2018-10-20: In the Heart of the Mirage
- Log: In the Heart of the Mirage
- Cast: Ines Colina, Seraph Nimue, Jacqueline Barber, Seraph Solanine
- Where: The Glint Mirage
- Date: 20/10/2018
- Summary: An apothecary, a geohound and two seraphs walk into a metal jungle.
============================<* Great Aveh Desert *>============================= The heart of the Republic of Aveh is its great desert. The rolling dones and blistering heat here are infamous, and all but the most foolhardy would ever dare to cross it on foot. Most do so via the great rail lines running north to south, east to west, leading as far as Krosse and Adlehyde. The ones who do cross it on foot will find the heat isn't the only danger. Mirages can lead men astray, oases are few, and great and terrible beasts sink beneath the sands until they find their prey. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddOSJ8571M
DG: A party led by Ines Colina is now entering The Glint Mirage. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Risky Ride *>==========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Approaching Glint Valley without the brilliant light of the mirage in your
eyes makes it easier to get to, but night has fallen by the time you arrive.
Starlight, however, makes it very clear what the source of the blinding
light was:
Glint Valley has become a metal jungle.
Towering trees of all types stand tall in what should be a desolate,
rock-walled basin, making a canopy of gleaming metal leaves that seems to
cover the valley in an uneven dome. Starlight alone is enough to make the
whole valley light up at night, set faintly aglow by the reflected
luminescence. Occasionally, trees shake and sway without so much as a
whisper of wind blowing through the valley.
Getting down might have been easier if you'd arrived at the old town, dimly
visible on the far side of the valley. As it stands, the drop is off a sheer
cliff into the dark unknown... but it looks like vines, resembling nothing
less than steel cables, have crept up the cliff and anchored to something
below. Several of them are angled downward and taut, disappearing into the
metallic foliage; maybe you could slide or swing right down? Just watch out
for those trees!
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
Deep in the desert lays the one time ghost town of Glint Valley. Even in the light of the setting sun, the 'Glint Mirage' shines bright enough to make it difficult to approach. But as night falls, the state of the mirage becomes clear. A veritable metallic jungle, plants and trees that, were they greenery, would be astoundingly out of place in the wastes of Filgaia anyway. The fact that they're metallic just makes them more obviously unnatural.
At the top of the cliff stands a massive beastwoman, looking down at the Mirage. The note left on the tree asked for someone who was willing to investigate, and see if there was anything of worth in the old mining town. She should not be surprised that she's not the only one looking here.
"There's probably strength in numbers here anyway." She mutters, looking over the small gathered company. There's something distinctly off about two of them to her eyes. Like she's not getting the whole picture. But she's dealt with her fair share of odd characters as a geohound. "Well. No point in not getting started. Otherwise we'll freeze in there."
Ines loosens the whip from her belt, and activates a rune carved into the handle. And then she leaps from the cliff towards the metal foliage, and lashes out with the whip, that grips on to a series of vines. She uses it to swing, and release, before whipping out again at a branch, using the whip to swing herself down and around the metal jungle.
DG: Ines Colina has used her Tool Runic Whip toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
One of those extremely off individuals is Nimue! Who... really needs directions to Lost July again. Back when everyone was heading there, it was easy to get there! Now she has no idea where anything is, which unfortunately means she also has no idea where her stuff is.
"Yeah! Going in! Doing things!!" Nimue shouts enthusiastically, waving her sling-staff around. "I don't know what we're doing, I just picked someone to follow!!" She stretches out a little, first leaning to one side, then the other; then she...
... just leaps off the cliff. Her plan seems to be to slow-float down, occasionally kicking off the wall or gripping the vines to... reset the slow-float, essentially.
"Wheeeeeeeeee!"
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Rumors of the 'Glint Mirage' nestled in the Badlands had reached Jacqueline's ears. It was a curious place, one filled with mystery. The blinding light it emitted prevented approach except at night, and it is at night that she arrives...only to find that she's not alone.
"Oh, good evening!" Jacqueline greets with a polite wave. "I agree. For a moment I thought I might have to retreat and come back later with friends..."
Ines suggests they go ahead and get started and in response Nimue just leaps off. Jacqueline stares, blinking in confusion.
"Well, she's certainly an...exuberant one, isn't she?" She observes. She does not follow Nimue's example and leap down. She instead grasps a vine. She tries to slowly and steadily make her way down, trying to avoid a painful collision with trees...or the ground itself.
"Don't worry, I can catch you if you fall!" She calls out. She doesn't elaborate on how, but those with keen eyes will be able to spot the Crest Graph gripped in her left hand. It's a spell for reducing momentum, and it was quite effective at preventing dangerous falls.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The other off individual, Seraph Solanine, nods solemnly to Ines' call to action. Though what makes them "off" to Ines is of a kind, Sola's demeanor for now is starkly opposite of the other Seraph's, to whose exuberance she offers a small nod and a wry smile. (She'd thought to take a break from the lively - one Celine Jules - for tonight, but so it goes...)
If the Seraph of Shadow were to state her reasons and methods as openly as Nimue, they'd loop back around again to being the same. Such is the nature of the long-lived to seek diversion.
Her path downward is also similar, Solanine draws her hood up from where it rests on her neck and jumps the cliff, as she does, a cloak of shadow unfurls outward from the hood like the wings of a moth, and attempts to catch enough air to slow-float and glide to the bottom.
Luckily she overhears someone offer to catch them if they fall, strength in numbers, after all.
DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Risky Ride.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Risky Ride *>==========================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
Approaching Glint Valley without the brilliant light of the mirage in your
eyes makes it easier to get to, but night has fallen by the time you arrive.
Starlight, however, makes it very clear what the source of the blinding
light was:
Glint Valley has become a metal jungle.
Towering trees of all types stand tall in what should be a desolate,
rock-walled basin, making a canopy of gleaming metal leaves that seems to
cover the valley in an uneven dome. Starlight alone is enough to make the
whole valley light up at night, set faintly aglow by the reflected
luminescence. Occasionally, trees shake and sway without so much as a
whisper of wind blowing through the valley.
Getting down might have been easier if you'd arrived at the old town, dimly
visible on the far side of the valley. As it stands, the drop is off a sheer
cliff into the dark unknown... but it looks like vines, resembling nothing
less than steel cables, have crept up the cliff and anchored to something
below. Several of them are angled downward and taut, disappearing into the
metallic foliage; maybe you could slide or swing right down? Just watch out
for those trees!
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
========================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 1 *>======================== ============================< Results - Risky Ride >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ines Colina 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Runic Whip 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ines Colina 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ines Colina 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> Ines Colina has posed.
The descent into the Mirage is flawless. Nimue and Solanine each descend easily, Solanine gliding down on wings of shadow, while Nimue's more casual floating down with the occasional grab of a vine pays off. Jay's use of a crest graph similarly serves her well, landing smoothly. Ines, for her part, lands rather loudly, even as she swings smoothly from from vine to branch to ground, but being 330 pounds of muscle tends to make loud landings common place.
The grey woman looks around. "I see we all made it." Nimue warrants a look. The words 'despite recklessness' go unsaid. Still, Ines takes a look at her surroundings. Metal leaves, metal branches, metal vines, metal trunks. A bizarre display. She turns to Jay, as seemingly the other one here who is here for a reason rather than random chance. "What do you suppose it actually is?"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Aggressive Geocaching *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
This section of the metal jungle appears to have been cut back by manmade
tools, revealing curling shrubs low to the ground. Several perfectly-shaped
bullets hang from one, while narrow-bladed knives jut from the next. Useful
tools, parts, and even whole weapons in various states of 'half-grown' are
scattered throughout the small orchard, not quite ready to harvest in any
large number.
Suddenly, the reason why this place looks surprisingly well-tended becomes
clear: you aren't the only people here. Whether bandits or Geohounds, the
current 'owners' of this copse have come to harvest it for more, and they
aren't afraid to use some of their bounty to get rid of some drifters who
have discovered their secret cache!
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline, fortunately, does not end up having to use her Crest Graph on anyone but herself. That was for the best, she was always a little worried that it wouldn't take when it happened. But before long everyone's gathered at the bottom, and Ines asks her a question.
"I'm not...entirely certain." Jacqueline admits, walking up to one of the trees and running a hand across it carefully. "This metallic structure reminds me of an affliction I encountered in a sandworm that tried to convert its body into metal...but there would have been no flora this far out in the desert, so it's not infection..."
Jacqueline frowns and begins to walk carefully through the foliage until she spots a section that appears to have been...cut away?
"...Curious..." She mutters, carefully making her way through. Those who follow her will find themselves witness to a bizarre sight - before them is what looks to be a garden of weapons in various stages of 'growth'.
Jacqueline is a little unsettled. She backpedals...only to feel the barrel of a gun up against a back. A man dressed in heavy clothing with shaded goggles over his eyes had emerged stealthily from the bush. The ARM he's holding has a silvery look to it exactly like that of the metal jungle around them.
"I don't know what you and your big friend are doing here, lady, but you'd best turn right around and go back the way you came." He threatens. Similarly dressed fellows begin to appear from the brush, their ARMs trained on Ines. Jacqueline raises her hands. In a motion that is difficult to track, the Crest Graph vanishes back into her sleeves as if it was never there.
"Our intentions here are purely intellectual, sir. We've merely come to determine what's caused this. We mean you and your compatriots no harm... If you will please lower your ARM, I am certain we can discuss this without any violence needing to occur." Jacqueline says, attempting to be diplomatic.
But if it doesn't work out, well...she has something up her sleeve.
Literally.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Unlike Jay, who seems to want to negotiate, Nimue has exactly zero intention of negotiating with someone who would threaten...
... hmm. Is she really being threatened? Sure, the people she came in with are, but is anything happening to *her* here, really? ... No, but on the other hand, this is a *prime* opportunity to antagonize normies and Nimue needs that constantly or she'll die.
"HEY!" Nimue calls, to no avail. Then, a little louder, "HEY!" To her assembled acquaintances, she notes, "Don't get close unless you want to explode!" Once she's satisfied that her message has been conveyed, Nimue propels herself straight up into the air with a big, stupid wind Seraph jump.
Then she drops a grenade directly in front of the nominal leader of this group of ne'er-do-wells, while hanging from a metallic tree.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Gadgets toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
Ines sort of blinks. A sandworm trying to turn itself into metal? An odd thing to encounter, certainly.
And then the horde are upon them, and Ines sort of glares. If they're geohounds, they're serious rookies. Probably bandits. Either way, it's their mistake. Ines' eyes quickly drift around, the arms focused on her, and the one with the gun at Jay's back. Definitely bandits.
The fact that they seem not to notice Nimue or Solanine is... Odd. Especially given the two are 'right there'. "...Not good at counting, are you?" She says, and seeing Nimue launch into the air an unnatural amount, Ines quickly reaches for her Boleadoras, and throws them, a rune on the boleadoras activating as they seek out to wrap around the one with his gun at Jay's back.
Then, as if knowing she has invited trouble, the rune on her chest glows bright green and her skin hardens suddenly into rock. With that activated, Ines charges at the nearest bandit, arms crossed across her face, aiming to slam into them, before unleashing high powered brawling punches at the enemy. She's not aiming to kill, but she's got no problems with anyone here walking away with a broken limb or two.
DG: Ines Colina has used her Tool Bewitched Boleadoras toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
Seraph Solanine is glad the question isn't directed at her. Though Sola is rather down to Earth, and quite literally so with her successful descent, she's also a VERY recent surprise immigrant from Lunar. Solanine would know far less of what to make of all this than the Filgaian born adventurers here.
She looks from Ines the Questioner, to Jacqueline, the Bearer of Answers? Not as of yet, though Sola finds the clues she provides intriguing. She contemplates what it could mean... on this world, was metal distinct from Earth, perhaps its own element? No, it couldn't be, Metal elements, what nonsense..! (Though of what sense are weapons growing like weeds...)
If she were visible, occupied with these thoughts, Solanine would've been caught as unawares as Jacqueline, but luckily she was a Seraph, and it appears none of their ambushers posses the Resonance to see them! However, if they open fire with their ARMs, it's likely she and the Wilder Seraph of Wind would be caught in the crossfire, an unacceptable turn of events.
She reaches into a pouch at her belt and palms a small seed from it. Darkness coalesces into her hand, into the seed. She opens her hand and a dark root grows, a bipedal root body tumbling down as it forms, Sola now gripping it by a top sprout. Nimue shouts her warning and heeding it, Sola jumps back and up, not quite with the natural flow and force of one that channels the wind itself, but as darkness is lighter than air, so Sola uses her Element's lack of density and mass to help aid her escape.
When she reaches a certain height, Solanine drops the root in her hands, and when it hits the ground, it shrieks in pain and releases a burst of shadow-energy infused sound at their would-be captors.
DG: Seraph Solanine has used her Tool Mandragora Seed toward her party's challenge, Aggressive Geocaching.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Aggressive Geocaching *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
This section of the metal jungle appears to have been cut back by manmade
tools, revealing curling shrubs low to the ground. Several perfectly-shaped
bullets hang from one, while narrow-bladed knives jut from the next. Useful
tools, parts, and even whole weapons in various states of 'half-grown' are
scattered throughout the small orchard, not quite ready to harvest in any
large number.
Suddenly, the reason why this place looks surprisingly well-tended becomes
clear: you aren't the only people here. Whether bandits or Geohounds, the
current 'owners' of this copse have come to harvest it for more, and they
aren't afraid to use some of their bounty to get rid of some drifters who
have discovered their secret cache!
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 2 *>======================= =====================< Results - Aggressive Geocaching >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ines Colina 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Bewitched Boleadoras 3 Combat Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Solanine 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Mandragora Seed 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Stolen Gadgets 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ines Colina 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ines Colina 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: Seraph Nimue has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Giant's Compost *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The forest trembles, and a sound like clattering pots on a colossal scale
echoes through it. Nearby, seen through a gaps in the trees, a gigantic
shape lumbers through the forest, gently pushing aside metal-trunked trees
as it retreats from your path. It doesn't seem to have noticed you.
Unfortunately, your path isn't much of one anymore. The trail is choked with
debris, spilling over from a gigantic heap built up against the treeline. At
first glance it looks like they're metal weeds, but a closer inspection
reveals they're actually much stranger than that: totally mundane objects
are seemingly grown out of one another in a monochrome mess, stuck to vines
and roots that shouldn't be there. A wheelbarrow made of abacuses falls next
to a barrel full of enormous interlocking gun barrels, while a bushel of
weapon-laden sword-belts, each fused into one single too-long object and
then to one another, tumbles down with the rest of the metallic mass.
Clearing such irregular debris is going to be a hassle. Doing it before
whatever dropped it here comes back might just make it worth it!
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Indeed, none of the bandits appear to take notice of Nimue or Solanine. No matter how much Nimue shouts, none of them look in her direction. Not even when she leaps up high into the air.
What does get their attention, however, is a strange spherical object falling from the sky. Jacqueline recognizes it immediately, and panics a little. The bandits follow suit.
The one with his gun to Jacqueline's back prepares to fire...but before he can finish the task he finds the boleadoras colliding with his ARM, wrapping around it and sending it out of his hands.
"H-hey! Don't just stand there, you wastes of flesh! Shoot them!" He shouts at his allies. They take aim at Ines as she rushes toward them...but they find that their ARMs don't fire. Or, rather, they fire...but the bullets just stop before leaving the ARM, as their momentum is erased by Jacqueline's spell. They can't recover in time before Ines is upon them, slamming into them and unleashing punches at his nearest compatriots.
They're all knocked cold.
But it doesn't stop there - a Mandragora root soon drops from the sky, unleashing a terrible, pained scream that elicits a similar scream from the rest of the bandits as they double over, clenching their ears.
And then there's a 'beep'.
Oh right, Nimue's grenade.
"Get back!" Jacqueline warns, drawing another Crest. An earth pillar pops the grenade upward where it detonates, scattering shrapnel over the clearing.
Jacqueline, fortunately, had managed to get behind a tree in time...and she emerges to find all of the bandits pretty much dealt with. They're not dead, but they're certainly not getting up any time soon.
Jacqueline exhales.
"Th-thanks, everyone...I was a little careless there..." She apologizes.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Hey, no problem!" Nimue declares. "It's literally impossible for a human to exhibit meaningful care or forethought so don't even worry about it!" she continues, in what... probably isn't very reassuring, before glancing off for a potential new path now that they have no... human obstructions.
Nimue's retreat from the fallen ARM-wielding folk is almost entirely nonchalant. She treats the whole encounter as if it was a non-encounter, despite the fact that she totally dropped a grenade on some people. She flips down from her previous perch and trots away.
Unfortunately, blowing things up has set off something of a chain reaction, causing a gigantic shape to trot away with similar disinterest. It leaves a present behind, however, which is -- unfortunately -- directly, one hundred percent, in the way.
Nimue attempts to use her sling-staff as a prybar to move things. Frowning as this accomplishes nothing other than scoring the bottom with the edges of a mass of gunbarrel tips, she declares proudly, "Welp! I'm out of ideas. Time for me to do the best thing I can do and get out of the way!"
She pulls out an unmarked brown-tinted bottle about the size of her forearm and takes a seat to the side of the path.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Drinks toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
Ines has time to see the mandragora unleash itself before she realises the grenade is coming out, and she leaps for cover. As the explosive goes off and scars the landscape a little, it does, fortunately remove the remainder of the attackers. On the upside, at least Nimue warned them. She's dealt with folks who haven't.
"We're all still alive and in one piece. That's what counts in the long run." Ines stands up, and takes survey of the area in front of them, as Nimue leisurely strolls ahead. "I'm surprised bandits could set up in here. They way this place reflects, you wouldn't expect them to be able to survive the glare. And this place'd get hotter than a forge."
Ines gives a shrug of 'whatever' to Nimue as she makes her token effort, and dives elbows deep into the refuse and rubble. It's remarkably similar to mucking out stables, except it's all weapons and everyday objects and who knows what else."
"As she works, Ines speaks up to Solanine. "So, she's here for fun," a nod to Nimue, "and she's here to work out what's going on." A second nod, to Jay. "What brings you here, miss?"
DG: Ines Colina has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
In the aftermath of the carnage, Seraph Solanine looks at the unconscious brigands and then back to Jacqueline.
"Don't worry about it. We prevailed in the end. The secrets of this place might be more important than they can dream of, even with all the time we'll be giving them for it." Seraph Solanine says this while silently acknowledging perhaps there's wisdom in Nimue's perspective. Solanine hasn't been around humanity as often, having spent most of her years in solitude, away from them. She's more willing to give humanity the benefit of the doubt, and yet words from another so long-lived carry with them the weight of their years.
Sola stays still in quiet alarm as the giant enteres and (hopefully) leaves their lives forever, but sighs, vexed at what it left in memory of its passing.
Trees bearing literal fruits of war, now lumps of half-formed... forms. Things. There'd best be treasure and answers at the end of this journey, it would be strange and unsatisfying to not learn what this is all about... Nimue attempts to pry it aside and quickly accedes to the pile, or perhaps just resting. Ines begins a more direct assault on the pile, taking it apart in pieces, and to Sola's surprise directs a question her way...
"The same, more or less. a diversion, a thrill, a moment of interest. I am new to this place, hailing from... far away. I'd heard word that this location might be interesting, and it... is. To think metal objects could just grow like plants. There's something odd here..."
Not wanting to stay idle and not having brought her own refreshments, Solanine summons a patch of darkness to her arm she shapes into a magically dense, heavy armored gauntlet, and smashes at the piles of debris nearby.
DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline...frowns. That...absolutely was not reassuring in any way, but fortunately Ines and Solanine are better about it
"...Thank you." Jacqueline replies, then looks back. "I imagine that's what those outfits were for...and those goggles. Though I must wonder how they found this place..."
They proceed forward, though she abruptly darts into shadow as something moves through above them.
"...What in the world...?" She murmurs to herself, only leaving the shadows once it seems safe. ...Unfortunately, they find their path blocked by a bizarre, misshapen mass of tools. Jacqueline frowns.
"...It's like it's...trying to replicate objects. Those weapons we saw earlier, and now...these. The more I see, the more and more questions I have..." She murmurs, folding her arms in front of her.
As Ines and Solanine get to work, Jacqueline rummages through her bags, eventually producing a bottle of red liquid.
"Here, this should help...it'll give you a little more vigor, while reducing strain at the same time." She says. She then gets to work helping in her own fashion, by generating pillars of earth to shove things aside.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, The Giant's Compost.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - The Giant's Compost *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
The forest trembles, and a sound like clattering pots on a colossal scale
echoes through it. Nearby, seen through a gaps in the trees, a gigantic
shape lumbers through the forest, gently pushing aside metal-trunked trees
as it retreats from your path. It doesn't seem to have noticed you.
Unfortunately, your path isn't much of one anymore. The trail is choked with
debris, spilling over from a gigantic heap built up against the treeline. At
first glance it looks like they're metal weeds, but a closer inspection
reveals they're actually much stranger than that: totally mundane objects
are seemingly grown out of one another in a monochrome mess, stuck to vines
and roots that shouldn't be there. A wheelbarrow made of abacuses falls next
to a barrel full of enormous interlocking gun barrels, while a bushel of
weapon-laden sword-belts, each fused into one single too-long object and
then to one another, tumbles down with the rest of the metallic mass.
Clearing such irregular debris is going to be a hassle. Doing it before
whatever dropped it here comes back might just make it worth it!
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous==============================================
========================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 3 *>======================== =======================< Results - The Giant's Compost >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ines Colina 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(15)--> 15 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Stolen Drinks 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ines Colina 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Overzealous(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ines Colina has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
The good news: The obstruction can, theoretically, be cleared!
The bad news: It takes forever!
Nimue is quite literally no help, stubbornly refusing to get involved as Ines performs the *vast* majority of the work. Jay is able to supplement this heavily through pharmaceutical assistance... but the Seraph's attempts to smash a path through end up backfiring a little. The metal doesn't break, just bends in on itself -- proving harder to move than when they started.
Nevertheless, they *do* finish clearing it... eventually.
Kipping up from the ground without any hesitation, Nimue says, "Heeeey, great! Let's go!" before staggering irregularly forward and -- stepping directly on a shard of metal. "I hate it here!" she declares, with exactly the same tone as her earlier 'wheeeee'.
DG: Seraph Solanine has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Trailblazing *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Traversing the forest within the valley is a risky proposition. Not only is it difficult to navigate at night even with the reflected starlight, but the actual tangle of plants in the undergrowth you'd expect in a place like this are all wire and mesh, grown together into increasingly dense lattices of familiar-looking and silver-hued plantlife. One of these natural barriers stands between you and the path forward, but picking your way through it carefully when all the leaves have sharp edges is a much riskier proposition than just cutting it down. Get to it! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
No sooner has the group cleared a mishmash of metallic obstacles that completely bar their way than they encounter.... a mishmash of metallic obstacles that completely bar their way!
What these obstacles lack in mass, they make up for in sharpness, instead of clumps of half-formed tools, before them stretch a sharp and glistening field of metal undergrowth, fully realized to a razor's edge.
Solanine, exhausted and dissatisfied with how her labors only made things worse, has few words for the situation, and instead drapes her cloak of shadow onto herself, and shaping it into a suit of full-plate mail beneath her tunic-surcoat, and again strikes at the metal with armored fists, hoping this time that not being as firm and dense individually, they can be dulled, dented, and smashed away.
Sola contemplates Jacquelines thoughts on the bandits and the nature of the place, as she does so, welcoming something to occupy her mind from otherwise repetitive and brutal work, She'll give it some thought. If the last obstacle was any inditcation, This will likely take them a while.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
There...really is a lot of junk here, isn't there...? Jacqueline gets the feeling it might've been quicker to try and find a way around, but by that point it'd take much longer if they did. But they get through it eventually only to find...that there's yet more obstructions!
Jacqueline sighs, massaging her forehead.
"This isn't my forte, really..." She murmurs. She looks toward Solanine as she reshapes her cloak of shadow into armor. Jacqueline stares for a moment, awed and impressed before turning her attention back to the lattice of silver plantlife.
"Alright, I'm going to try something a little risky...stand back, I'm not sure how this'll react." She warns, brandishing a Crest. She projects a lance of flame, hoping to melt right through what's in their way...or at least soften it up for the others.
Fortunately, the effects of the medicine still linger from before. That will prove useful, at least.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Trailblazing. DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Trailblazing.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
"That I can agree with you on." Ines mutters to Nimue, looking at the path before them. Once again, the group is confronted by terrible metal foliage. At least this is just stuff that cuts you instead of being bizarre objects. Ines sighs, and touches the rune on her chest, and once again her skin hardens to rock. She waits for Jay's spell to go off, and nods. "I'll take point."
Ines starts to wade into the 'plantlife', tearing away at plants in front of her, and trying to bear the brunt of the damage for everyone else. Surprisingly selfless of her, really. That said, she also doesn't have to worry about the scarring everyone else has to if they make the wrong step.
DG: Ines Colina has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Trailblazing.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Another natural barrier... as the group comes to it, Nimue lets out a long, theatrical sigh. "UuuUUUUGH," she groans out, staring at it for a few moments. ... Longer than a few moments, honestly. "I don't wanna deal with thiiiis..." Fortunately, Jay handles the first step -- and then Ines heads ahead of them.
Once they start in on it, Nimue... takes another drink and then finally sets to work. It looks like she actually has to try, and do things! How awful. She takes her sling-staff in hand, flips it around so that the forward end is the butt, and just... starts hitting things. It's very enthusiastic but not very efficient.
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Drinks toward her party's challenge, Trailblazing.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Trailblazing *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Traversing the forest within the valley is a risky proposition. Not only is it difficult to navigate at night even with the reflected starlight, but the actual tangle of plants in the undergrowth you'd expect in a place like this are all wire and mesh, grown together into increasingly dense lattices of familiar-looking and silver-hued plantlife. One of these natural barriers stands between you and the path forward, but picking your way through it carefully when all the leaves have sharp edges is a much riskier proposition than just cutting it down. Get to it! =Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 4 *>======================= ==========================< Results - Trailblazing >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ines Colina 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Solanine 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Stolen Drinks 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ines Colina 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overzealous(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Ines Colina 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: Ines Colina has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Varmint Vegetation *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
While the strangeness in the valley is mostly concentrated in the material
all the local flora is made of, it is far from the only thing. Case in
point: the shrubbery just ahead, which reacts poorly to the presence of a
bunch of lumbering two-legged beasts in its presence. There's a loud,
familiar 'crack,' and something hits the ground nearby -- and then you
realize that the bushes are full of bullets instead of berries, and they're
turning them on you!
Bullet bushes sound like a pretty good place to stock up on ammo for
yourselves or the open market, though...
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Hesitate, Treasure==============================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The last obstacle just got beaten into a denser, firmer nightmare that had to be painstakingly chipped away, this field of blades on the other hand, yields easily to the group's efforts. Though not as solid as the lump of tools, the metal plants still possessed a hardness of nature.
Jacqueline's fire lance robs them of this last advantage and in the process of melting them, disposes of their edging as well.
Once they return to the task at hand, Ines' rockskin fists and Solanine's hard shadow armor make easier and easier headway as the metal softens to be as pliable as clay,shimmering with reflected starlight. The heat makes the metal workable enough that Nimue's sling-staff finds the efficiency to complement its wielder's energy, scooping and stirring it all aside with style, until the way ahead of the group is clear!!
Clear enough, whatever remains cools quickly in the cold desert night, the residual heat rising off of it in rainbow vapors.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
"Nice work." Ines says, looking at Jay's handiwork. Even Nimue contributes, which is astounding to all of us. Without much difficulty, the group makes it through.
Ines continues forward, stepping out of the brush ahead of them, into what seems to be a garden full of shrubberies. At first, it seems surprisingly calm. Unthreatening. Pleasant, even. Well, as pleasant as this place can be. And then there's the gunshot.
Ines looks around for where the shot came from, only to notice the shrubberies firing at the last second. Reflexively she pushes out her left hand, the rune on the back of it growing, and a shield wall of iron briefly appears in front of the group, long enough to withstand the first few seconds of bullet barrage. "Move, now! Try and keep high up!"
The runes on the back of Ines' legs activate next, and she leaps up with a burst of wind behind her, as she lashes out with her whip again, presenting a fast moving target for the bullet bushes, hopefully providing a brief distraction. Once again she starts swinging from branch to branch, the whip wrapping around her targets so she can move.
DG: Ines Colina has used her Tool Runic Whip toward her party's challenge, Varmint Vegetation.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Despite the fact that they are presently getting shot at, Nimue looks... positively excited by this. "Oh man! If I knew there were forests like this on the Blue Star I would've been *way* more excited to explore!" she declares, even as she's grazed along the leg; she totally ignores it, despite the fact that it's a relatively deep graze and it's bleeding.
"I... I..." She hangs from a tree during that distraction from Ines, and then attempts to scoop up one of the bushes entirely, as if she decided to keep it as a particularly inert pet or particularly aggressive houseplant.
"I *gotta have one!!*" she declares, shortly before getting drilled in the stomach by it. Her expression sours, and she whines, "NEVER MIND," before hurling it back at another such bush.
DG: Seraph Nimue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Varmint Vegetation.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Thank you!" Jacqueline says with a bright smile. "But it wouldn't have been possible without the three of you finishing the job."
Yes, Nimue, you're included there too!
Jacqueline follows behind Ines, though she pauses when she does. Are those...shrubberies? Something about those 'berries' makes her recoil in disgust...which proves advantageous, when a 'gunshot' sounds. Jacqueline yelps and backpedals, but fortunately Ines generates a wall of iron that deflects it.
That was an impressive Symbol, but she doesn't really have time to gawk! She follows Ines's example, but unlike her she doesn't have helpful wind magic for jumping.
So, instead she brandishes a Crest as she runs, causing a pillar of earth to appear beneath her with enough force to send her up into the trees. She catches onto a branch and scrambles up...and that's where her plan breaks down.
On the bright side, the bushes seem to be more interested for the others(for now), so she can try to rejoin them at a careful and steady pace...
She'll make up for it by providing handy healing potions for those who need them once they reunite.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Varmint Vegetation.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
The challenges coming hard and fast now, like gunfire. Exactly like gunfire. Seraph Solanine does her best to follow Ines' order and example and not... Nimue's... what is she... no there's no time.
Sola hadn't unsummoned her armor, expecting something more horrible along the path,and she felt it the right choice, what it reduced in mobility it more than made up for in protection... she hoped... There are so many projectiles being slung at her, at all of them. She just moves and moves, She hopes Nimue survives what might be chiseled on her monument as The Very Worst Time For Souvenier Collection, and that Jacqueline has found a solution... of sorts. The Seraphim of Shadow does her best to be a big distraction along with Ines, mentally noting Ines' Metal wall as something to ask about later, the mysterious and elusive Metal Element.
Could there be Metal Seraphim on the Blue Star? Is that perhaps what all of this IS?
Thinking later.
Running now.
Solanine goes for broke, running armored, she summons pieces of shadow and forms it into decoys of herself, all black shadow with the glowing reflection of her red shades.
Some in her armored form like she is now, but a few with big billowing cloaks like before when making the jump to the forest floor. Nice big and distracting for the trigger-happy foe-liage.
DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Varmint Vegetation.
=============================<* The Glint Mirage *>=============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Varmint Vegetation *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
While the strangeness in the valley is mostly concentrated in the material
all the local flora is made of, it is far from the only thing. Case in
point: the shrubbery just ahead, which reacts poorly to the presence of a
bunch of lumbering two-legged beasts in its presence. There's a loud,
familiar 'crack,' and something hits the ground nearby -- and then you
realize that the bushes are full of bullets instead of berries, and they're
turning them on you!
Bullet bushes sound like a pretty good place to stock up on ammo for
yourselves or the open market, though...
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Hesitate, Treasure==============================
========================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 5 *>======================== ========================< Results - Varmint Vegetation >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ines Colina 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Runic Whip 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Solanine 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Nimue 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ines Colina 70 --(25)--> 95 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Hesitate(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ines Colina has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
The group make it across mostly unscathed, between Ines' athleticism and target making, Jay's careful and well planned use of earth magic, and Solanine's manifestation of shadow armour and just plain legging it. Alas, Nimue, already quite shot up, takes a few more bullets as she makes her way across, landing last in the clearing.
Ines, for her part, looks rather concerned and also angry at Nimue's state. "First of all, how the hell are you still standing?!" She growls, "and second, what the hell did you think you were doing?! That's just inviting yourself to get killed!"
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Caught In The Press *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It's all led here.
The center of the valley contains a building: a low-roofed cylindrical
structure made of stone carved from local rock, sealed with a metal door of
alien construction that resembles a ship's bulkhead. The plants grow up and
over it but not through it, ignoring whatever it may have inside in favor of
draping it in steel-colored ivy and moss.
Approaching it reveals how weak the ground here is in the worst way. Any
weight makes it crumble to dust, opening a hole into a cavernous
subterranean chamber just beneath the surface. A scattering of flickering
artificial lights come on as soon as something falls in, revealing a lowered
level big enough to house a Gear and a mass of mechanical arms curled up to
the walls and ceiling clearly meant to use whatever devices they have
attached to them on something of the same size.
Unfortunately, you're seeing it through the grating in the floor. This hole
leads down into a cramped space in the ceiling, with metallic floral growths
creeping in through the plant-eaten roof. Massive collections of gearworks
fill most of this space, primarily concentrated above the hanging arms over
the lower chamber, and move across it as they hum to life... and start to
roll towards you.
Stop them and get out before you get crushed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline rejoins the others before too long, and she goes a little pale at the sight of Nimue's condition.
"H-here, take this, quickly..." Jacqueline says, offering her a healing potion. One way or the other they continue ahead, eventually catching sight of a cylindrical structure with a low roo, sealed with a metal door of markedly strange construction. Unlike the forest around it, the cylindrical structure is carved of stone, rather than formed of metal.
And, as they soon find out, the ground around it is remarkably weak. The moment anyone sets foot on it, it crumbles to dust. Jacqueline winces as they fall, casting her Crest to arrest their momentum so they don't fall too painfully.
It still isn't a pleasant landing, though. If Mother hadn't awoken, Jacqueline was sure she would've been able to feel this weakness...but there was no time to lament that.
"Where are we...? Can anyone see anything?" Jacqueline asks, looking up to where light shines through. Above them seems to be a factory of some kind while this place...Jacqueline's not sure what it's for.
She gets an idea of it once the gears on the other side of the room start to move.
"E-everyone, we have to stop them, quickly!" She urges with a note of panic in her voice as she hurries to her feet. This place was too cramped for an earth pillar...but she has a better idea. Jacqueline rummages through her bags for a bottle of bright orange liquid which is hurled into the gears.
The liquid inside was made to interfere with the inner workings of machinery, sticking to them and preventing them from functioning properly...she just hoped it would help here.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.
Seraph Solanine rejoins the others and is rendered quiet by the swirl of attention being paid to Nimue. Gentle worry from one side, irritation from the other. Solanine had faith that Nimue, in her own way, knew what she was doing... whether it's because she really believed it and because she knew first hand that eccentricities are very common, or because a Mad Seraphim is undeniably the stuff of nightmares...
Sola accepts a healing potion from Jacqueline and nods her head in thanks before she drinks it. She thanked Ines for her direct leadership during the bushes' onslaught.
It felt like ages ago that all happened, but when you go from zero to falling into a pit trap with unexplained colossal metal body parts everywhere, a lot of whom seem intent on smashing you... you find yourself yearning for the simple times of one minute ago. Jacqueline throws a bottle of mysterious liquid into the machine's inner workings, and Solanine follows suit, snaking a miasma of shadow-sculpted nightshade vines into the machinery, and feeding them ambient darkness and magic to make them grow.
Like roots splitting ice or concrete, Solanine hopes to tangle and expand through the mechanisms, jamming and breaking them before it's too late!
DG: Seraph Solanine has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue flashes an exaggerated peace sign and a big smile, in spite of her apparent blood loss. "Listen! Don't -- errk." Clutching her stomach, she staggers forward and affirms, "Don't worry about it! Pain and suffering are inevitable! Misery is the only constant! What matters is that you have fun with it in the interim. Ow, fuck, this was a big ass mistake. Let's just... get... that... out..."
Yeah, Nimue's fishing out the bullet with her grubby little seraph fingers. Don't look. With her other hand, she takes Jay's offered potion and promptly downs the whole darn thing.
Then she immediately falls many longs! Nimue lands face down with a dull thud, and takes a few moments to pry herself back up -- just in time for the whole place to start grinding toward the group. This ... is actually much more of a threat than a lot of conventional potential trauma, and actually *does* get her moving with some urgency -- even if it's just finishing another unidentified brown bottle and whipping it into the gearworks.
You tried!
DG: Seraph Nimue has used her Tool Stolen Drinks toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
Ines can only look on horrified at Nimue's display. What the hell. Thankfully, the tension is broken by a sudden plummet.
Another hard, loud landing, and this time, Ines wasn't quite prepared for it. The giant beastwoman grunts, and pulls herself to her feet. "No idea. I can't tell-" And then the press starts going and everything else becomes unimportant. Activating the symbols on the back of her hands, Ines' hands are coated in iron, and her knuckles suddenly sharpen.
And then, in a dignified fashion she starts trying to punch and break the gears in reach, before just starting to raw force at the press and try and hold it back while everyone else works on the gears. This would be folly, were she not punching hard enough to puncture a gear. Who knows, maybe she'll dent it enough there's a safe place to stand.
DG: Ines Colina has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Caught In The Press.
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Caught In The Press *>=====================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
It's all led here.
The center of the valley contains a building: a low-roofed cylindrical
structure made of stone carved from local rock, sealed with a metal door of
alien construction that resembles a ship's bulkhead. The plants grow up and
over it but not through it, ignoring whatever it may have inside in favor of
draping it in steel-colored ivy and moss.
Approaching it reveals how weak the ground here is in the worst way. Any
weight makes it crumble to dust, opening a hole into a cavernous
subterranean chamber just beneath the surface. A scattering of flickering
artificial lights come on as soon as something falls in, revealing a lowered
level big enough to house a Gear and a mass of mechanical arms curled up to
the walls and ceiling clearly meant to use whatever devices they have
attached to them on something of the same size.
Unfortunately, you're seeing it through the grating in the floor. This hole
leads down into a cramped space in the ceiling, with metallic floral growths
creeping in through the plant-eaten roof. Massive collections of gearworks
fill most of this space, primarily concentrated above the hanging arms over
the lower chamber, and move across it as they hum to life... and start to
roll towards you.
Stop them and get out before you get crushed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Bad Luck====================================
=======================<* The Glint Mirage - Round 6 *>======================= ======================< Results - Caught In The Press >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ines Colina 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Solanine 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Nimue 35 --(5)--> 40 Fail Stolen Drinks 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Ines Colina 95 --(25)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Hesitate(1)|Overzealous(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Ines Colina has successfully explored The Glint Mirage!
============================<* The Glint Mirage *>============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - A Kind of Starmetal *>=====================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
The machinery is stopped. The underground facility goes still. The sense of
danger gradually lessens, until all you are left with is the quiet and calm.
After that... well, there's not much left to do but search the place!
A lift leads up to the building above. The inside is a mass of metallic
vines and roots, having overtaken a circular workspace completely. They have
torn apart and consumed anything metallic in the room, which is most of it,
leaving bare stone and dust. Several clear specimen containers holding
fist-sized spheres marked 'ferroflora generis' are left intact; the rest are
broken open and empty.
The only door you can get open leads to a smaller chamber, this one with
what looks like a salvaged wooden workbench inside. Scattered around the
room is the real haul: a bunch of objects made out of this ferroflora stuff,
laid out and labeled. A cloak of something called 'ironcloth,' woven from
strands of one of the plants, armor-tough and lightweight; metallic rope
like woven steel cable with an inset ring and a switch to make it go rigid
and back on command; a small box containing a tiny filigree bird on a thin
tether which sings in harmonica notes when it sees danger, water, or
who-knows-what else...
(OOC Note: There's enough loot in here for a seed and an object per person,
themed after the durable, lightweight ferroflora or what it may have copied.
Weapons, armor, tools and baubles are all possible, with examples given
above. Seeds may be planted in metal-rich places to create small garden
plots of harmless, aesthetically-pleasing ferroflora, but do not produce
further seeds. Please feel free to ask Kalve if you have any questions!)
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
There's a crunching, grinding noise as the gears start to slow down a little, due to the hardening of the potion Jacqueline tossed into it. This will give Solanine the opening she needs to send shadowy vines into the machinery, where they grow into it. Finely-crafted mechanisms are damaged and displaced...but not completely stopped. They work through the potion. They begin to chew up the vines.
Nimue hurls a bottle into the gearworks, where it is shattered and ground up. ...It didn't help, but it didn't hurt anything, either.
Before the gears can return fully to speed Ines moves in, activating the symbols on her hands and getting to work. At full speed it might have been a problem, but like this she proves more durable than the gears. They smashed to pieces, and no longer pose a problem.
"Good work, everyone! Now, um...how do we get out of here...?" Jacqueline asks, folding her arms in front of her. Investigation will reveal that the column the gears connected to can be climbed up into the factory floor proper, and not too far away from where they reach solid ground a lift can be found.
The lift goes up into the building above into a workshop overrun by metallic vines, with specimen containers holding fist-sized spheres.
"'Ferroflora generis'...?" Jacqueline reads out. She takes one, deciding it might be worth investigation in the future. But in the room beyond...they find a smaller chamber, where several objects have been stored.
"It looks like someone's been working with these...'plants'. I guess they're called 'ferroflora'..." Jacqueline murmurs. Her gaze is soon drawn to a cloak perched atop a mannequin. She walks up to run, running her things through. It's soft and light...and yet it feels rather durable. It could probably turn a blade, or maybe even a shot from an ARM. And it's about her size!
Give or a take a bit, but she figures it can be altered.
"I don't suppose anyone will mind if I take this...?" She says, removing it from the mannequin.
<Pose Tracker> Ines Colina has posed.
Ines pulls herself from the gear wreckage, and follows Jay up the lift. "Huh. Guessing this is what caused those things to grow." She says, eyeing the specimen jars. Still, this is what the job was probably describing. Not that she's necessarily going to reveal it. After all, Filgaia covered in bullet bushes is probably going to end badly. Still, she takes one of the specimen jars, before looking over the clothing.
"Huh. I wonder if you work it like metal or cloth?" The beastwoman picks up what looks like an undershirt. It would need some reworking, but it could probably fit her. And it wouldn't even impact movement. "How the hell did they make something like this?" Still, finders keepers. Ines is a practical woman, she's not gonna pass some free armour up.