2018-08-18: Castle of Menace
- Log: Castle of Menace
- Cast: Seraph Lanval, Talise Gianfair, Sephilia Lampbright, Layna Manydays
- Where: Castle Rabenstein
- Date: August 18, 2018
- Summary: The Fox Company assails Castle Rabenstein, hellbent on finding Rosaline and Ida....
=============================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================== Castle Rabenstein sits atop the summit of Mount Manfred, an exercise in engineering folly that has become the epicenter of a Malevolent Domain. Impossible though it may seem, the broad strokes of its architecture resemble those of fallen Castle Arctica, and the ever-present snowfall only strengthens the comparison. Though massive and imposing, its proportions don't seem to make sense upon close inspection--as though the Domain were bending space to accomodate the will of its masters. Inside, the castle is every bit as impressive. Its corridors are dark and vaulted, lit only by bobbing glass spheres containing Malevolence-laced electrical sparks. Portions of it look distinctly metallic, and contain churning, smoking industrial machinery with no apparent purpose. Other portions are uncomfortably warm, despite the glacial chill outside, and any fires started there can quickly spread out of control. Lesser Hellions of all stripes inhabit the place, ranging from eerie, ghostly felines to spectral soldiers to animated suits of armor. A small army of Mannikins stands at the ready to tend to the Domain's residents, and to their guests. Those who choose to intrude can expect a much harsher reception. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0LdIZ8TWYo
DG: A party led by Seraph Lanval is now entering Castle Rabenstein. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================================<* Castle Rabenstein *>================================================= ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Wake Bitey *>=========================================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- The front gates of Castle Rabenstein are closed and barred. On top of that, the skeletal, Malevolence-animated form of a truly massive wyvern is sprawled out in front of them. It looks like it might be asleep, as odd as that sounds. (He may or may not have a snore bubble coming out one skeletal, ice-rimmed nostril.) You might be able to climb the wall and access another entrance, but whatever you decide, you'll need to be quiet about it. If you get past the wyvern, you might be able to get inside without being noticed. Wake it up, and you'll have a problem on your hands. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval spilled some serious beans a while back, and it is inevitable that they have to come up here to help deal with the problem best they can. The Dragonmaster - and Althena, by proxy - are not going to. Fox Company has hardened themselves spiritually from the trials of the unmarked isles, and there is that grudging acceptance from one of the Domain Masters that allows them to take that second tread up Mount Manfred with little incident.
Lanval is hiding out in a Holy Bottle that has barely been touched by mortal hands, as a safety precaution. Strong(er than he lets on) as he may be, they are about to enter the deepest depths of a Malevolent Domain. He needs to conserve as much strength as he can.
"Talishe... Shephy... Layna." He says. He's pushed the worries aside. He has to trust in them to be able to do the same, lest bad things happen. "They're waitin' for ush inshide." He's told them who the 'they' were before they set foot back up the mountain. "Sho, let'sh jusht go on in."
Oh, uh, about that 'just go on in' bit, that... might be hard. The front gates are shut and barred, and there's a skeletal wyven there, sprawled out, sleeping. ...Bones generally sleep (forever) but this is double-sleeping, which is to say, there is a sense of cold air running through one of its skeletal face-holes, like it's breathing. Snoring.
Lanval does not dwell on the thought of what a dragon here signifies. He knows why he's here...
"...'m thinkin' we're gonna hafta go over." That's something of a task. Any errant noise could reawaken the pile of bones. The liquid contents of the Holy Bottle need to be preserved, very carefully - it's a get-out-of-jail-at-a-nominal-fee card, and they can take nothing for granted even if united in their purpose for being here.
Bubbles flit out of the neck of the Holy Bottle, from whoever's holding it. The bubbles float upward - but if they act fast enough, they can catch a ride and... er, pray that the bubbles actually carry them across the wall before they pop, if they don't want to chance climbing the thing proper.
...It's an element of chance either way, isn't it?
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Don't Wake Bitey.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Castle Rabenstein. Something about it tugs at the threads dangling from the coccoon into which Talise has woven up her doubts and self-reproof.
Maybe it was what Lanval told them. That this was home to Ida and Rosaline now. Two friends - friends who had travelled with her through thick and thin. Friends she couldn't help, because depression and sadness so actively push against any helping hand extended. Friends she had to accept that she couldn't protect from a power that feasts upon their doubts, yet whom she still wished she could've.
But that was then, she reflects as she approaches those barred gates, gazing up at the fortress before her. Today is now. I can't save everyone from everything. But we can try to help Ida and Ros' and whoever their friend is NOW.
"Yeah... yeah. They're waiting for us," she says quietly, hand tightening around the hilt of her sword.
We can't let them end up like the Nameless Lord. We absolutely CAN'T.
Assuming we can get past that sleeping frost wyvern, anyway.
Talise gives the dragon a wary look. Well, the undead dragon. She's fairly sure that would've been Rosaline's doing.
...Rosaline....
As those bubbles flit upwards, Talise sighs and then steps into one of them. She slides a rope out of her pack and begins to knot it into a loop at the end, figuring she'll throw it and try to pull herself over if Lanval's magic steers her wrong.
She does not complain about the fuggin' ropes this time because this is far too serious.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Wake Bitey.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy takes one of the bubbles, knowing that she's not going to have a lot of luck otherwise in staying safe. She's not got a long stride, and the many short steps she has to take increase the odds that one will be on a twig or a branch or a paw or something. So she bloops into a bubble, hugging Chauncey. "I...hope they're okay..." she says.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Don't Wake Bitey.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
This place. Layna knew there was something familiar about this place from their first traversal up Mount Manfred. It was only once Lanval had explained to her that this place had become the residence of Ida, Rosaline, and their friend that she realized why.
...Well, she definitely couldn't leave it alone now then, could she? She still had unfinished business with them.
"Aye. Well said, lad." Layna replies with a grin. She hops into the one of the bubbles and leans back, reclining with a drink.
Their guardian looks pretty fierce, and while Layna might like a good fight, she'd prefer to conserve her energy. This probably isn't going to be easy.
"...I'm sure they will be, lass." Layna says, looking toward Sephilia. "We'll make sure of it, aye?"
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Don't Wake Bitey.
================================================<* Castle Rabenstein *>================================================= ===========================================<* CHALLENGE - Don't Wake Bitey *>=========================================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- The front gates of Castle Rabenstein are closed and barred. On top of that, the skeletal, Malevolence-animated form of a truly massive wyvern is sprawled out in front of them. It looks like it might be asleep, as odd as that sounds. (He may or may not have a snore bubble coming out one skeletal, ice-rimmed nostril.) You might be able to climb the wall and access another entrance, but whatever you decide, you'll need to be quiet about it. If you get past the wyvern, you might be able to get inside without being noticed. Wake it up, and you'll have a problem on your hands. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck===========================================
===========================================<* Castle Rabenstein - Round 1 *>============================================ =============================================< Results - Don't Wake Bitey >============================================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
They take the bubbles. The bubbles rise, as they tend to. Sometimes they veer close to pointy gate bits, but the whims of the atmospheric pressure pull through for the lot of them, as each bubble drifts along over the gate--
Bitey snorts, and sneezes a frosty, air-stirring sneeze - a problem! A problem that sees them drift about the very perimeter of the castle inside the gates. The castle outside seems to shift and configure every time one steals a glance, and it seems as though it were preparing to route them through to some less-trodden parts of the Domain... to entrap, or to keep them out?
Hellions are creatures of contradiction, but it is an inconvenient twist to the proceedings.
"Don't ya worry, Shephy." Lanval reassures the young girl. They need to not worry as a matter of principle. "...or the resht of ya. 'm here... ha ha ha!"
The laughter dares to fight against the lingering anxiety, anger, and shame in the air.
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Plasma Globes *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Castle Rabenstein features many forms of lighting--mostly magical torches in sconces and arcane runes. The strangest, though, are floating glass spheres about the size of a human head, crackling with electricity. While these strange Hellions are useful as a light source, they can be less than cooperative with intruders. The group that's been following you turns hostile with no warning, and starts erupting, one by one, spraying the area with electrical arcs and bits of broken glass. Get out of there! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Boosting her way up into the castle, Talise has to secure her rope to the top of the gate and slide herself down as the bubble gives way right at the peak of her jump. She manages to keep herself from crying out, but she does end up sliding down the rope far faster than she'd like. Her gauntlets keep her from scorching her palms.
But the descent does obligate her to land on her back, She flops back and looks upward towards the ceiling.
"Oh hey, there are fireflies," she comments, a little dazed.
Globes of light drift slowly through the dark corridor ahead. Rubbing her back, Talise rolls to her feet, beginning to move in among the light globes. Several of them bobble and weave, slowly drifting around the little band as if demonstrating to try and win their attention.
A particularly showy orb begins to circle Talise's head. "...Oh hey, they're literal torches. I can see the glass and the light and everything," she comments as she leans forward to get a closer look.
The hovering orb bobbles a little.
And then it flickers - and a spray of shrapnel and electricity spews from it.
Right into Talise's face. With a shriek she staggers backwards, clutching her face and bleeding profusely.
Welp.
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Plasma Globes.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Fireflies? Lanval comes shy of commenting about it, as the next theory drifts towards... torches? Those are some weird-lookin' torches, Lanval remarks from inside of his comfy little bottle. He's never seen fire move about like tha-- wait. That's not flame, that's electricity. Electric torches? That's kind of novel.
Less novel is when they explode into electrical glass shrapnel, and Talise's shrieking says all as Lanval works a burst of quick healing water for her as the group has to hurry on through.
He could just roll along the ground if someone dropped him, but, he'd rather not hit the ground at all if it can be helped.
"Jusht keep goin' ahead," easy for him to say!!!
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Plasma Globes.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Talise! Oh no, I'll--I'll heal you in--AGH!" Sephy is zapped too! She starts running--first FOR Talise, to grab her hand and guide her through, then pulling her friend along!
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Plasma Globes.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna winces as the 'torches' proceed to turn hostile toward Talise. She hadn't thought much of them before, but now that they've proven themselves to be a threat.
"Alright, I'm gonna need to ask you lot to think about what you've done." Layna says, then recites a quick incantation. With a gesture she releases a powerful gust in the direct of the largest cluster of globes, aiming to send them right out the window - or, failing that, into a wall.
"Hold on there, lass. Here, take some o' this, it oughta dull the pain a little." Layna says, offering a bottle toward Talise. Fortunately they've got Lanval and Sephilia here for actually healing, though.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Plasma Globes.
=============================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Plasma Globes *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ----------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------- Castle Rabenstein features many forms of lighting--mostly magical torches in sconces and arcane runes. The strangest, though, are floating glass spheres about the size of a human head, crackling with electricity. While these strange Hellions are useful as a light source, they can be less than cooperative with intruders. The group that's been following you turns hostile with no warning, and starts erupting, one by one, spraying the area with electrical arcs and bits of broken glass. Get out of there! =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
========================<* Castle Rabenstein - Round 2 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Plasma Globes >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 15 --(15)--> 30 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Hesitate(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Sephilia Lampbright is a helpful girl. She is a girl full of helpful feelings. She is grabbing her really tall friend Talise by the hand and guiding her along, like a helpful helper.
Talise manages to stagger to her feet, holding a hand to her face. Most of the glass, fortunately, hit her in the forehead and cheeks; none of it got into her eyes. As Layna offers her a drink, she does the best thing she can think of.
She knocks it back and chugs the ever-loving shit out of that drink.
"Goddess damn, that hurts!" she vents, before swatting aside another orb of light. It bounces away from her gauntlet and slams into a wall, shattering.
Lanval helps. A quick dose of magic is all it takes for the worst of the cuts lacing Talise's face to vanish away. "Thanks, Lanval!" she shouts, hoping he can hear her from inside the bottle.
The globe gives chase - but only to a certain point. It flickers and pulses - and then begins to drift off in another direction for some reason, slower and more lethargic. Almost as if it got bored and decided to fuck off.
Talise looks back with a blink. "...What was that all about?
"...And where are we?"
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Menacing Maids *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Up ahead is a long hallway, at the end of which await several... spectral
maids? They seem to be occupied with cleaning, at first, but at the worst
possible moment, they turn on you, and retrieve throwing knives from their
skirts. Perfectly choreographed, they then proceed to toss a barrage of them
in your direction, lightning-quick!
The maids' spectral forms can easily be dispelled, but first you'll need to
make it through the hallway. Their supply of knives is seemingly endless,
but they are thrown in a set pattern, leaving gaps that can be read... if
one isn't turned into a pincushion first.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
The party runs along through the halls, tramping mud and dirt everywhere on the nice, clean carpets. Sure, there's not much that can be done about that - they had to climb a mountain to get here, after all.
...But something senses it. Several somethings. As they run through the long hallway, the party will feel several sets of eyes upon them. And eventually, the source becomes clear.
Spectral maids turn to face them. Each one is carrying a startlingly high amount of knives.
They don't say a word and their faces betray no emotion, but their feelings - annoyance, primarily - are easily read in their stance.
That's the only warning they get before the maids start hurling the knives in a perfectly choreographed fashion. There's plenty of gaps to duck into, almost as if this was meant as a training exercise just as much as an attack.
Layna doesn't see that far, though. She only sees one thing.
"Wrong hallway! Wrong hallway!" She calls out, ducking down the nearest pathway in hopes they don't pursue.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Menacing Maids.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmmph?" The bottle perks up, somehow. Bottles generally don't, but, this one does. Steel flies in the air, all around, as Layna moves to try and evade the maids by doubling back to some other hallway in order to progress.
"It'sh not like I got a map, buuuut, 'm pretty shure they're gonna be down that way--" YEAH LANVAL IF YOU WANT TO RUN THROUGH KNIVES BE ONE'S GUEST
A knife pings off the neck of the bottle from whoever's carrying it, as it spins once in the air and comes down hilt-first through the neck.
Check it out! Knife-bottle! If for some reason you wanted the hilt of your blade to be unwieldy to hold like a bottle! It's awesome!! And also kind of scary if you are an elemental spirit to whom Malevolence is especially poisonous, and thus have to expend some power and Holy Bottle liquid content to expunge the knife.
"Shorry~" He calls to the spectral maids, as if now on board with capitulating.
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Menacing Maids.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy lets out a small wail. "Why does this place have so much RUNNING?"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Menacing Maids.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
In fairness, Talise's boots aren't that filthy - compared to usual. She cleans up pretty well but traveling does take its toll and she hasn't had time to take them off since they went up the mountain.
The phantom forms drifting through the corridor seem eerily familiar - reminiscent of something Talise encountered once back on Filgaia. A small shiver runs down her back.
Until they turn and start hurling knives. Talise yelps and darts to the side as a blade goes whistling past her - and it's one that's far too solid for maids who seem otherwise phantasmic and unreal. "Whoa, come on, I'm not even making a mess!!" she exclaims in protest.
Talise looks back. Looks at the drops of blood she'd left on the carpet after getting glassed in the face.
"Ohhhhhhh," she says, before something else dawns on her.
"Ohhhh," she says in a more subdued tone.
"That frigging orb."
Another knife comes whistling at her. Talise darts away from it with a jingle of her mail-lined coat. "Layna," she shouts, "they're throwing it in a pattern! Keep an eye out!" Another knife slashes by her; she swerves, barely keeping her balance as she tries to dance through the blades!
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Menacing Maids.
===========================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Menacing Maids *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Up ahead is a long hallway, at the end of which await several... spectral
maids? They seem to be occupied with cleaning, at first, but at the worst
possible moment, they turn on you, and retrieve throwing knives from their
skirts. Perfectly choreographed, they then proceed to toss a barrage of them
in your direction, lightning-quick!
The maids' spectral forms can easily be dispelled, but first you'll need to
make it through the hallway. Their supply of knives is seemingly endless,
but they are thrown in a set pattern, leaving gaps that can be read... if
one isn't turned into a pincushion first.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
======================<* Castle Rabenstein - Round 3 *>======================= =========================< Results - Menacing Maids >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(10)--> 10 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Layna Manydays has posed.
Seriously, that was way too many knives. The party can't even retrieve them, either - they're as ghostly as their owners, but just as deadly.
Fortunately, ducking down the other hallway forces the maids to reposition themselves, giving everyone plenty of time to make some distance.
Eventually, Layna spots a door and opens it, hurrying everyone inside and slamming it shut once they're all in.
She then exhales, leaning up against it.
"Everyone alright?" She asks, looking everyone over.
As soon as they're completely out of sight, the maids lose interest and instead focus their efforts on cleaning up the mess they left behind.
And all of the knives.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy lets out a moan of pain. "I got hit."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"You'll be fine, Shephy~" Lanval replies in more cheerful sing-song, doing his damndest to stop them all from getting too worried, too dreary, willing to expend a bit more power to deal with the boo-boo with a soothing watery mist.
DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
================================================<* Castle Rabenstein *>================================================= ==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Mannikin Servitors *>========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Mannikins are not an uncommon sight in Castle Rabenstein. These human-sized Hellion automatons look something like articulated metal dolls, and perform basic tasks tirelessly and without complaint. You've just stumbled across a group of them, but it seems they've taken issue with your intrusion. The Mannikins charge you, attacking with their fists and whatever tools they have handy. In contrast with their normal, calm behavior, their body language is manic. They will fight until destroyed. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
The door slams behind them, as they see it fit to let the spectral maids to their work. Little purple balls of Malevolent light all shine upon them, like eyes... because they are eyes.
They are a lack of eyes, on something shaped like a person, but aren't. Metal, articulated figures... kind of like training dummies, if people wanted to get all fancy with making them, and wanted to make them of metal instead of wood and hay, but... these aren't training dummies. The lot of them might have seen one or two dwelling about the castle en route to here, but here... there are more than a few.
Another set of castle servants, they are all in various degrees of wear and tear to start. Here, the damaged ones are left to either be repaired or discarded. One of the jerk-wad electrical sphere globes flit down and cast a fell electric light as these worn-down mannequins - Mannikins, they would be called by another source later - rise up. First, steady.
Then jittery - manic, even, as they grab what's around them and start charging in swinging. Flailing. Anger. Desperatio. The agitation that emanates from them is palpable, and some seem conflicted as to whether those here should be welcomed, or eradicated - and in the process of this are settling on 'eradicate' by default.
Lanval conserves his strength. He will not be donating any watery Seraphic Artes for direct combat, but if any of them suffer grievous wounds, he will gladly expend some more to keep them healthy.
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mannikin Servitors.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
With a wince, Talise slides over to Sephilia, kneeling to carefully extract the knife from the tiny girl. "Easy... try not to move."
She'll even have a Healing Nut for her!
As they move on, more threats arise. Not eyes, but something worse. Figures that are not human and not uncommon.
But unnerving nevertheless. Talise hasn't had regular enough contact with Ida to run into Mannikins all that often, though she recognizes them nevertheless - and even now, they're enough to make her cheeks grow a little pale. There's something uncanny about seeing an unliving thing moving around like a living one.
Especially when they go mad and scramble towards the group. Talise blinks and steps back, moving to flank Sephilia. "I didn't think those things could go crazy," she mutters. "I hope that's not a reflection on Ida's mental state...."
Let's be real, Talise reflects. It probably is. Poor Ida.
Deciding she doesn't want to swordfight things that are flailing around like uncoordinated maniacs, Talise falls back on Plan B: She feeds a few shells into her shotgun and begins pumping out lead, one round after the next, aiming to just sweep the threat away in a wave of buckshot.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Trench Sweeper Shotgun toward her party's challenge, Mannikin Servitors.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy, still a little pale, embiggens Chauncey to ride in his backpack a little bit--and it's a good thing she has, too! "Oh, I hope so too, Talise, I really do," she says. Chauncey lumbers forward to smash.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mannikin Servitors.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna grimaces as she realizes what kind of place they're in.
"...Looks like we're getting quite the welcome, aye?" She says, forcing a grin onto her face. "Well, if they wanna fight...guess I'll have to give 'em what they want!"
Layna doesn't know much about the Mannikins - only that they're metallic and apparently have something to do with Ida. She hopes Ida won't be too upset when she smashes up all her toys, which she aims to do -
Some of them get punched, while others she slips around, extracting key components to them in order to make them just fall apart entirely.
She doesn't get too fancy with it, not in such close quarters.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mannikin Servitors.
================================================<* Castle Rabenstein *>================================================= ==========================================<* CHALLENGE - Mannikin Servitors *>========================================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- Mannikins are not an uncommon sight in Castle Rabenstein. These human-sized Hellion automatons look something like articulated metal dolls, and perform basic tasks tirelessly and without complaint. You've just stumbled across a group of them, but it seems they've taken issue with your intrusion. The Mannikins charge you, attacking with their fists and whatever tools they have handy. In contrast with their normal, calm behavior, their body language is manic. They will fight until destroyed. =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
===========================================<* Castle Rabenstein - Round 4 *>============================================ ============================================< Results - Mannikin Servitors >============================================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Trench Sweeper Shotgun 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(1) Effects: Embolden(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Chik-chik. BOOM.
Lanval's bottle tilts upward watching Talise go to town with her weird fire wand thing. Come to think of it, Lanval thinks, the people from the Blue Star sure have a lot of fire adepts, for all the wands like that he's been seeing. Talise successfully lays down cover fire to prevent many of them from getting close.
Couple that with the embiggened Chauncey, and it's more safe to say that none of them can really get close to endanger either the young girl or the bard among them. The Mannikins are almost reduced to sheer sport before those two - and that's before Layna decides to go have some fun with it and just pick them apart with deft hand movements. Lanval mostly sits there and watches.
"Be at eashe." Lanval tries to reassure. "You're her behst friendsh," from all he's heard about them talking about Ida and Ros', that's got to be true enough. "Shomethin' tellsh me we're getting closher... sho be ready."
They're not quite there yet. They are, but also not - the deeper they go, the more cntradictory the architecture gets...
DG: Talise Gianfair has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Castle Rabenstein *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Ground in the Gears *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The rumble of industrial machinery is a constant presence in some sections
of the castle. Your path draws you closer and closer to one source of the
noise--a massive bank of pistons glowing with Malevolence, driving grinding
gears, crushing rollers, and machinery that makes even less sense. Does it
even have a purpose, or is it just churning away for no reason at all?
Several sections of disconnected catwalk reveal a way past the machinery,
but you'll have to be both quick and careful. The wrong move could result in
horrible injuries, or worse.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Shouldering her shotgun, Talise squares her jaw and pushes forward, moving deeper into the castle.
"I hope we are still their best friends," Talise says with a slight darkening of her expression. "Maybe that's why Ida seems to push away me in particular. Or maybe I just blew it as a friend and she's giving me what I deserve. Who knows. But they travelled with us for a long time and we owe it to them to...." Talise lets the sentence peter out as her gently-pointed ears perk a little.
"I hear something," she says.
Ahead, something is churning and rumbling. It's only growing louder. Tensing up, Talise slows her approach, moving with greater caution to the corridor ahead.
A corridor which ends at a disconnected catwalk. Unfolding before it is an absolute mess of machinery, churning with ruddy violet-red power as pistons pump and gears churn and rollers roll and camshafts do whatever it is they do. It's a dizzying array of clockwork and even with what Talise learned from Ida about Filgaian technology, making sense of all this is no easy task. "It doesn't even seem to do anything!" she exclaims, holding her hands out in front of her incredulously.
With a look towards Layna, she grimaces. "Don't suppose you can eyeball a way through this thing... 'cause I sure as hell can't."
DG: Talise Gianfair has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ground in the Gears.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Aye." Layna says with a nod toward Talise. They owe it to them. They'll push forward, because their friends need help.
And as they move forward, they come across a machine. Layna can't really tell what it does - if it does anything.
"Maybe it's a metaphor?" Layna suggests to Talise with a slight shrug, then turns her attention back to the machine. "Whatever it is, though, it's in the way..."
Layna watches for a moment, folding her arms in front of herself.
"...Aye, Talise. I'd wager I can." She says. With that, she finishes off the bottle she'd been passing around and recites an incantation.
A powerful curtain of wind rises up, working against the gears to slow their movements. It's pretty loud.
"This ain't gonna hold long, so get goin', on the double!" Layna shouts, breaking into a run and diving toward one of the catwalks on the other side.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Ground in the Gears.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Everything about this situation is worrisome. How long has Lanval sat on the truth that an Earthpulse has been poisoned by Malevolence - a huge honkin' deal - just to make sure nobody panicked and did nothing rash? (On the flip side, maybe he really was that big of a coward that he didn't speak up sooner after some of his own personal experiences prior to ever meeting them...)
The best he can do is to downplay the worries, no matter how many might surface. Alcohol helps. A lot. This is one of the times it does not, as they come into the strange chamber full of crazy moving metal things that make absolutely zero sense to Lanval. The bottle spins a bit where it rests, whoever it rests with, as he tries to make sense of what he's seeing. He starts laughing, because wow, this is kind of neat!
Even if it is pounding loud and full of noxious Malevolence, this is quite the sight! The joy of novelty isn't completely lost on a five hundred-year old spirit, but when one confines themselves to a specific place for over five centuries, well, a lot's novel...!
"Ha ha ha! ...I could watch that one shpin all day..." But they don't have all day. "Mmmph... all right. Let'sh... mmm. Jusht a shec..."
Lanval considers his remaining reserves of power within the Holy Bottle. With a prolonged, peaceful sigh, more bubbles float out just outside of the catwalks.
At worst, they won't have to worry about mangled limbs or anything - Lanval simply won't let it happen. No need to have anger and fury spread when there's plenty of that in the air, no need to proliferate guilt, no need to breed further anxiety. Worse comes to worse, jump off the catwalks, into one of the floating bubbles, and... have the downwind of the moving machines push the bubbles down into the unknowable abyss but that's the risk one would take in the escape.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, Ground in the Gears.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"We MUST be their friends still...right" Sephy hops into a bubble...
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ground in the Gears.
=============================<* Castle Rabenstein *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Ground in the Gears *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The rumble of industrial machinery is a constant presence in some sections
of the castle. Your path draws you closer and closer to one source of the
noise--a massive bank of pistons glowing with Malevolence, driving grinding
gears, crushing rollers, and machinery that makes even less sense. Does it
even have a purpose, or is it just churning away for no reason at all?
Several sections of disconnected catwalk reveal a way past the machinery,
but you'll have to be both quick and careful. The wrong move could result in
horrible injuries, or worse.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
========================<* Castle Rabenstein - Round 5 *>========================= ========================< Results - Ground in the Gears >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Bubble Pipe 3 Agility Effects: Rally ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talise Gianfair 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Fright(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Gears churn. Pistons pound. But the advantage they have is that a machine, by its nature, follows a mechanical pattern. It is not random. Things fit together in a logical way. Each stroke comes in its own time and always in that interval.
Layna, Lanval and Sephilia can use this. With Lanval's bottle in hand, the group can jump into those bubbles and float over a nest of grinders that look like they would shred them to ribbons. They're deposited atop a large hunk of metal. They bound from gear to gear, atop a large slowly-rotating one aligned horizontally, darting between a couple of pistons and finally down a line of large crushers.
Layna and Sephilia make it through with ease. It's Talise bringing up the rear, as usual; she's got the most armour to move and the most weapons to carry and is the tallest and most muscular. She's a pace or two behind. Sephilia escapes the crushers just after Layna does.
And then one comes down on Talise just as she slides under it.
B A D E N D
Or maybe not. At least, it TRIES to come down. Until it hits the edge of Talise's palms.
Talise did not bring her gauntlets of strength. She's wearing normal gloves. Even without them, though, the machine is pushing against a lot of hard half-Beastwoman muscle. Growling with effort, Talise strains as the inexorable machine pressure begins to force her to her knees - but slowly. Unbelievably, she manages to keep the crusher from flattening her.
Within the machine, something squeals and groans. The machine is not meant to be pushed this way. A gear pops off somewhere inside it with a loud bang and a screech of escaping steam. Something else bursts as the pressure on the crusher slackens. It sags in its housing. Blinking, Talise lets it go, then slides out from under it gingerly.
As more small gears and arms begin to pop off the machine and smoke wafts from various creases, Talise gives it a look. "...We should go," she says delicately.
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Simple Game *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Tall, dark windows line the walls of the room before you, lashed by the
endless snowstorm outside. In the very center of the room, built into the
floor, is a large game board. It looks almost like the setup for a game of
chess or checkers, but it features Mannikins of different colors, each no
bigger than a human hand. A plaque of brass on the edge of the board bears
the following text:
RULES
1. Each player selects and places one gold Mannikin.
2. Opponent selects and places one red mannikin for each gold Mannikin.
3. White Mannikins are placed randomly on the board once all gold and red
Mannikins are placed.
4. Each red and gold Mannikin may move one space per turn, horizontally or
vertically, unless capturing. White Mannikins cannot move.
5. White Mannikins may be 'captured' by jumping another Mannikin over them.
6. Play ends when no white Mannikins remain on the board. The winner is the
side that has captured the most white Mannikins.
Simple, right? Malevolence illuminates the conflicts presented by the game.
Each gold Mannikin takes on the appearance of the player who placed it,
while each red mannikin takes on the appearance of someone that a player
considers an enemy. Most of the white pieces stay faceless, but a
handful--the ones that are most difficult for the gold pieces to
capture--take on the appearances of loved ones. The red pieces move on their
own, obeying the rules and exhibiting devious intelligence.
It soon becomes clear that 'capturing' means more than just securing a
piece--the white Mannikins simply reappear on the side of the board when
captured by the gold pieces, but "die" when captured by the red ones. Each
'death' feels real. Things only get more heart-wrenching if it's a piece
with the face of a loved one.
Do your best. Save as many as you can.
Even that won't feel like enough. You could've done more, couldn't you?
Maybe if you'd made fewer mistakes, you could've saved more.
The door won't open until you've tried.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna can't help but chuckle as Talise out-muscles the machine. Layna sends her a grin and a nod as they move on.
They find themselves in a room lined with tall, dark windows. The billowing snowstorm blinds them to outside world, to all but the game board in the middle of the room.
It bears a simple set of rules, for a simple game.
"...Looks like we gotta play to get through." Layna comments, looking things over. She picks up one of the gold Mannikins and places it on the board, whereupon it suddenly transforms to look like herself.
Layna raises an eyebrow...and watches as a red Mannikin appears on the board. A red Mannikin that takes on the form of one Havel Bladewall. And the white Mannikins...they take on the form of Dahlia, Victoria...and in short order, Layna's crew is represented.
Her lips into a wry, disgusted smirk.
"...Heh. This is a sick joke." She comments.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Simple Game.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
This isn't the kind of thing Talise expected to find in here. It's too calm. Too silent. Something is wrong.
As the snow buffets the room, the gameboard stretches out in front of them. Her face a little pale, Talise begins to step slowly forward, then rests one hand on the edge of the board. The plaque is there; she parses it quickly enough.
"I hope this wasn't Ida's idea," she mutters as she picks up a piece. The gold Mannikin feels heavy in her hand as she sets it down.
It shifts. It's a small Talise now. Her equipment is golden, but that's it. With a blink, she looks across the board towards where a red Mannikin is fading into view.
The red piece warps. It hesitates for a moment, as if not sure what it wants to do. But finally, it begins to congeal, and solidifies into an easily-recognizable shape.
Dragonmaster Ghaleon.
"But," Talise begins to say. She cuts herself off. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she watches those white Mannikins take on shapes. Some of them, anyway. She can see a tiny Tethelle closest to Ghaleon. A tiny Ida and a tiny Rosaline just as close. A tiny Lynnai Albrek and a tiny Lestaci Delloro. A tiny Piet Wilk, no longer alive in reality but reborn here on the gameboard. ("That's fucking unfair," Talise growls under her breath.) A tiny Benedict Greygust on a tiny horse
When Layna speaks her piece, Talise looks up at her with a small, tight smile. "I feel like someone's trying to tell me something," she says, trying to make it sound like a joke. "And you know what kills me? She could've put this here specifically to teach me a lesson. Like I haven't beaten myself up enough over what happened to those two."
Talise reaches back, and comes up with a box of chocolate biscuits. She ran out of Mrs. Mumford's months ago. She's been leaning on Uncle Ramus's Choco-Crispers instead. They're just as good. Nibbling on the edge of one, she leans forward, then sets the box down for others to plunder from.
...She thinks better of it and moves the box in front of little Ghaleon. Then takes a cookie out, breaks it in half and leans it against the box as if to build a wall of Ida's favourite treats around a douchebag.
DG: Talise Gianfair has used her Tool Chocolate Biscuits toward her party's challenge, A Simple Game.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy pages through her Dad's journal. "This sort of game was popular in all kinds of dungeons for some reason. Dad's got a strategy guide!" Munching on a cookie, she taps her nose thoughtfully.
When she puts down her gold piece...it forms almost instantly into the appearance of...
Dun dun DUNNNNNNNNN...
Ethius Hesiod.
"Ugh that JERK has to be here! We'll get 'em all, friends! Leave it to me! I got the strategy alllll worked out from here, don't I, Chauncey?"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Dad's Journal toward her party's challenge, A Simple Game.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval's bottle is pointed in such a way that he can read the plaque. "...A board game? Mmmph... and we're gonna hafta move 'em."
That includes him, a spirit of water, who is infamously lazy and/or incapable of moving heavy-set objects. He has to come out of there. He knows why he's here, and he's not backing down... and so, Lanval manifests...
Wearing the silly novelty glasses with beer bottle lens of an ansi(+xterm220,amber)] hue.
"Okaaaay~" Lanval rests a hand on one of the nearby Mannikins. It takes his appearance, as is normal, as he turns to face the board.
"Heeeeey... Taliiiishe... Laynaaaaa... Sephyyy...." What's wrong? Some of the white Mannikins take their appearance. Does that have him riled? He puts a hand up against his beard. His red opponent looks like the shattered statue of some sentry or another with a missing arm, the other one holding a copper rapier. Its pieces float menacingly, but...
"I don't get it," Lanval murmurs, "we're shupposhed ta move piecesh over... white onesh?"
Beat.
"'Caushe they're all gold... ha ha ha!"
...That's right.
Because of the amber-hued glasses, all white and gold mannikins look pretty much the same. There is absolutely no mental disconnect or conscious knowing that he is in fact cheating and playing the game incorrectly, because he genuinely thinks they're all gold pieces. Since he can't identify the white mannikins, he can't safely capture them...
...but he is making things harder for the red pieces to capture them, in his aimless wrong-color pushing. Well, 'aimless' in so much that he's not even sure where all the white ones are! But every turn, he is moving white pieces away from the red ones.
"That'sh sho funny... why would they forget ta put white piecesh on the board... ha ha ha!" Lanval continues having a good laugh at his own complete ignorance of the situation, fighting back the thick, ambient, choking despair that is failing to take root because sometimes he is that stupid.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, A Simple Game.
=============================<* Castle Rabenstein *>==============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - A Simple Game *>==========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Tall, dark windows line the walls of the room before you, lashed by the
endless snowstorm outside. In the very center of the room, built into the
floor, is a large game board. It looks almost like the setup for a game of
chess or checkers, but it features Mannikins of different colors, each no
bigger than a human hand. A plaque of brass on the edge of the board bears
the following text:
RULES
1. Each player selects and places one gold Mannikin.
2. Opponent selects and places one red mannikin for each gold Mannikin.
3. White Mannikins are placed randomly on the board once all gold and red
Mannikins are placed.
4. Each red and gold Mannikin may move one space per turn, horizontally or
vertically, unless capturing. White Mannikins cannot move.
5. White Mannikins may be 'captured' by jumping another Mannikin over them.
6. Play ends when no white Mannikins remain on the board. The winner is the
side that has captured the most white Mannikins.
Simple, right? Malevolence illuminates the conflicts presented by the game.
Each gold Mannikin takes on the appearance of the player who placed it,
while each red mannikin takes on the appearance of someone that a player
considers an enemy. Most of the white pieces stay faceless, but a
handful--the ones that are most difficult for the gold pieces to
capture--take on the appearances of loved ones. The red pieces move on their
own, obeying the rules and exhibiting devious intelligence.
It soon becomes clear that 'capturing' means more than just securing a
piece--the white Mannikins simply reappear on the side of the board when
captured by the gold pieces, but "die" when captured by the red ones. Each
'death' feels real. Things only get more heart-wrenching if it's a piece
with the face of a loved one.
Do your best. Save as many as you can.
Even that won't feel like enough. You could've done more, couldn't you?
Maybe if you'd made fewer mistakes, you could've saved more.
The door won't open until you've tried.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
===========================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Simple Game *>========================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Tall, dark windows line the walls of the room before you, lashed by the
endless snowstorm outside. In the very center of the room, built into the
floor, is a large game board. It looks almost like the setup for a game of
chess or checkers, but it features Mannikins of different colors, each no
bigger than a human hand. A plaque of brass on the edge of the board bears
the following text:
RULES
1. Each player selects and places one gold Mannikin.
2. Opponent selects and places one red mannikin for each gold Mannikin.
3. White Mannikins are placed randomly on the board once all gold and red
Mannikins are placed.
4. Each red and gold Mannikin may move one space per turn, horizontally or
vertically, unless capturing. White Mannikins cannot move.
5. White Mannikins may be 'captured' by jumping another Mannikin over them.
6. Play ends when no white Mannikins remain on the board. The winner is the
side that has captured the most white Mannikins.
Simple, right? Malevolence illuminates the conflicts presented by the game.
Each gold Mannikin takes on the appearance of the player who placed it,
while each red mannikin takes on the appearance of someone that a player
considers an enemy. Most of the white pieces stay faceless, but a
handful--the ones that are most difficult for the gold pieces to
capture--take on the appearances of loved ones. The red pieces move on their
own, obeying the rules and exhibiting devious intelligence.
It soon becomes clear that 'capturing' means more than just securing a
piece--the white Mannikins simply reappear on the side of the board when
captured by the gold pieces, but "die" when captured by the red ones. Each
'death' feels real. Things only get more heart-wrenching if it's a piece
with the face of a loved one.
Do your best. Save as many as you can.
Even that won't feel like enough. You could've done more, couldn't you?
Maybe if you'd made fewer mistakes, you could've saved more.
The door won't open until you've tried.
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
======================<* Castle Rabenstein - Round 6 *>======================= =========================< Results - A Simple Game >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 10 --(0)--> 10 Pass Dad's Journal 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talise Gianfair 5 --(5)--> 10 Fail Chocolate Biscuits 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has successfully explored Castle Rabenstein!
===========================<* Castle Rabenstein *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - A Dragonbone Sphere *>=====================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
A perfect sphere rests atop a workbench of some sort, among a variety of
metalworking tools. It's warm to the touch, and smells of ozone and hot
metal--it has a distinctly metallic sheen, like treated, polished
Dragonbone. Inside, Malevolence pulses against the shell containing it, as
if begging to be freed of its prison. It feels like it's desperate to tell
you something, but what?
(OOC: You should send an @mail to Ida about this Discovery! Be sure to tell
her who else came into contact with the sphere.)
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
The game is going poorly. The red Mannikins move with a vicious, Malevolent intelligence. They seem to aim to cause the most damage possible in the shortest amount of time. Layna grimaces as she moves, trying to outwit Havel.
But it's difficult.
"...Aye. It's a rotten lesson, at that. ...I'm a Captain. It's not like I don't know what it's like, to issue orders knowin' some of 'em might not come back." Layna replies.
Sephilia is the first one to gain ground - she manages to outplay the Mannikin resembling Ethius quickly, rescuing all of her white Mannikins in short order.
And then, the unexpected happens...
It looks like Ghaleon is about to take one of Talise's pieces, but then Lanval just...
...Moves it out of the way.
Layna stares...blinks, and then laughs raucously.
"Aye, Lanval's got it!" She says. Of course. It made sense.
"My crew wouldn't just stand by and take it... We ain't separated into helpless white Mannikins and gold Mannikins that gotta save 'em." She says.
With that knowledge - in other words, blatant cheating - they're able to turn the tide of the game...and slowly, the door in front of them opens.
"Right. Let's see what's waiting for us beyond those doors, aye?" She replies, standing up. Inside, they find a perfectly shaped sphere sitting upon a workbench covered in metalworking tools. Layna reaches out toward it...and pauses, looking at those around.
"...Wait a tick. This thing...this reminds me o' that orb you showed us, Talise. This one must be...somethin' to do with Ida?" Layna comments, looking back at it. "...I don't know what this is gonna show us, but...now's the time to back out, if you don't wanna look."
Layna, of courses, reaches forward and touches it.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Is it really a good idea to--" Sephy winces as Layna just touches it.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
The piece Ghaleon's about to take is one of the ones Talise least wants to lose. She sets her jaw as he goes around the cookie and menaces Tethelle. In reality she's fairly sure Tethelle would fight him for all she's worth.
But you did the same thing, didn't you, idiot girl? And look where it got you. And now you get to watch him do the same thing to Tethelle that he did to you. Helpless idiot girl. Sad, weak, pathetic--
"Lanval?" Talise blurts as the beer ghost suddenly moves the Tethelle piece out of the way. She blinks, then blinks at him again.
Then she grins wolfishly as the association seems to spur her. "Oh nooooo, how can I tell them apart when they all look so gooooold," she wails as she feigns distress, pressing a hand to the back of her forehead, then blatantly moving the Lestaci piece well behind the Layna one. "Whatever will I dooooo," she mourns, moving Piet behind the Talise piece. "What with all these gold pieces just begging me to move them~ Oh gosh, look how gold they are~"
They cheat. They win. They're bastards. Talise feels good about it. The red pieces give her an accusing look.
Talise reaches out with her actual sword. "Good game," she says with a smile. "But you forgot one simple thing."
She flicks the red Ghaleon off the table. "I play dirty."
But there's an orb waiting for them. Talise blinks a time or two, then frowns as Layna reaches for the Orb. "Be careful. I don't think it's quite the same," she says, but she eases forward anyway, moving to hold out a hand.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Life is not an endless uproar of laughter, song, and fun. Lanval might have (accidentally) had fun with this little game, subverting the weight of the lessons - the reality - it wants to teach, and impart. No matter how good you are, you could've done better. You could've done more. There's that same mocking...
Even that won't feel like enough. You could've done more, couldn't you?
The laughter slows some. He... could've done more.
...
He lets himself back into the bottle before that voice can press the attack, a chink in that armor of mirthful idiocy, as the lot of them head into the strange workshop that follows. Lanval quietly meditates in the bottle, as Layna steps up and gives the orb a touch. The Seraph, having decided that it's time to gather himself for what lies beyond, does not extend himself further.
"...I can feel 'em right by." He comments. "Before... before any of ya take 'nother shtep in. Ya better grashp and hold onto why yer here." He stops himself from stating just how powerful the Hellions are - and there's three of them. They don't need to worry. Their friends - and that other guy - don't need them to worry. They need them to hold strong to help pull them out of the abyss.
He doesn't dwell on the skeletal dragon out there.
He doesn't dwell on the corrupted Earthpulse.
He knows who he is, what he was, and what he was charged with. He has to make sure things don't get worse.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia hesitates. And then...sighs. "But...but..." She puts a hand on it, hesitantly.