2018-06-05: Bouncing Souls
- Log: Bouncing Souls
- Cast:Lan Lilac [Ashansi :: Isiris Shango'Ra]]
- Where: Emrys Mire
- Date: 2018-16-05
- Summary: Lan and Ashansi search for a missing dog and discover horrors beyond imagining.
DG: A party led by Isiris Shango'Ra is now entering Emrys Mire. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Unyielding Spores *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The mire is unrelenting even in its quieter moments. No dire foe wrenches
out of the muck, no urgent peril presents itself: it's just you and the
swamp. Here, the haze is heavy in the air no thanks to a wake of glowing
purple spores on what passes for a breeze. The source is easy enough to
locate -- another stand of towering fungal spires, hard at work.
It's the effect of breathing in the haze that proves more dastardly -- a few
minutes, and the spores in the air already prove themselves a potent
soporific. One way or another, whether you take your efforts directly to the
fungus producing the stuff or opt to power on through the sapping spores,
you need to keep going.
Dungeon Conditions: Collapse================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Swamps aren't a thing Lan has a lot of experience with. Sure, she found one of Filgaia once, and even trekked through it! But it was a little over an acre or two in size, and it was really more of 'a field with some trees and a chronic drainage problem' than an actual swamp...
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lan asks, not that she really has any attachment to the answer. It can't be a good idea! Look at those... what the hell are they? Mushrooms?
And she doesn't even have to touch the barrier to feel 'something' crawling along the cracks in the stone. "Be careful," she warns her partner, reaching out to bar his approach with her arm. "Whatever's in there has eaten its way into the gate." She kinda really doesn't want to touch it!! "But maybe if we..."
Gingerly she tries to get the thing open without actually making skin contact, and ends up half-heartedly kicking it a couple of times before giving up. "Ugh!"
In the end they half-leap, half-climb over the entrance, Lan intently brushing at her clothes afterward. She can feel its grossness particles sticking to her!!! "This is so nasty," she murmurs, sticking close to Ashansi's side. It smells even worse on the inside... "C'mon," she urges him, glancing between the 'trail' and some sticky-looking, way-too-phallic growths jutting from a tangle of deadwood. "Let's just go past. Try not to breathe!"
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unyielding Spores.
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
"Man, remind me to tell the innkeep to find his own lost dog."
The slog through the swamp feels like it has been going on for days at this rate. Ashansi accepted a quest to recover a remote innkeep's missing pet last night in exchange for free room and board, and according to all the witnesses he's talked to since the dog got away from the inn, he was last seen running off in this direction. Hopefully they can reach him before whatever is the source of that miasmatic malodor might be. It feels like it's settling into his soul.
"My boots may never be the same again."
The entrance to the swamp proper didn't actually pose a huge threat to him. Or at least, that's what he thought. After helping Lan over by getting ahold of a leg and pushing, he tried his best to embody the 'jump' half of the equation. Of course, he jumps pretty high, when it comes to it. However, sticking the landing is another situation entirely, and Ashansi almost eats a mouthful of swamp when he slips in the gummy roux of post-evil comsumption. Luckily, he finds a mercifully dry patch to collapse in, lest Lan inadvertantly get stuck to him sticking close to him later on.
"I'm not afraid of salad," Ashansi finally objects, once they come across the sticky-up hard white knobule things. He draws his sword pointedly. "Don't worry, I'll put them in their place. On my pizza pies." He frowns. A little wooziness is set aside. Then he drives in full force, to hit the pile of wood hard enough for all of the swamp to know they're not to be messed with!!!
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Unyielding Spores.
====================<* Emrys Mire - Round 2 *>====================
=================< Results - Unyielding Spores >==================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
Isiris Shango'Ra 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC
Lan Lilac 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC
< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Isiris Shango'Ra 10 --(10)--> 20 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Weaken(1) Effects:
========================< Dream Chasers >=========================
DG: The party led by Isiris Shango'Ra 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: Isiris Shango'Ra has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Springy Spores *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Much of Emrys Mire features ground -- where there is solid ground at all --
soft and muddy from the inescapable moisture of the swamp. It becomes clear
that something has changed along the path you follow here, however.
The soil is... bouncy. As if one were walking across a sheet of rubber, or
perhaps, an enormous trampoline.
Observation will relate the reason why -- the ground is layered thick with
some strange fungal mat with enough give to make walking normally difficult
and jumping around somewhat unadvisable... unless, of course, one is
prepared for the quite literal spring in their step that will result from
it.
Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Exhaust=======================================
[OOC] Lan Lilac :) [OOC] Isiris Shango'Ra says, "lan better not start bouncing around!!! ashansi has virgin eyes" [OOC] Isiris Shango'Ra says, "also the theme for this card is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJmWyZlW2sE" [OOC] Lan Lilac says, "too late i'm already moonhopping" [OOC] Lan Lilac says, "--goddamn gummi bears" [OOC] Isiris Shango'Ra says, "ahahahah" <Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's not like she could say no. That poor dog!
"Ugh. I've never regretted wearing sandals this much in my life." Her toes are squishing!!
The fungiferous flora dies quite easily to Ashansi's sword, collapsing in on itself with barely a sound. Unfortunately, they send up a newer, thicker cloud of the spores, making Lan cough and wipe at her eyes. "Why-- stop challenging the swamp to death battles!! Are you gonna fight every single speck of pollen that exists?"
oh gods, she's already sorry she asked, /he might/
"Come oooonnn," she absolutely doesn't whine, "the longer we stay in here the worse off we'll be!" At this rate, the poor dog might be...
Squish, squish, squish, spwish...? "Huh?" Slowing down in the middle of the 'road', Lan flexes her knees and pokes experimentally at the ground with one toe. "There's kinda..." Sproing! The ground pushes back against her foot in a way that the ground normally doesn't. "It feels like..." She's quiet for a moment, and jumps, and then bounces.
...And 'bounces'. "Oh hey, it's not all bad!" DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Springy Spores.
[OOC] Isiris Shango'Ra says, "ROFL" [OOC] Isiris Shango'Ra says, "'stop fighting inanimate stuff!!'" [OOC] Lan Lilac says, "request denied" [OOC] Isiris Shango'Ra says, "i can only think of ashansi as brick now" [OOC] Lan Lilac heehee
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
"Huff. Hiah!!!"
Asha kicks up a terrific mess defeating all the fungi. By the time Lan notices and starts complaining, he's already in the center of a cloud of spores so thick it makes him look like he's wearing a fur coat. To his own merit, he manages to utterly wipe out the dead tree and probably dissuade more than a giant spider or two that were thinking of fighting them. Bhy the time he charges loose of the battle, he already looks more than a little woozy.
"Ugh... you worry too much," the boy in the white fur coat mentions, "I'm a lot...ugh, stronger than I look. Time to burst ahead."
\./
"Wait, what are you doing?" Ashansi asks, watching the Baskar. "Hey, that's dangerous!" he objects, before deciding how best to take out the spongiform before it gets out of hand too. She sure is bouncing a lot. Uh-- Asha frowns, the dark skin of his cheeks growing warm. "H--hey!!" He has to get involved as well, leaping nimbly across the sponge, trying to catch Lan before something bad happens. Like the sponge turns into a monster. Maybe he should get rid of it before it does. This swamp is not to be trusted, they need to get the dog and get out. It's going to be hard enough, with all the trouble in Lastonbell, without having to worry about spongemonsters, or bouncing Baskar.
His mind is totally taken off of the spores at this point.
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Springy Spores.
===================< Results - Springy Spores >===================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
Isiris Shango'Ra 40 --(20)--> 60 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
Lan Lilac 40 --(5)--> 45 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Isiris Shango'Ra 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Collapse|Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(2) Effects:
========================< Dream Chasers >=========================
DG: The party led by Isiris Shango'Ra has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
================<* CHALLENGE - To Great Heights *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Sections of the swamp betray pieces of its forgotten history. For instance,
ahead lies the remains of some ramparts, half-covered in and half-melded
with more of the vaulting fungus that favors this place. It was built to
last a thousand years or more and indeed it has in a fashion.
It still looks reasonably stable, and stands quite high; if climbed, one
might be able to take stock of the entire area from here and consider anew
the ideal approach. Of course, the fungus and the crumbling state of the
wall, combined with the height, mean this won't be a particularly easy
advantage to claim.
Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Secret========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Stronger or not isn't what I'm worried about!" she protests, but it seems there's no arguing with him when he's set on a path. ...Eh, it'll probably be fine...
Especially since Lan has found a new and exciting way to make Ashansi aware of the fact that he is a guy. Something like that. Boing.
For all her nimbleness, he does manage to catch up to her before she can get /too/ carried away. "Aww, fine..."
A little further up the path, they start seeing more leftovers. Most of it's so eroded by time and weather that it's impossible to identify properly, but at least there's some kind of sign that humans once lived here. Lan cranes her neck backward to take in the angles. "Huuuuuuuuuuuuh. Hey, do you think we could maybe be able to see the dig if one of us climbed up there?"
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, To Great Heights.
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
The problem is, Asha's not really well equipped to bounce in tandem with anyone. Certainly not Baskar girls wearing.. whatever Lan is wearing, he's actually deeply concerned about looking at this rate, he takes pride in his ability to deal with the shaman's various ways but has already been burned looking once already. So, for given values of 'catching up to,' this more means 'try to bounce like a confused fish across the sponge moss and put an end to Lan's fun, all without looking at or touching anything untoward.'
He should have defeated the sponge when he had the chance.
Luckily, he does survive the attempt, at least long enough to be nearby when Lan looks up the length of the ramparts, following her surmise with his own glance. "I could probably take it," he mentions, frowning up the length of the wall. "But it's probably going to collapse when I hit it with my sword. Maybe we can try diplomacy," he decides, crouching down deep, winding up his arms. "Let's go!"
And then, Ashansi jumps. Straight up.
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, To Great Heights.
====================<* Emrys Mire - Round 4 *>====================
==================< Results - To Great Heights >==================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
Isiris Shango'Ra 60 --(20)--> 80 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
Lan Lilac 45 --(20)--> 65 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC
< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Isiris Shango'Ra 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Hesitate(2)|Secret(2) Effects:
========================< Dream Chasers >=========================
DG: The party led by Isiris Shango'Ra 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: Isiris Shango'Ra has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Adventurer's Bane *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Some obstacles are more insidious than others. Take, for example, the
presence of a battered but intact chest, slotted in the corner of the
crumbling remains of a building being swallowed by the mire. At first
glance, an explorer might take it for a lucky break.
The moment anyone goes for it or gets too close, though, the true depths of
their peril will become clear: the aged chest rises on multiple horrible
feet and opens its lid to reveal a staggering array of teeth and a
slathering tongue before lunging.
Still, a monster or not, a chest is bound to have treasure of some kind
within.
Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Vault===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
For the record, Lan's not particularly underdressed in a pair of cuffed pants and a blouse. Sure she goes around with a lot of skin exposed on Filgaia, but that's also a dying planet whose Badlands are like a really sunny oven. The moon is cooler, so she's been prone to wearing more these days.
It's merely chance that Ashansi happened to be at just the right angle for observing maximum bounce.
Lan follows him up the wall as best she can, sandals scrabbling for purchase on the last few inches. Up here, they've got a great view of...
...Nothing much. Despite the improved sightline there's not a sign of the innkeeper's dog /or/ a better idea of the swamp's overalllayout.
"Is that a house?" she asks, squinting at the crumbling corner of some kind of building. "Maybe it's in there! And if it's not, maybe we'll at least find something cool..."
They do, in fact, find something cool once they reach the empty doorway. A chest, just sitting in the far corner of the one-room shack, beams of muted sunlight drifting down through a hole in the roof. "Hey look! A trea-"
The Luggage wakes up. And it is hungry. Or angry. Hangry. Lan reacts appropriately, byt attempting to boot it away from her. "YEEEEEEEK!" DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Adventurer's Bane.
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
To be fair, Ashansi has a fantastic vertical jump. Asha is something of a ranger type, so his ability to cover large sections of ground in a very short time is not to be underestimated, especially when that ground is firm, and not bouncing at him at any sort of angle at all. He manages to catch a glimpse of the house once mounted across the blocks of the rampart, but noyt the dog. Hrm. Still dusting some of the spores off of his coat, he chuffs in the house's direction. Maybe the pup is hiding out there?
"I'll go ahead and check it out."
Then he jumps down, sailing to the ground. He doesn't even make landfall before he kicks off, dashing in that direction. There's really no catching up with him at that point.
Lan will run into him again outside the shack, after it becomes plainly apparent that Ashansi got into a fight with a tree that gave him an evil glare. He stays outside, to make sure everything stays relatively peaceful, letting the shaman go inside and reap the rewards. He even goes 'nice.' from outside when she reports about a treasure. And then there's a roar. And a scream. Naturally, Ashansi's sword, the big monster-cleaver Penumbra, is already in his hand by the time they get to that point. However, he isn't quite inside yet, because the rampaging chest is now in the way of the door. Enter indecision.
"Hey!!" He yells. "What's going on in there?!" "There's a chest in the way and I don't want to defeat our treasure!!"
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Adventurer's Bane.
====================<* Emrys Mire - Round 5 *>====================
=================< Results - Adventurer's Bane >==================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
Isiris Shango'Ra 80 --(20)--> 100 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
Lan Lilac 65 --(20)--> 85 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC
< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Isiris Shango'Ra 50 --(10)--> 60 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Fright(2)|Hesitate(1)|Secret(1)|Vault(1) Effects:
========================< Dream Chasers >=========================
DG: The party led by Isiris Shango'Ra 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: Isiris Shango'Ra has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
==================<* CHALLENGE - Ghost Lights *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Parts of the mire are grey with haze and spore-ish fog. This, unfortunately,
is one of them; finding a safe path here -- that doesn't lead one into one
of the sinkholes and deadfalls so common through the swamp -- would be near
impossible were it not for the glowing mushrooms, highlighting where there
is solid land.
But unfortunately, they're not the only thing glowing in the gloom. The haze
that rises from the muck glows bright in places here, sufficiently so to
potentially mislead those mistaking the shine for a friendly mushroom guide.
Dungeon Conditions: Stupify=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"THERE'S A CHEST IN HERE AND IT'S GOT TEEEEEEEETH!" Lan squawks, backing up a few paces. Her kick barely dented it, and she thinks she may have just made it hangrier.
The Luggage snarls and lumbers in an indecisive circle of its own, a dozen stubby little legs half-hidden beneath its bulk. Does it want to eat the loud one or bumrush the new one?
"What good is a treasure that actually kills you?!" Lan wants to know. The Luggage takes that moment to decide that louder means tastier, and charges - Lan yelps, leaps high in the air, and watches it skitter past below her. She's throwing herself through the door before the monster can even turn around, scrambling past Ashansi like hellhounds are hot on her heels. "No thank you! Nothankyou!!"
Ashansi will catch a glimpse of sunny blonde hair rushing by, right before Lan disappears into the mists. Strange lights pulse slowly, almost seeming to move...
DG: You use your Tool Paku-Paku against your party's Challenge, Ghost Lights! DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, Ghost Lights.
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
"Whoa!!"
Ashansi is almost bowled over, not by the demon chest but the fleeing Baskar, as she bursts from the doorway right before the ravenous box gets stuck in it. Pinwheeling his arms, he almost loses his footing and his sword in the exchange. Setting the spine of his sword to shoulder, he watches her run off into the dark, running a hand through his hair. Effort and exaperation in equal parts causes his hair to stand, a wild flare raised through his otherwise relaxed chin-length bangs.
"Well, at least I know she's a good runner," he reasons. "But if we can't find the dog, we don't get paid..." He listens to the gnashing of teeth in the house. "And I do like treasure..."
OK. Ashansi presses his hand against the back of the gnashing beast, and with one massive push, shoves it sliding back inside. Then he walks in after it, sword at the ready. What follows next is the sound of a scuffle. "HEY!" crash "WATCH THOSE TEETH!" crush! "Ah, come here!!!" punch! "Tell me where the treasure is!!!" gunch!! "UGH!! GROSS!" wham "HOLD STILL!! Gods, you're heavy!! HRRAUNGH!!"
Awhile later, Ashansi is wandering the mire in the dark, with only glowing mushrooms to hold him up. All truth told, he's starting to feel a little faint, each step on the bog a little heavier. It might have something to do with the slavering, gnashing beast he's got on his back, chains looped around it on every angle. He never actually did defeat it, but... is it really safe to be carrying that around? It is still trying to kill him the whole way. And it is actually very, very large.
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Ghost Lights.
====================<* Emrys Mire - Round 6 *>====================
====================< Results - Ghost Lights >====================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
Isiris Shango'Ra 100 --(10)--> 110 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC
Lan Lilac 85 --(5)--> 90 Pass Paku-Paku 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten
< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Isiris Shango'Ra 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Collapse|Fright(1)|Stupify(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)
========================< Dream Chasers >=========================
DG: Isiris Shango'Ra is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Isiris Shango'Ra has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Isiris Shango'Ra has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
=============<* CHALLENGE - Only Unpleasant Things *>=============
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Here ahead of you and tilted in a perilous direction in the muck stand the
remains of a large complex, still largely intact. To judge by what
structures yet remain -- pillars, spires -- this must have been the focal
point of the settlement, possibly serving some religious or sacred purpose
of some sort. Though it would be hard to tell much about it now, with the
facade so eroded. Time and the elements have done great damage to the past
here.
The morass stirs at your approach -- something unwelcome awaits you here.
The crablike creatures lurch from the waters of the mire. Once they were
freely living things -- now only the term 'living' applies. Moving jerkily
as they are impelled by the purple fungal threads woven thick through flesh
and bone, they advance towards you.
It doesn't seem as if there is any easy way past them. To proceed, you must
put them down.
Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Suffer==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
While the Luggage is fierce, Ashansi is motivated by treasure and the dream of a smiling owner being reunited with their dog. And also more treasure. Maybe a good fight?
The mists seem deeper than the usual 'trying to trick you into leaving the path and getting swallowed by the swamp' mists. These must be... Advanced Mists!! The Luggage, perhaps unhappy that it's being dragged along on this adventure, drools maliciously on Ashansi's hair.
While he was busy fighting furniture, Lan was having an alltogether different sort of adventure. While she's more than used to roughing it in the great outdoors, swamps are a mysterious creature. There aren't too many of them in the Badlands, and Lan doesn't have an awful lot of experience with terrain this... mooshy. Still, she thinks she's got some kind of idea of the right path. ...Seriously, it's a path, made of a few flat stepping stones left embedded in the more solid patches of ground. And where it leads...
"Woooow," Lan breathes, looking up. It's almost as if this was all worth it, just to see this...?! She'll rest a moment, have a drink of water, and then she'll--
Blurp. Blorble.
"...You've got to be kidding me," Lan absolutely does not whine as a pair of gross, scary, and absolutely foul-smelling abominations slough off a layer of mud and rise to shamble towards her. "Ew! No! Go away!!" DG: You use your Tool Clear Water against your party's Challenge, Only Unpleasant Things! DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Clear Water toward her party's challenge, Only Unpleasant Things.
====================<* Emrys Mire - Round 7 *>====================
===============< Results - Only Unpleasant Things >===============
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
Isiris Shango'Ra 110 --(X)--> X
Effects:
Lan Lilac 90 --(100)--> 190 Fail Clear Water 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse
< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Isiris Shango'Ra 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Fright(2)|Stupify(1)|Suffer(1) Effects: Cleanse
========================< Dream Chasers >=========================
DG: Lan Lilac is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Isiris Shango'Ra has been fully Exhausted by Emrys Mire! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=========================<* Emrys Mire *>=========================
===============<* CHALLENGE - Purity in the Mire *>===============
|Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Progress to the deepest reaches of Emrys Mire eludes you. And yet--
Here, a minor miracle can be found: bubbling up through the cracks of ruined
stone flooring of yet another crumbling building is not more toxic sludge
from the swamp, but the purest spring water. It glitters faintly in any
light brought to it, shimmering as it spills between the fractured stone,
forming the shallowest of pools here and there as it trickles towards the
foul swamp.
Perhaps the contamination only stretches so far.
But this is not the total of what has been made possible by this spring --
here and there are patches of plants and mosses growing up through the
masonry cracks, fed by the waters and thriving in spite of the toxins in the
swamp. No mere stragglers these -- any botanist or apothecary would be
astonished what was able to grow in a place like this.
Dungeon Conditions: Save Point==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
"Hrmph..." "blorp!!" "You smell like the inside of a tanner's ass." "groar!" "That's okay, that's alright... bet you're filled with gold." "arf!" "Yeah. You're heavy enough. I'm gonna line my pockets with treasure gold tonight. Then, I'm gona make treasure steak. And then I'm going to go to the armorer and get myself outfitted with a treasure codpiece. Huh. Maybe I'll give that one to Lan I guess. Hey, when did you start sounding like a dog? O--ohhh.."
Ashansi peers through the darkness, an eyeline tracing from his shades to the dog standing on the crest, barking aggressively at the avenger and his luggage. Taking one of his hands off of the straps he's used to secure the beast to his back, he reaches out quietly to ... gesture to the dog. "Shh. Hey. C'mere...."
"gro--WHAM" Ashansi just punched the chest in the mouth. "You're gonna scare him!"
The dog barks again, except off in a different direction. It takes him a minute to realize that the dog is barking off in the direction of the other part of his group, which is currently hollering at something in dismay. "Lan!!" Ashansi yells after her in the distance, reaching for his sword. "Don't get molested!!" Ugh. This is starting to be a problem. Squish. "Hey, are you drooling on my sword now too?? Wait, that's squishier...ugh, it's so soft today... wait a minute. is THAT your TONGUE??"
It's at that point that Asha discovers the chest has broken loose of just enough of its bindings to open it's mouth. GULP! And then Ashansi discovers what a living treasure chest's tonsils look like.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
The giant shambling crabs do not go away.
And honestly, Lan's had a long day. She decides that discretion is the better part of validity. It was validity, right? She's not too sure, but it probably isn't too important while she's running from big icky crustaceans.
Turning a corner at top speed, she throws herself through the door of a half-ruined springhouse, ducking underneath a giant fern and being very, very still. The crabs trundle past, drooling spores and whatever else crabs are afflicted with. /Eeeeewwwww./
Lan's just going to sit here quietly for a little bit and hope the crabs don't come back.
Around her, unnoticed, the springhouse is a miniature paradise. Give her a minute or two. She'll realize it eventually. Say, right after a Very Good Doggie leads Ashansi to her hiding spot.
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
Ashansi is dead, so he will definitely never come to Lan.
The Chester finishes snapping free of its traces, shaking off the bondage of its brief captor. Now free to assess the situation around it, it shambles around, hobbling from one corner to the next as it hops forward, trying to find a home to hide in. It would be a hard enough search, and that dog wasn't helping. Burping up a pair of shredded adventurer pants aggressively, the box-with-teeth rages angrily at the dog, whom has come down the hill from the crest to challenge its dominance and get at its secret treasure. The dog's shrill barking unmoors the beast, and it gnashes in vicious reply.
It tries to burp a glove at the dog, but it's of no use.
Finally, it just decides it has to eat the dog too. Hopping towards the brave pup that could, the chest opens its jaws. Wider and wider they go. Some monsters could unhinge their jaws to swallow prey whole. The chest-gnasher is not one of those monsters, having has to do a fair amount of chewing to get its prior meal down. Well. It used to not be one of those monsters, as it realizes it can't shut its maw. It realizes, just as the hand and glowing spearhead on the roof of its throat begin to break its iron bones, that it might want to have chewed a little more.
Ashansi, to his own merit, didn't really need the spear he found to break the Gnasher's jaws and cut it in two. It was just more fun that way. "Especially given," he would remark to no one in particular, "That I didn't find any gold at all in there.."
The dog barks at him in distress, trying to get his attention and make him hurry as Ashansi takes a moment to relash the monster to the spear this time, where he can keep a better eye on it. Both halves of it. Ashansi looks at the dog pointedly, covered in thick iridescent lines of syrupy drool, his hair frosted with monster goo. His frown slowly turns to a glower.
And that is the story of how Ashansi went from being eaten by a monster to finding his way to stepping in a crab's head on the way to Lan, with a monster pelt and a very confused dog tied to opposite ends of the spear he's got slung across his shoulder.
There is no spot of him that is not covered in goo at this point.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's hardly the dog's fault that the two of them are idiots and are probably going to die here in the swamp, eaten by giant mutated crabs.
At his approach, Lan peeks out from beneath the fern. It better not be another crab-- "Asha!!"
Thank goodness, he isn't dead! Probably! He's moving, and dead people /usually/ don't move... She climbs out from beneath the fern and runs out into the remains of the street, stopping just short of throwing her arms around him. "...What happened to you??" He's covered in goop!!
Lan, on the other hand, looks... well, not perfect, and kind of harried, but not goopy. "And hey, is that the innkeepers dog?! Asha, you're amazing! Maybe this /wasn't/ all a complete waste of our time and skills and energy and equipment and rations and..."
She has to run out of words eventually.
<Pose Tracker> Isiris Shango'Ra has posed.
Ashansi looks more than a little alarmed when the Baskar rushes him, going back as if to set himself on guard, ready to deflect the blonde off into the most convenient and non-bouncible pile of soft fungi that comes to mind. Luckily, being covered in thick goo us more than enough to dissuade even the hardiest adventurer. Besides, if she hugged him like this, she might stick to him. And then what happens?
However, he is definitely at the end of his rope. Covered in goo, and having just been down the gullet of a beast, he's definitely more gruff than usual, and his face might have grown an entire half day of beard in the last ten minutes, for all of the shenanigans he's gone through this adventure. Some days you just forget to take the right pair of adventuring boots.
"I, uh... had some words with the treasure box," Ashansi explains, of his condition, scratching the back of his now-shiny and spiky head, looking off to one side. "I, uh, found you a weapon, I think. Maybe?" he points out, but doesn't bother to lift the spear to point it out. "But, I really need a bath. And probably a new pair of pants."
Ashansi looks down for a moment.
Then, while she's distracted, he moves to stick himself to Lan, goo-first, with a mighty thrust of his torso. If she's still distracted by saying stuff he may or may not be listening to, Ashansi is going to just pick her up, sling her over a shoulder unceremoniously once he's sure she's stuck and can't escape to go running (or bouncing) off again.
Then, with a kebab of monster, a bindle of dog, and a shoulderful of Baskar, Ashansi is going to trudge home. And get some new pants.