2017-12-16: Trial Beyond the Depths
- Log: Trial Beyond the Depths
- Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Seraph Ragnell, K.K., Jacqueline Barber, Xantia, Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Hadal Temple
- Date: 16th December 2017
- Summary: Riesenlied requests the assistance of a group of Drifters to descend into the Hadal Temple to seek Dva out, but their trials will be overseen by none other than...
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Hadal Temple.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Onslaught of the Deep *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
A primordial scream rings through the air the instant you enter the Hadal
Temple.
Come hither, my soldiers...
Something moves. Creatures emerge from the darkness, moving with an eerie,
undulating grace. They're humanoid, barely, and their bodies are still
clothed in patchwork armor and the tattered remains of uniforms. Bits of
shell and scale and bone obscure their faces.
These are Deep Soldiers, and they have broken through one of the cistern
gates. They've gathered in formation and are not going to let you pass
without a fight. But be careful, a second formation of Deep Ones has risen
to flank you from behind. En garde!
(INFO: In this dungeon, certain statements will be marked in Blue. These
Blue Statements can only be seen by the one posing the Dungeon Round (or a
volunteer if agreed upon), and represents both the speech and the
corruptions of the Temple. The drawer is free to believe or disbelieve, but
the rest of the party won't be seeing or hearing anything in Blue!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied could not leave the situation brewing underneath Wayside for much longer. In the wake of the Schturdark Statue's destruction, a primal evil had awakened, and taken one of her number under its wing... and even if she did strike her with Malevolence, she felt she could not leave Dva alone -- she saw just how much trust she put in her, and how much she let her down as a result of her inability to speak to her in time.
It is at the bottom of the Wellspring, towards a deep ravine that starts to chill the spine with its frost-touched surface. The crunch of ice make for an unpleasant noise on boots, and your breath is positively white in the wake of the Hadal Temple's inhospitable entrance.
The leader of Wayside is here, at the maw to the Temple's gates... and she doesn't look particularly hale. There's a faint trembling throughout her body as she tries to repel the Temple's cold and particularly pervasive presence, and her shoulder is still bandaged.
Fortunately, she's brought help to compensate for her wounds.
"I am glad to have you all here. I cannot say what we will find down there, but we must be as vigilant as we ever have been..." she speaks gently, holding the Dragon's Tear close to her heart -- which shimmers with a faint radiance of... anxiety, coloured a light red.
Come hither, my soldiers...
It isn't even that long before they're beset upon by the Deep Soldiers -- a writhing mass rises through one of the gates and begins to shamble towards the party, the hollows of their eyes shimmering with an eerie and otherworldly light. "... t-this is..." Riese sounds startled, wincing and gasping as she whipps her head around to one side. She raises her hand, and creates solid barriers of light to surround the group and protect her allies, but--
"Careful of our flank, a second group is trying to ambush us!" she announces in response to... thin air?
DG: You use your Tool Dragon's Claw against your party's Challenge, Onslaught of the Deep!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has accompanied Riesenlied down into the waterway, and then beyond - because of course she has. It isn't as if she can leave this situation alone, what with the threat the underground Temple represents to Wayside's way of life; they're already in enough trouble as it is, with the potential for Metal Demon retaliation, that it makes plain sense to try to reduce the number of fronts they're fighting on. Besides, they have someone to get back.
Noeline's looked in better shape.Her arms are heavily bandaged from where she burnt through the power of the Hades Guardian, and while she seems to have full range of motion she does lightly wince at each particularly strenuous movement, her repair systems having a harder time with Guardian-inflicted wounds than they might otherwise have - even with her odd agreement with the Medium lodged inside of her.
Still, she's standing, her stance full of straight-backed defiance of whatever might be ahead of them; a crimson and black scythe, seemingly ornamental, has formed in her hands as if grown from the rest of her, and she props it over her shoulder as she continues to stride into the ruins at Riesenlied's side.
At the first sight of the creatures ahead, she clicks her tongue, narrowing her eyes. "--I was hoping that we might only have to deal with the big fellow. I certainly didn't know he'd have /friends/," she mutters under her breath, and her first step forward turns into a lunging slash that tears two of them away, a corona of Duras Drum's power shimmering along the blade as she strikes.
Riesenlied's call immediately sends her to one side, naturally arcing around in an attempt to cover the group's flank-- except there's nothing there, and she furrows her brow as she hesitates uncertainly for just a moment. "--from where?!" she calls urgently, her posture tense.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
At the time of the... situation initiated by Dva, Ragnell had asked Riesenlied what she intended to do about the Hadal Temple. Riesenlied had replied that there was no way she was leaving this be, and for reasons of her own, Ragnell's come along to assist her. The cold doesn't bother her as they stand at the maw of the temple, quite possibly a /literal/ maw, but she frowns over at Riesenlied as the younger woman shivers.
"It is what it is. We just gotta get in there and get 'er done," she replies. Ragnell's gaze flicks towards Riesenlied's Tear, then further in towards--hm? Is that motion past the gates? A moment later, a group of Deep Soldiers shambles into view. Ragnell grins as she draws her paired pistols. "Aww, a welcomin' party, already? What a hospitable abomination!"
But before she can attack, Riesenlied warns everyone of a second group attempting to flank them as she calls up light barriers to protect everyone. Ragnell sweeps to one side, turning to face towards their flank, and begins casting a Seraphic arte--or rather several, one right after another in a chain. It gives her time to sense motion while Noeline assaults the front group, and focus upon it.
"Lightning! Lightning! Lightning!! /Lightning/!!" she calls, bringing down bolts from the blue down into the would-be flankers over and over again. That'll learn 'em.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Whenever Riesenlied asked for her help, Jacqueline would not turn her away. Even if it meant venturing into the depths of a place whose very presence felt wrong and foul, she knew that Riesenlied must have a good reason for it. And this place...
Something had to be done about it.
The first thing Jacqueline notices as she approaches is the cold. Fortunately she tended to dress pretty warmly in the first place, though a part of her found herself wishing she had bundled up a bit more...still, she could persevere.
"Yes...this place...it doesn't seem like any ruin I've ever ventured into before." Jacqueline comments, reaching into her bag. Her hands find a bottle, the surface of which was warm to the touch...
She only gets a moment of that before the first instance of resistance meets them - a group of humanoids shambles toward them in an eerie fashion.
Jacqueline draws out a bottle of repellant and hurls into their midst. Immediately out comes a Crest, bringing a bolt of lightning crashing into the bottle and scattering flaming liquid everywhere. That should hopefully give them something to think about...
And then, Riesenlied issues a warning.
"Behind us...?" Jacqueline murmurs, taking a moment to glance behind. Her Crest is still held tightly in her hand, ready to be used as necessary.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
If questioned, she wouldn't be able to answer why, but somehow, Xantia feels comfortable whenever she's in Wayside. If she looked deep inside, she might realize that it's likely because she feels less out of place there. After all, despite looking like any other human, her strength and various abilities are more than a little unusual. It may not consciously bother her all that often, but the thought of not belonging is always there, somewhere in the back of her head.
She can't always be there, however. She never learned of there being a Guardian statue in the area until her most recent visit, already too late to do anything about that one way or another. She hasn't fully understood what's still down there either, but she's got the gist of things: it's bad, and it's dangerous to Wayside as long as it's around. All the reason she needed to volunteer helping to solve the problem. As long as it involves brute force, she's sure she can do something to help.
And, as always, she's ready to add a touch of optimism to a gloomy situation. "I'm sure it'll be fine! We just have to beat up some bad guys, right? I do that all the time!" No need to worry when you're too clueless to know why you should be worried. She doesn't even have the decency to appears at all cold in that outfit of hers, far better suited to a desert environment than a place like this.
Trouble soon comes knocking, however. Without hesitation, Xantia activates her ARM, a red energy blade shimmering to life from the bracer on her right arm, illuminating the immediate area. "Are these... Wels?" She hasn't quite learned the various distinctions between all the zombie-like creatures that apparently exist.
Not that it matters. She doesn't need to know exactly what she's dealing with. If it's attacking them, there's only one thing to do. Charging ahead into the threat in front of her, she lashes out with lightning-quick swipes of her arm blade, mixing in the occasional punches and kicks as appropriate. She's not afraid of any undead.
She's far more startled when lightning starts flying everywhere behind her, causing her to yelp and sprint away from that area, before looking back in confusion. Presuming this to be the ambush Riese mentioned, she looks around in confusion. "What happened, where are they?"
She's... still not seeing Ragnell, is she?
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Earlier: 'Don't tell Wayside.' Now: 'I cannot say what we will find down there...'
It took a while for the party Gwen was a part of to get back up to the surface. It also took a while for her to refresh her reserves, a problem easily solved by lots of potatoes and root vegetables and conking out in some corner of Wayside's orphanage until some orphan drags her off to awakey-wakey land.
All it took was Gwen finding out that Riesenlied was going down there, and suddenly, there was a bruised, cut, but greaty refreshed Gwen, asking to go along. She'll keep her promise to Ida, of course, but only as long as they don't stumble across that very thing down there. If Gwen's going to help Ida, she should also help Riesenleid. Not that they were sides of the same coin, or that it was a question of fairness, even.
Both of them helped her. Both of them are her friends.
And there *is* something in its depths.
"I could tell you a few things on the way down," Gwen says, adjusting her poncho over her poor, poor blouse. "For one, there was at least one dragon down there that got infected by *somethin'* nasty. Metal Dragon, I think, but whatever *was* there wasn't in control. I think the party I was a part of put it down out of its misery, but it's hard t'say. And even if that were the case, there could be more down there. For some reason, though, some of us kinda wigged out. Like, maybe we were nervous or jumpy or somethin'. But not all of us. So maybe it was just me."
The shambling hordes come to greet them in a fashion not too dissimilar to before. The straps over her glove are loosened, opening a flap to allow her metallic palm to be free. Gwen's already loading bullets into her ARM, not quite willing to spend any regained energy on lightning blasts alone. "Thing is, I don't think I could really help ya done the same path if I tried. And really, ya may wanna try t'find another." Bullets fly out, each shot causing her ARM to push back from the recoil. "From the flank? Man, I didn't even notice!" She turns, noticing the Seraph has already begun. "Hey Ragnell, I'm gonna help ya out!"
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
Something dark, something unnatural, spewed from the recesses deep inside the temple the day the statue shattered. The fleshy protrusions still infesting Hadal like a cancer are testament to its growing presence and the potential danger of its spread, like the overflow of too much life, warped to the suiting of something more, or less.
And it was into this morass that the Trial Knight had waded after delivering their message to Riesenlied, unflinching.
The knight in white armor has not been seen since that day, but such is far from new for whatever the creature within that all-encompassing armor might be. K.K. comes and goes when they please, where they please, with a rhyme and reason that only they seem to follow. But there is always a purpose. And as the Deep Soldiers rise from the dark, quivering and dripping like something dredged from the depths where no light may reach, Riesenlied and her companions will soon realize one simple fact:
"Move."
They are not alone.
- KRA-KOOM*
The warning prefaces a sound distinctly like a thunderclap by exactly five seconds. It's a snap-twang like an arrow being loosed on a scale so much larger, an oddity that is soon explained --
-- as a large, intricately-designed lance the size of a man screams through the air past Riesenlied and her companions from deeper within the temple, carried on sputtering currents of whining, radiant light. The tip of that lance chews through any Deep Soldiers with all the furious acceleration of a shell loosed from a cannon, puncturing anything unfortunate enough within its path before impacting ground with a deafening BOOM that looses wet dust and churned debris into a veil in the moisture-rung air.
And just how that lance could fly so far so fast is explained in a way no less absurd when one but traces it back to the source. There, deeper in the temple's entrance, at a point of very purposefully-chosen elevation, stands the Trial Knight, white and gold armor gleaming with the wet of the temple slicked off its pristine surface.
Carrying a great bow of gold, white and blue, easily larger than they are tall.
Just large enough, apparently, to use lances like they were little more than arrows nocked on a bow.
DG: K.K. has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Onslaught of the Deep.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Onslaught of the Deep *>====================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
A primordial scream rings through the air the instant you enter the Hadal
Temple.
Come hither, my soldiers...
Something moves. Creatures emerge from the darkness, moving with an eerie,
undulating grace. They're humanoid, barely, and their bodies are still
clothed in patchwork armor and the tattered remains of uniforms. Bits of
shell and scale and bone obscure their faces.
These are Deep Soldiers, and they have broken through one of the cistern
gates. They've gathered in formation and are not going to let you pass
without a fight. But be careful, a second formation of Deep Ones has risen
to flank you from behind. En garde!
(INFO: In this dungeon, certain statements will be marked in Blue. These
Blue Statements can only be seen by the one posing the Dungeon Round (or a
volunteer if agreed upon), and represents both the speech and the
corruptions of the Temple. The drawer is free to believe or disbelieve, but
the rest of the party won't be seeing or hearing anything in Blue!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
=========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 1 *>=========================
=====================< Results - Onslaught of the Deep >======================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass
Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass
Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K.K. 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xantia 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass
Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass
Conditions: Overwhelm
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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.
Xantia's last pose:
If questioned, she wouldn't be able to answer why, but somehow, Xantia feels comfortable whenever she's in Wayside. If she looked deep inside, she might realize that it's likely because she feels less out of place there. After all, despite looking like any other human, her strength and various abilities are more than a little unusual. It may not consciously bother her all that often, but the thought of not belonging is always there, somewhere in the back of her head.
She can't always be there, however. She never learned of there being a Guardian statue in the area until her most recent visit, already too late to do anything about that one way or another. She hasn't fully understood what's still down there either, but she's got the gist of things: it's bad, and it's dangerous to Wayside as long as it's around. All the reason she needed to volunteer helping to solve the problem. As long as it involves brute force, she's sure she can do something to help.
And, as always, she's ready to add a touch of optimism to a gloomy situation. "I'm sure it'll be fine! We just have to beat up some bad guys, right? I do that all the time!" No need to worry when you're too clueless to know why you should be worried. She doesn't even have the decency to appears at all cold in that outfit of hers, far better suited to a desert environment than a place like this.
Trouble soon comes knocking, however. Without hesitation, Xantia activates her ARM, a red energy blade shimmering to life from the bracer on her right arm, illuminating the immediate area. "Are these... Wels?" She hasn't quite learned the various distinctions between all the zombie-like creatures that apparently exist.
Not that it matters. She doesn't need to know exactly what she's dealing with. If it's attacking them, there's only one thing to do. Charging ahead into the threat in front of her, she lashes out with lightning-quick swipes of her arm blade, mixing in the occasional punches and kicks as appropriate. She's not afraid of any undead.
She's far more startled when lightning starts flying everywhere behind her, causing her to yelp and sprint away from that area, before looking back in confusion. Presuming this to be the ambush Riese mentioned, she looks around in confusion. "What happened, where are they?"
She's... still not seeing Ragnell, is she?
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied blinks a few times, her eyes--
The Deep Soldiers she gazes upon flickers and hisses in a burst of static as lightning strikes at their feet--
--and then they are gone. She shakes her head haggardly, murmuring, "A hallucination?" momentarily unaware as a very -real- Deep Soldier suddenly grabs her from behind with an ear-rattling shriek-- but Noeline is there to protect her, as her bodyguard, cutting down the deep zombies in twain.
Jacqueline sustains the front line, burning a line through the Deep with a combination of liquid conflagration and lightning in turn.
There's a haggard sigh from Riese as she steps aside, mumbling, "Is this what Miss Gwen is talking about...?" as she concentrates on moving her barriers to a more useful place, after Gwen fires thunderous bullets from her ARM and towards the creatures.
Move.
The voice is familiar enough that she yelps and draws out of the way, aided by her wings as a lance explodes against the incoming swarm, helping Xantia shave off the rest of what she perhaps not too inaccurately asks are Wels.
As the threat subsides, Riesenlied looks towards the Trial Knight with a mildly shocked look on her eyes, then towards Gwen again. "I... I do not know," she admits. "I swear I saw them, yet they-- vanished before my eyes... ...perhaps it is my condition that plays tricks on me."
She hesitantly looks up to Ragnell, then K.K. again... "... I must find Dva, in this Temple. I owe it to her. Will you accompany us, K.K.?"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge. ==============================<* Hadal Temple *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Weapon of the Deep *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A mass of Deep Soldiers rise from the ground above you, priming an archaic ballista mounted to the Temple cliff! You'll have to fight your way through the crowd before they launch a Gear-sized missile to crush the footing that you're on, into the depths where the water gazes back at you... =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The...the Trial Knight...? Jacqueline stares in surprise at armored figure that stands before them. And slightly above them, but, details! The point is, she's surprised to see them. She glances toward Riesenlied and when her friend asks for their help...well, Jacqueline is a little hesitant, but if Riesenlied believes it's fine, then she won't say a word.
"I've been meaning to ask...if...sorry, when you find her...what do you plan to do, if...?" Jacqueline asks, glancing toward Riesenlied. ...She couldn't find it in her to finish the sentence, but it was a concern that was in the back of her mind.
What if Dva didn't want to go back with her?
She doesn't have time to finish the sentence, anyway. As they're walking through the Temple, across a bridge overthe water, suddenly more of the abominations arrive - one group attacks them from the front, while another group higher up prepares a ballista loaded down with dangerous-looking armaments. It's huge. Where did they even get something like that down here? It'd be a danger even if it didn't strike them directly...
But Jacqueline doesn't see that. Instead she sees /something/, staring out at them from the water surrounding. She pales and backpedals, invoking her Crest again and striking the surface with a bolt of lightning.
The /thing/ doesn't react... Instead, it reaches out, threatening to grab her and draw her into the depths...
"Stay back!" Jacqueline warns, invoking her Crest again.
Who or what is she saying that to...?
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks hurt and a little confused, as she holds onto that bothersome wound on her shoulder as she-- whips her head around as they go further. The sound of thin flakes of ice crunching against her feet is heard as she glances up, her eyes widening. "We-- do not want to be on the receiving end of that-- Jacqueline?!"
She hears her noise of alarm, glancing towards where she's invoking her magic -- and wonders if this is another trick of the Temple, as she's beginning to cotton onto.
"There's nothing there... focus your power above!" Riesenlied suggests, concentrating on the Tear to align the alchemist's vision with hers, to try to overcome the dark visions threatening to muddle with their perception of reality.
DG: You use your Tool Dragon's Claw against your party's Challenge, Weapon of the Deep!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Well, on the plus side, Xantia, it's technically normal to not be able to see Ragnell. The Lightning Seraph does give her a sidelong glance, recognizing her from the Lacour Tournament of Arms, but she doesn't bother hailing someone who sees right through her. Instead, she crooks a grin over to Gwen, who doesn't. "Hmmm... So you've already had some fun down here, huh? In'erestin'." Dragons infected by something, huh... And when Gwen offers to help her out, Ragnell laughs. "Sure, join the party!"
And so bullets and bolts fly, until a single word: 'Move.' Ragnell moves without question, poncho sweeping around her as she half-turns and jumps backwards, just before K.K. unleashes an enormous lance-arrow. She laughs to see the Deep Soldiers pretty much destroyed between everyone's combined efforts, just as much as she does at their new arrival. "Well, well, if it ain't the infamous Trial Knight again!"
But then Riesenlied speaks. "Hmm?" Ragnell frowns at her. "An illusion? Huh... I thought I saw some movement where you were talkin' about, but..." She eyes all the fleshy protrusions. "...coulda been anythin', in this place." At least it means Ragnell trusts Riese's judgment enough to attack even when the attacker is unclear. ...or maybe she's just trigger-happy. Either or.
Regardless, when Riesenlied invites K.K. to join them, Ragnell only smirks, then saunters over to Gwen as the group treks further into the Hadal Temple. "So, you were sayin' earlier you didn't think you could guide us or nothin', and not to say I disbelieve ya--but 's'there anythin' else from your trek that you oughtta mention--"
Suddenly, Jay is flailing, yelling, and invoking her Crest. Ragnell turns a sharp look her way, but doesn't see what she's actually yelling... *at*. Even so, she keeps her pistols drawn, because there's something that *is* there, and therefore a good target for thunder bullets. She aims high, for the ballista zombies; it would be super not-great if they launched that weapon at them.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
Will you accompany us, K.K.?
Tremendous bow hissing with arcs and flashes of white along its ornate curve, the Trial Knight lowers their weapon with a slow and steady certainty, as if assured that one shot would be enough. Cracklines of gleaming white form in that lance off in the distance before it splinters like glass, shards of whatever ephemeral material it is made from dissipating into the ether as that faceless helm regards those assembled, the weight of their attention felt on each of those braving the temple as if to judge each of their intentions in turn.
"... I will bear witness," utters the knight, simply. They drop from their high ground, hitting wet-slicked earth with the crunch of stone against metal. "To see to what end your actions lead you."
It is as close to a 'yes' as the knight seems inclined to give -- but confirms it beyond doubt when they turn to wade further into the depths ahead of the group, heedless of the unknown that might be there to greet them and seemingly irrespective of the others' decisions on how to proceed. No -- for all the world the Trial Knight seems to carry themself like a simple observer on the fringes, letting the others talk amongst themselves...
... but paying close attention, especially as Jay asks that particularly pressing question.
But it's a question, it seems, that will go unanswered for now as those Deep Soldiers rise anew as if summoned from the very earth. As below, so above -- and K.K.'s faceless stare shifts as the unearthly creatures begin to arm that deadly ballista.
This, it seems, would be the ideal time for them to use that massive artillery bow. An indispensible asset...
... and one that shimmers into nothing less that so many particles of white, transient dust, light reforged towards the shape of a long, thundering spear as the knight drives that sharpened tip forward to impale several of the soldiers ahead and -ram- them into each other with fearless drive.
It seems they leave the challenge of the ballista to the others, despite the fact that they have the tools to address it.
Like the knight were testing them.
DG: K.K. has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Bringing her lips together in a tight line, Noeline nods in affirmation of those who've joined them - particularly the Trial Knight. It's not that the metal demon is suspicious of the armored figure, so much as their ephemeral nature seems to set her ever so slightly (and hypocritically) on edge. On the other hand, the knight did assault the creature within the Temple, forcing it back for their initial escape - she has to recognize that much.
"Be careful," she mutters to the group at large, her brow furrowed. "This far down, I cannot be sure we will have a particularly good evacuation plan--" She cuts herself off, because she's sufficiently on edge and cautious to be able to respond to the attack immediately, performing a broad sweep that knocks a couple more of their aggressors into the waters below; her head snaps up towards the ballista, and she grits her teeth, suddenly certain there are much more important things at stake than Jacqueline's yell at the water.
One glance at the crowd in their way and she's swung a hand out. "Strife!" she calls, an answering beep echoing behind her as she hops onto one of her little white-metal pods; the ARM pitches in the air, almost seeming to strain against the miasma of the Temple, but then rockets forward to send Noeline over the top of the barricade, directly towards the ballista.
"--this would be a good time to help!" she mutters, almost to herself - and in answer, the edge of her scythe shimmers again, her next sweep arcing a thin line of darkness and illusion behind it as it bears down on the ballista's structure.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen didn't even question it. Riesenlied said there was a formation of soldiers coming in on their flank.
Thankfully, she wasn't able to waste that many bullets, as a familiar voice bids her to move.
And now, minutes later. there's a Trial Knight observing them. And awkward situation if there ever was one. Well, Gwen *did* go into the dungeon alongside someone who may or may not have been an Element, which is apparently something to do with Gebler. Aka, the very mercenaries that had nearly done her in when she was helping Cecilia get away.
She's fine with this.
And Jay asks a very good question. "Wouldn't it be enough to see that someone went in after you?" Gwen grins at Jacqueline. "With more people, even! And maybe Xantia here can maybe..."
Gwen trails off as Ragnell saunters over to her. Waiting a few moments until the rest are out of earshot, Gwen turns and gives a small wink to Ragnell, pressing a finger to her lips. "Sorry, but I made a promise to someone. And it ain't gonna help you guys find Dva, even if I say anythin'. But that ain't the reason I said I couldn't-"
Jay screams. Gwen flinches and turns. looking past Jay to the ballista. Was Jay... reacting to that? No, it's got to be the same phenomena that claimed Riesenlied. Maybe.
"Xantia, let's go! Time t'show off what we're made of!" Leaping into the fray, Gwen urges her more punchy-inclined friends on, running through the gauntlet with her mighty ARM fist in... hand. Or arm, really. Still, she holds back this time, letting Xantia take the ground to fully show what she's capable of.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Between Unexpected Lightning and Unexpected Lance, both seemingly coming out of nowhere, Xantia isn't quite as on top of her fighting game as she would've liked against the 'Wels'. Perhaps it's not too noticable, having fought them off pretty effectively either way, but the minor injuries she took in the process might have been preventable. Not that she appears to be too bothered.
It's far more bothersome to see a familiar face - well, familiar face-cover - who... appears to have helped them, this time? Xantia is dubious, narrowing her eyes at K.K. and not immediately putting the ARM away, as she's not convinced the danger is past. "What are YOU doing here?" Her best guess would be getting the small fry out of the way in order to have a proper battle with the five of them (since there are clearly only five of them). Makes more sense to her than the Trial Knight actually being here to help.
...and then Riesenlied just flat out asks for them to come along. "Wha... why would you want that?" She has no idea what's going on anymore. Did she miss the part where this armored person was proven to be not a bad guy, even though everything she's seen so far made it look that way? She casts a doubtful look around, to see if she's the only one surprised by this turn of events. No, apparently not. Well, that's something, at least.
She has more to be confused about a short while later, when she looks back to Gwen lagging behind, seeing - but not hearing - her talk to apparently nobody. And then Jay is freaking out above apparently nothing. What the heck is going on?
Gwen's call to action brings her back into focus. That was easy enough to grasp, and she's eager to agree, "Yeah, okay! Let's get 'em!" This is fine. Having obvious enemies to deal with takes her mind off things, it's a lot easier than having to try and figure out everything that's going on.
She doesn't use her ARM, this time. After Gwen creates an opening, she follows up with a punch that doesn't directly strike anything, but is forceful enough to displace the air, literally blowing a group of Deep Soldiers away. Moving to Gwen's side, she gives a brief nod, and moves in tandem with the courier for a double dose of more direct punching action.
If she looks like she's having a good time, that's because she is. Fighting is fun, right?
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Weapon of the Deep.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Weapon of the Deep *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A mass of Deep Soldiers rise from the ground above you, priming an archaic ballista mounted to the Temple cliff! You'll have to fight your way through the crowd before they launch a Gear-sized missile to crush the footing that you're on, into the depths where the water gazes back at you... =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Treasure=========================================== =========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 2 *>========================= =======================< Results - Weapon of the Deep >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Ragnell 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ K.K. 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Xantia 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gwen Whitlock 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Tire(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It draws closer, and closer... Jacqueline backs up as far as she can, until she feels nothing behind her. There's nowhere else to run. That /thing/ is nearly upon her. Jacqueline shuts her eyes tight...and then, she feels the familiar sensation of the Tear washing over her, and Riesenlied's voice reaches her.
When she opens her eyes, she sees nothing before her, and is able to realize the situation they're in.
"I-I'm sorry...I...I don't know what..." Jacqueline murmurs, shaking her head and turning her attention to the real threat.
While Noeline flies off to deal with the ballista, the Deep Soliders press in on them...however, they've lined themselves up perfectly. The Knight skewers and pushes through the lot of them. This creates an opening for Gwen and Xantia to take advantage of, giving the Deep Soldiers far more punching than they have room for.
Up above, Ragnell's lightning bullets assault the ballista's workers. They're driven back for a moment, but they recover and move to fire the siege weapon. Before they can, however...Noeline's scythe comes arcing through, cutting it apart.
They won't have to worry about the siege weapon for a while, fortunately...
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Breath of the Dragon *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Sound pierces you the moment you enter this room, the ground rent by a
bone-chilling roar.
A fifty-foot Metal Dragon, clearly dead, hovers above youwreathed in
tendrils of water and pocked with bulging eyes across its metallic skin.
With a snap of its neck, it opens its mouth and breathes forth an awful
taint, encroaching upon your position quickly.
Erase me...
You'd best flee before the creeping taint spreads further -- you don't want
to be around to find out what it may do to living matter.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's plan - in general - appears to be roughly along the lines of 'don't stop'. Don't stop to contemplate what else might be down here, don't stop for the sake of the strange soldiers going on attack, don't stop to catch your breath if you can push on further. Perhaps she's wary of the cloying air of this place and what prolonged exposure to it might mean, perhaps she's aware of how pained Riesenlied must be.
Perhaps, perhaps, she's a little scared, and this is the way she deals with it.
With the ballista down behind them, she pauses to glance first at Riesenlied and then at Jacqueline, checking that one and then the other are holding up; her line is compressed into a tight line as she lets a breath out, then she's turned to forge onwards at some speed, pressing herself against the wall to glance around the corner before darting around it and onwards into a large, dark chamber. Immediately, the hair goes up on the back of her neck; some instinctual feeling is screaming through all her senses, warning her that going any further will result in --
She throws herself to one side just in time, avoiding the way in which a large chunk of the ceiling swells and then bursts apart from the impact of the dragon's head as it crashes through. Past the smoke and falling debris, it turns a baleful glowing gaze upon the group and then rears back into a piercing roar that reverberates around the room, only seeming to grow louder with each echo.
The twintailed girl has frozen at the sight, her eyes wide - and then her scythe ignites with the Guardian's flame, her grip on it tight enough to turn her knuckles white. "... you--... the state of you--... rrgh!" she sounds out all of a sudden, gritting her teeth as she launches forwards - and straight towards the dragon, scythe drawn back.
The beeps from Trouble and Strife are... confused, to say the least, and about as terrified as a little ARM could ever manage - but they still swing into place to give Noeline stepping stones up towards the bulk of the creature, into position to carve an arcing strike at one of the larger tendrils that drape around and subjugate the creature's body.
That would be the plan, if such things existed...
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The question still lingered, with the Trial Knight looming over them. She did not need to hear it from them to know that they were watching, as they ever were. Testing her resolve.
To Xantia, she looks and says, "... it is complicated, but ... suffice to say, they have been in charge of being my judge. This does not change matters..."
She looks to the faceless guise of the Trial Knight and says, "I shall not falter. Dva came under my wing seeking guidance, and I have wronged her. I -will- take her back from this darkness!"
And true to what Noeline is feeling, Riesenlied is pained... but she's pushing herself on the sheer strength of her resolve, and what she owes in concern to Dva. Even if she nearly struck her down.
She gazes up with widened eyes as the very ground rumbles, and the Dragon appears before them-- "You're...!"
She holds onto her head as she gasps, momentarily overwhelmed by the sensation the obviously dead creature exudes. She turns towards Jacqueline to say, "We've got to get to higher ground! Could you create some pillars for us?"
She takes hold of the alchemist's hand as she sweeps up with her wings, since she trusts Xantia and Gwen to be more agile as martial artists...
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
Ichor flies with the graceful sweep of K.K.'s spear, severed limbs and skewered bodies crumpling before them. It is a very different thing to watch them in a fight instead of experiencing it firsthand; the Trial Knight wields their violence like it was an art, every stroke pure of purpose like a statement unto itself. As if they could communicate with that use of force alone.
It's probably a preferable situation to be in compared to actually being on the receiving end of it.
Regardless, when the deep ones are laid low, the Trial Knight rises. The white of their armor looks no less pristine despite the viscous inkiness that splatters their polished frame as their horned helm tilts upward. They seem to stare, for a moment, at the ruins of the ballista and its fallen operators, before their gaze falls to Jacqueline, heavy in its unseen stare...
... and then they move, as if they have seen all they needed to see.
"We press on. Do not tarry."
And so, K.K. pushes further in. Their spear disappearing as succinctly as the bow before it, their tinny voice fills the winding pathways as they speak anew -- voice neutral but almost curious in that commanding way of theirs, they do not look her way when they utter their question -- but there can be no doubt their words are meant for Xantia when next they speak:
"Do your chains yet bind you still, child?"
It is a question that comes just as they reach the cusp of that new room, and come upon the towering presence of a dragon frozen in time, lingering in a state of twisted death. Their head tilts. The dragon's maw opens.
Light forms upon their palms.
"Should human hands seek to hold this thread, know that it shall be severed immediately."
The warning comes less of a threat, lacking the scornful bite or menace of such a thing, and more of a statement of fact as twin, curved short swords form along their palms. They look, for a moment, at Noeline, looking as if she is trying to free the corpse of the great behemoth from some imagined bindings with that scythe so distinctively wreathed in a power they know well.
"..." But if they have more words to say, they do not utter them. No -- they throw the first of those swords forward to let it sing through the air, shining red rope bursting forth from the hilt of the weapon as it stabs into the beast. And from there, the knight -jumps-, grabbing that glowing red thread to begin to -swing- at rapid accelerations past the dragon to begin scaling -up- the beast, seeking to outpace the taint that looks to drown them all within that same, fetid corruption.
DG: K.K. has used their Tool Grapple Line toward their party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline is still a little shaken up after her brush with that...thing, hallucination though it may have been. Even so, she manages to continue onward... This may have been aided by the Trial Knight's gaze, which, while unseen behind that helmet, felt like a weight had been added onto her shoulders.
She felt like that statement had been directed at her specifically, and had no intention of getting left behind. She had no doubts that the Trial Knight would do so.
And when they progress, she goes even more pale at the sight of the dead Metal Dragon. Despite its deceased state it was still moving about, as if puppeteered by some dark power. It was a horrible thing to watch...but she had no time for that anyway. She had no intention of seeing what that foul breath would do.
"Y...yes, I can!" Jacqueline agrees with a nod. She accepts Riesenlied's hand, and with her free hand she draws out a Crest and invokes it. She starts creating a series of pillars, rising gradually higher. She'll keep it up for as long as she can, but there's no telling how long that'll be...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The creatures of the deep go down, along with their artillery machine. Riese makes her declarations to K.K.. The party moves on. It feels like a terrible, terrible, *terrible* idea, like sliding from a great monster's uvula down its vast gullet down to the stomach acids burbling below.
"Spoilsport," Ragnell says dryly to Gwen. "But if you say so, guess we'll just have t' see for ourselves." Her smirk fades as she looks forward towards Noeline and the others, then joins them in sneaking forward. Eventually, they make it to a large chamber, and--//crassshh//. A Metal Dragon, twisted with some kind of... strange... fungus? Smashes its head in, then roars so loudly that Ragnell, an only partially-solid spirit, can feel it in her nonexistent bones.
Noeline apparently has decided she wants to take this thing on. Ragnell would be down, except Noeline seems to be striking at air. She furrows her eyebrows, then looks at the others. And then the taint begins to swarm in around them...
"Welp, I'm out," she declares. She pulls a chocolate biscuit from within her poncho--relatively fresh-baked, even! She made the snack herself and it's delicious--and chomps on it before leaping onto the wire that K.K. created with a declared, "Hey, convenient," and climbing up the dragon after them while Jay attempts to create pillars. Hey, they said /human/ hands, and her hands sure as hell ain't human.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Yeah, K.K. is... er." Xantia's reactions are understandable. Gwen can still remember the panic she felt, having briefly been held down by that very knight during a recent battle with the Hellion that was formerly an Ethos priest. K.K. had been there to point out the very moment where Ida killed that priest. He pointed out its significance. Maybe, that was all he was doing.
Yet if K.K. hadn't have been there, they could have been able to have dealt with the Hellion, maybe even restrain and transport him to another place to be purified by Sorey.
But could a Hellion be purified? A Hellion happens out of choice.
Thank god Riesenlied is there to offer a much better answer than Gwen could provide. All she can offer in addition is simple. "... We'll need all the help we can get. I was with a bunch of people, and we barely made it down there. The way this dungeon tricks your mind makes it really difficult." She directs her gaze to Jay raising her shoulders in a sympathetic shrug. "One of the guys with me got kinda freaked out like that too. Don't blame yourself too much, haha!" The laugh sounds hollow in the context of the cave, out of place, and completely unsuited.
Still. She feels justified in being here. They're probably going a *lot* faster with her here, even if-
'Spoilsport.' Oh. Right. She was going to explain that part to Ragnell, wasn't she? "Well, uh. The reason I said I couldn't guide you is, uh." Gwen does another uneasy laugh. "We're already in a place I don't recognize at all."
Cue the dragon's entrance. "Ah, well. I guess there *were* others. That or we didn't do such a good job as I thought we did. I mean, we *did* use a lot of electricity, n' that's kinda somethin' that happens in the body naturally, but this *is* a Metal Dragon. I think." She looks to Noeline and Riesenlied for any confirmations in their reactions.
Horror may be a confirmation. It could also be a very, very natural reaction to seeing this beast and its condition, as well as the taint. "Oh Guardians, this didn't happen last time! Let's scram!" Looking to see if everyone is already fleeing, Gwen makes her way further into the cave as well. "Run, run!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
It sounds like something complicated is going on, alright. Xantia can't begin to understand exactly what Riesenlied means, though she has no reason to question it, just nodding wordlessly. Gwen's assessment does make sense, more help is never a bad thing. As long as there's apparently a reason why K.K. would not be here to fight them, that's good enough for now. And really, so far, everything seems to be going swell, as far as she's concerned. If these zombie creatures are the biggest challenge this place has to offer, she has every reason to believe everything will be just fine.
The amnesiac martial artist thus remains in a solidly good mood, right up until K.K. speaks to her. Always knowing just what to say to upset her. Vague things, which yet never fail to make her feel like the mysterious knight knows more about her than she does herself. It causes her to snap, "What chains, what's that supposed to mean?" It doesn't feel like there's even a point in asking, whatever answer there might be would probably only confuse her further.
The matter has to be put on hold shortly after anyway, the roar of a giant undead dragon quite effective in reminding her she has more important things to worry about. More important, but by the sound of things, somehow less concerning. "That's... wow, that's a big one," Xantia merely states the obvious, though her posture and lack of alarm clearly says 'I'm still gonna fight it'. And she would have tried to do so immediately, if she'd had an easy way to get at it. Good thing she doesn't, so clearer heads can inform her of the proper caution to adopt in this situation. Run for now, and get to higher ground, huh?
Jay provides some handy magical pillars, her best bet in crossing lots of vertical distance quickly. She doesn't waste any time, quickly leaping from pillar to pillar without hesitation. Hopefully this will be easier than the last time she had to quickly traverse tricky terrain. At least she isn't covered in cake this time.
...it's a long story.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Breath of the Dragon.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Breath of the Dragon *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Sound pierces you the moment you enter this room, the ground rent by a
bone-chilling roar.
A fifty-foot Metal Dragon, clearly dead, hovers above youwreathed in
tendrils of water and pocked with bulging eyes across its metallic skin.
With a snap of its neck, it opens its mouth and breathes forth an awful
taint, encroaching upon your position quickly.
Erase me...
You'd best flee before the creeping taint spreads further -- you don't want
to be around to find out what it may do to living matter.
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Suffer=============================================
=========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 3 *>=========================
======================< Results - Breath of the Dragon >======================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass
Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell 20 --(15)--> 35 Pass
Chocolate Rusk 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K.K. 10 --(15)--> 25 Pass
Grapple Line 2 Agility Effects: Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xantia 15 --(20)--> 35 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 45 --(10)--> 55 Fail
Conditions: Slow(2)|Suffer(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Charge of the Dragon *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The ground rumbles. A bone-chilling shriek splits the air, and something
massive rushes at you from the gloom. It's a Metal Dragon, at least fifty
feet long and running at you on all fours; its flesh is riddled with tears
and rents, and it is clearly dead, but it still moves. It is in deep agony,
laced with writhing tendrils of water, streaked with bulging eyes across its
metallic scales.
It manages to close you into a dead end -- a space too tight for combat
without the risk of hurting yourselves. You'll have to force the Dragon back
if you're going to get to more advantageous ground!
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The ebb and flow of the miasmic taint - anyone with any ounce of common sense would have assumed it came from the massive dragon, twisted and tainted with the power of this place. And yet, that doesn't seem to be the case; instead, it seems to simply be all around them, suffused in the very walls. Against all expectations - in being close enough to harry and pester the dragon - Noeline is spared from the creeping enmity that seems to seep from the walls... while the Trial Knight and their protege, their path unnaturally direct, are able to move fast enough to avoid the worst of it.
The feeling seems at the bones of the group; Jacqueline's pillars seem difficult to properly form, as if the stone were fighting her every step of the way, and Riesenlied's wings feel cloyed down by some clinging substance in the air itself. Gwen and Xantia feel more like they're moving through treacle, the pull of the gloom a physical force slowing them down. Nothing visibly impedes their progress, but every step seems like an effort.
And Noeline - continues to strike at air, her expression genuinely angry as she carves a number of empty slices in the air. Some of them strike at the dragon, but only collaterally - whatever she's focused on just isn't there. Fortunately, Strife and Trouble appear to have her back, and the motion of the paired ARMs slowly bring her up towards the passage the rest have escaped through. The moment she gets near the entrance, the air seems to shift and shiver around her, nearly pitching her off one of the ARMs as she clutches at her head, and looks again at the dragon in front of her with new eyes--
--and /now/ she seems content to run, a muffled curse escaping her as the group escape down a corridor of stone.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The last time Gwen was able to traverse tricky terrain herself was in the very same ruins she was with Xantia on. There was some giant, glorious, chronogenically(?) preserved cake. And Gwen managed to cross that trial on faulty logic, a sugar rush, and good feelings alone. And probably some luck.
She's not so lucky here.
The very air seems to fight her ability to move. Her body feels sluggish in a way she hadn't really felt in years. Not since... No, no. Don't think about it. Keep going. There's no sense in thinking about bad things.
Not when there's worse things pursuing you and your friends. And K.K. Who is kind of a friend, maybe. When they decide to be.
They're doing really well, aren't they? They're going so fast. It'd be okay to slow down, just for a little bit. All this climbing's real annoying. She hasn't really recovered from the last run through here. She'll just rest after getting off this last platform and-
______****SHHHHHHHHHHRRRIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK****______
No, it's there. It's right behind them. Gwen turns, sees the beast so terrifyingly close. She's scared.
But what scares her more is the pain she can clearly see it expressing. "... I'm sorry I can't do anything for you right now." She tries to fight back tears, so sure that she's simply imagining this, or it's all a trick, just to make the others see her weakness laid so bare.
It's not a bad weakness to have, but all the same...
It's not a good feeling to nurture, knowing that her ARM came from a Metal Dragon itself. At best, it'd look bad. At worst, well... Did she really want to see if the stories and rumors of ARMs tainting their users was true? It practically is holding onto her heart, grasping it in an embrace that enables the organ to survive.
What does it mean when she's seeing a beast like this and feeling not only fear, but like she wanted to cry- not for herself, but for the beast? Is it her that makes her heart twist with sympathy, the cave, a trick of her mind, or something else entirely?
There's a tail, thick stalagmite, barely visible in the gloom. Gwen rushes over to it, and begins punching. "Help me with this! We need to buy is some time!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied feels the very tug of the place tear at her, prompting a rather pained cry as she struggles to hold onto Jacqueline and keep them aloft. She lands on one of Jacqueline's pillars, half-formed as they are, and shakes her head as she murmurs, "The very air in this place... it is not like Malevolence, and yet no better..."
She finds herself yelping hard as she draws down towards the rest of the group, but the powerful slam the Metal Dragon crushes onto them just sends her flying and rolling against the floor, with the Hyadean coughing in pain as she tries to keep herself from breathing any more of the vile taint that it exudes.
She listens to Gwen as she murmurs her apologies, and lowers her head as well as she desperately looks up towards it. "How long have you been here...? I--"
There is another roar, as she shoves herself next to Gwen, seemingly empathising -- perhaps literally -- with what she's feeling. "A-all right...!"
She's... not exactly going to be of much help, though. Lily's been asking her to do pushups to strengthen herself to fight her atrophy.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline is gritting her teeth as she pushes herself to catch up, the sound of her boots echoing down the corridor; she pauses for just a moment, long enough to sweep Riesenlied up into an hug that seeks to pull her up from where she's stopped, and propel her forwards towards Gwen and the stalagmite she's zeroed in on. She impacts against it hard with a shoulder, shaking the rock against her with her strength - after all, she's a lot more hale than Riesenlied is, and without the wasting that afflicts her.
"--don't-- take your eyes for granted!" she mutters, though it seems to be more to herself than to Gwen. "Look again!--" she adds urgently, flinging an arm forward in a 'go!' motion. The little robot ARMs she has with her - one of them, at least - squeals on the spot in answer, and then suddenly rockets forwards with a surprising burst of speed. The way it collides with the stalagmite ought to be painful were it anyone or anything else, but the odd construction of the ARM seems to hold, even when the engine port on the back of the device suddenly flares more fully to life.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Something about this place...Jacqueline can feel it. Her spellwork suffers from the miasma, and so does she. It becomes difficult to maintain them, even as her pillars to more and more effort to conjure. It's like she has to fight them every step of the way and it's draining, both physically and mentally.
She winces as Riesenlied lets out a cry and lands on one of her pillars.
"Hang in there..." She murmurs, resting a hand on her shoulder. And then the Dragon shrieks and charges at them, smashing the pillar and sending the two of them flying. Jacqueline collides with the ground with a thud and lays there for a moment, before forcing herself to her feet with a groan.
Once she's standing she reaches into her bags, drawing out a red potion. She downs one for herself before offering one to Riesenlied, and after that to anyone who wants one. The potion gives her a boost of strength and energy...she only hopes it would last long enough to see them through this encounter alive.
"I'll do what I can..." Jacqueline says with a nod toward Gwen, invoking that crest again. She channels as much power as she can muster into it, attempting to raise a pillar to force the dragon back.
They couldn't fight it here. If it got any closer...
...Jacqueline didn't want to think about it.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
"Good. Remember, Riesenlied: do not shirk away. No matter the cruelty you see."
They are the last words the Trial Knight offers before they ascend up along the dragon with single-minded purpose. They wait until they are at the very height of the thing, braces, -lunges-...
... and that hideous, pained shriek rattles straight to the core of the knight as much as it reverborates across every inch of the temple the second they land.
K.K. can feel the ground quaking as if terrified as they hit moss-encrusted earth in a crouch, the cloth tails of their armor pooling along the grimy fundament. They can hear the scream of metal. They can see the first, pained movements as the massive metal creature begins to pursue with the first protesting wakefulness of a life that is not life. Of an agony that persists beyond the cold touch of the end.
If K.K. has an answer to Xantia's demands to explain themself, it certainly is not coming now. As Noeline rushes past, the knight rises. As Gwen makes for the stalagmite, K.K. turns. And as the others make their play...
"I see the truth of you, creature."
... The Trial Knight stands their ground against the encroach of a force of nature.
"Pain and fear hold the chains of you beyond even your own end. Such life is no life at all. But my life is wrought with the stuff that moves civilizations. I live for my purpose. I shall -never- falter. My passion burns hotter than the very sun and shall endure long past its end! You wish to test your mettle against mine, behemoth?"
K.K.'s hands lift. Light shines between them, elongating, enlarging at one end, as if the radiance itself was giving physical shape to K.K.'s defiance.
"Then come. Come! AND KNOW YOU SHALL BE FOUND WANTING!"
It is the face of something new. Something they have never pit themself against before.
And K.K. faces that unknown trial headfirst as a massive hammer is made manifest from nothing, charging, -leaping- --
-- and giving their own answer to this problem by meeting it head on. Very, very literally.
With a hammer.
DG: K.K. has used their Tool Where Did You Get That Hammer toward their party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Though Xantia tries to make use of Jay's pillars, they prove to be too unstable to rely upon for long, and she soon abandons that course of action, leaping for more solid ground with enough desperation to hurt herself upon landing. But she scrambles to keep going regardless. Not like the dragon is giving them much choice.
Cloying miasma slows her down further. Why is this so tiring? Whatever this stuff is, it's bad news. And she finds that it... really, really gets to her. Not being able to move the way she likes is not just irritating, it's... upsetting, in a way she wouldn't be able to put into words. It only motivates her more to keep running, feeling a desperate need to escape from this somehow. To make matters worse, this is making her more acutely aware of how hungry she is. Not that that's anything new, but losing focus now is definitely not going to help anything.
The dragon's screech calls her back to attention. How long has she been running? It feels like forever. But now, the rest of the group is just ahead. She's close to reuniting with her friends. And the dragon... the dragon is right behind her, isn't it.
The thought would be more upsetting if this wasn't what Xantia wanted in the first place. It's far more her style to face a threat head-on, rather than run from it. If it's right there, actively seeking the confrontation, she will gladly meet it. She and her little friend.
"Keep going!", she shouts in response to Gwen's call for help. "I can stop it, for a moment!" Though she sounds confident, she isn't actually thinking about what she's about to do. She's just doing what comes natural.
Xantia abruptly stops running, and in a practiced motion, pulls the massive hammer on her back free from its leather bindings, turns around, and holds it at the ready in both hands. This is a tool meant more for demolition purposes, generally not a very good weapon to be used in combat, being as heavy and unwieldy as it is. But against a target this large, coming directly at her... she's fairly confident that it wouldn't be able to dodge. And that if she puts all her strength into the swing, a direct hit would have to give even a dragon pause.
And so, in a strange twist of fate... she ends up an unwitting partner to K.K., who also swoops in with a large hammer, executing a swing perfectly synced up with her own.
Maybe Gwen was right. Maybe we should feel bad for the dragon.
DG: Xantia has used her Tool Megaton Hammer toward her party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
That didn't go well. For most of them, anyway. Between K.K.'s wire and Ragnell's handy snack, she manages to climb out of the way of danger, leaving her laughing when things don't go so well for the others. That laughter comes to an end when she leaps off the monstrosity a second after K.K. and thus has to endure the dragon's cacophonous shriek of pain while in *mid-air*. It's a curious and deeply unpleasant experience, and if Ragnell's reflexes weren't as good as they are, she'd probably land on her face rather than in an instinctual roll. Either way, it leaves her shuddering once she rises from the landing.
And as the dragon *chases* them, K.K. stands their ground, calling forth a great hammer and testing their mettle against its own in a head-to-head confrontation.
Ragnell stares. And then she takes her hat and fans herself with it for a moment. "Right, so," she says briskly, turning towards the others as Xantia also leaps forward, hammer in hand, to assist with clobbering the poor dragon. Gwen and Riesenlied shove themselves at the stalagmite while Noeline sends her robot ARM forth. Ragnell purses her lips, then sighs and puts her hat back on. "What a day to decide, 'nah, I don't feel like makin' new grenades,' huh?" she murmurs, then lifts a foot and gives the stone as mighty a kick as she can manage.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Charge of the Dragon.
===============================<* Hadal Temple *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Charge of the Dragon *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The ground rumbles. A bone-chilling shriek splits the air, and something
massive rushes at you from the gloom. It's a Metal Dragon, at least fifty
feet long and running at you on all fours; its flesh is riddled with tears
and rents, and it is clearly dead, but it still moves. It is in deep agony,
laced with writhing tendrils of water, streaked with bulging eyes across its
metallic scales.
It manages to close you into a dead end -- a space too tight for combat
without the risk of hurting yourselves. You'll have to force the Dragon back
if you're going to get to more advantageous ground!
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
==========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 4 *>==========================
=======================< Results - Charge of the Dragon >=======================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass
Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass
Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail
Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell 35 --(10)--> 45 Fail
Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K.K. 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass
Where Did You Get That Hammer 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xantia 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass
Megaton Hammer 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail
ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 55 --(30)--> 85 Pass
Conditions: Vault(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 30 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: Xantia has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Fall of the Dragon *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You are at the top of a flowing waterfall, broken by the roots of the chalky
trees that have oft dotted the Temple's landscape. Below, eyes and tendrils
break the surface of the icy lake like waves -- the nest of the Detestable
is close at hand.
The Detestable Pale draws near...
The water's surface breaks and lashes. A bone-chilling shriek splits the
air, and something massive rushes at you from above. A fifty-foot Metal
Dragon, perhaps the same one as before, throws itself at you.
Its flesh is riddled with tears and rents, and it is clearly dead, but it
still moves. Tendrils of lashing water stress at its shaven metallic flesh.
Bulbous, distending eyes burst from the cracks within its bones, dripping
with mercurial blood.
You've no way forward but down the waterfall -- but be careful you do not
slip, for it may not be mere water at the bottom of the basin!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
The dragon shrieks at the defiant Hammer Knight and their temporary Hammer Squire, ready to meet their challenge with its wormy, wet malignant maw. The Death that is Unending, versus Life that Refuses to Bend.
Their blunt attacks strike in perfect unison, the impact creating an unappetizing squelch of dead, putrid biometal flesh.
Meanwhile-
When there's something difficult in front of you, you just put barriers between it and you. You refuse to think about it, feign ignorance, or force it back until you can make sense of it.
The mineral column may be a more physical manifestation of this. If her heart wasn't hurting at the sight of it, her sanity and stomach might be instead. In fact-
Gwen's grip on the stalagmite slips as she begins to dry heave, leaving the task to Jacqueline and Riesenlied instead, alongside the efforts of Noeline's little robot ARMs and Ragnell's spectral foot. The solid structure of the mineral buildup proves too strong for Jay to move it much, and Ragnell will probably have a very, very sore foot. But their efforts, combined with the remaining strength of Riesenlied and the sacrifice of one of Noeline's ARMS's well-being, eventually cause the column to fall.
"G-guys, c'mon!" Gwen yells for Xantia and K.K. through the crackling of shattered stone, wiping her mouth. "Let's get going!"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia sounded a lot more confident than she actually was at the time, she will realize in hindsight. But dang if her gambit didn't work out well. She knew she could put some massive force behind her hammer, but that result... that was more than she was expecting.
It takes her a moment to realize the reason why. Looking aside, she can see that she wasn't the only one who smashed the dragon with a hammer. It's incredible what teamwork can accomplish, even the impromptu kind. This discovery would normally make her smile, and cheer for the other people's help. But... that was K.K. who helped her. How is she supposed to feel about that? What could she say that wouldn't prompt a response that's hard to understand? She never ends up figuring that out, leaving her with only an expression filled with mixed emotions. "..."
Shortly after, the tell-tale crack of stone, followed by Gwen's voice, inform her that it's time to go. Between the impacts of the hammers and the stone pillar, surely that dragon won't be going anywhere for a while.
Rushing past the fallen undead creature, the group runs through a fairly narrow passage, which opens up into a hallway made up of mostly water running through its center, though there is cramped yet solid footing to be found on either side. It's a slick surface, hardly ideal for walking, but it's the only way to go from here. One might already get a bit of a sinking feeling from the sound of rushing water in the distance, coming closer with every step.
Sure enough, at the far end of this hallway is nothing but a freefall, freely flowing water bursting over a sheer cliffside into a murky body of water far below. "Now what?" Xantia's question is more annoyed than anything else, not feeling like there's an immediate threat hurrying their decision.
That is, until an explosion of rock at the far heralds the undead Metal Dragon's grand re-entrance. It does not particularly care that it's far bigger than the passage, ready and able to tear its way through to get at its assailants. For something dead and presumably mindless, it's almost like it bears a grudge...
Since killing it or even stopping it for very long apparently isn't happening, that makes the decision easy. "We're gonna have to jump!" Or so Xantia readily suggests, until she looks at what's down there, and quickly draws back in alarm.
"W-what's that? That's not water, what is that?!" It looks more like there's some kind of... liquid monster down there. "We... we can't jump! Somebody, think of something else!" Xantia's started to panic.
It should be clear to everyone else that the waterfall is the only way out... and now there's somebody who's going to need some serious convincing, or forcing, before she will consider this a valid option.
DG: Xantia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a pained, hoarse gasp from Riesenlied as she assists Gwen and Jacqueline in the pushing, nodding towards the alchemist in turn. She feels every fibre of her musculature burning, perhaps signalling to her mind how erratic the sensations she's feeling are-- but somehow, someway, they are able to push it back. She's in plain awe and inspired by Xantia's strength -- K.K. she'd come to reckon as a force much greater than her, but the martial artist--
"W-wow..."
There isn't a lot of time to admire it, however -- she's rushed with the rest of the group as they come onto the waterfall, fretting faintly as she murmurs, "I... Dva... just-- where have you gone...?" Riesenlied finds herself asking, in the very few precious moments they have to gather their breath.
Xantia stops to question what it -is-, and she says, "I-- calm down, Xantia...! Focus on my vision... on our vision." she holds onto her hand, as she did Jacqueline's as she focuses on the Tear to try to share her vision once more. Hopefully, it will start to unfurl truth from fiction -- or in this case, at the very least, to concentrate on what's concrete and important, rather than the looming threat at the back of their minds.
Her wings spread forward as she readies herself for what might be an inevitable fall if they're swept by the waters...
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
The Trial Knight falls beside Xantia as the dragon is knocked further back by the force of their twin blows. And for however much she might stay silent to try to avert cryptic commentary --
"It would suit you ill to ease your guard. That was not done for the sake of you and yours."
--she gets it anyway. And true to form, those words hardly sound like a dismissal, or scornful. They are matter-of-fact, which perhaps makes that warning all the more grim as it resonates with that warped, metallic ring, prefacing the sharp pivot of K.K.'s heel before they rush on towards that passage.
And it is there they find themselves, standing upon the edifice between solid ground and free-fall, when moss-laden stone begins to shake and crumble into motes of dust. The hammer disappears.
"Fear is not so easily quelled," they note, dimly, not a second before that dragon -explodes- through rock wall with deadened eyes and slavering metal jaws. Dead dragons still dream, apparently, and whatever those dreams are, it is sending the creature after them like a force possessed. There is but one option.
And K.K. does not even hesitate to think it through, second guess, or debate options before they are -stabbing- two freshly formed swords into the rockface of that cliffside.
"Remain chained, child, and there can be but one outcome. Has your resolve only come this far since last we met?"
And, after invoking that last meeting, and those words they uttered to Xantia then, the knight just -jumps- off that edge without thinking, without reservation, gripping tight to spooking ropes of red to tug sharply upon them and guide their freefall.
And though it didn't go uttered, one would imagine that 'no humans allowed' rule still applies even here. Perhaps it's best not to test.
DG: K.K. has used their Tool Grapple Line toward their party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline didn't need to be told twice, but she doesn't immediately starts running. Her first concern is making sure that Riesenlied is alright before moving to follow the others. Jacqueline isn't looking to great herself, though. That fall really did a number on her, and, though it's not obviously outwardly, Jacqueline starting to feel a little...vulnerable.
Her sorcery has been becoming harder and harder to use... She can't be confident that she can rely on anything she casts, and that leaves her at a bit of a disadvantage. The only thing she had left was her potions, and...
This train of thought is immediately halted as the Metal Dragon reappears. Despite everything they've thrown at it, and however much punishment it receives, it still seems set on pursuing them. And now they're well and truly trapped. In front of them is the Metal Dragon, and behind them is the waterfall...
...Would they even be able to survive the drop, if they slipped...?
"I can..." Jacqueline starts, but stops herself. Why would she expect her sorcery to work...? It was failing her here. This place was suffused with the power of Muse, Jacqueline could feel that much...perhaps Crests that called upon it would still work, but she didn't carry any that were applicable to the current situation... She felt useless here. But...she was here, and there was only one way to proceed.
"Xantia, please..." Jacqueline murmurs, urging her quietly. "There's...there's only one way forward."
Jacqueline very carefully starts to move forward, though in her current condition she wasn't sure if she'd be stable enough to make it safely.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Adrenaline helps, Noeline decides as they burst out onto the path above the waterfall, as she pants for whatever passes for 'breath' for a Hyadean. If she's honest, it's been a while since she's had a chance to really cut loose and be reckless, and the fear and excitement pumping through her metal veins is enough to spur her onwards with a sort of impulse she hasn't felt in some time.
Which might explain why she's grinning like a fool, showing off her fangs - and as there's a sudden howl and the tearing of rock and stone as the dragon comes for them, her eyebrows raise almost playfully. "... honestly... if you're this persistent, you'll keep pushing people away," she comments out of nowhere, holding her position--
--and suddenly cartwheeling off the side in a vaulting dodge, allowing herself to simply plummet downwards towards the pool below with very little in the way of preamble.
It's half planned, and half sheer instinct, but it does at least immediately pull her out of the way of the dragon. In the immediate, her scythe suddenly impacts with the rock wall next to her, somehow managing to carve a bite in the stone and then seeping into it as an extremely rudimentary handhold.
It doesn't seem like it will last - chips and stones are already falling away from the gash she created, and the rest of the outcrop she's using surely can't hold - but then Strife is diving for her, whistling all the way as it offers a very rudimentary lift to a passageway below.
"Keep going!" she calls up. "If you slip, we can catch you - no such option exists if that creature gets a hold of you!"
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen knows this waterfall. She knows these trees. She knows what happened next here, as well, noticing the very path her party took in crashing down the waterfall in a disasterous, chaotic ball.
Well. It's not like she's not already injured.
'Remain chained, and there can only be one outcome.'
K.K.'s words retain the same solid sort of sense they did when they met at that oasis, before she later battled against them later on.
For the sake of Xantia's battle against whatever evils plague her reason, Gwen waits.
....
......
it'stimetogonow
If Xantia doesn't move, Gwen will get a running start and attempt to grab her underneath her right ARM. "Time to gooooooo-ooooo--o---"
She jumps.
And in the space where her body meets air, she reflects.
K.K. kind of meant that advice for Xantia, not her.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time she's ended this fall badly. Maybe the snow will still be there! And if not that, maybe she can at least cushion the fall for Jay and Riesenlied.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
That *was* an impressive result. Ragnell is thoroughly distracted by the twin hammer impact on the dead Metal Dragon, and so her kick thoroughly misses the first time, and then fails to have any real impact on the follow-up. This is okay. The stalactite goes down eventually anyhow. She grins, then heads forward with the others.
The waterway comes with a roaring, rushing sound. The reason why soon becomes obvious: they're at the top of a waterfall. As Ragnell peers down, a noise breaks the water, and the seemingly-defeated Metal Dragon rises again, screaming with all the pain and fury of those not allowed to properly die. She twists around, tense. "Dammit, this thing doesn't know when to give up!" she declares, unsure if she should be mad or impressed.
The way forward seems obvious, but then Xantia starts flipping out for some reason. More illusions? Whatever it is, it's going to slow them down more than is acceptable. As Riesenlied laments for Dva then heads forward on a wing and a prayer, and K.K. leaps off with another wire to guide their fall, and Jay tries to reassure Xantia, and Noeline tries to command her, Ragnell reaches into her poncho and pulls out another crisp chocolate rusk out. This one she bites in half, cracking it on a sharp incisor even though she really should be using her molars for that.
Her half, she gnaws on. The other half? She shoves into Xantia's mouth--or attempts to, anyway.
"Have a rusk an' chill the fuck out," she drawls around her biscuit. As previously stated, the chocolate rusk *is* extremely tasty. It might even be enough to get Xantia to calm down and agree to head down the waterfall. She just had some chocolate; it's a good day to die!
Case in point: Gwen comes rushing forward and attempts to grab Xantia and hurl *both* of them down the waterfall at full speed. Ragnell sees this, and steps out of the way. Wouldn't want to be a speedbump. She watches them go as the rusk goes *crunch* between her teeth. Then she grins ferally, and goes running after.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has used her Tool Chocolate Rusk toward her party's challenge, Fall of the Dragon.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Fall of the Dragon *>=====================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
You are at the top of a flowing waterfall, broken by the roots of the chalky
trees that have oft dotted the Temple's landscape. Below, eyes and tendrils
break the surface of the icy lake like waves -- the nest of the Detestable
is close at hand.
The Detestable Pale draws near...
The water's surface breaks and lashes. A bone-chilling shriek splits the
air, and something massive rushes at you from above. A fifty-foot Metal
Dragon, perhaps the same one as before, throws itself at you.
Its flesh is riddled with tears and rents, and it is clearly dead, but it
still moves. Tendrils of lashing water stress at its shaven metallic flesh.
Bulbous, distending eyes burst from the cracks within its bones, dripping
with mercurial blood.
You've no way forward but down the waterfall -- but be careful you do not
slip, for it may not be mere water at the bottom of the basin!
=Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 5 *>=========================
=======================< Results - Fall of the Dragon >=======================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 35 --(20)--> 55 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail
Strife 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber 40 --(20)--> 60 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail
Chocolate Rusk 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K.K. 30 --(20)--> 50 Fail
Grapple Line 2 Agility Effects: Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xantia 40 --(20)--> 60 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock 40 --(20)--> 60 Fail
Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 85 --(0)--> 85 Fail
Conditions: Save Point(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has failed 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.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Thrall of the Detestable Pale *>================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your descent downwards has finally taken you to the edge of the basin, to a
hideous mass of bulbous eyes and writhing, tainted tendrils. In the center
of the mass is a brilliant blue-white light, a pinprick of primordial energy
that threatens to shear away at your very being.
Those of Filgaian sorcerous inclinations may know that this is a Leyline...
and being exposed to it for long periods of time is in no way healthy.
The voice of the Primarch is audible to all:
Immerse thyself...
...within the Pale...
...Call upon my name...
...and walk beyond the Ley...
The undead Dragon lands at the centre of the nest, gazing down towards you.
The tendrils lacing its body flail, eliciting a tortured hiss from its
throat, and the many bulbous eyes bursting from the cracks within its bones
gaze towards you. It bleeds with viscous white mercury, liquid even at this
temperature. Its eye-sockets are threaded through with tendrils, but it
looks like it's pleading.
It rushes forward, wreathed in the shadow of the Primach. End this.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia's initial reaction to Riesenlied is to shake her head violently, wide-eyed as she fails to understand why she isn't being listened to. "No, you don't understand! The Detestable Pale, it's coming for us!" Xantia's completely convinced that she heard someone say that just now, but... that was just her. The others are left to wonder what she's talking about.
When her hand is grabbed, however, there is a sharp intake of air, and her mind clears, almost immediately. She blinks, and looks around in confusion, aware that she was upset about something, but now completely unsure of the reason. She feels perfectly calm now, and can only wonder, "...hm? What was I doing?"
She appears to genuinely not remember anything about what happened to upset her just now. That's a pretty extreme reaction... is her mind that easy to manipulate? Perhaps that could explain something about her amnesia...
At least it doesn't appear to be complete amnesia, since K.K. also spoke while her vision was still clouded, and those words suddenly come back to her, causing her to frown. Especially since by then the Trial Knight has already leapt down, evading whatever comeback she might have been able to think of. So she can only mutter her frustrations to herself. "Why all this complicated talk about chains and resolve, why not just tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
The dragon roars, and more of the passage collapses behind the party as it forces its way forward. It's definitely time to go now. And Xantia has failed to even refocus on the problem at hand. Looks like it's time for an intervention.
Chocolate intervention. The best kind. Xantia doesn't even pause to wonder how that just suddenly appeared in her mouth. Why doubt randomly appearing chocolate? Such miracles should be savored, not questioned. Maybe she would have, eventually, if Gwen hadn't run out of patience and took matters into her own hands. "Wha, wait, what's going on-- my chocolate!!" That's Xantia for you: more worried about the final piece of chocolate falling out of her mouth than she is about going down a waterfall all of a sudden.
Long story short, the descent is not a very pleasant experience, for anybody. It's a loooong drop, and a painful landing on the surface. It's a haphazard, disorderly affair, causing even those taking caution in slowing their fall to be swept away by either the water, or others landing on them and dragging them down with them.
As much of a terrible mess though that may have been, at least everyone's survived. And they finally escaped that dragon. Right...?
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied finds herself slipping and falling -- and she tumbles with a cry, descending down to the depths as she reaches out with a cry of, "Noeline--!" She cringes as she closes her eyes--
--but the fall doesn't quite come for the group.
Indeed, perhaps save for the more miraculous and powerful of the group, such as the Trial Knight and Ragnell, they would find themselves suspended in the air, breaking their fall.
They gently float towards the surface of the floor... which is not altogether that much more pleasing, owing to the pulsating nature of the blue shine before them.
The Detestable Pale's voice is audible to all, a voice that rattles to your very core:
Immerse thyself...
...within the Pale...
...Call upon my name...
...and walk beyond the Ley...
The scene is set before them -- a revolting nest of bulbous eyes and writhing tendrils, ensconced upon the brilliant light of pure planetary lifeblood.
The Leyline of Muse is before them... and it cannot be healthy to be exposed to the pure, naked lifeblood of the planet for long.
Riesenlied gasps, and the next time she opens her eyes, it's with a familiar figure that she's been seeking all of this time; the Metal Demon that caused the Detestable to awaken from its long slumber, Dva, the Deep Dragoon. She resembles a mechanised mermaid clad in sleek armour, carrying a long lance with her.
Dva stares at Riesenlied impassively from where she's got her held safely...
...and then hurls her mightily in the direction of the Crimson Noble with a snarl.
"Why did you come here?! Don't even tell me it's for some sickly sweet Polyanna response like 'I'm here to save you'!"
Riesenlied shrieks mid-flight, and collapses against Noeline as she (presumably) catches her in her hold. "I-- it does not change what I have resolved to do--"
"Forget it, Riese! You can't save everyone! You can't save me!"
She stamps the butt of the Brionac spear against the Leyline, firmly. A wreath of blue globules surround her, before forming into that ever-familiar mantle around her once more.
"I -trusted- you," Dva snarls, a tear forming at the corner of her eye. "I trusted you! So just go away! I don't want your help!!"
The screech of the Dragon that echoes above is ominous and yet all too familiar -- the Bone Dragon still lingers, and yet a new threat has emerged before them. The tip of her spear glows... and a torrent of water forms in the shape of a draconic head as she lunges towards the group.
"GO AWAY!!"
DG: You use your Tool Dragon's Claw against your party's Challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale!
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> K.K. has posed.
They fall. And behind them, everything collapses. As rubble churns and falls like rain, it strikes the sharpened blade lodged into the cliffside, knocking it loose. The weapon tumbles, and suddenly without its guide, its owner goes into a true free-fall. The others are caught by something else, something more. A feeling K.K. recognizes.
The pulse of the earth surrounds them.
The Trial Knight falls, unhindered. Rubble collapses in a crumbling circle around them as they hit the subterranean earth with a CRACK of impact, spiderline fractures forming in the ground beneath their crouching form. The swords gone, K.K. remains lurched forward in that position of recovery, head bowed as the Detestable Pale's voice resonates down to whatever constitutes the center of the armored knight's being.
"..."
Bathed in the sea blue light of the ley, K.K.'s faceless helm lifts to the sight of a leech, a cancer, infested in the heart of that node of ley energy. Like a tick latched to the thrum of a major artery.
The Trial Knight says nothing as they rise, standing fully before that parasite. That parasite, and...
Why did you come here?!
Slowly, that horned helm tilts in Dva's direction. Watching her. Hearing her. From context alone, it is all too clear what the stakes of this is for Riesenlied. K.K. knows well just what has transpired to bring them both to this.
And perhaps that is exactly why, as the Deep Dragoon lunges...
... the Trial Knight does little more than leap away from the fray of battle.
They land with the skid of boots on stone a distance away from the fight. No weapons summoned, no defenses readied, no violence levied. No. They just stand upon the fringes, and watch.
Unhelping, perhaps. But, after all... this is not their trial. It is not theirs to interfere with. No -- it would just sully it. After all...
... They are oathbound to bear witness.
DG: K.K. has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline finds herself falling. Desperately, she reaches for a Crest from her pouch and tries to invoke it. It was something she kept on her just in case - a spell for breaking falls. And yet...it doesn't work. She continues to fall. She invokes it again and again, and yet, she continues to fail. It is only when she finds heself taken ahold of by some mysterious force that her fall is stopped, and she stares down in horror at the /thing/ below them...and, more importantly, the blue light below it.
Jacqueline knows that light. She draws upon its power often in her Crest Sorcery. And so, she knows what it can do.
"Don't listen to it! That light...it's Filgaia's raw energy!" Jacqueline warns.
"One of the Leylines, Muse...and...what is /that/? What is it /doing/ to it?" She asks, horrified.
She finally reaches the floor, stumbling a bit as she does so, and looks up at Dva.
...This is what she was afraid of. Afraid that the person they were searching wouldn't have any interest in returning. What could they possibly do...?
"Please...I know you probably don't care what I have to say...but you mustn't listen to that voice!" Jacqueline pleads. "Whatever your grievances with Riesenlied...this isn't the way to handle them! That thing will only seek to draw you in, and change you until you're not yourself anymore!"
She draws a bottle of repellant from her bags, and hurls it to the ground in front of Dva.
She doesn't seek to harm her, only to provide a distraction that someone else might be able to use.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Reliable Repellant toward her party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline feels gravity begin to take hold, holds up her hands ready to shield herself, and-- nothing. The expected impact doesn't come; instead, they lurch slightly downwards in a confusing fashion until they end up on a plane with their quarry, staring each other down as the world reassembles oddly around them.
Well, Noeline and Riesenlied's quarry, at least.
If nothing else, the twintailed demon has learnt how to adapt quickly over the years; when Riesenlied comes flying towards her she's already set ready to catch the Tainted leader, even if the effort makes her grunt slightly and take a few steps backwards, her limbs aching with fatigue.
Dimly, she listens to Jacqueline's words; dimly, she glances upwards as if to gauge the dragon above them, and whether it will be content to witness this in the same manner as the Trail Knight. Ever, ever so slowly, she draws in a breath, and carefully sets Riesenlied down on terra obscura.
"... trust can be broken, but it can be repaired as well," she decides as she starts to step forward, holding her hand out as that crimson scythe manifests back into it. It is nothing so fancy as summoning - instead, the blade simply extends from her hand, building itself abruptly out of a mass of liquid metal that simply reinforces Noeline's identity as a Hyadean.
"More to the point-- have you not noticed? You are not the only one that's scared. You are not the only one lost and uncertain of what to do or what might happen." She grins, slowly and without humour, and sets her scythe at a ready position. "... so it is my duty to bring you back to the Ebony Wings. You say we're saving you--"
A pause, and then she's tensing, ready to jump on the attack. "--but instead, you're going to get /such/ a lecture."
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen didn't need to have been here before to know where she was. The pain washed out the sensation before, but now, with the consequences of her jump taken by the strange blue energy, Gwen can feel it.
She can feel it, like a child knows the heartbeat of their mother, if that same heartbeat was so loud, so thunderous, that each vibration threatened to overwhelm and snuff out the beat of her own.
K.K. stands by, holding true to their vow to observe. Their purpose, for the sake of the flame, and that which must be. Maybe that was the reason K.K. asked her how much she would sacrifice, to keep existing. To keep strong the beat of her heart.
Would she be willing to hold true to that purpose, when that time came for her? Just... what is her purpose, then? To just exist? That was what she gave as her answer, back then. To exist, and see. This place, too, was one she wouldn't have seen if she hadn't ventured out, with its crystal trees, its flowing waterfalls, and yes... the hidden rot that lies hidden from the sun. Was she just observing, too, before she became involved in this network of threads?
No, she *is* a thread. She refuses to be cut from loom.
And she won't let Riesenlied be cut, either.
The redhead doesn't have the necessary power in her to properly pull a powerful attack like she did not too long ago. Thankfully, there's a Seraph of Lightning here. It's great when things go Gwen's way!
It'll just potentially be kind of painful.
"Ragnell! Let's try n' do this together!" The courier extends up her left hand, as she holds up her right, palm extended towards Dva. "Let's see where two strikes of lightnin'll get us!"
It seems like a good idea right now, even if Gwen's not really even sure *what* Ragnell will do. Maybe they'll sync their attacks. Maybe Ragnell will get her the most shocking handshake Gwen's ever hand. Maybe she'll just give her a chocolate snack.
No matter what, this is probably going to look very, very surreal to Xantia.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Full Metal Courier toward her party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Well, that didn't go well.
The waterfall shatters in the wake of everyone's leap and the Zombie Metal Dragon's pounce, sending everyone tumbling towards the water below. Except... something catches them in mid-air. The air itself, in fact. They float down to the floor, and the blue shine beats like a diseased heart. Though Ragnell has not had the dubious pleasure of experiencing any of the illusions so far, she now hears the call of the Detestable Pale, and she narrows her eyes even as she tenses, that voice claws on the chalkboard of her soul. Eyes and tendrils, all latched and leeching upon the life force of the very planet. It would be impressive if it weren't so...
Oh hey it's Dva. And, true to her name, she acts like a diva, hurling Riesenlied towards Noeline while screaming about how she doesn't want HER help and she doesn't want to be SAVED and Ragnell rolls her eyes at the teenage antics. Dva might be very important and dear to Riesenlied and Noeline (probably), but Ragnell loves very few people indeed, and Dva's deeeefinitely not one of them. She glances towards K.K., who positions themself to one side of the battle with clear intent to not interfere, and it seems to Ragnell like that's a good example to follow.
Then Gwen invites her to zap the hell out of Dva. Ragnell tilts her head up, side-eyeing her; then she smirks.
"Sure," she drawls. "If homegirl don't want help, then let's show her what the alternative she's facin' is."
It probably would have been a good idea to actually synchronize, though. As it stands, Ragnell points her paired guns at Dva, charges up a shot within them, and then unleashes a laser towards the mermaid-esque Hyadean, to combine with and strengthen whatever attack Gwen hurls her way. You wanna fight, Dva? Sure. Let's fight.
DG: Seraph Ragnell has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia has had better days. But at least she's saved from an even worse day by something preventing her from crashing into the water's surface. She doesn't care what the something is, if it's helping her out it's good enough for her.
And when she lands... well, as easy as it apparently was for her to forget what upset her so just now, hearing that voice again and seeing the corrupted Leyline instantly brings it all back. She points a finger in its direction, declaring, "That's it! That's what I saw, what I heard!" That inexplicable alarmed feeling is right back with it, too. Despite not knowing at all what she's looking at, it simply... feels Bad. Really Bad. Like something she shouldn't be near, should get away from as quickly as possible.
But they're not afforded that luxury. A Metal Demon appears, evidently very upset with Riese in particular. She doesn't know Dva, and really doesn't know the full story here, but even she can figure out the gist of the history here. Although she would've liked to let Riesenlied handle the affair, things change after an attack is sent the party's way, crashing into Xantia and knocking her down. Now it's her business, too.
Slowly lurching back to her feet, she intones, "I don't know everything that happened, but... even I can tell that you don't really mean what you're saying. Don't be like that, listen to what Riesenlied has to say!" And if that doesn't work, there's always the other way, as she clarifies by raising a fist. "Or I'll just have to fight you until you can't fight anymore, then you'll have to listen!" Seems like sound logic to her.
When Gwen gets into position, Xantia is half expecting to hear her name being called, but instead... "Ragnell?" Wait a minute. Suddenly things are starting to make sense. She knows what this is.
"Gwen... do you have an imaginary friend?"
No really, she knows what this is. "Just like Sorey! Does your imaginary friend make yummy food too?" She gasps. "They do! The chocolate...!"
Sometimes it's frightening how much Xantia can be correct about, while still not understanding a single thing about it.
Oh right, there was a fight happening. She'd almost forgotten in all the excitement. Well, Gwen did call for lightning. While she can't do it at a distance, she can certainly try to add in a lightning punch of her own and make it a triple!
DG: Xantia has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Thrall of the Detestable Pale.
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Thrall of the Detestable Pale *>================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Your descent downwards has finally taken you to the edge of the basin, to a
hideous mass of bulbous eyes and writhing, tainted tendrils. In the center
of the mass is a brilliant blue-white light, a pinprick of primordial energy
that threatens to shear away at your very being.
Those of Filgaian sorcerous inclinations may know that this is a Leyline...
and being exposed to it for long periods of time is in no way healthy.
The voice of the Primarch is audible to all:
Immerse thyself...
...within the Pale...
...Call upon my name...
...and walk beyond the Ley...
The undead Dragon lands at the centre of the nest, gazing down towards you.
The tendrils lacing its body flail, eliciting a tortured hiss from its
throat, and the many bulbous eyes bursting from the cracks within its bones
gaze towards you. It bleeds with viscous white mercury, liquid even at this
temperature. Its eye-sockets are threaded through with tendrils, but it
looks like it's pleading.
It rushes forward, wreathed in the shadow of the Primach. End this.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
=========================<* Hadal Temple - Round 6 *>=========================
=================< Results - Thrall of the Detestable Pale >==================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied 55 --(5)--> 60 Pass
Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber 60 --(5)--> 65 Pass
Reliable Repellant 2 Combat Effects: Embolden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Ragnell 65 --(10)--> 75 Fail
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K.K. 50 --(5)--> 55 Pass
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xantia 60 --(10)--> 70 Fail
Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gwen Whitlock 60 --(5)--> 65 Pass
Full Metal Courier 2 Combat Effects: Embolden
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied 85 --(35)--> 120 Pass
Conditions: Suffer(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored Hadal Temple!
==============================<* Hadal Temple *>==============================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Log 15 *>===========================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
With a thunderous roar, the Primarch departs, its mass pulling deeper into
the earth like water being sucked down a drain. Within a minute, it's gone,
and its departure reveals a path in the wreckage around its nest. It leads
to a cliff-face, overlooking a cavern saturated with a thick haze. Sitting
inside, half-buried in the earth, is the hull of a massive, derelict
skyship. Between the mist, the sheer drop, and your own exhaustion, you'll
have to wait another day to get there.
A piece of the skyship's hull has been threaded through a nearby cliff, like
blood vessels. Attached to them is some sort of terminal, which activates
easily enough, despite its age, and the damage it's sustained. The only
accessible file is a text transcription of some kind.
Log 15-553-TX:
"The unidentified gr?;!ëth seen in other parts of the ship has now reached
engineering.
It's spreading faGÌpr than we can kill it. Fire is useless against it.
It's consumed half my soldiers. Turned them into these gr@?Þ7que...
/things./ It got Claymore's team, and I couldn't do a damned thing to save
them.
I can still hear it speaking. It keeps taunting me, telling me I will serve
it for all eternity. I will not. Mother grant me strength. Martyrs of lost
HyadGÌpçJr@?Þ7â)u}q8º8ÍX_'?;!ë?¬¹;ç....
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The Trial Knight rises to watch the trial of combat from overhead.
No, it is not a trial of combat -- it is a testament of resolves; the resolve to be by oneside, to do right by another, no matter the repercussion and punishment... resolve in the face of chaos and fear itself, upon the floor of a battleground too detestable and yet pure for many to face.
The combat is joined and swiftly, and it's rather clear who has the upper hand between Dva and Riesenlied -- though the latter draws her sword in a faint attempt to defend her, she isn't in any condition to fend off a super-powered, full-blooded Metal Demon.
It's only a couple of blows that they trade until Riesenlied's thin sword shatters into pieces, and Brionac whirls to catch the crimson scythe coming towards her.
"I'm jealous," Dva snarls. "I'm jealous how you've turned from a whimsical, devil-may-care wanderer to someone who really cares about a cause... but I don't quite -get- what you see..."
It's with a loud thrashing that she breaks free, however, with a blast of energy that pushes the advantage on her side.
The bottle of repellant crashes loud and its contents seem to become subsumed into the air -- around the wreath of water that Dva wears, and it causes her to halt and hinder for a moment as she gazes towards Jacqueline.
"How much more did you tell -Jay-, Riese?! How much longer have I worked under you?!" Dva hisses. "Why do you trust her more than I do?! Is it because you ruined her life?!"
"That isn't why..." Riesenlied answers, her bangs lowered over her eyes as she struggles to get up from her knees.
Gwen's thunderous fist comes striking as she holds her sheath of water against it; there's a powerful crackle, as it threatens to buckle... it seems like it's going to hold-- and then in a burst of power, smashes on through with an overwhelming blast as Dva's struck to one side and skids to a halt, catching Ragnell's laser fortunately on a deflected angle so as to not take it head-on.
She finds herself bleeding, armor falling off in chunks as mercurial blood flows freely from her shoulder.
"And how long've you been there?!" Dva exclaims to Ragnell. Oh hey, someone just got a bit more enlightened. "You're the damn voice Riese's been talking to in her head all this time, aren't you? All the way since Old Petra!"
"Miss Ragnell has helped me, as much as she has checked me when I falter," Riesenlied answers, gritting her teeth as she struggles to stand up and falters again.
She casts her eye towards Gwen, shaking her head. "And Miss Xantia and Miss Gwen have been there, to help us in our time of need. At Old Petra, when Id menaced us all. When Wayside was vulnerable and in need of protection. Together, Dva, together--"
Dva exclaims, "Just-- just stop already, stop!"
She seizes her once more, faster than Noeline can check, to grab Riesenlied and try to throw her around like a doll--
--but Xantia's come to the rescue, her third strike smashing her with impact and blasting her back once more. She feels the power of the Detestable Pale start to escape her. "Eghh-- ghh..."
"... together..." Riesenlied answers, as she finally runs forward, even though her entire body aches in pain --
--and then she's draped her arms over her. "Together, let's make things right. For you, for how you feel."
There is silence amongst them for a moment... and then the clatter of Brionac falling against the ground, as the roar of combat hushes into a distant memory.
"... damnit... damnit, damnit-- you stupid--" there's the sound of a sniffle. "You stupid idiot! You stupid idiot, you're the biggest idiot...!!"
Riesenlied winces and gasps as Dva starts to thunk her against her back, as she shakes her head. "You're the dumbest..." as she slumps and suddenly powers down, prompting a noise of surprise from Riesenlied-- but after a moment's worth of checking, it's clear that she won't be in danger...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Even with the immediate threat removed, and the Metal Demon unconscious, things do not sit still. It is with a cacophonous and thunderous roar that the Primarch departs, seeing no need to pursue further in this particular exchange. Its mass draws deeper still, deeper beyond what you can chase... and within a minute, it is gone.
Its departure reveals a path in the wreckage around its nest, leading to an overlooked cavern of misty haze... and beyond--
--within the ground, jutting out like a relic waiting for a grand discovery... is a derelict skyship, a piece of its hull threaded nearby where a message plays before long.
It is only in text, displayed from a console that Noeline may identify as a Hyadean terminal:
Log 15-553-TX:
"The unidentified gr?;!ëth seen in other parts of the ship has now reached engineering. It's spreading faGÌpr than we can kill it. Fire is useless against it. It's consumed half my soldiers. Turned them into these gr@?Þ7que... /things./ It got Claymore's team, and I couldn't do a damned thing to save them. I can still hear it speaking. It keeps taunting me, telling me I will serve it for all eternity. I will not. Mother grant me strength. Martyrs of lost HyadGÌpçJr@?Þ7â)u}q8º8ÍX_'?;!ë?¬¹;ç....
Fatigued and wounded, but with the most immediate and pressing concern reclaimed, Riesenlied holds tightly towards Dva as she wanly gazes over the horizon -- her eyes more cast upon the ship in the distance...
"... it... exists," Riesenlied dumbfoundedly murmurs, shaking her head groggily. "I--" she looks to Noeline, as if relaying an unspoken thought of just -how- they're going to move the villagers of Wayside out of here... somehow. It is a gargantuan task. They don't even know the depths of the damage...
"... we'd best leave before we succumb to our surroundings, but... thank you," she weakly responds to the rest of the group. Even Most Helpful K.K., upon whose auspice all Digs always go well. (Except for that one time.)
"Thank you..." Riesenlied can't help but whimper into a soft, relieved sob as she pats her unconscious comrade on her back.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline flinches back as Dva's gaze falls on her. She feels...a little bad, being used as an example. She wants to say something, but with the fight, there's no time. She hangs back, letting the front-line fighters handle the situation.
It isn't a pretty situation. But eventually, they've managed to subdue her nonfatally. Jacqueline breathes a sigh of relief. A part of her was worried this might end poorly.
When the others move to investigate the path Jacqueline follows, but not before glancing back at the creature planted on the Leyline.
What was that creature? Was that the 'Detestable Pale'? What was it doing to the Leyline? What was it doing to Filgaia?
...She can't doing anything about this right now. It's something she'll have to handle later.
With that decided, she moves to follow the others.
The terminal does provide some information, though whether it's relevant to the situation at hand or not, she's unsure. Still, she's exhausted and tired...she can sort through all this information later. For now, she just sends Riesenlied a tired smile.
"...I'm just glad things ended...better than I was fearing." She replies, though her mind was partially elsewhere.
The worst possible outcome was avoided... but that didn't mean they were out of trouble just yet. For now, though? It was time to go back home.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline meets Riesenlied's wondering gaze with an honest expression of astonishment; she looks from the metal demon to the enormous ship buried impossibly far underground, uncertain how on earth the thing could have even got here in the first place. "... getting it out will be ridiculously difficult..." she mutters urgently, in the tone of voice that suggests she's immediately starting to run through the possibilities involved, the plans they could make--...
In the end, she shakes her head, falling mute before she sucks in a breath. "... let's go, hm?" she pats Jacqueline on the back - and then maneuvers towards Riese, offering to take the mermaid demon's weight herself.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It worked. And by 'worked', Gwen considers 'Ragnell coming to attack alongside her' as 'working'. Looking on the Hyadeans reunite, Gwen's posture stoops, an expression of gratitude on her face as she gives Xantia a thumbs up for jumping in at the right moment. "Of course things'd work out!" Gwen gives Jay's shoulder a light-hearted whap of her left hand.
She looks for K.K., considering giving the Trial Knight at least a thumbs up for being a good sport this go around, but Xantia's question stops her short. 'Gwen... do you have an imaginary friend?'
All the previous gusto and bravery instantly drains from Gwen at that question. Oh. Right. Xantia... can't see Ragnell. It's surprising how easy it is for Gwen to forget something, when in reality it was kind of a _new thing_. "E-er, well-"
'Just like Sorey! Does your imaginary friend make yummy food too?'
Gwen's eyes light up. "Yeah, yeah! They're a friend, just like Sorey has friends!" She nods. "She's a great friend, though she can be real mischievous too, so watch out!" Except Xantia can't, exactly.
It will only be later on, when Gwen is out of Xantia's company, that she realizes that she... didn't exactly correct Xantia on specifically what she meant by 'like Sorey'. But nothing terrible could come from that, right?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
'And how long've you been there?!'
Ragnell blinks, a little surprised by Dva's sudden enhanced sight. "Me?" Dva's follow-up makes her smirk, just a bit. Although it hasn't really been in Riese's /head/ for the most part, the Seraph nonetheless drawls without hesitation, "Yup, that's right. What about it?" But Dva won't get a chance to say what about it; Riesenlied's persistence, and Xantia's follow-up violence, soon sees her will to fight ebbing before she finally passes out.
Ragnell shakes her head. "Kids," she says dryly, tone somewhere between amused and eye-rolling.
This may or may not be heard over the Primarch's overwhelming roar. Ragnell's hands tighten on her pistols, but then she realizes this cacophony heralds the Primarch's departure. Just in case, she remains on guard; it's only once it's gone, gone deeper than they can follow, that she relaxes and holsters her weapons. Then she looks over at the path its departure revealed, and the skyship that rests in pieces beyond.
"Huh," she says. Her only hesitation at this point comes from Xantia asking about Gwen's invisible friend and concluding that one exists thanks to chocolate; Ragnell smirks over at the two women, then laughs throatily at Gwen's reply. "An' what exactly is she s'posed to watch out for?" With that, she heads on with the others towards the terminal.
Hmm... Doesn't really explain what the so-called Detestable Pale is, but... it certainly paints a vibrant picture about how dangerous a threat it is. Ragnell lifts her gaze towards K.K. for a moment; then she looks at Jay, then Noeline. "Gettin' outta here sounds like a fine idea," she agrees, then moves to leave. She pats Riesenlied's shoulder, the uninjured one, or possibly less injured one, on the way. "Now let's haul ass."