2018-05-04: Blood In, Blood Out

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===============================<* Mount Zulan *>================================

The largest peak on the Meribus continent, Mount Zulan is estimated to be more than five thousand feet in height. None have ever reached the summit; the peak is populated by angry and predominantly carnivorous wildlife, and the approach is treacherous. Landslides and rockfalls are common, with little warning. Despite the dangers, the mountain still attracts the occasional adventurer, drawn by rumours of ancient ruins from the first days of the Goddess's reign, said to lie buried beneath the ice and snows.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yawlRq0VMss
DG: A party led by Ida Everstead-Rey is now entering Castle Rabenstein Sanctum.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Scales of the Dragon *>=====================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 At one point, the inner castle might've had a normal--if intricate and        
 ostentatious--means of entry. The likenesses of the Four Dragons are          
 sculpted into the surface of a pair of large double-doors, and perhaps their  
 mouths once held keyholes. Now, their sculpted bronze teeth snap at empty     
 air, hungry for something... perhaps the weights sitting in alcoves on        
 either side of the door. Each Dragon requires a certain weight, and there     
 are more weights than there are Dragons.                                      
                                                                               
 Choose carefully, though. The Dragons won't be pleased if they're kept        
 without their meal for too long.                                              
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

The last time we left the three Furies, they were making a loud entrance into Castle Rabenstein by fending off a horde of lesser Hellions. Garrett swirled through them with disconcerting speed for his armor's size, aided by lost companions, while Rosaline and Ida light the night up with the din of reckless yet surprisingly synchronized ARMs fire.

And let's not forget the contribution of the headless wolfman, which... collapsed to the ground and catches on fire, its work done.

A bloody Rosaline lowers her fire-conjuring hand as calm settles in once more after this storm. The priestess takes a moment to heal up (and offers it to Garrett in passing-- Ida likely doesn't need her help) then turns to squint her eyes at the ostentatious door before them.

Four Dragons with hungry maws, four weights. As for how to divine how hungry they are... well, it wouldn't be a puzzle if it were simple, right?

"What sort of maniac puts a puzzle on their front door?" Rosaline remarks, not contributing just yet as she's busy licking some blood off her wrist.

<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


"The kind of maniac that has a wolfman for a butler, apparently," Garrett says as he looks around at the carnage. He doesn't seem bothered by it as he flicks his sword, sending blood and gore splattering along the wall of the house.

"Did I mention I hate puzzles. I'll see if any of these bodies have any clues on them though." Hanpan was always the one for puzzles.

Not him.

He just breaks things.

DG: Garrett Stampede has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Scales of the Dragon.
DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Scales of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Malevolent star flickers beneath Ida's breastbone as she steps into the chamber. Countless little gashes mar her cloak and coat, the dark stain of blood welling up within them. She weathered the swarm as best as she could, but from the look on her face, she is not at all pleased to find out it was merely the first round.
"It makes quite the impression, at least," Ida says, as she approaches the lock. She reaches into a pocket, and comes up with the smooth, metallic block that is the Demon Eye. Its metal carapace hinges, and the eye opens on its back, glimmering as she sets it on the face of the door. One of the Dragon heads snaps impatiently, while another eyes the small automaton as though it were edible.
"Patience," Ida commands. The Demon Eye sets to work.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, Scales of the Dragon.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Scales of the Dragon *>=====================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 At one point, the inner castle might've had a normal--if intricate and        
 ostentatious--means of entry. The likenesses of the Four Dragons are          
 sculpted into the surface of a pair of large double-doors, and perhaps their  
 mouths once held keyholes. Now, their sculpted bronze teeth snap at empty     
 air, hungry for something... perhaps the weights sitting in alcoves on        
 either side of the door. Each Dragon requires a certain weight, and there     
 are more weights than there are Dragons.                                      
                                                                               
 Choose carefully, though. The Dragons won't be pleased if they're kept        
 without their meal for too long.                                              
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 1 *>====================
=======================< Results - Scales of the Dragon >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Loyal Demon Eye                     2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"It's true," Rosaline allows Ida, "it would be nice to have a door like that."

Surprisingly, Garrett almost immediately finds a piece of paper on one of the humanoid bodies. He may only break things, but sometimes dumb luck counts for something too. The clue he finds is, in fact, a cheat sheet!... written in a rather unclear cypher. Bah!

But luckily the Demon Eye is on the case, skittering and checking out the mechanisms attached to each head. The findings it reports back allow Ida to quickly crack the cypher, and the rest is just a matter of placing weights. No trial-and-error needed!

"All right, this was relatively painless," Rosa, who didn't do anything, says as the massive doors groan open, leading into darkness.

The castle beckons.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Bloody Stream *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The door ahead is sealed with a complicated series of runic sigils. A large,  
 gold-plated bowl set into the floor offers a clue as to what might open       
 it--it's covered in brown splotches, and reeks of old, dried blood. You       
 passed by several channels and storage tanks on the way here, and if you're   
 clever about it, you could break them open and get what you need to bypass    
 this lock.                                                                    
                                                                               
 If not, you can always offer it your own.                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Wound=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The stink of blood grows thicker. The air grows darker, colder, clammier. Ida's lips tighten a moment, and the little tears in her outer clothing start to mend themselves--an exercise of Domain control that is far more difficult than it should be. The hallway beyond the door just keeps going, moving straight ahead as though it stretched on for eternity. In places, the walls give way to strange, tank-like mechanisms adorned with what to Ida is quaintly archaic machinery. At one point, Ida pulls out the Demon Eye again, and uses it to squint inside.
"It's blood," Ida says, her lips twisting in a mixture of curiosity and distaste. "Mostly human." Tanks of it. She shudders.
And then, as soon as she turns back around, the door is there--as though it had been there the entire time. Ida startles, but nothing jumps out at her; she steps towards the strange depression on the floor, and its unmistakable smell. Unfortunately, all of the corpses the Furies just made are elsewhere, now, so Ida heaves a put-upon sigh. "Buggered if I'm giving it my own," she mutters, "I've already given this place far too much." She steps back a few paces, draws her personal sigil-stamp from a pocket, and slams it into the tank. It rings like a gong, and a spigot starts disgorging a thick crimson stream. "Try and guide it into the bowl," she says.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Stamp of Corrosive Authority toward her party's challenge, Bloody Stream.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


Blood Says Ida.

Jack frowns slowly. "What kind of hellion would need that much blood?" A longer pause. "...and I think we might have found out what happened to the villagers that used to live here." The knight growls with ill humor as Ida messes with one of the tanks.

Garrett on the other hand inspects the door. "Its shielded, reinforced. Magically strengthened...impressive work really."

A vicious smile crosses his face.

"I wonder if they did the same thing to the walls..."


<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"What? That's sick," Rosaline says, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the tank, then the bowl. She considers, looking down at her kimono. "Well, I brought a good amount, though it's already started to dry."

Ida has a good idea, and Garrett has one that's possibly even better. Good ideas all around, really. Once more, Rosaline performs the ritual gestures to summon a few more Sinner's Prayers, which should help out both problem-solving approaches.

And with that done, she first slices away at the tank's surface with her claws, trying to direct the flow as Ida suggested. And if that doesn't work out? Well, Garrett's idea is fine too.

DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Sinner's Prayer toward her party's challenge, Bloody Stream.
DG: Garrett Stampede has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Bloody Stream.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Bloody Stream *>=========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The door ahead is sealed with a complicated series of runic sigils. A large,  
 gold-plated bowl set into the floor offers a clue as to what might open       
 it--it's covered in brown splotches, and reeks of old, dried blood. You       
 passed by several channels and storage tanks on the way here, and if you're   
 clever about it, you could break them open and get what you need to bypass    
 this lock.                                                                    
                                                                               
 If not, you can always offer it your own.                                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Wound=======================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 2 *>====================
==========================< Results - Bloody Stream >===========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Stamp of Corrosive Authority        2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     15 --(5)--> 20                 Pass
Sinner's Prayer                     1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse              
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    5 --(5)--> 10                  Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Injure(1)|Overzealous(2)|Reckless(1)|Wound(2)
Effects: Cleanse
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's face twists at Garrett's suggestion. "...Warm bodies," she says. She twists the spigot a little with her hand, even though it feels disturbingly warm and flesh-like. "This hasn't congealed yet. It might be preserved, somehow." It can't all be fresh, can it? Rosaline's claws open more rents, and the tank twists and shudders like a living thing. Ida pulls back as it contorts, twisting upon itself and sinking back into the wall.
The walls--which, as Garrett has found out--repair themselves, even as he damages them. It's just like the gate outside. Eventually, though, the indentation in the floor fills sufficiently, and the sound of a heavy bar sliding away echoes down the corridor.
"Right, then," Ida says. She pushes it open.
DG: Garrett Stampede has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Arcane Seal *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The door ahead is blocked off by several large brass pillars engraved with a  
 variety of odd-looking runes. Malevolence courses like lightning between      
 them, channeled into some sort of warding spell--simply getting close is      
 enough to make one's hair stand on end, and touching the pillars guarantees   
 a horrible shock.                                                             
                                                                               
 The only way to deactivate them, it seems, is a circular brass plaque         
 floating between the Malevolent currents. It looks like a small astrolabe,    
 with Lunar at the center and Filgaia, the Sun, and the New Moon mounted on    
 dials that can be twisted around it. Aligning them in a certain way might     
 open the door, but failure will surely activate the ward.                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


Fustrated with his not being able to tear down the wall fast enough to make any progress the fallen knight just snorts in annoyance as the door swing wide. As he stalks though he keeps his blade out only to find...

...another...

...damn....

...door.

"WHOEVER YOU ARE!" He shouts to the darkened rafters. "IF YOU'RE TRYING TO PISS US OFF YOU'RE DOING A DAMN FINE JOB OF IT!"

...its not like the've been subtle up to this point right?

Again an angry snort then he turns to peer towards the brass plaque and sighs. "Anyone have any idea about astromany? I mean I can block the lightning if it comes, but...I think I slept though most of those classes."

DG: Garrett Stampede has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Arcane Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

There is a moment's silence from Rosaline as they come upon... yes. Door.

"Doors are a sin," she then declares, sounding just a little bit exhausted.

She takes a deep breath, then turns her attention to the astrolabe. "At least the device looks interesting... Hm. Maybe we could do something with Valmar's Moon, since they associate it with misfortune and curses here too. Set up an eclipse, maybe?"

She leaves the dial-fiddling to Ida, though-- Chances are she's encountered more devices like those in the past than Rosaline has.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Arcane Seal.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida heaves a put-upon sigh. The flame in her heart flares with renewed anger--which is still anger, as petty as it is, and still fuel. The Demon Eye scuttles out of her pocket, and nestles in the crook of her arm. Ida takes a moment to stroke it, running her fingers along its metal carapace. Then she reaches out, and oh-so-gingerly places it on the lock proper. The automaton starts manipulating the dials with its feet, which are essentially small tool-ends repurposed as legs. Was it a multitool before Malevolence got to it? It looks like one.
"It could be a moment of conjunction," Ida says, "or something completely different." But Rosaline's suggestion is a good one, and she nods to the Beastwoman. As if anticipating her command, the Demon Eye turns the dials so that Valmar's Moon is passing between Lunar and the Sun.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, Arcane Seal.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Arcane Seal *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The door ahead is blocked off by several large brass pillars engraved with a  
 variety of odd-looking runes. Malevolence courses like lightning between      
 them, channeled into some sort of warding spell--simply getting close is      
 enough to make one's hair stand on end, and touching the pillars guarantees   
 a horrible shock.                                                             
                                                                               
 The only way to deactivate them, it seems, is a circular brass plaque         
 floating between the Malevolent currents. It looks like a small astrolabe,    
 with Lunar at the center and Filgaia, the Sun, and the New Moon mounted on    
 dials that can be twisted around it. Aligning them in a certain way might     
 open the door, but failure will surely activate the ward.                     
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Injure=========================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 3 *>====================
===========================< Results - Arcane Seal >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   10 --(15)--> 25                Pass
Loyal Demon Eye                     2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     20 --(25)--> 45                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    10 --(25)--> 35                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           40 --(10)--> 50                Fail
Conditions: Injure(2)|Overzealous(1)|Reckless(2)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


The Eye twists and taps and turns. Then there is a distinctive click.

Not a good click.

And 'Ooops' click.

Garrett swings fowards and takes a bolt in the chest to cover Ida and her Eye while more lightning arcs down from the generator pylons to spark against the floor near Rosa.

"Anytime now!" Garrett calls though gritted teath...

And then there is a good click.

And the door swings open. Just in time for a smoking Garrett to get blasted though the new exit.

From the dark on the other side there is a faintly muffled "...ow."

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
They are repelled. The ward, in its intricate construction on its very activation, should be more than enough to prevent their approach. The momentary crushing sensation, tactile and numbing, should be that of a flyswatter against its favored victims.
A flyswatter, it turns out, wielded with exacting care and precision to only do so much as to press down upon one's back rather than turn them into thinned piles of goo. From beyond the pillars, two eyes peer from beyond. An extended... hand?... curls its... fingers?... into a closed fist. Whatever body those eyes belong to, it turns away.
"...Can not waste..."
The form disappears further within. Are they invited... or merely spared for some worse fate...?
DG: Rosaline Calice has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Globes *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Hellions can take all sorts of strange and terrifying forms. In this part of  
 the castle, the ambient Malevolence has coalesced into levitating wisps of    
 electricity encased in glass spheres. When they make contact with any         
 surface, the electricity that thrums within intensifies around the point of   
 contact, before exploding in a burst of lightning and shrapnel. You're going  
 to have to be nimble if you want to make it through without being             
 electrocuted.                                                                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline leaps away from the electrical arc, but not before being grazed by it, causing her to sharply cry out in pain as her flames stand on end-- like hair, yes.

As she gets back up, she peers through the now-open door. Garrett is ahead, and so has a better vantage point, but they all see it: those eyes, that hand... And they hear the whisper, too.

Are they heading straight into a trap...?

Rosaline's flames grow slightly more intense as she visibly bristles. "Let's just go." And she runs ahead of Garrett.

A moment after she turns the corner, there is another crash of lightning, followed by Rosaline loudly cursing.

The other two catch up to see a tridimensional mine field of floating lightning globes. Rosaline doesn't seem hurt (well, not more than before), but she seems to be having a hard time herding away the globes floating after her and dodging the arcs of electricity from those that brush up against the floor and walls.

Well, as a wise person once said, the only way out is through.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lightning Globes.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Garrett!" Ida shouts, her eyes widening as the knight throws himself into the way. The Demon Eye leaps off the lock before it, too, is electrocuted, and Ida snatches it out of the air. She rushes after Garrett, all too aware of the way the Domain seems to double down around them. No--
Ida looks into the darkness, and sees that long-fingered hand and those blood-red eyes. Something let them through.
"Show yourself!" Ida roars. Her voice makes a satisfying echo, but after the first few repetitions, the tone changes. It seems weaker, more of a bluff than a threat. It's like the building itself is mocking her.
Ida still has to establish what happens to Hellions whose domains make that mistake.
Rosaline takes point; Ida takes a moment to help Garrett to his feet, if he needs it. Lightning, from up ahead. "Rosa--!?" Ida races after her, only to see her surounded by things that look oddly like gas lamps, if they held searing arcs of electricity inside. "Be very careful," Ida says, as a note of general warning. She starts to tiptoe through the field, breathing shallowly, suddenly incredibly aware of how easy it would be for her to cloak to brush against one of the things by accident.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Lightning Globes.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


Garrett takes the offered help with a smirk. There are scorch marks on his armor. There are dents and dings from his fall. The look on his face though is wryly amused as he hauls himself to his feel with Ida's help.

"Brisk, but not the worst bolt I've taken." He says easily, eyes staring towards that offer. That invitation. He snorts slightly. "Lets not keep our host waiting then. I'd like to discuss a few things with him."

By discuss he means stab.

Just in case anyone was wondering.

But the lightning stops them from proceeding for the moment. The knight surveys the field for a few heartbeats before he smirks. "...no Ida," He drawls as he snaps his fingers and a great swath of ice suddenly coats part of the ground. "Be very fast."

Then he's running, head up and laughing. "I'll draw them in! Find a clear spot across!" At least the ice sliding gives him some nice speed.

DG: Garrett Stampede has used his Tool Glacial Melt toward his party's challenge, Lightning Globes.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Lightning Globes *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Hellions can take all sorts of strange and terrifying forms. In this part of  
 the castle, the ambient Malevolence has coalesced into levitating wisps of    
 electricity encased in glass spheres. When they make contact with any         
 surface, the electricity that thrums within intensifies around the point of   
 contact, before exploding in a burst of lightning and shrapnel. You're going  
 to have to be nimble if you want to make it through without being             
 electrocuted.                                                                 
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust========================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 4 *>====================
=========================< Results - Lightning Globes >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   25 --(25)--> 50                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     45 --(5)--> 50                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    35 --(5)--> 40                 Pass
Glacial Melt                        3   Agility Effects: Fanfare              
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(2)|Injure(1)|Reckless(1)
Effects: 
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

The spherical Hellions sense new targets approaching. They start to home in on Garrett and Ida, taking pressure off of Rosaline, who seems to have a clear coast between herself and the end of the hallway.

Garrett's plan is VERY reckless, but all that risk pays off as he slides past the globes before they can actually reach him, and they move too slowly to catch up. Meanwhile, Ida's plan is valid too, though she might be considering a change of tactic as Garrett slides by.

And just then, too, the worst happens: A sphere brushes against her cloak, exploding into a burst of electricity. Luckily, the way Garrett drew the bulk of the spheres away means this doesn't trigger a chain reaction, which might have been fatal. Once she's back on her feet, Ida manages to make it to the end with the rest.

There, Rosaline gives her a brief look of concern before tilting her head towards around the next corner. It's safe there.

Well, relatively.

DG: Garrett Stampede has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Amateur Geomancy *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Unearthly power throbs and pulses in the air, a distinctly pure counterpoint  
 to the Malevolence saturating Castle Rabenstein. The source lies up           
 ahead--an oddly natural-looking cavern divided by a great, yawning chasm.     
 Brilliant light shines up from within, though the actual source of it         
 appears to be elsewhere. Odd, arcane-looking equipment is scattered           
 throughout the chamber, focused on the rift. Is someone studying it?          
                                                                               
 You're going to have to get across in order to continue. Fortunately, the     
 energies emanating from the rift have turned chunks of rock and masonry into  
 floating platforms. If you're nimble, you can use them to cross.              
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


Garrett's reckless charge comes to an end as he rolls off his ice slide and back to his feet. The Knight looking back towards his companions, trailed by a dozen orbs. Thankfully he led them away and there is a look of concern for Ida for a moment before the woman picks herself up and dashes the rest of the way.

The next room though causes him to be diistracted from his worry. Its an impressive setup really. The glowing rift. The strange machines set up.

He pokes one with a toe. "...just what is going on here. Is this some kind of advanced magic?" He asks as he notes the Rift and the lights. The floating platforms draw a frown before he sighs slightly.

"Well. I could freeze them in place...but platforms aren't that hard to deal with..." He murmurs quietly as he walks up to the edge to look over into the bright light below. "...something tells me though that falling would be bad."

So instead he turns his attention to the platforms, starting to leap up and across, slowly and carefully. Waiting for his compaions if they need help."

DG: Garrett Stampede has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Amateur Geomancy.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline feels this power, one she can't identify, and coming into sight of the source is not much more helpful.

"What... is this?" she asks, her voice low, at thre sight of this brilliant light, so at odds with the rest of this place and... well, with who she is now. She looks at the equipment. "I suppose they probably weren't sure either."

Well, as much as she'd like to look at the light a bit more (and, let's face it, probably blind herself in the process), there are more pressing matters at hand.

Garrett is being careful, but the beastwoman is, as usual, all too casual about things like these. She leaps upon a piece of mid-air masonry, using it as a stepstone to reach a stone nearly a dozen feet away, then another, and another... Really, it's best not to think of what would happen if any of them falls in.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Amateur Geomancy.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Smoke trails off Ida's back as she staggers to the end of the corridor. "I'm all right," she says, even though she really doesn't feel it. It's like that time she accidentally shocked herself replacing a spark filament in her father's motor-coach, except so much worse.
Ida! Are you--no. Drop it! I'll see to it. You're not hurt, are you?
Garrett and Rosaline have never heard Adam Everstead-Rey's voice, but it comes through clear as day. Frustration, parental admonishment, worry, fear--they're all there. Ida blinks, once, and swallows. Father is not here. Instead, there is...
A chamber. A chamber that should absolutely not fit into this castle, because it's far too large. Ida stares, slack-jawed, into the rift; the equipment seems like something of an afterthought, but she can't make heads or tails of it anyway. "I haven't the faintest," Ida says. She takes Garrett's offer of help, letting him assist her onto the platform. She makes each jump carefully, patiently, well aware that it's a long way down.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Amateur Geomancy.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Amateur Geomancy *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Unearthly power throbs and pulses in the air, a distinctly pure counterpoint  
 to the Malevolence saturating Castle Rabenstein. The source lies up           
 ahead--an oddly natural-looking cavern divided by a great, yawning chasm.     
 Brilliant light shines up from within, though the actual source of it         
 appears to be elsewhere. Odd, arcane-looking equipment is scattered           
 throughout the chamber, focused on the rift. Is someone studying it?          
                                                                               
 You're going to have to get across in order to continue. Fortunately, the     
 energies emanating from the rift have turned chunks of rock and masonry into  
 floating platforms. If you're nimble, you can use them to cross.              
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 5 *>====================
=========================< Results - Amateur Geomancy >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   50 --(5)--> 55                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     50 --(5)--> 55                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    40 --(15)--> 55                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           70 --(20)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)
Effects: 
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


"...Ida is someone else her--"

Garrett doesn't get to finish that question. Instead, distracted by the voice he misses that very last step as the platform suddenly shoots up leavinng him clinging to the edge as he nearly topples over backwards into the Rift.

Thankfully Rosa and Ida land in much better positions to make sure that doesn't happen.

"I knew I should have frozen these things!"

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

"You would have slipped," Rosaline comments as she pulls up, giving Ida a curious glance.

DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - The Blood Is The Life *>=====================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A long, long corridor leads to the castle's inner sanctum. At the very end    
 is a final seal, a complex bas-relief mural of some sort. On one side, a      
 hooded figure drives a knife into the chest of a brigand, whose lifeblood     
 spills from his chest. His blood--and the blood of other                      
 "undesirables"--appears to be literal human blood, saturated with             
 Malevolence and preserved through sorcery. Sealed, hollow channels in the     
 mural appear designed to conduct the blood to the other side. There, sickly   
 children, widows, and wounded soldiers await the gift of life.                
                                                                               
 Your job is to give it to them. You'll need to use sliding panels to match    
 the conduits on both sides, and then manipulate the Malevolence within the    
 blood to make it move. In theory, it should be simple.                        
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida grabs Garrett's wrist, and does not let go until she and Rosaline have hauled him back onto solid ground. Thankfully, from there it's a short jump down. "It was just a memory," Ida says. A memory that could have cost Garrett his life. What purpose does she have leading these two deeper into this place? The sun in her chest ejects a twisting plume of Malevolence as she stands there, fighting with her thoughts and staring into space.
Then she shakes her head, and forces herself to keep moving. Onward.
The hallway stretches out before them. As before, there is no logical way a corridor this long could fit within the castle's structure, but it's there anyway. There aren't even any windows here, and the gentle slope downward gives the impression of a journey into the earth. Then, the mural.
Ida stares at it a moment. The intent behind the iconography is unmistakable. "...Warm bodies," Ida says, echoing the brigand she and the others killed. "Whomever lairs here needed warm bodies. Blood. For experiments? For this?" Fresh anger rises in Ida's heart. She remembers the sense of despair and desperation and stubbornness she's felt in the Malevolence here.
The Demon Eye crawls out from Ida's sleeve. It scuttles across the mural, turning its all-seeing gaze on the mechanisms within it. Ida starts sliding panels into position, but that still means someone has to manipulate the Malevolence-saturated blood. It has somewhere to be, after all.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Loyal Demon Eye toward her party's challenge, The Blood Is The Life.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

What little color Rosaline's face still displayed drains at the sight of the mural.

"Healing them in the blood of sinners..." she whispers, clutching a clawed hand to her chest. She lowers her gaze from the mural, contemplating this a moment.

Although she doesn't move or betray much in her expression, her flames flare up and wave agitatedly. "I don't... This is sick... I'm..."

She shudders and returns her attention to the other two, looking tense and worried. "Let me do it. I'll... I need to do this," she decides.

And she raises a hand, concentrating so as to will the flow of blood in the right directions. Generating enough Malevolence to make this happen will... probably not be a problem, somehow.

DG: Rosaline Calice has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Blood Is The Life.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


There is a thankful look towards Ida for a moment, a grateful nod, and then the knight is moving again. Down the last hallway. Down to the last room. "...he's past this isn't he? The one that did all of this." He murmurs quietly as he flexes his hand on the hilt of his sword, staring with fixed intent at the portal ahead of them.

He sighs and nods towards Rosa and Ida. He'll let them work this mural, he is likely to be more harm than help if he tried. Instead he draws his sword, eyes watching the shadows for any more signs of their elusive host.

DG: Garrett Stampede has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Blood Is The Life.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - The Blood Is The Life *>=====================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A long, long corridor leads to the castle's inner sanctum. At the very end    
 is a final seal, a complex bas-relief mural of some sort. On one side, a      
 hooded figure drives a knife into the chest of a brigand, whose lifeblood     
 spills from his chest. His blood--and the blood of other                      
 "undesirables"--appears to be literal human blood, saturated with             
 Malevolence and preserved through sorcery. Sealed, hollow channels in the     
 mural appear designed to conduct the blood to the other side. There, sickly   
 children, widows, and wounded soldiers await the gift of life.                
                                                                               
 Your job is to give it to them. You'll need to use sliding panels to match    
 the conduits on both sides, and then manipulate the Malevolence within the    
 blood to make it move. In theory, it should be simple.                        
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 6 *>====================
======================< Results - The Blood Is The Life >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   55 --(15)--> 70                Pass
Loyal Demon Eye                     2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten            
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     55 --(25)--> 80                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    55 --(25)--> 80                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           90 --(0)--> 90                 Fail
Conditions: Injure(1)|Stupify(2)
Effects: Enlighten(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey 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.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
It's everywhere. Blood. To see it in this form, intact and not yet congealed, once again pollutes the senses with just how much there is here within the inner chambers of Castle Rabenstein. The loyal Demon Eye mechanism goes about seeing it flow through the mural.
It twists and turns about. How much of this has been spilled, for this monster's purposes? Between the Demon Eye and Rosaline, it seems like it should all be going.
The tubes fill and flow as the blood transfers out towards those in... wait? Do they seek this? Is this being forced upon them? They lay lifeless as the blood - taken from its original host(s) - is forcefully relocated into new veins in which to circulate.
...
...
...
Nothing happens. The sickly lie motionless. One cannot make out breathing. One cannot hear or feel heartbeats. There are only motionless bodies, who find deep crimson pooling about thei--
"WHY!"
The word is screamed in fury. The sensation of hearing it is short-lived, before another burst of Malevolence obscures and overwhelms, obstructing their sight from where they stand.
...No, that is not a word that was screamed in fury.
That was... sorrow.
The misery churns. When it clears...
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Coils of the Dragon *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This room could have been a chapel at one point in the castle's history, but  
 the pews have been removed, leaving only stone columns and empty silence.     
 The stained-glass windows depict scenes featuring a young woman and a young   
 man--in the final scene, the man holds the woman's body as she bleeds out     
 into the dirt.                                                                
                                                                               
 And then, there's the dragon.                                                 
                                                                               
 A massive metal sculpture of one of the Four Dragons dominates the back of    
 the chapel. It might have looked majestic once, even comforting, but          
 Malevolence has contorted it into a frightening, serpentine shape. As you     
 approach, it pries itself loose from its pedestal, lets out a spine-chilling  
 roar, and rushes you!                                                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Exhaust==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Was he trying to reanimate the dead?" Ida whispers, her words barely louder than her breath. She stares at the mural, expecting something to happen, anything that would indicate success. Instead, nothing. Did they fail, or--
That horrible, anguished howl echoes in Ida's heart long after it fades from her ears. It's raw and cutting in its familiarity--the sadness and frustration of someone who has tried, time and time again, to bring some measure of light into a dark and unjust world.
The hallway seethes and slithers and boils around them. When Ida's eyes can make out discernable shapes again, she's standing in front of the others. She glances around at the pale light streaming through the windows. There's no sign it's coming from outside. "Is this--" she whispers. Are these treasured memories, a monument to failure, or both?
Metal groans. Something moves in the shadows behind the altar--a great, terrible shape made of dark metal. The draconic sculpture rises from its perch, flexing its claws to tear away the bolts pinning it in place. It looks, to Ida's eye, like a sinister parody of the magnanimous Water Dragon, patron of trade and the seas--an elongated, serpentine figure with powerful limbs, long whiskers and swept-back horns. Its jaws open.
Ida remembers that she used to ride on her father's shoulders at the museum so she could look the dragons in the eye. She remembers the Parade of Fire and Water. She remembers Adlehyde in flames, and fleeing with Rosaline with terrified civilians in tow, chased by Dragonfire. She remembers cold-forged wings sheltering her in the shadow of Pendrago's outer wall, and a comforting voice.
She remembers an ancestor whose trail she is still chasing--a dragonslayer whose offspring might have gone all the way to far-flung Arctica before its fall. The white lotus was her symbol, a sign of defiance and memory. Part of Ida's family crest.
And you are a spoiled rich girl from Guild Galad who thinks she can kill a dragon. Just like your dear ancestor.
Ida's voice rises from her throat in a thunderous roar. Rather than draw, she meets the creature head-on, throwing a punch that slams into its jaw with a sound like a ringing gong. It takes the strike and comes right back for more, its jaws parting; Ida grips them with both hands, muscles straining as she tries to keep herself from being crushed between them. The sun in her chest blazes like a tiny inferno.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Coils of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Tears well at the corner of Rosaline's eyes as she guides the blood to its destination. What is she hoping will happen, exactly? Only one way to find out, she supposes. And...

Well.

Well, it doesn't work.

A single words interrupts any further thoughts Rosaline could have on the subject, mercifully(?). Malevolence briefly overwhelms her, disorienting her and making her want to vomit. She puts her hands around her arms, shivering. After this long, trek upon the icy mountain, this was what finally did it.

And then, she finds herself in... a chapel. Ruined chapels and churches have been a recurring feature of Rosaline's life since that fateful day in Hope Springs. The dragon statue, well... That element is new.

And so, it animates, and Ida roars in response. Rosaline looks around for something she could use, anything. And so, rather than meeting it head-on the way Ida does, Rosaline instead, casts her Corpse Strings out. There are no corpses to be found, at least not anywhere Rosaline knows for sure, but instead she wraps them around one of the columns, then dashes around the statue in order to tie them to it. The idea is to use its own strength against it, and send that column toppling right on top.

And once that bit of trickery is set up, Rosaline switches to something much more straightforward, conjuring up pillars of flame beneath the metallic creature. This should soften it up for the other two, and maybe, just maybe, Rosaline's Malevolence is currently potent enough to actually melt steel.

DG: Rosaline Calice has used her Tool Corpse Strings toward her party's challenge, Coils of the Dragon.
<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


A dragon.

Garrett's eyes widen as the creature raises up. A wide and not-quite-sane smile splits his face as he slowly pulls the sword from his shoulder. That violent violet power swirls around him, pulsing in time to his heart as ice flashes into existence around the jagged and cursed blade he carries.

His armor frosts over, his hair goes white.

"Now this," He says slowly, easily, even as Ida roars and Rosaline pulls flames from the depth of her soul to hurl at the beast. "This is good practice."

Metal coming to life. Metal that tries to kill him. Metal that thinks it has a soul. As the dragon roars its defiance Garrett's mind flashes back to so many other Metal Demons. So many other battles. Other deaths.

Rage springs eternal in his heart and mind, vengence he wants to claim against the entire race, even if its wrong. Even if he knows its wrong.

"WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE IMPRESSIVE!" He shouts back before he's running, blade held up as spires of ice appear in front of him, steps for him to race up, to leap for its head and bring his sword into play.

Other spires shoot up at angles to hold it stead for the Furies strike. To give it no where to go as they vent the frustration of a long trip out on this twisted creature.

At least its not a door.

DG: Garrett Stampede has used his Tool Past Sins toward his party's challenge, Coils of the Dragon.
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Coils of the Dragon *>======================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This room could have been a chapel at one point in the castle's history, but  
 the pews have been removed, leaving only stone columns and empty silence.     
 The stained-glass windows depict scenes featuring a young woman and a young   
 man--in the final scene, the man holds the woman's body as she bleeds out     
 into the dirt.                                                                
                                                                               
 And then, there's the dragon.                                                 
                                                                               
 A massive metal sculpture of one of the Four Dragons dominates the back of    
 the chapel. It might have looked majestic once, even comforting, but          
 Malevolence has contorted it into a frightening, serpentine shape. As you     
 approach, it pries itself loose from its pedestal, lets out a spine-chilling  
 roar, and rushes you!                                                         
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Exhaust==========================================
===================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum - Round 7 *>====================
=======================< Results - Coils of the Dragon >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ida Everstead-Rey                   70 --(20)--> 90                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC                
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosaline Calice                     80 --(5)--> 85                 Pass
Corpse Strings                      2   Combat  Effects: Embolden             
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Stampede                    80 --(5)--> 85                 Pass
Past Sins                           3   Combat  Effects: Rally                
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Ida Everstead-Rey           90 --(30)--> 120               Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(2)|Stupify(1)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Ida Everstead-Rey has successfully explored Castle Rabenstein Sanctum!
========================<* Castle Rabenstein Sanctum *>=========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Interview With a Hellion *>===================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          | 
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Broken and battered, the animated statue retreats into the darkness,          
 revealing the way forward--a winding stairwell that descends into the earth.  
 No matter how you try, each footstep is loud and echoes further down through  
 the spiral. It's probably much too late to worry about the castle's master    
 hearing you.                                                                  
                                                                               
 At the foot of the stairwell lies a laboratory of breathtaking scope and      
 scale. The devices within look cutting-edge by Lunarian standards, and a      
 series of pipes and beakers allows blood--and other things--to flow to where  
 it's needed. Several of the pipes terminate in a great waterfall that churns  
 bloody mist into the air.                                                     
                                                                               
 "What will it take?" someone asks. Their voice colored with anger and         
 frustration. "This sickness will not abate!" The source is a pale-skinned,    
 haggard man with shoulder-length silver hair. He holds an Anamolous Orb in    
 one hand, and looms over a body lashed to a slab, which is in the process of  
 breathing its last. The frustration, the despair, the agony... it stirs the   
 Malevolence in the air further.                                               
                                                                               
 You've found him.                                                             
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The dragon's jaws are as strong and impersonally ruthless as an industrial crusher. Its tail thrashes, smashing into the ceiling columns, even as Ida's feet dig furrows in the stone. Try as it might, it can't quite close its jaws around her, so it settles for the next best thing--it rushes forwards, knocking Ida off her feet and slamming her into the pillar behind her. The breath rushes from the big Hellion's lungs, and she sags--but she distracted the monster long enough for Rosaline to put her gambit into action. When the dragon moves again, its tail pulls against one of the columns it weakened during its rampage--and it slams down upon the statue's head. Pillars of ice stab into its legs. Steel groans as it is torn between extremes of temperature; Rosaline is heating it, while Garrett chills it. As Ida knows, this will stress anything metal, regardless of how well it's made. The statue is no exception. Parts of the dragon's torso start to warp, deforming. Malevolence acts on the softened, brittle metal, twisting the sculpture into an even more frightening shape. Garrett's blade smashes into its jaw, cutting loose a tooth.
It's enough to rout it. It has one last surprise in tow, though--those jaws blur forwards, grabbing the stumbling Ida before she can catch her breath. The dragon rushes one of the stained-glass windows, the whole thing seeming to contort to accomodate the statue's body. There's a crash of glass...
And then the dragon is gone, and Ida with it. The freezing northern wind blows through the shattered window, and snowflakes drift into the room. On the other side of the room, there is suddenly a door.
<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

The dragon is done for, Rosaline realizes. This knowledge is exilarating, up until the moment it snatches Ida into its jaws. The beastwoman's look of triumph turns to one of horror.

"IDA!" she shouts, an all-too-common occurence. Rosaline doesn't waste a second giving chase, only sparing a split-second to glance to Garrett before returning her attention to the...

Door?

"No."

A wave of her hand turns into a wave of flame crashing into the obstacle. And, if there is even the slightest shred of justice left in this world? Melting it.

<Pose Tracker> Garrett Stampede has posed.


Garrett knows that was a telling hit. He could feel it down in his bones. There is a vicious grin on his face as he lands, turning in a shower of frost and Malevolence to face the creature again. One more blow, one more crash and he'll have some small taste of his own revenge. Some small taste of what it will feel like when he finds her and puts her down again.

But then the creature feels its own mortality and turns to run, but not before it claims its own prize.

"IDA!" Garrett shouts as the beast grabs her and leaps from the window. The knight moves, his speed taking him to the window faster that the eye can blink, but not fast enough to catch his prey.

"Its gone further up!" He snarls as he looks out, tracking the beasts flight before he turns to the door...

...and lets Rosa handle its death.

I mean really he's ice he doesn't want to get in the middle of that.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The door, a simple, wooden thing, never stood a chance. The cathedral walls seem to tremble in agony as Rosaline brings her fury to bear against it, melting nails and hinges and reducing wood to a thin layer of soot. She strides through the entryway, and into the stairwell beyond. It isn't long before the truth becomes apparent--they're going down, probably, into the depths of the castle. Perhaps even into the depths of the mountain itself. The distance has a way of blurring together.
But this is unquestionably where Ida is. Rosaline and Garrett just have to find her.
Below
Ida awakens to the sound of someone else's last breaths, ragged and terrified. She stirs, raising her head, and feels tight leather straps around her body, holding her upright against something cold and unyielding. A stone slab. It feels worn, as though it's seen countless people strapped against it. Ida's eyes snap open, and she looks down at herself. Someone's taken off her winter clothes, and in the process, relieved her of her ARMs. The stench of blood is thicker than it's ever been. She opens her eyes, and waits until the world stops spinning.
She almost wishes she hadn't.
<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.
"What will it take?" Someone asks. Are they asking Ida? Are they asking the pair of pairs of footsteps rushing down? Their voice, colored with anger and frustration onto a canvas of bewilderment and impatience, scarred with the indignity of advanced age.
A pale-skinned, haggard man with shoulder-length silver hair. Whether the cloak he's wearing should be considered something that exists in the past tense is a challenge for modern linguists, as it is so comprehensively soiled with blood that the idea anyone would willingly wear it unimpeded by the ideas of cleanliness, comfort, or basic civic decency is... a problem for a completely different scholastic field to debate.
Behind them, red mist churns through all the Malevolence that fills the chamber - all originating from what is by all appearances and cognition a waterfall made of blood.
"This sickness will not abide!" He strides forth, holding an orb that twists and amplifies Malevolence in their right hand... an Anomalous Orb, casting a shadow over Ida. His words are, at present, without context to glean. They could just be the murmurings of a madman whom has failed to divorce his manias from reality.
As Garrett and Rosaline come further into clarity in a place that spares none of such, the Hellions will find little to be surprised about as to the nature of who they are accosting.
Their form twists accordingly to reflect the doubts and contradictions that have been amplified by the venom that has poisoned their very soul. Their body grows limber, slim, in ways inhuman... no, more like...
A leech. Their maw holds external teeth in a circular arrangement, all the better for latching on. Their nose is extended into a long, spindly proboscis. Even their very fingers seem to end in teeth-claws similar to that of his very mouth.
"I can save them... I will save them... no matter how many lives it will take until I can save lives!!" The contradictory mission statement churns the Malevolence in the air further, as the air grows more humid, more damp, to the churnings of powerful, corrupted water-based sorcery...
=====TO BE CONTINUED==>