protect you, yes?"
Hesitating, she grins faintly towards Kalve, and bows her head. "... apologies for assisting in killing... 'you'," she notes, though with the tone of voice that suggests she's already aware it will be waved off - but she turns more solemn. "Still... that isn't quite an answer to my question. I suggest thinking on it."
Her head snaps up at the first call from Riesenlied, though, all else forgotten; immediately, she's sucked in a tight sort of breath, knowing that the battle before them is not something she can take on herself, not with a Guardian's borrowed power and none of her own. "Riese! ... we'll find her!" she promises solemnly, even if her eyes are alight with concern and worry as she huffs. "If you burn yourself out I will be most displeased!" she grumbles - and a sweep of her arm sends her two ARMs up to join the figure holding back the Malevolent aura.
It is more a gesture than anything - there's very little chance the ARMs in this odd projection are anything close to the real thing - but the air shifts, and there's a sensation of it changing ever so slightly as Noeline effectively lends a chunk of her mental power to the other metal demon.
Looking down, she meets Janey's gaze with one of understanding, resolute and just a little amused. "... us versus the world?" she suggests, and almost daintily applies a boot to the door at the same time as Janey gives it a shove.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
A wire whips up and hacks like razors. Crimson sprays and he's fairly certain it's more his than the other's. The unhinged laugh as he's flung away halfway across the plaza follows him - smashing into a roll along the ground. He's trying to blot out what he hears. But he can't quite - just like he can't quite blot out what he sees. Not as thunder booms and acid splashes and the real thing jumps back into the fray.
Truly disturbed, in the quiet - he finds himself saying - "Don't apologize." But it's almost too quickly that he says it. Heaving in breath, he checks himself for wounds just as Ruby - flies overhead, looking disturbed herself as she looks on that spot. As big and powerful as she feels right now, seeing such indiscriminate carnage truly got to her such that she fell back on old habits.
If Kalve wants to ever ask himself again who would win. Dragon - or him? He only needs to look at her right now as her jowls quiver just a little.
Soon enough she's listing around behind the party, eyes still on Kalve.
As they walk on, the scenery changes unto - an orphanage? Puzzled, he gives Gwen a look. The building looked almost familiar to him - like the one she pointed out the Ethos Priest runs.
"Ah..." The people with goat heads walk by - and at first he doesn't think anything of it because he doesn't seem to think Beastmen variants are unusual - until everyone has goat heads. And then he points as if asking if they all see this.
The presence of the spire just getting so big so quickly snaps Ruby out of her silence. When did it get so close!?" But both of them are looking at Riese floating in the air, and as horrible as this seems to have affected him, having that goal back in mind, knowing she's alright seems to redouble his determination - "We'll find her. Just hold on a little longer Riese."
He's about to tell Janey not to go in alone as the scared girl shows off just how brave she is - but Noeline is there, and instead there's a smile present, "Huh. You're a natural." He says to Noeline, though it's unclear exactly what he's referring to her being a natural at - kicking in doors?
Well, being a mother to the kid of course.
If it doesn't budge, then he approaches and adds in his own efforts with a shoulder rammed decisively into the door - otherwise he just follows them in.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline breaths a sigh of relief as the other Kalve disappears, allowing herself to relax somewhat. It was awful, the idea of using people to fuel Mother restoration...was that something they had considered?
...She didn't want to think about it. She moves to follow Kalve, and as she does so the scenery shifts again. This time, she finds herself in a familiar location...Little Twister. It's quite different from the place they were before. They seemed to have encountered places from everyone else's memories so far, so the only person left was...
Jacqueline's eyes settle on Janey. She studies her quietly, but the sight of Riesenlied interrupts her before she can try to say anything reassuring.
"Mikaia is...!? Very well." Jacqueline says with a nod.
They need to get the door open and find Mikaia, quickly. She looks down at her hands for a moment.
...In this world, she didn't need her Crests. She extends a hand and tendrils of earth launch from the ground to tear the door right off its hinges along with them.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Fair is fair. Kaguya is hit by the blast from the ground, from the ice, knocked backwards and away from Gwen by it as she curls on the ground to try to get a handle on moving. ...But she doesn't feel the pain, thanks to her chemical assistance. "Gh..." Power. Yes. But surrender it?
"...I don't surrender much," she counters, and starts to work at doing the same... But everyone is at work. Everyone is trying. The inevitable? Oblivion? Kaguya has little to say. By the time it ends, and her haze abates, she is looking to see the new world about her, to see Kalve's embarrassment, and pausing. "...Hey," she asks Gwen, and sighs. It aches. It hurts. It shouldn't, they're in a realm of the mind apaprently. But... She does look to Kalve, the real Kalve, at what he's said, and says, her voice a little hollow, a little too raspy, "Sometimes there still isn't another way, you know. ...Sometimes something really is inevitable, no matter what you want, or how hard you wish."
She glances to the side, and stays quiet.
They're in front of an orphanage soon, still a strange concept admittedly to Kaguya, a Veruni. "...Uh?" Goat... heads. Why? But the spire is there, and Janey--aw, Janey--
"Riesenlied!" Kaguya calls, looking up at her. She hears her instructions, but even so. She frowns, and then nods. "...Okay, okay."
But what can she do looking for a human girl? It doesn't seem like much of a use of her talents. Regardless, Kaguya rests her head on Gwen's shoulder and closes her eyes briefly. "...We find her I'll... i don't know, shoot anything going after her. Riesenlied wouldn't like it if I didn't."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The Mirror Kalve makes a strike with those blades towards that weak point in Gwen's shoulder, where flesh meets ARM. There's a scream. The blade strikes cloth as Gwen disengages from the Metal Demon, Kaguya's mantel an the first layers of skin catching on the tip as Gwen dodges to the side just in time.
And then, it's over. Gwen straightens, patting at the droplets blood with the ruined cloth of the mantel. Kalve speaks, and Gwen looks up. "I guess it's only fair at this point," she muses with a smile that borders on wry as she kneels down to help Kaguya up onto her back. "None of us are gettin' outta here without some blows to our pride."
The scenery changes, and for a moment, Gwen wonders if the powers that drive the mindscape have turned back to her for another round. She tenses visibly, her bare feet shifting on the battered dust of the main street.
The goat heads don't hold any significance to her, however. Perhaps... Janey had a more personal tie to seeing Gwen's memories than Gwen had first realized.
Like any town that attracts drifters of all walks of life, especially those without a dime to their name or those wishing to make it big, there will be orphans. And where there are orphans, there are organizations that spring up to help them. Or just 'help' them.
When Hiro looks at Gwen, he'll see her eyes widening, recognizing the building. She knows that orphanage. Maybe not personally, but- "There's more than one orphanage in Little Twister. This is one of the larger ones." Her shoulders tense under Kaguya's weight. "There were always rumors about kids disappearin' from there now n' then. Not that was too unusual, but usually when kids disappear, they're just runnin' around in a gang nearby. Here..."
If this place is here, and the normally brave Janey is hesitating... ".... Guardians..." She shifts her hold on Kaguya, freeing one hand to 'reach' for a bullet. "Kaguya, hold onto me. If you guys can't get through, I'll slam that door down myself. Janey, keep by us. Close yer eyes if you think you're gonna see somethin' real bad. I'll keep mine open for ya."
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
"That's the Wayside way," Kalve echoes in a murmur. He shakes his head. "It won't end like this," he tells Kaguya. "I won't let it."
He trudges along, towards the unfamiliar sight. The air here seems somehow more oppressive than the streets before. Maybe he's just used to a certain amount of carnage, and the deliberate disinterest of the specters of humanity is unfamiliar enough to make him slightly uneasy. He turns away from the shadows, looking to Noeline instead. "Were I reduced to such a state, I would ask you do it again," Kalve states. "I suppose you'll have your answer another time."
The question of what happened to Riesenlied is answered. Kalve's eyes widen in alarm. He stares up at her for a moment -- and then goes for the building in a hurry, moving with a haste he didn't have before.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"I'll do whatever I damn well please, boy," Ragnell shoots back to the fake Kalve, literally. When he fires back, she unleashes that Seraphic arte, then dodges the hell out of the way; her form might be an illusion, but she's not really keen on getting a bunch of holes shot through it anyway. It does mean she can't follow up on her attack, though--good thing Gwen and the others are there. Soon, the fake Kalve is defeated, the final blows laid down by the original.
Ragnell glances at Janey. Looks like she's having trouble wrapping her head around everything she's just seen, blustering about the Wayside Way. She shuts her eyes, smiling faintly. Well... that's kids for you, after all. She strides by, aiming to pass Janey. As she does, she murmurs, "That *is* the way. So don't look away."
They all walk through Little Twister, or an apparition thereof, with goat heads talking about things being nothing to do with them. Ragnell snorts at them in open contempt, eyes narrowed, before focusing on the spire of Malevolence ahead. It's stronger and more overwhelming than ever... Ragnell grits her teeth, steeling herself against its presence. She's had plenty of experience with that, but it's still an uncomfortable experience, one she can't generally keep up for too long.
But then Riesenlied appears. Ragnell doesn't interrupt the conversation between 'mother' and 'daughter', and when Janey trembles in fear but ultimately shoves at the door as instructed to find Mikaia, the Seraph nods in aproval.
"Riese, you sure got us runnin' ragged," she drawls as she draws her pistols again. She aims for the 'doorknob,' concentrating a powerful burst of lightning in the barrel. To Ruby, she remarks, "Who knows? I'd say 'when' doesn't much matter, anyway. What matters--" She fires, and a crackling orb shoots at top speed to attempt to smash the door open along with everyone else's efforts. "--is movin' forward!"
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Paradigm Shift *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
However it is you've gotten this far, one way or another you're going to be
leaving this place with a new perspective. Your shadow is exhausted and
scattered, your most terrible demons vanquished. But these things are part
of who you are. Your fears, your guilt, your anxiety, these are as much you'
as all else.
Suddenly the world begins to tremble. This place has begun to fall apart.
Fantastical landscapes shatter and crumble to dust. Vivid memories turn
sepia and return to the depths of your mind. In the distance, a pillar of
light erupts from the dissolving dream.
If you run, you can make it in time-- but can you abandon this place,
leaving so much of yourself behind? If you stop to gather what you have
broken, will you reach your goal? Remember the lessons this place taught
you. You are all that you are, and you are capable of so much more. Whatever
your choice, outrace the collapsing inner universe, go towards the light.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
"... I'm sorry," Riesenlied whispers as she watches everyone burst into the door. "I'll do all that I can..."
The door swings open -- with a kick and a push, as everyone enters on through. There's a thick, cloying smell inside the orphanage -- the smell of rubbing alcohol, the kind used to address wounds. The smell -- almost a stench, is sterile, not unlike that of a hospital. But it's otherwise a surprisingly pretty little old house inside, full of the kinds of old-fashioned bric-a-brac that paints a picturesque heritage home full of kids...
... and a tall, spindly old woman the pale color of death looms at the door. She must be more than ninety years old, dressed in a thick white dress with an apron ontop. Gwen knows this as the owner of the Red Roof Orphanage, a devout of Granas by the name of Mabelline.
Janey's pupils shrink when she comes into contact with her. She instinctively holds onto her head -- onto her mouse ears, flinching in pain.
"... all children are the blessed creations of Granas ..." she whispers, as if reciting in mass, moving forward in sinewy fashion. The smile on her face is kind.
The goats outside continue to pass. Unhearing. Unseeing. Uncaring.
"... you're not real ... you're not real ..." Janey whispers, trembling-- and then exclaims, "Mikaia! Mikaia, you're in here, aren't you?!"
The grandmother's face contorts, all of a sudden. The bags under her eyes suddenly manifest, and her head lulls forward, almost lurchingly.
"... Muse, honey. Why do you still have those ears? That tail? Those Ears... that Tail of Valmar..."
Her hand shifts behind her. An uncomfortable drip. Drip. Drip.
"It's too bad that... some children have these unslightly growths of Valmar on them."
A large pair of shearing scissors comes into sight. Their lustre has long been tainted with dry, long-dried blood caked along its edge...
"... it's time to remove that blight from you again, Muse. It's time to reclaim you for Granas' sake..." speaks the caretaker, the owner of the orphanage. Her smile is contorted and inhuman, the glimmer in her eyes abhorrent. The power of Malevolence emanates from inside of her, leaking out.
The goats continue to pass through, uncaring, phasing through the walls, completely unaware of the scene. They glance at each other, they laugh. Unhearing. Unseeing. Uncaring.
Those kids would lie about anything.
Who'd believe a kid over their mother?
She's the kindest old soul around these parts.
These kids don't know how lucky they are.
Janey clenches at her head tighter and exclaims, "Y-you have no power over me... you have no power over me... ...!!"
Her voice is shaking and faltering...
Meanwhile, a sensation seems to be coming from -- underneath? A more familiar one, beyond the veil of the Malevolence... a sensation of fright and anxiety. Might this be... Mikaia? The hallways stretch and loom before you -- there may be a staircase leading to a basement. You can't afford to be bogged down in a fight with a Malevolent spectre here, not when such a strict time limit is poised upon you; what you need to do is clear -- to move forward, to save Mikaia and release her from this self-made nightmare...
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
It's one thing to hear about Filgaia's treatment of Beastmen. It's another thing to see it in action. It's another thing to see it, when what looks like a kindly, elderly grandmother shows her monstrous true colors under the guise of religious justification, "Unsightly!? How dare you!"
Ruby was one of those strange children of the world. Raised by one of the kindliest people she'd ever known - she never had to experience this. Seeing the contrast of this woman and how she regards Mikaia a child who trused in her causes her to find her courage anew.
Landing on her forelegs, she hunches down, her dragon tail wiggling - her growl a low rumble.
And then pounces - "YOU PUTRID WITCH! YOU WANNA SEE A BLIGHT?" She tries to land directly atop the malevolent spectre but doesn't quite make it. "TRY LOOKING IN A DAMN MIRROR!"
Crashing down just beside her, she whirls around in a flurry of fang and claw - despite being the size of a dragon on the mindscape, never seeming more catlike than she is right now batting at the dripping shears like a cat might a mouse - except the mouse is too powerful and threatening. "Go! Find Mikaia!"
It's quite apparent in short order that her mindscape appearance can't stand up to the reality of the threat. But she doesn't have to. She just has to try to buy them time - time - time.
Hiro for one takes the opportunity for what it is to try to dart past into the winding corridors, "You'd better catch up to us!"
"As if I could ever leave you idiots behind!" As it stands she may not be able to stop pursuit at all - but even a few seconds before she's swatted aside might just enough time to get the kid and get out of here.
DG: Hiro has used his Tool Ruby Being Helpful toward his party's challenge, Paradigm Shift.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kalve says he won't let it happen, and Kaguya watches him for a few moments after that. She doesn't answer, in the end, looking away with the sort of expression that moves with a shrug, despite her shoulders not moving. ...Gwen would know, after all. Kaguya hangs onto her as she's asked, after her explanation. "Orphanage," she repeats again, and inclines her head. "...Kay. I'll hang on. Do what you need to..." She trails off then, as if running out of air for her words before she says, "Do."
Ragnell might have a point about running them ragged... But Kaguya quickly sees inside. The thick smell is too sterile, the hospital scent making Kaguya uneasy. Her expression shifts, into something like discomfort, but more. But the house is nice, except... For...
The age of the woman doesn't bother Kaguya. She does not know this woman. But she knows Janey's reaction, and she knows the whisper. Those outside pass. Janey calls for Mikaia, and this... this woman... Whatever she's talking about, this Granas Kaguya has heard of--
"You--" Malevolence. It turns Kaguya's stomach, but that doesn't do away with the sudden hot anger she feels. ...Her own pointed ears, sharp teeth, are not why she is so angry. She is not sure why she is, until she hears the whispers, of not believing, of--
"You... You disgusting human--" she rasps, barely audible even to Gwen, though it might seem a strange turn of phrase for her. ...But then, Kaguya passes well for a Beastwoman herself.
The sensation from below, Mikaia, calls to Kaguya, but even then--until Ruby pounces, Kaguya is tempted. But she watches her. She sees Ruby going, buying time. "Ruby--"
She catches her breath, "I'll find you," she hisses to the spectre as she hangs onto Gwen, as they prepare to pass. She twitches her fingers, and a wind strewn with petals unfamiliar to this world wends about Gwen, making her faster. "This barbaric--" she abrubtly starts coughing, and whatever else she would have said is lost beyond, "Go!" to Gwen, as she hangs on tight enough to hurt.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Immediately, Noeline wrinkles her nose; the smell is faintly familiar, even if she's never really come across its like before. It reminds her of the Photosphere - of the chambers in which neonates are born and built, the clinical smell of sterile fluids and medical bays. It's never a smell she's liked, to say the least, and this new association isn't helping much either.
Janey abruptly shrinks back, takes a step back, and nearly impacts with the spy's legs; Noeline steps back in turn, at first not understanding the mouse's fears - but ready enough to trust the streetwise little orphan, watching resolutely as the rest of the scene plays out.
She's silent, for a long time - and then a gigantic slab of metal, the size of Noeline herself, suddenly plants itself into the ground in front of Janey, a wall that blocks the advance of the ravening figure in front of them. Noeline's holding onto it, single-armed - the other hand rests in Janey's hair. "... blind worship always ends up the same way," she mutters. "Granas, Althena, the Guardians... even Mother. So long as you can claim you're acting in someone else's name, anything goes, hm?"
She looks up, and her eyes are alight with an anger carefully held in check. "You will not touch so much as a single thread of this girl's hair - or anything else, for that matter - so long as I draw breath. Not you, nor anyone else. You truly have no power over her," she adds her support to Janey's words - and then huffs softly. "And she's a great deal stronger than you ever were."
A soft beep, and despite her having given up her ARMs to Riesenlied outside, there's one here, as well - Strife, or a copy, wings into Janey's arms suddenly, as if to offer her a way to flee... or a way forwards, instead. "Janey. Look up," Noeline adds quietly. "We've someone to save, just ahead of us. Whatever you want to do, I'll help you."
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Paradigm Shift.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Ruby gets a glance. Kalve sees her reaction before they go in. He turns away, but he'll remember it.
Kalve sees --
A human. An old, venerable human. An old, venerable, fragile human, pronouncing judgement. He finds the idea fascinating, and a little strange. The idea that such a person would be allowed to be responsible for the wellfare of the larval humans is insane. They clearly don't have the proper qualifications, nor the right demeanor to shape them into stronger humans as they age and adapt the way humans seem to. Who is she to think she can cut and trim unwanted aspects when she can barely keep herself standing in that state?
Huh. Kalve looks down at one of his hands. It's shaking slightly. Anger, he thinks. He calms himself with a moment's pause. Interesting.
Then, he turns to what looks like a wall -- and strides through it like it was tissue paper. He isn't letting this place dictate how he searches it. They've nearly reached the end. They have one to find, and a fragment to destroy. And then...!
DG: Kalve has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Paradigm Shift.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Guardians..." Gwen grits her teeth. If she was exposed to this mindscape as a child, would she have seen Mother Ursa in a similar light? The grafts, the bandages, the pain. It was all so Gwen's scars wouldn't impede her movement as she grew, and Ursa did her best. Mother Ursa was an elderly woman, however, and while she knew better in the ways of cleanliness and health than the average Little Twister resident would, her eyes and hands weren't what they used to be.
It can't necessarily be a reflection of reality, any more than Gwen's own memories of her childhood translate well to what Little Twister really was. But this is a specter of Janey's memories, and it's real enough to slow them down. If she stopped and dealt with this woman, it may give Janey the push to feel brave again. Gwen opens her mouth, about to call for everyone to run ahead while she (and possibly Kaguya) deal with this woman, when a much, much better candidate steps in: Ruby.
"I'll look into it myself," Gwen answers Kaguya. "I've got some contacts there." The crying boy in Gwen's memory had, after all, come back, just as a clergy member. Brother Silas would definitely be interested, if this woman was even still alive. "That town managed to twist all of us, in the end. Good intentions or not. I guess the difference is whether you can stand back n' look at your actions in a clear light or not."
... Ultimately, the only reason Gwen could even look at this without anger is due to her own treatment being ultimately done out of kindness and foresight of one woman.
Mother Ursa never acted like this woman.
"Let's go!" Gwen says, charging down the hallway.
She can feel the nervous patter of her heart in her chest.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paradigm Shift.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Paradigm Shift *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
However it is you've gotten this far, one way or another you're going to be
leaving this place with a new perspective. Your shadow is exhausted and
scattered, your most terrible demons vanquished. But these things are part
of who you are. Your fears, your guilt, your anxiety, these are as much you'
as all else.
Suddenly the world begins to tremble. This place has begun to fall apart.
Fantastical landscapes shatter and crumble to dust. Vivid memories turn
sepia and return to the depths of your mind. In the distance, a pillar of
light erupts from the dissolving dream.
If you run, you can make it in time-- but can you abandon this place,
leaving so much of yourself behind? If you stop to gather what you have
broken, will you reach your goal? Remember the lessons this place taught
you. You are all that you are, and you are capable of so much more. Whatever
your choice, outrace the collapsing inner universe, go towards the light.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"...Fuckin' religious fanatics," Ragnell mutters, eyeing the dream-woman. She's not sure if this is a realistic mirror of someone who actually exists or if it's exaggerated, but she sees Janey's flinching and the Malevolence leaking from her. "Why do you humans always have to take everything good an' make it terrible?"
Not that Ragnell has a great opinion of Granas, but frankly she's seen these types in the Church of Althena, too. She holsters her guns. She doesn't need them for this. They don't have time to mix it up with this creepy old illusion-lady. Instead, Ragnell charges right at her--and then *jumps*, aiming to knock the Hellion's chair over, and the Hellion with it, and then push herself forward towards the way onways beyond.
If she leaves some boot tracks on Old Mama Scissors's face, so much the better.
"Hey, Mickey! If you can hear us, holler!" she adds in a shout once she's past. Other things--'Muse,' Kaguya's use of the word 'human,' Gwen's talk of Little Twister, and so on--are filed away for later. Right now is no time to get into distractions, no matter how potentially interesting.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paradigm Shift.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
When the door opens, Jacqueline rushes in quickly. The scent doesn't bother her quite as much. She's used to working with all kinds of materials in her potions, after all, but what awaits her inside is more startling still.
Jacqueline clasps her hands over her mouth in horror as the old woman speaks, and as the connections come to her mind.
She might think of herself as a despicable human being sometimes...
...But this served as a reminder that there were still yet worse people out there.
"Oh, Janey..." Jacqueline murmurs, sympathetically.
Fortunately, Noeline was there for her. Everyone else had this situation covered, and right now they still needed to find Mikaia.
Jacqueline starts to run after the others, as fast as her small legs can carry her.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paradigm Shift. DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Paradigm Shift.
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>==============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Paradigm Shift *>=======================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
However it is you've gotten this far, one way or another you're going to be
leaving this place with a new perspective. Your shadow is exhausted and
scattered, your most terrible demons vanquished. But these things are part
of who you are. Your fears, your guilt, your anxiety, these are as much you'
as all else.
Suddenly the world begins to tremble. This place has begun to fall apart.
Fantastical landscapes shatter and crumble to dust. Vivid memories turn
sepia and return to the depths of your mind. In the distance, a pillar of
light erupts from the dissolving dream.
If you run, you can make it in time-- but can you abandon this place,
leaving so much of yourself behind? If you stop to gather what you have
broken, will you reach your goal? Remember the lessons this place taught
you. You are all that you are, and you are capable of so much more. Whatever
your choice, outrace the collapsing inner universe, go towards the light.
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=========================<* Spirit Quest - Round 8 *>========================= =========================< Results - Paradigm Shift >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 83 --(100)--> 183 Pass Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 83 --(100)--> 183 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 80 --(100)--> 180 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hiro 78 --(100)--> 178 Pass Ruby Being Helpful 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kalve 75 --(100)--> 175 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kaguya 80 --(100)--> 180 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 75 --(100)--> 175 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Noeline 90 --(10)--> 100 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Save Point(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: Noeline is too exhausted to continue! DG: Seraph Ragnell is too exhausted to continue! DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue! DG: Hiro is too exhausted to continue! DG: Kalve is too exhausted to continue! DG: Kaguya is too exhausted to continue! DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Noeline has successfully explored Spirit Quest!
==============================<* Spirit Quest *>============================== ===========<* CHALLENGE - Better Double Check Those Movie Rights *>=========== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You emerge with apparently perfect recall of your adventures through that realm of unreality and nonsense. In spite of everything, it manages to form a coherent, if somewhat meandering narrative. While a busy drifter is generally too occupied with the work of finding the next meal to put pen to paper, you can probably find some struggling author willing to take your tale and publish something. With some embellishments, of course. Book sales should make the both of you a decent revenue stream for the next few months, though your new author friend might hound you for another story after a little while. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Calamitest Janey has posed.
It's with a surging lunge that Ruby dives forward and tackles the Malevolent old woman, Mabelline; she hisses, her grin from ear to ear as she asks, "More blight... more blight to snip out..."
The two tossle and tumble in a flurry of fang and claw, clashing against scissor and hand -- and it's clear that the only reason this ninety-plus woman is this strong is because of Mikaia's manifestation of her. The strength that she has in her image, the toxic power that her fright has nurtured deep in her heart...
But she's not alone, because Ragnell's joined her in the fight, booting her on the chair and then the face, giving them time to push onward.
It's not my problem. I don't know what goes on down there.
Kaguya empowers Gwen with the winds, and she bursts through as she runs through the corridors, heading through a living room, to the kitchen -- there's an underground pantry latch that's been tousled open, down there.
Janey swallows and holds onto Strife's little head, nodding at her mother, to Noeline. "... y-yeah. Yeah..." she rubs at her eyes, and swallows. She's bawling, but at the same time, she's going. "I'm going. I'm going!"
Kids have such an overactive imagination, hahaha!
"Even if no one believes us..."
Janey's teeth are grit as she follows after Gwen, slipping after the holes that Uncle Kalve breaks through. She glances at him for a moment, finding comfort -- perhaps, in his countenance -- and she does seek it. The one fragment at the end...
You shouldn't make up such lies about your elders.
"Gwen! Gwen-- over here!" Janey exclaims as she catches up, seated on Strife as they charge into a cellar, so clear and open despite what the bleating voices of the goats wish to do, to pave and gloss over everything in their desire to not look.
There's no problem. Don't look for problems.
... the smell of rubbing alcohol and bleach has been replaced. The cellar is of rotting wood, and there's a little, broken barrel that looks like it might've been once used for wine... and there's a little figure trembling within.
"Mikaia...?" Janey asks, looking at Gwen and the others as she hops down.
"M-Musey... you gotta hide... she'll find you... Grandma will find you..." she hoarsely whispers, shaking her head, timorously shaking in fear.
"... it's not real, Mikaia. We're not here..." Janey whispers, swallowing. And, she walks...
And as she does, a drip of blood flows down her head.
"... see?" the grin is unmistakably Calamitest Janey's, but the large mouse ears of illusion have begun to rip away into reality, streaming in small rivulets of blood across her face, intermixed with her tears.
"... 'm not Muse anymore..." she tries to coax her. "... 'm Janey now. Calamitest Janey. Gonna be Lord of Calamity someday."
Mikaia is averting her eyes still, whimpering as she shakes her head. "She didn't... she didn't take your...!!"
"It's happened, Mikaia! It already happened... so... please, don't let her trap you like this!" Janey exclaims, her nostrils full of snot and her eyes full of tears.
"W-wah... waah...!" Mikaia screams in fright and sorrow, as she turns and gazes towards her. "Mu... M-- J-Janey..."
"L-look... look at who we have around us now... we have Riesemama... and Mommaline... and Uncle Kalve..."
She swallows, holding her hands around, even as the blood drips from her now earless head.
"Didn't you enjoy... playing with Ruby? She's fightin' for you up there... all her heart... and-- and even that silly ghost Ragnell you say exist's here too."
Mikaia slowly creeps out, her clothes tattered and her form small... but her wings are there.
Janey reaches out for her hand, and Mikaia reaches out in turn. "Didn't you enjoy Gulliver givin' us a ride around the valley, with Gwennie...?? And... don't you wanna be... an alchemist, just like Miss Jay??"
Mikaia... nods slowly, as she whispers, "I don't want to... be in here...!! I--I want to be there... with everyone...!"
She holds hands, with Janey. The spiritual structure is beginning to rumble, as everything starts to collapse with the architect of the landscape releasing it...
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's aloofness has kind of been blown away; the cellar crumbles around the group, dissolving and distorting - but the demon finds time to claw her way down into the vision, her enormous sword winking away in the blink of an eye as she sweeps both of the orphans up into a hold that is as instinctive as it is hurried. "--we've got them. Riese, we've got them!" she calls over the din, her eyes flashing with feeling; she doesn't direct the shout at anything in particular, assuming that her partner can hear regardless. "Now let's get out of here!"
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Locked in struggle with the mind spectre, the manifestation of Mikaia's worst fears - Ruby growls a little, "Blight this. Blight that. I hate to take a page from Leo but in your case I'll make an exception. Back on our world-"
She inhales - then exhales a burst of flame over her. "-WE BURN CORRUPTION OUT!"
But it's a distraction, meant to blind - before Ruby whips her tail around and takes off, "Come on Ragnell!" She flaps down the corridor as if the devil itself is at her heels. That may be true in this case.
Hiro runs alongside the others down the corridors - as he hears the shadow excuses, hears Janey talk about the people who didn't believe them, "Everyone who didn't bears some responsibility." He says quietly to noone in particular - sounding abstracted.
All the way to the cellar and the broken barrel. It isn't his place to coax Mikaia out. Janey can do a better job than that.
He finds himself admiring the resilience of kids in Janey. Thinking back to Jean and her past - how he'd acted like it wasn't a big deal who she used to be. Now seeing Janey he's starting to think that the past defines a person exactly as much as they want it to.
"Keep looking after Mikaia like that and you'll be the best Lord of Calamity there ever was." He says to Janey, he can get away with that purely because he still doesn't think Lucia really is, no matter what Agatha says before switching to Mikaia, "You know when I was your age, Ruby used to check under my bed for monsters. It was her job. And if she actually found one, she'd fight it."
It was more a comical shadow fight - sort of like substitute story time to lull him to sleep when he was really little. "So if you ever get scared again - know that Ruby is up here." He taps the side of his head, "Ready to fight whatever scares you if either of your moms or Janey aren't there to step in."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline continues to run, nearly tripping as she does so. She's still unused to moving like this...but fortunately, she may not have to do so for long. They move into a cellar, where they find the person they were looking for.
Jacqueline listens quietly as Janey and Mikaia speak, and smiles softly when Mikaia makes the decision to emerge and join them. With that, the mindscape around them begins to collapse...
Jacqueline is alright with this.
"...Let's go back. All of us, together..." She murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"We came t'get ya, Mikaia." A cheerful smile and Gwen is there, right by Janey's side, summoning as much spirit as she can to help coax the winged child out. "Didn't realize you were from the same hometown as I was! Don't worry. If Granny gets too feisty for Ruby, I'll come on over and clock some sense into her. I know how tough adults can be when it comes to medical care, but this was..." Her voice cracks, as she sees the blood begin to seep from Janey's disappearing ears. "... was..."
It had already happened. Janey wasn't a mouse just in a spiritual sense, but in a real sense. A Beastman. A person who'd have even less luck in a place like Little Twister than someone who looked human, no matter what inhuman thoughts they might have in their hearts.
Kaguya's poor mantle has seen better days- or, well, minutes, considering it's a construct of the mindscape. But with a shift in Gwen's posture, the courier mindful of Kaguya on her back, the mantle comes down in one free hand, which presses it to Janey's head, in an effort to wipe away the blood.
In the moment, it just didn't matter that she had those scars, or that anyone could see them.
No one's going to be afraid. No one's going to feel sorry for her. Gwen is just Gwen.
"Us orphans stick together, y'hear? No hidin'!"
Those are the last words she says before Noeline grabs the two and the landscape begins to warp.
A part of her almost feels sad to be leaving this place, where she could feel the feelings around her like the perfume of a ephemeral meadow of flowers, just after a rare desert rain.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya is aware that people might've heard things from her, guessed things, and as she has ebbs and flows in emotion and interest that occurs to her. ...But Janey. There is something unpleasant about that, about the poor little beastgirl afflicted int hat way. ...About the way those voices keep up. But eventually, the scent changes, and there is... Mikaia. Coming out. Her wings are still there. Beastwoman is Kaguya's cover; maybe that has to do with it. Maybe...
"There's more plants," Kaguya says in a weak voice, offers it. Noeline calls... And she agrees. Let's get out. Ruby has points. Hiro... It's sweet. It's sweet, what he says about Ruby, and she glances to the side at that without saying much. The mantle she doesn't mind being used that way; she waits, hanging onto Gwen with a small sigh. She doesn't...
"I don't want to stay here either," she says, and she's not sure how true it is. There are benefits here. There's insulation here, knowing some of it is in her head. It's different. And yet...
"It'll be okay."
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
Kalve walks. The mindscape comes apart with every step he takes. He leaves a path writ in broken barriers and ignored spectres.
He isn't really their uncle. He isn't at all related to them. None of them are. Why, then, is it so important that they rescue them? Kalve is wrestling with that question as he traverses the shared mindscape, hunting for Mikaia and their way out both. Is it because that's the key to leaving this place? Or...
They find her. Janey moves closer. Kalve lingers at a short distance. He's between them and the haunting figure that would torment them, filling the gap he's broken in the building. He watches, frowning. More memories, then. His was a jumbled mess of the past and a potential, dreaded future. This is...
...painful.
No, Kalve thinks. It isn't because they're the key. Kalve isn't getting worked up because of practicality, or some emotional attachment -- not in a typical way, at any rate. It's not simply because he's seeing the terrible things the humans do to their own people and those even slightly different. It's because they do it when they have the potential to be so much more.
"Then let go," Kalve rumbles. "Leave this wretched place. Go home, where you belong."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"YOU TALKED TO ME, YOU KNOW I'M REAL, YOU LITTLE BRAT," Ragnell's voice roars in the near-distance as soon as Janey says that 'that silly ghost Ragnell' is around here too. (She's not actually mad. BUT COME ON.)
Still, so Janey was a Beastman... Ragnell had no idea. So those ears and tails weren't just a dream-vision, but something from her past. She should've figured, considering how nearly everyone *else* started out looking younger than they are. There's nothing to feel bad about there, though. When Ruby bids her to come on, Ragnell nods. "Right behind ya, Ru!"
Then they all run alongside one another, chasing after Janey to reach Mikaia. Ragnell glances at Hiro as he speaks, but doesn't remark. Soon they reach the cellar, and Janey says the rest of what she has to say to Mikaia. Ragnell watches and listens, arms folded over her chest, until the dreamworld starts to lighten into the waking world. She glances up, then over at the others.
"Sounds good to me," she drawls. "Time to wake up."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There is no response to Noeline -- not in the traditional way of conversation, in this mindscape...
But there is an acknowledgement, as that landscape of the mind crumbles -- and photons start to shimmer and surround them. Shielding them in a delicate little comfortable sensations, little sentiments that, as Gwen says, are like the perfumes of an ephemeral meadow of flowers after the rain...
"That's a promise," Mikaia smiles at Ruby, as she nods at her, afloat on a gossamer weave of light. "And I want to see more plants, Miss Kaguya...!" She disappears into the light softly, as Janey looks on to Gwen as it becomes time for her next. "H-hehe... I haven't heard that in so long... but you're right... you're right! And-- you better believe it, Hiro!"
She manages to stick her tongue out at Ragnell's direction as she goes, "Nope, not real, lalala~"
Thank you, everyone...
It's as Jacqueline says. Let's go back...
All of us, together...
To that place that we all dared to dream of...
To Wayside.
Home. To where we belong.
Each and every one of us.
And the light shifts and fades... and they're all back where they were -- as if no explosion of light had ever engulfed the village. Riesenlied appears to have fallen asleep on the examination bed Kalve had her on, but--
--somehow, someway, Janey and Mikaia's come to be on her side, curled up and dozing off. There are peaceful smiles on their faces.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Passing motes of emotion, shimmering in the fading light. Gwen looks at everyone assembled, tears brimming in her eyes.
She'll still be scared to show her scars. She'll still feel naked if anyone saw anything more than the upper top of her neck. She'll still feel a twinge of envy when she sees a girl her age in a carefree dress and how their arm is looped through the arm of the apple of their eye. These things don't go away in one day, or one month, or even one decade.
But right now, she doesn't care. There's nothing ugly about this split moment, where everyone is together.
-----
The first thing Gwen feels is the way her body is uncomfortably slumped against the doorway to the examination room. "... Gh.... uh..." How long as it been? She rubs her face absentmindedly with her left hand, then quickly pats down her neck and shoulders, feeling comfort in the clothing there. Her hair's there, too, minus whatever was still recovering from being singed in that fight with that Black Ties member.
Her neck cricks as she straightens into a sitting position, her gloved right hand going to rub at the back to soothe any aches there.
Before her is Riesenlied, asleep, with the two children on either side of her.
"...." Her lips curl in a soft smile as she stands, and looks around her at the others.
The laundry. "Oh damn!" She stumbles out to the fluttering clothing on the line, her throat still choking back a laugh.
Everyone's going to be alright, now.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is not, at heart, a terribly spiritual type - she relies upon Riese for that, to be able to be the empathic side of things, to cover where her more upfront style simply won't do. Still, she can find it within herself to clutch the orphans to her as the imagery of the landscape filters away around them, the dreams and visions fragmenting away in a sucking, blinding whirlwind--
--perhaps it's the Medium lodged within her, but she finds her feet remarkably quickly; she's dizzy, but she's at least able to keep her balance as the world swims its way back to tangible form around her. "L-let's-- shall we not do that again?" she mutters to herself, before turning to find the blissful scene in front of her, as if it were a moment's relief from the worries of the world outside. For a moment, Noeline finds a terribly soft smile on her face.
And then she huffs. "Oh, I see who the favorite is," she pouts, hands on her hips.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell rolls her eyes with a half-laugh as Mikaia sticks her tongue out at her. "I'm gonna haunt you an' Janey good, ya little munchkin," she play-threatens. But the light overtakes them, and the group appears back in Wayside. Ragnell, being a Seraph, doesn't have the same heaviness as some of the others, but she does slump near the refreshments table. "Sheesh," she mutters, rubbing her forehead. "I need another drink."
And so she grabs one--but she takes it to go, wandering on over to where the others have appeared. She peeks in over their backs to see Riesenlied, with Mikaia and Janey, the three of them snoozing together, and smiles.
And then she jokes to Noeline, "At least the booze will never leave ya," just before slugging back a shot and chuckling at Gwen as she stumbles towards the laundry.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Like a dream, the mindscape fades away...and Jacqueline finds herself still in her chair in V4L-H4LLA, her head resting atop the bar's counter and feeling like she's awoken from a long sleep. With an unintelligible murmur she looks up, a faint indentation in her cheek from the texture of the counter.
She blinks once, then once more as her surroundings slowly come to view as she realises where she is, and as the memories of everything that had just occurred come flooding back.
She rises to her feet, taking a brief moment to assess the conditions of those around her before rushing in the direction of the examination room. She doesn't even stop to acknowledge that she's once again her normal size...though she does nearly trip and stumble on her way out, due to having been so much smaller for so long...
It was very disorientating!
She pauses as she sees Gwen emerge, watching her for a moment.
"...How are they? Is everyone...?" Jacqueline asks, a bit nervous about the answer.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
It fades away, and Kaguya shifts in the light too. ...THey want to see more plants. Well..
"Okay," Kaguya allows, and sighs lightly. Soon, she is in her own real body again, standing where she couldn't before. ...She doesn't for much longer, oozing into a chair as Gwen goes to check on laundry and she sighs lightly. They're all there...
Kaguya is quiet, though. She looks over the others, watches Jay stumble, hears the talk of laundry from the others...
She's back here in Wayside again. ...But she can't really escape what she saw, who she was, what was there. There's a lot left for her to think about.
...so she slides forward, resting her arms on the table and resting her head on them, and closes her eyes. "...Wake me up later," she mutters, and moves to just take a nap.
<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.
The world comes apart. Kalve closes his eyes, plants his feet, and waits for everything to resolve itself back to a more familiar environs. Everything is going to turn out fine.
He opens his eyes. He was slumped over slightly, apparently asleep standing up. He takes stock of the situation immediately, alarm evident on his face. He calms down when he sees the picturesque sight in the middle of his lab. Kalve exhales nearly silently. He sets aside the Device, still held in his hand.
Carefully, ever so carefully, he sweeps up shards of glass and a needle of bone and takes it all away.