2019-09-27: Clash at the CaraCliffs
- Log: Clash at the CaraCliffs
- Cast: Jacqueline Barber, Tesni Inoue, Catenna, Ethius Hesiod, Arleph Ardan, Cyre H. Lorentz, Lydia Seren
- Where: Macalania
- Date: September 27, 2019
- Summary: The Caravan Kinship races to aid Lombardia in her battle with the Clysmian of Obsession.
=================================<* Macalania *>================================== The Macalania region is home to two ancient, crystalline formations of unsurpassed mystery and beauty. The first is the Macalania Woods - a shining maze-like forest overseen by strange, ancient, birdlike Beastmen who speak in bizarre riddles and weave light like silk. The second is Lake Macalania - an eternally frozen lake surrounded by snowy crevasses, which one can just see the frozen Temple beneath. Macalania is a distant, remote region -- and full of its own dangers. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jz644GeAdE From afar (to Marivel Armitage, Lily Keil, and Catenna), Rikku passes out potato soup over the internet. Starts just shoving it into the blu-ray drive to digitize it over.
DG: Arleph Ardan has left your party. DG: A party led by Jacqueline Barber is now entering Clash at the Cliffs. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==========================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>===========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sinspawn Lolona *>=======================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the distance, Sin slams into the water. A tremendous splashdown erupts
into the air, and those who rush to the cliffs find that seaspray rains down
on them from above. Lombardia floats above the enormous monster, her
metallic jaws open, and the sun glinting off her wings.
Sin, it seems, is aware that some might come to help. The cliffside
overlooking the water is riddled with chasms, switchbacks, and rivets. In
many of these, flashes of light erupt -- as Sinspawn are summoned by the
great beast. These resemble towering, twisted networks of coral. They pulse
with a shuddering green glow -- and then hurl globs of sticky, emerald
miasma at those approaching.
The Sinspawn Lolona are large, rock-like creatures that hurl poison-aspected
attacks at those that come close. They also emit an ear-piercing screech --
and indeed, you see one directly ahead, between you and the cliffs
overlooking the battle of the titans.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire, Cripple====================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It's been a rather hectic time for Jacqueline - and everyone, in fact. She had been in Macalania Temple at the engagement party when the news about Seymour's true nature broke out. When that happened, she immediately tried to locate Lunata...but, was forced out by some of the Guado Guardians when Odessa attacked.
From there she focused on tending to the wounded...but of course things could not be quite that simple. Sin arrived, and a situation that was already terrible went from bad to worse.
Fortunately, there was one glimmer of hope in the arrival of Lombardia. Needless to say, Jacqueline was very surprised to see her.
But, even Lombardia can't handle Sin alone and, knowing that Catenna and the others are undoubtedly going to help, Jacqueline hurries to meet up with them to lend her aid.
The battle begins on the cliffside. Beyond, the two titans clash. They might seem even in power at the moment, but Sin has the power of numbers on its side - and it is aware of those that have come to assist its enemy.
Of all the places Jacqueline expected to see Lombardia again...here, in Spira, fighting Sin was not the one.
"Catenna, everyone! That's Lombardia, oldest of the Metal Dragons - I'm not sure what moved her to come fight Sin, but...we should do what we can to help her!" Jacqueline calls out.
As she speaks, flashes of light begin to erupt out from the chasms riddling the cliffside. From each one, Sinspawn looking much like towers of twisted coral rise, pulsing with a green glow.
One in particular rises up to cut Jacqueline off from the rest of the party. She grimaces and leaps back as a flurry of poisonous spines launch her way, just barely avoiding them.
"There isn't a specific entry in the Codex for this type of Sinspawn...but it doesn't seem very mobile! Try to use that to your advantage!" She calls out. And then, she gestures with a right hand. The Sinspawn are coming out of the cracks in the cliffside, and so she elects to try to close them up with an invoked Earth Crest, to prevent more from arising - and possibly crushing some of those that are still in the middle of doing so.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Sinspawn Lolona.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tess has done another of her walkabouts where she'd wandered to seek thing having turned up nothing she'd return to the Caravan again. For she's never left them for too long, right? The sinspawn has left her wishing they had several squads of Assault Maneuver Weapons Systems, or even some of the local Gears would be wonderful to her. They don't really have that so she's got to. She's already adjusted the Dead Man's hands when no one looking the round type has been set. She was also reeling about the truth of what Seymour was, it flew in the face of everything of how she understood the world to work.
She looks to Jacqueline for a moment nodding.
"Aye, I'm with you on that. If they are going to stick their necks out for us little people then we damn well should help them."
With that she'll move in opening fire on the sinspawn with rounds which seem to cause them to often to burst into flames when they hit.
"In the end when in doubt burn it."
She fires more shots at the sinspawn and keeps muttering my kingdom for a gear.
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sinspawn Lolona.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Catenna had outright refused to go into the Temple of Macalania. Finding out the truth about Fayth had soured her, and she'd stayed behind to take care of the Owlet rather than going into a centre of human sacrifice.
The arrival of Obsession changed things.
Throwing off her overcloak with a ripple, Catenna dashes forward towards Jay, having bolted towards the temple at the first sign of trouble. "I see her, Jay," she answers the merchant, tensing her shoulders slightly, then relaxing them. Evidently even the ancients of Hyades can be roused to battle against something like this. "...But even a Metal Dragon will find itself challenged, Jay. That's why--"
Flashes of light burst into life. The twisted Sinspawn fire their poisonous spines, and Catenna leaps into the air with a flip, firing a few arrows at the peak of her jump before coming down.
<This really is not a wise idea, my child!> Saarda-Shanta warns urgently, flapping along behind Catenna. <Obsession is too dangerous! Remember what happened last time-->
Catenna brandishes her Silver Medium and waves her hand, gravity attempting to hurl back the masive Sinspawn. "I heard what was said about Seymour Guado, Saarda-Shanta. We cannot trust the Church of Yevon, so it's time to take matters in hand, and Lombardia may be our best hope for that!"
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, Sinspawn Lolona.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius, contrary to what was seen at the party prior, was also present for the earth-shattering (...Lunar-shattering) revelations of Seymour's character. He was doing an admirable job being talked up to by a drunken guard who seemed happy to gossip along the lines of what some older Guado man was talking about.
If he is not stopped, he will surely bring destruction and chaos to Spira. The late Maester pleaded to everyone.
That is not my concern. So thought Ethius, at a time just about everyone seemed moved by the implications - for good reason. Certain parties were now in mortal danger.
Enemies! At the gate! A wounded Guado Guardian comes in after artillery shakes the entire place. Ethius is already well moving into action before that thought is completed. They--they wear strange uniforms, carry machina--and they come for the Temple! They--
This, for whatever reason, weighed far more urgent. He did catch sight of Tromell destroying the evidence against Seymour... and felt nothing of it. Chaos reigns for a while as he tries to position around and through the goings-on, but is unable to insert himself against the hostilities between ARMS and Odessa - their formations and movements were too tight to weave through.
A great beast - a Metal Dragon - moves forth to attack the emergence of what some Filgaians refer to as Obsession. Titans, creatures of strength beyond mortal ken... and Jay immediately shows her willingness to help even as they run head-long into emerging Sinspawn that screech so loudly it is impossible to hear one's own thoughts clearly.
What is going on? Ethius remarks within his own mind, as though that were a far more pressing question than POISON SPINES and SCREECHING. It reflects on how muddled his spellcasting seems to be as he attempts a lower-yield spray of Symbologically-conjured dust back towards the massive Sinspawn.
His ability to take his thoughts much further at this point is thusly challenged.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sinspawn Lolona.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Arleph will swear, each time they hear about some religious heavy institution of SOME sort, it's often something sinister in the back rows of it ranks and deepest, dankest secrets. Getting a few news about what was happening only, sadly, confirmed his own cynical outlooks on religion in general.
"I am not quite certain what we can do to give our help on the matter, we are working on a scale wider than we are." The Symbologist holds on tight, one hand on his hat to prevent it from flying away, his hand briefly glowing to keep it anchored on his head for the moment. He steps back, lifting his other to attempt deflecting the incoming lethal poisoned spines. "Let's focus on being alive for now and see what we CAN do from here!"
His hand on his hat moves into his inner pockets to take out one of his small glowing blue gems, crushing it in one of his gloved hands and throw off the cleansing, enhancing mist into the air. People will feel better, more active, more SHARP just by breathing it in.
DG: Arleph Ardan has used his Tool Ambrosia Protocol toward his party's challenge, Sinspawn Lolona.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
It feels really, really strange to be here, helping the eldest Metal Dragon in existence fight against what is OSTENSIBLY some kind of weird, backwards, evil Guardian. It's like... Almost backwards, you know? It hits Cyre right in his overdeveloped irony gland. To think, a few months ago he might have been trying to do the opposite. But then, Obsession isn't exactly the kind of thing he approves of either.
"She's magnificent," Cyre awes as the dragon soars overhead. "I didn't know something that huge could be so agile in the air." But it's not the only thing. A boulder-like Sinspawn sails into their midst, brandishing corruptive toxins and what Cyre can only describe as 'evil coral gas' to halt their advance. "Tch, not that this is a really great time to be admiring dragons. We need to break through."
The wind answers when Cyre calls upon it. Gales of razor-sharp air shred into the rock-hide beasts. He idly hopes that, as it was in Glenwood, wind has the advantage against these things. But...
His eyes flicker toward Saarda-Shanta, the wind-priest smiles. "It is, but it's the work of the shaman to stand against the enemies of the world. Obsession might be linked to the Guardians and to Filgaia, but even living worlds might grow malignant cancers. We can't afford to let it destroy Macalania, for Spira's sake AND Yuna's!"
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Sinspawn Lolona.
==========================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>===========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Sinspawn Lolona *>=======================
|Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the distance, Sin slams into the water. A tremendous splashdown erupts
into the air, and those who rush to the cliffs find that seaspray rains down
on them from above. Lombardia floats above the enormous monster, her
metallic jaws open, and the sun glinting off her wings.
Sin, it seems, is aware that some might come to help. The cliffside
overlooking the water is riddled with chasms, switchbacks, and rivets. In
many of these, flashes of light erupt -- as Sinspawn are summoned by the
great beast. These resemble towering, twisted networks of coral. They pulse
with a shuddering green glow -- and then hurl globs of sticky, emerald
miasma at those approaching.
The Sinspawn Lolona are large, rock-like creatures that hurl poison-aspected
attacks at those that come close. They also emit an ear-piercing screech --
and indeed, you see one directly ahead, between you and the cliffs
overlooking the battle of the titans.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Tire, Cripple====================================
=====================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 1 *>====================== ========================< Results - Sinspawn Lolona >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tesni Inoue 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Celesdue Medium 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arleph Ardan 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Ambrosia Protocol 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Injure(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline nods. Catenna's right - Sin is that great of an opponent.
"Right, and...Lunata, Yuna, all of the wounded, everyone... they're still in the temple. We have to buy them some time - whatever we can manage. And besides...it's not like we're fighting Sin itself - we just have to try and keep the numbers even!" Jacqueline says, in response to Saarda-Shanta and Arleph.
But even that is no small task - the Sinspawn Lolona prove to be challenging foes. Tesni opens fire with incendiary rounds, which mix with Ethius's Symbological dust to detonate in a plume of flame that engulfs the creature.
In retaliation, it sends out another wave of poisonous spines, but Arleph's gem, crushed in his hand, spreads out a cleansing mist that rapidly fights off the venom if any are struck.
Cyre assaults it with razor-sharp gales, shearing away the poisonous spines before it can send out another volley. It turns its attention toward him...but then, the force of gravity takes hold of it as Catenna calls upon Celesdue's power to hurl it backward. It goes flying, snapping in half as the chasm it was spawned from is closed off.
The creature erupts into a cloud of pyreflies...and, at least for now, the path is clear.
"...Let's get moving." Jacqueline says with a nod. "We can't afford to stand around too long."
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>=============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Reenabling a Disabled Machina *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The cliffside is dotted, periodically, by twisted and rusted metal spires.
It appears that these were, at one point, machina similar to the lightning
towers on the Thunder Plains. These, however, are inert and many are in poor
repair. Nonetheless, one is near you -- and it seems it has, at its center,
a crackling orb of yellow. Lightning sometimes leaps and arcs from it.
This isn't a lightning tower, but rather a coil designed to loose
electricity stored from storms.
Lombardia soars overhead -- and a beam of energy from her mouth scores a
line across Sin's back. Pyreflies erupt and fly upward, where the beam
strikes. Sin lurches, then -- and sends up crackling orbs of black and
white, that distort the gravity about Lombardia, and force her to climb ever
higher.
The lightning coil, if reactivated, may offer a way to assail Sin.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Slow, Wound====================================
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
<This does not fill my heart with confidence. But if you wish to attempt it, I cannot do anything more than stand with you.> Saarda-Shanta sounds deeply worried in a way she usually does not - in fact a little frightened. But she settles on Catenna's shoulder nevertheless.
Catenna bows her heaf, clutching her bow tighter. "We can, at least, help Lombardia. And hopefully, Lunata...."
As she starts forward, she is brought up short by the sight of a massive mechanical spire, in poor condition. It sparks sickeningly, an orb at its centre pulsing yellow. Arcs of lightning flicker in and out of existence.
"A lightning catcher?" Catenna surmises as Lombardia flies overhead. She's briefly distracted, gasping at the sight of Lombardia unleashing a blast against Sin and receiving a distorting blow in return. Gravity, twisting itself.
<Tch - no, these are meant to cast it forth!> Saarda-Shanta gasps as she flutters around one of the spires. <Perhaps with this, you can-->
"--Strike at Obsession." Catenna's eyes flicker with intent as she climbs up to the foot of the lightning coil, beginning to open a panel on the side of it.
She immediately boggles at the sight of the technology within.
<If I may suggest,> Saarda-Shanta muses. <Mr. Hesiod and Ms. Inoue may be well-suited to this work. You, my child, are best-suited to controlling the magic at this construct's heart.>
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Saarda-Shanta toward her party's challenge, Reenabling a Disabled Machina.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
As they proceed forward, they stumble across what appears to be a piece of abandoned machina. She looks toward Catenna, as she comes to that conclusion - that they can use it to strike at Obsession.
"...This is lucky for us, then." Jacqueline comments with a smile. "Maybe Chapapanga's smiling on us."
As dangerous as it could sometimes be to invoke the Guardian's name in situations like this.
She looks it over, then looks between Ethius and Tesni as Saarda-Shanta calls them out, before her gaze finally settles on Arleph.
Jacqueline nods.
"Sounds like a plan. And once you're all done...I might be able to give it a little extra juice." She says. In a way, it's a lot like powering up the Carakin each morning. Except instead of traveling the countryside, they'll be shooting lightning at a death whale.
Simple enough.
She opens up her right gauntlet, drawing a Crest and inserting it into one of the slots on the side.
She does keep a close, curious eye on the repairwork, though.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Reenabling a Disabled Machina.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"You're the best, Saarda," Cyre says, even as a poison spine smashes into the ground dangerously close-by, sending fragments of stone and shrapnel up to tear thin red lines across his arms and face. "That's a free head-roosting for you! Later though, not now!"
Now they have to deal with...
At least one living apocalypse? Cyre is pretty sure that Lombardia could do some real damage, too. What would have happened, had she not decided to stay on the moon...?
It's probably best not to dwell.
Instead, they have a spire to repair. Unlike the ones on the Thunder Plains, this one is- evidently- built to send out lightning rather than draw it in. Cyre's storied bolt-dodging skills will avail him no aid in this task. But...
"Let me help you with that, kitten," Cyre says, sidling up to Catenna's side. "I might not be my brother, but I've had enough experience with lightning to know a thing or two," He extends his focus, feeling out for the elemental energies surging around the electrified sphere. "Hopefully we don't accidentally overcharge it, or something..."
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Reenabling a Disabled Machina.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Arleph lets out a breath, shaking his head. That's one sinspawn out of... oh, several hundreds, give or take. As they move onward, they come accross this lightning contraption, contraption that Arleph immediatedly begin poking at. Figuratively. Not literally. He knows that the human body is a VERY good target for electricity and wreck everything on it's way.
"Thaaaaat... is quite a lot of energy in there." Arleph says, perhaps a bit lamely as he adjusts his glasses on his nose, waving a hand in front of himself. A small grid show up in front of him, symbologically aligned around the pillar itself.
"I'll help along to adjust the electricity out put -- you all focus on channeling it!"
DG: Arleph Ardan has used his Tool Optics toward his party's challenge, Reenabling a Disabled Machina.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius has a brief coughing fit from being caught within the clouds of poisonous gas from the spine impacts - though Arleph's cleansing mists mitigate it, he still took a bit in there. IT slows his approach alongside the rest as the urgency of the moment changes tempo from 'life threatening' to just 'heart pounding.' Which is still much, much too high a tempo for idle thought to dance to.
The power dynamics in play are confusing to grasp. Ethius thinks to himself as they make it to a mechanical spire, as Catenna utters aloud about helping Lunata. Her presence among the people of Yevon is worrisome... but, no, there is a more pressing matter--
Catenna opens up a panel and recoils. The Owlet names Ethius, specifically, as being 'well-suited to this work.'
Ethius recoils, as if uncharacteristically startled. A slight change in gravitic pressure from Sin's attacks over there not only signify the level of power on display between the two, it also pops his ears.
"..."
This is an emergency.
Ethius gets the Spectral Lens out and gives it a look-over once he casts a lower-yield electrical spell into it. "...The power source is still active," Ethius remarks, seeing what mechanisms match to what. It looks bad on the surface, but from here, he can...
Ethius takes his gloves off, something he tends not to do. Even in his sleep, he likes wearing gloves. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his hands, that's just... a very Ethius thing to do.
As Jay said, Chapapanga may be smiling on them - that was the Guardian he cited about finding Mother's Star Drive and dealing with it... and Ethius does something that is incredibly unlike him.
This is a man who is best known for coveting and destroying old and/or out-of-place technology, but here, even without a good set of tools to work with... he's actually really good with his hands in messing with these mechanical things.
He had been picking apart salvaged Al Bhed machina the entire time, as he secured them. This is among the first times they might see Ethius out-and-out acting to restore something.
"I offer no guarantees as to the exact voltage required," Ethius remarks as he stands to put Chime Isa in a precarious financial position, "but most of the damage appears to be surface. If..." Blah blah blah, "Then..." blah, blah, blah. "From there," blah, blah, blah.
This is probably the first time they've seen Ethius express such initiative and maybe even creativity - but he can't do this alone.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Reenabling a Disabled Machina.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue ejects another shell from her weapon and nods. "Nice work there." She will look on as the spawn just go up in pretty lights like something out of a VR game. She shakes her head a bit and makes sure there are no more of them here she's a bit tired out but it could be a lot worse, right? As they move forward
"A Tessla coil...?"
Then she takes a moment not she gets what it is thanks to Catenna being quicker on the update of it.
Then comes the gravity and that warps her for a bit it doesn't take he down but it's not fun for her to deal with.
"Ethius with me I think we can get this working again and use it against the sin spawn at the very least."
Outcomes her data bad and away goes her ARM for the moment it boots up she boots up a program if anyone overlooks her shoulder they would see some things they could read but other are strange runes or glyphs which would be very hard to read through one might remember seeing them in a few places in the seed cities if they have ever been there.
She keeps working over her datapad for a moment and then will put the pad away
"Looks like if fix the wiring."
She does sem very flatted that Saarda-Shanta suggests her and Ethius. It's also not lost on her a little highschool science class? Could tip the scales here, with that she'll get to work on the checking the wiring.
"Don't know how long this will hold.
DG: Tesni Inoue has used her Tool Datapad toward her party's challenge, Reenabling a Disabled Machina.
============================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>=============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Reenabling a Disabled Machina *>==================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
The cliffside is dotted, periodically, by twisted and rusted metal spires.
It appears that these were, at one point, machina similar to the lightning
towers on the Thunder Plains. These, however, are inert and many are in poor
repair. Nonetheless, one is near you -- and it seems it has, at its center,
a crackling orb of yellow. Lightning sometimes leaps and arcs from it.
This isn't a lightning tower, but rather a coil designed to loose
electricity stored from storms.
Lombardia soars overhead -- and a beam of energy from her mouth scores a
line across Sin's back. Pyreflies erupt and fly upward, where the beam
strikes. Sin lurches, then -- and sends up crackling orbs of black and
white, that distort the gravity about Lombardia, and force her to climb ever
higher.
The lightning coil, if reactivated, may offer a way to assail Sin.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Slow, Wound====================================
=======================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 2 *>======================== ===================< Results - Reenabling a Disabled Machina >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tesni Inoue 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Datapad 3 Wits Effects: Rally ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Catenna 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Saarda-Shanta 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arleph Ardan 0 --(5)--> 5 Fail Optics 2 Wits Effects: Resilient ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cyre H. Lorentz 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Slow(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Catenna has posed.
<Chapapanga smiles on everyone. It is not always a good sign.> Saarda-Shanta cocks her head 90 degrees to the right.
The fate of Ghaleon is not lost on Catenna. As Cyre slides up to her side, Catenna looks up to Cyre with a quiet smile. "...You have many virtues he does not," she says quietly before rising to give his cheek a tender kiss.
Tesni helps, but the particularly curious one is Ethius. Catenna blinks at the sight of the man recoiling, but soon enough, he's throwing himself into it with a vigor she has never seen from the man. "...Ethius," the Moon Shaman murmurs with some surprise.
Arleph's magic helps as Catenna and Cyre begin to regulate the energy supply - he pouring power in, she ensuring it's aimed properly. As Jay plugs her crest in, a shock of power vibrates through the spire. Overhead, Lombardia and Sin soar, trading powerful blows.
Within the spire, power builds. "Hold it steady," Catenna whispers to Cyre. "Bring it up a litle more... and...."
She waits a moment, then raises her voice. "Let it go!"
The pillar discharges - and the lightning warps hideously as it projects through a lens of gravity Catenna holds up. The bolt focuses down into a ray that lances off at an angle, calculated to slash through the air. Oxygen atoms squeal and vapourize with the scent of scorched ozone as the lance cuts through the sky.
It slashes into Sin's flank. Pyreflies scatter into the air. Catenna pumps her fist triumphantly.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>================================================
==================================<* CHALLENGE - Calculating the Arc of a Catapult *>===================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
A trio of large Sinspawn have gathered on the beach below. Huge, hulking
things that resembling misshappen fish with legs, they crouch down -- and
ready to leap into the air.
The battle of Lombardia and Sin have drawn attention and all sorts of
unlikely combatants. Even Althena's Guard is here in force -- and behind
you, you hear a loud clank, as a wooden catapult settles down. One of the
Guardsmen runs up, looking at you for a brief moment like he is uncertain
what to do.
"We need a spotter!" he yells. "Tell us where to fire this thing!"
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius gets his gloves back on as the job is done. It'll be time to keep moving before long - either due to the pillar eventually failing or being beset upon by Sinspawn, but the CaraKin score a blow against Obsession. He doesn't look anyone in the eyes as he brings a hand up to his forehead.
Anyway they're moving along ahead. The CaraKin crew find their advance largely without incident thanks to another group clearing away a bunch of raining Sinscales without letting one past. This allows the rest following to gain some ground...
...and others.
"Heretics!" Calls a meek-looking but defiant-sounding Guardsman yells at them as he parts from a company that are rolling a wooden catapult into position. "You'll pay for your affronts to the Goddess--"
"Look below." Ethius remarks to those in earshot while the Guardsman rants and raves. Huge, hulking things resembling misshapen fish with legs - with a few Sinscales that missed hitting the cliffside riding on their back - crouch down and prepare to leap up into the air. Great, they're trapped between Sinspawn from below the cliff, and Guardsmen surrounding them.
"There are incoming," Ethius remarks to the Guardsman, "you will require a spotter."
"I require your unconditional... what?"
Ethius signals to anyone who has the capability to loom over the edge safely (or with really good sight) to come with him as he finishes tying the harness to the Hot Air Sack around his hand as he looks up to the battle going on between Lombardia and Obsession. One conjured bit of hot air later, he's floating over the edge of the cliff - immensely dangerous - so he can feed back spotting information.
"Relay to them the following," blah, blah, blah. There's a lot of 'em. Others may spot incoming threats he's not catching.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Calculating the Arc of a Catapult.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Oh boy. The Guard is here. Catenna lowers her eyelids slightly.
Moving past the Guard as he confronts Ethius, Catenna moves up to the group manning the catapult. One of them moves for his sword, but the Moon Shaman holds her hand up. "Now is not the time for religious dispute. I'm here to help you. Either accept it, or weal with the slayer of your Dragonmaster on your own."
The crew, seemingly cowed by that, begin to work on the catapult. Catenna boosts up and joins them, unhooking the head of her grappling hook and looping her rope in alongside the main one controlling the mechanism. She ties it off with some care and discussion with the Guard's technical leader.
"That rope is stronger than the one you brought," she identifies as she cinches the last knot in place. "You may fire when Ethius gives you the signal."
You must stop gagging that channel to speak on it.
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, Calculating the Arc of a Catapult.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Wow...I'm impressed." Jacqueline remarks with surprise, as the newly-repaired machina cuts a wound right into Sin's flank.
They can't stick around long, though - they have to keep moving. But before long, they're accosted by a member of Althena's Guard. Jacqueline lets out a long, disappointed sigh, and nods toward Catenna as she speaks.
"It's like she says. We need to put aside our differences now - Sin doesn't care what side any of us are on. I would prefer to avoid violence between us, if possible." Jacqueline says.
The crew accompanying the Guardsman seem sufficiently swayed by Catenna's words, and Ethius takes over the rest of the work.
"Just follow my lead - I'll point you in the right direction. I've got a good mind for this sort of thing." Jacqueline says. "And while we wait...here. Everyone will probably want to take one of these."
With that, Jacqueline dispenses potions to the party - they'll probably need the extra energy before the day is done.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Calculating the Arc of a Catapult.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
"Moving through!" Arleph calls out after people moves on, stretching his gloves to tighten against his hands, scowling over in the direction of the Sin Eaters and the Sin... well, itself. Catenna delivers a strong verbal blow to the Guardsmen, taking the time to reach into his pockets, taking out a long spyglass that he extends out, peering out through the rain and wind.
"I've got you on the look out, people." The Symbologist calls out, alternating between looking into his device and looking out at the naked eye. "We should be ... hmmm." He pauses, waving his hand out. "Go around there, then we can keep going..."
He gives some directions, there's about it.
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Calculating the Arc of a Catapult.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre gets: ONE (1x) CATENNA-KISS
It's super effective...??
Or at least, it does seem to lift his spirits considerably. So much so that by the time they meet that particularly zealous guardsman, Cyre almost acts like they aren't surrounded by myriad threats that would all, for one reason or another, delight in their immediate demise.
"Well hey there," Cyre drawls at the soldier. "Just so you know, we're going to be sending a bill for our services rendered to your commanding officer. Be sure to leave a review at the Caravan Kinship nearest you, and please remember that the nearest sinspawn may be behind you."
A great gust of wind picks up before the man has a chance to properly respond and sends Cyre sailing into the air alongside an unusually helpful and mechanically-inclined Ethius Hesiod. "Heads up," he shouts down below, "We might have gravity shockwaves incoming. I'll keep watch for any stray blasts, just be sure to duck as soon as I say so!"
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Calculating the Arc of a Catapult.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
they pull it off and get the machinery back online, it works, the combined effort of everyone managed to not only get a shot off? The shot clearly injured Sin and Tess lets out a whoop at that, she doesn't dally for long. No, they need to keep moving least something. She then comes across some guardsmen with a catapult.
She gets the idea she doesn't like working with the Guard? But if they are fighting Sin she will not be picky, especially so when they have heavy weapons.
"Right, spotter time it is."
She'll start calling out targets with a fair bit of skill as she does so.
"Just keep them coming!"
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Calculating the Arc of a Catapult.
===============================================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>================================================
==================================<* CHALLENGE - Calculating the Arc of a Catapult *>===================================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
A trio of large Sinspawn have gathered on the beach below. Huge, hulking
things that resembling misshappen fish with legs, they crouch down -- and
ready to leap into the air.
The battle of Lombardia and Sin have drawn attention and all sorts of
unlikely combatants. Even Althena's Guard is here in force -- and behind
you, you hear a loud clank, as a wooden catapult settles down. One of the
Guardsmen runs up, looking at you for a brief moment like he is uncertain
what to do.
"We need a spotter!" he yells. "Tell us where to fire this thing!"
=Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire============================================
==========================================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 3 *>=========================================== ====================================< Results - Calculating the Arc of a Catapult >===================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tesni Inoue 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Grappling Hook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arleph Ardan 5 --(5)--> 10 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1)|Resilient(1) ====
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is being unusually forward about all of this! Nonetheless, everyone has a part to play as the Guard find themselves at disadvantage before an especially helpful group of heretics whom work exceptionally well as a team.
Catenna makes the right call in which to replace the rope, because the one the Guard brought pulls apart as someone hastily tries to retrieve it from her. She averts the worst then and there.
Jay hands out beverage-medicines. They are refreshing and medicinal - but ultimately only some CaraKin partake, and this is a great time to get a boost of energy for what could come next.
Arleph signals that the catapult needs to be moved elsewhere, and while he's not wrong, that does throw off initial calculations and projections being made by those hanging over the edge or otherwise helping.
As Cyre watches for Ethius, Ethius works with precision - naming exact ranges and angles they should take once they resituate. The lingo is very precise, without verbal waste - unlike how he usually talks.
Tesni's in a great position to repeat what he says, and also catch a few Sinscales that are crawling up the cliffside on their own (which are reasonably easy enough to dispatch).
Altogether, the catapult looses its payload, and it smashes into a leaping Sinspawn, smashing it into bits. (Bits that are pyreflies, but for this instance, sure, they can be bits.)
The two forces hold this patch of the cliffside for a short while, preparing and firing off three more loads before they simply run out of material to throw, allowing Catenna time to retrieve her rope. All the while...
Another Guardsman gets in the face of one who looks like a real jerk. Moreso than usual.
"Will this shut up your incessant praise of the trebuchet then?! Trebuchet this, trebuchet that!" They throw up their hands.
The meek-looking but stern-sounding one, independent of this drama, looks kind of confused about being helped by an enemy? They don't move to attack the CaraKin - in fact they wisely withdraw their position.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge. ==========================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>===========================
==========================================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 3 *>===========================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Create a Landslide *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the course of their fight, a blast of gravitational force makes Lombardia
duck low. She glides over the water underneath the cliffs, a V-shaped wake
cresting after her. The beaches below are positively littered with Sinscales
and small Sinspawn, which begin to bellow and screech in her wake. A few
Sinscales leap, and their clawed legs snatch into her armored carapace,
digging in.
Lombardia snarls, twisting to the side -- throwing them off. Other, larger
Sinspawn below begin to prepare their own leaps. From where you stand, an
opportunity presents itself: if you can collapse part of the cliff upon
these creatures, you can spare Lombardia from being harried by them.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Exhaust==========================================
==================================<* +CAMP - *>================================== =======================<* Catenna - Moon Shaman Catenna *>======================== Brute: 7 Agility: 11 Wits: 10 Combat: 10 Exhaustion: 0/100 ===================================<* Tools *>==================================== Available Tool Slots: 3 1 Grappling Hook 2 Agility Limit: 2/3 Effects: Quicken 2 Celesdue Medium 2 Combat Limit: 2/3 Effects: Embolden 3 Saarda-Shanta 1 Wits Limit: 3/4 Effects: Cleanse Basic Actions: Force, Investigate, Rush, Fight. Tesni Inoue Brute: 3 Agility: 8 Wits: 8 Combat: 5 Exhaustion: 5/100 Tools: Crowbar, Datapad. Arleph Ardan Brute: 4 Agility: 4 Wits: 7 Combat: 4 Exhaustion: 10/100 Tools: Optics, Symbological Bomb, Ambrosia Protocol. Ethius Hesiod Brute: 12 Agility: 6 Wits: 6 Combat: 6 Exhaustion: 5/100 Tools: Spectral Lens, Powder Grenade, Hot Air Sack, Interface Spoiler. Jacqueline Barber Brute: 7 Agility: 7 Wits: 12 Combat: 9 Exhaustion: 0/100 Tools: The Lifeweaver's Codex, Brewte Force, Rapid Remedy, Landscaper Crest. Cyre H. Lorentz Brute: 5 Agility: 8 Wits: 6 Combat: 6 Exhaustion: 5/100 Tools: Invigorating Vapors, Reverse Parachute, Gale Claw, Bottled Tornado. ===================================<* Party *>==================================== Party Leader: Jacqueline Barber Exploration: 60/100 Effects: Quicken(1), Resilient(1). Conditions: Exhaust(1), Weaken(2). ================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"We're going to help from a different angle - you all hold tight here!" Jacqueline says. They can't just stand here the whole time, after all - there's a lot more ground that needs to be covered.
Nearby, the heated battle between Lombardia and Sin continues. The Clysmian launches a fearful blast of gravitational force, making Lombardia to duck low to avoid it. It goes screeching over head - it might not go anywhere near any of the combatants on the cliffside, but they can feel it.
Lombardia glides over the water, but as she moves, she's harried by Sinscales and smaller Sinspawn, which she dislodges with a snarl and a twist.
...But, larger Sinspawn are beginning to make their way toward her.
"We have to do something!" She says. She scans the area, and then...she spots the cliffside, and gets and idea. "Everyone - back away from the cliffside! I'm going to try collapsing it right on top of them." She warns. She draws once more from her deck of Crest Graphs, this time inserting it into her left gauntlet.
There's a swell of sorcerous power as she invokes it, and the cliffside seems to shift - ensuring that there will be enough support that the portion of land they're standing on doesn't collapse along with it as some cliffside begins to move.
Even with the power of her Crest Graph, though, she can't do it all on her own - there's a lot of Sinspawn down there that need to be dealt with.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, Create a Landslide.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Reclaiming her rope once it's all said and done, Catenna rejoins the group, moving rather more quickly. Again and again she glances upwards, watching the way Lombardia manages to hang on against something as titanic as Sin - and as numerous as the Sinspawn.
With a scowl, the Moon Shaman clicks her teeth together. "Sin continues to try and make this lopsided," she growls with a certain frustration as she moves forward, Saarda-Shanta fluttering anxiously after her.
She's tense. Fighting a Clysmian will do that, even indirectly. As Jay orders them around, Catenna ducks back and away from the ring of the cliff.
Focusing, the Moon Shaman closes her eyes and begins to pour power down into the earth itself. "Grudiev, please, share your essence with this child of the Moon," she whispers.
Here, in this distant place, Catenna attempts to channel Celesdue's powers through a domain she does not usually channel them through. She ends up mostly going by what she can hear and calculate mentally - but soon enough, she lets a spell go, slow and subtle.
Below, a massive source of gravity builds, and more of the cliff begins to sag and crumble, dropping towards the Sinspawn!
DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Create a Landslide.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
"If this is loopsided, then I guess we'll have to do our best to push the balance back into our favour!"
A little bombastic as far Arleph is concerned but this whole enterprize has been kicking him into a rush of adrenaline. The Symbologist looks over the cliff, admist all the Earth magic that's being summoned and brought to bear around him. He reaches into his pocket, taking out a small ball of earth and stone, covered in runes. He gives it a swift twirl and stroke along, covering it all up. The symbology glows bright as he take it carefully out of his tissue, peering down, calculating his shout.
Then he flick it downward like a marble, attempting to break and overrun the various parts of the cliffs that's been thrown down at the Sinspawns.
When it hits, a brief but violent flash of plasma will sear through the area before vanishing away, leaving a smmall crater where it impacted. That'll get filled pretty quickly.
DG: Arleph Ardan has used his Tool Symbological Bomb toward his party's challenge, Create a Landslide.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
How do you use a censer full of incense to help trip a landslide...?
You don't.
Instead, Cyre does something that is... perhaps somewhat ill-advised. Sinspawn are inherently drawn toward certain stimuli, including evidence of human civilization. And so, when called upon by Jacqueline to act, Cyre...
Lays low on the ground and sets the herbs in his censer alight. He stirs the wind, drawing a trail of fragrant smoke and sending it twisting and twining downward, drifting meaningfully between diverting lanes of sinspawn to try and tempt them back into the path of the burgeoning landslide...!
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Invigorating Vapors toward his party's challenge, Create a Landslide.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius touches back down, and things don't escalate any further for a bit. The odd man comes down to a crouch behind the closest thing to cover for a little while (another boulder), as the battle rages overhead.
The Veruni have acted openly without fear of consequence. I recall what Miss Catenna spoke when I inquired about who, in her people's legends, pushed then back - 'sky people.' Ethius thinks to himself, eyes only tracking when people move. Outside of the involvement of Drifters, I have yet to decisively identify any additional help from those theoretically on equal or superior footing to the Veruni themselves. Miss Lunata's and Miss Shalune's departure to become part of Yevon's forces was worrisome... but it does not appear their presence alone would tip the scales. Indeed, it has not. Miss Lunata made a point to surrender much of her equipment before departing.
Jay mentions aloud that they have to do something, and Ethius catches up with the rest of the class by coming out of his little hiding spot to see for himself. She's going to try collapsing the cliffside to stop the positioning Sinspawn looking to attack the Metal Dragon. Ethius starts chanting and gesticulating a proper yield heat spell in order to try to loosen some of the protruding boulders by turning them molten - not quite as destructive on its face.
As he finishes the spellcast, thinking continues.
The Odessa forces have been vulgar about their presence as well - arguably moreso than even the Veruni. Outside of ARMs... it, too, seems bereft of notice of these 'sky people' by my reckoning. Ethius continues to think as he waits to see the current situation before committing to another spell to support the efforts. I am aware there is Gebler presence within those mines, but scant few signs they have partaken under my witness - let alone who they might use as a proxy for their aims.
Yes, his number comes up again after all, he'll need to do that spell a second time. Before he commits to a higher yield of said spell, he gets these thoughts through before committing to the somantic aspect of his spellcasting. Nonetheless... it is clear no one will leave well enough alone. Matters have continued to escalate without cease.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Create a Landslide.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue is able to pick off some of the scales as they come up after them. With those things sorted out and the catapult crew having done their part. She's going to move on.
"Keep the fire coming as you can but if you're going to be overrun, withdraw and form up with any other else you can find. Dying for your goddess pointlessly when you can still do good isn't something she'd want right?"
With that Tess will leave to join the others as they head out and she takes note of what Jac is going to do she'll end up pulling out her rifle loading an anti gear round. She then pauses, no she doesn't want to use that round they may need it later.
She lowers her weapon and will wait for everyone's thundering damage to stop if the cliff hasn't fallen? Tess will do something else and will move in seeking any major point of damage. Cause by her allies and will jam her crowbar in trying to make them worse and hoping to hasten the fall of the cliff then she runs like hell to get clear.
DG: Tesni Inoue has used her Tool Crowbar toward her party's challenge, Create a Landslide.
==========================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>===========================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Create a Landslide *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
In the course of their fight, a blast of gravitational force makes Lombardia
duck low. She glides over the water underneath the cliffs, a V-shaped wake
cresting after her. The beaches below are positively littered with Sinscales
and small Sinspawn, which begin to bellow and screech in her wake. A few
Sinscales leap, and their clawed legs snatch into her armored carapace,
digging in.
Lombardia snarls, twisting to the side -- throwing them off. Other, larger
Sinspawn below begin to prepare their own leaps. From where you stand, an
opportunity presents itself: if you can collapse part of the cliff upon
these creatures, you can spare Lombardia from being harried by them.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Exhaust==========================================
=====================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 4 *>====================== =======================< Results - Create a Landslide >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tesni Inoue 5 --(0)--> 5 Pass Crowbar 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 5 --(7)--> 12 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Landscaper Crest 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arleph Ardan 10 --(7)--> 17 Fail Symbological Bomb 3 Brute Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 5 --(7)--> 12 Fail Invigorating Vapors 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Weaken(2) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber 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> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Collapsing a cliffside is relatively easy. Collapsing it without dropping yourself down along with it... Well, that's another matter entirely.
Cyre sets his censer alight and attempts to use it to draw the Sinspawn away from Lombardia and into the path of danger. In a way, he succeeds. The Sinspawn break away...and then, begin scaling the cliff, looking to follow the scent right back to the party.
Lombardia is safe, but for the party, this puts things on a bit of a timer.
Arleph draws out a ball of earth and stone, tossing it downward. As if sensing his intentions, one of the Sinspawn moves to catch it, swallowing it whole - at which point, the symbological bomb detonates in a flash of searing plasma, taking out it and some of its surrounding aliies. While this dealt with some of the numbers, the cliff face itself suffers only charring.
Ethius, then, attempts to melt some of the boulders - to loosen them. Some of the boulders dislodge, falling toward the Sinspawn. They've realized they're under attack by now, however, so only the slowest of the bunch are caught.
But, all the while, Catenna has been working on a spell. It may be an unfamiliar domain, but gravity and earth are connected in many ways. And, perhaps, Grudiev does send a smile her way.
A massive source of gravity builds, and Jacqueline and Catenna's spells both act on the cliffside. It starts to sag...but it doesn't quite drop onto the Sinspawn, at least until a prying of Tesni's crowbar pulls loose a section of stone that had been tying everything together.
With a thunderous roar the cliff topples over. Rock and stone collapses down toward the beach below, and the interloping Sinspawn - both those ascending to attack the party and those trying to bother Lombardia - are completely crushed. Nothing but a wave of pyreflies emerges from that stone.
Jacqueline exhales a breath of relief.
"...Is everyone alright...?" She asks.
Perhaps, though, a moment too soon.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>================================================
========================================<* CHALLENGE - Behind the Shield Wall *>========================================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Lombardia screeches in the skies above -- and then sends another colossal
beam of green energy down. It slashes into the right fin of Sin. With a
titanic explosion, sending pyreflies and crackles of energy outward, the
limb falls away -- and dissolves into so many pyreflies before it ever
strikes the water. Lombardia hovers there, staring down at a creature that
looks, for the first time, injured and strained.
And yet, the damage to her body is no less severe. Armor plates are crushed
in; silvery blood drips and splatters on the rocks below. Her head turns
down, looking at Sin. "We are not yet done, are we, beast?"
Sin meets the queen's question with a terrific roar, which shakes the very
stone under your feet. Then, it opens its maw. The attack is familiar:
Giga-Graviton, the same that so wrecked Azado and the beach at Mushroom Rock
Road alike. A bead of pulsing black energy appears, shining white.
"No!"
Lombardia descends -- and the damaged Metal Dragon lands on the cliffside.
The ground under her cracks and strains under her great weight, as claw and
tail dig in. Then, a massive barrier of interlocked white-green octagons
appears before her, like a dome.
"Humans! Gather behind me! There is precious little time ere it unleashes
its fury upon us!"
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
CaraKin has done everything right. They reactivated a weapon to shoot electrical bursts into Sin. They managed to get Guardsmen to cooperate long enough to shower Sinspawn in catapult strikes. They even collapsed a freakin' cliffside. Unburdened and unassailed, Lombardia screeches triumphantly above and rakes green energy across Sin's right side. An explosion rocks everything... and the limb falls away. Pyreflies and other energies crackle outward.
Obsession can be wounded. Lombardia has succeeded where so many others have not. Sin bleeds pyreflies.
Maybe this fight can be won, after all... though Lombardia, too, looks to be in bad shape for what she did suffer in the interim.
"We are not yet done, are we, beast?" She had to ask.
(Obses)Sin's roar shakes everything again, and open its maw to a gathering of energy that some will find uncomfortably familiar - Giga-Graviton, that same power that levelled Azado and the beach of Mushroom Rock Road. Energy so deeply in the black of the visual epxtrum, it bleeds white.
"No! Humans! Gather behind me!" Lombardia calls as she descends, landing on the cliffside. The ground cracks under her weight as she digs in deep to brace against it. A massive barrier of interlocked white-green octagons appear around her, like a dome - focused ahead. Behind her, there's an opening.
+periwinkle "There is precious little time ere it unleashes its fury upon us!" In theory, if everyone runs back the other way, they might survive it - but if they intend to stay with Lombardia and support her, behind her is the only safe place left to be. There is enough littered debris (and miscellaneous Sinscales/Sinspawn crawling about) to hamper the path.
Ethius finds a higher vantage point and re-fastens the tie on the Hot Air Sack's harness around his wrist, and gets an appropriate yield heat spell to fill it with air. He has no time to think difficult thoughts. No one does. They have to go. If they do not, oblivion awaits.
Which way will they go, in the end? Forward, or back?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, Behind the Shield Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
Throwing back her hair with a breath, Catenna looks up towards the battle overhead - and she stares with a flush of hope at her cheeks at the sight of Sin being dismembered before them. The limb breaks down into pyreflies.
The only one unimpressed is Saarda-Shanta. <The nature of this enemy... hm.>
Able to hear Lombardia clearly enough, Catenna looks towards the Owlet, her lips drawn together in a line. "Does Lombardia stand a chance, even with what we have seen?"
Saarda-Shanta just stares at the Shaman intently.
But the Metal Dragon is calling out. Hustling forward, Catenna gauges the distance between herself and the Metal Dragon and does the only thing she can think of to clear things: Clambering up onto a large rock, she flips high into the air and throws her grappling hook up, flipping her free hand.
The hook anchors to a point in midair as gravity plays a trick. Swinging from the open air, Catenna arcs towards Lombardia and twirls, descending into the Metal Dragon's shadow. She holds one arm up as if it could possibly protect her.
"...You have come farther even than Althena's Dragonmaster, Lombardia...."
DG: Catenna has used her Tool Grappling Hook toward her party's challenge, Behind the Shield Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Interfering on Lombardia's behalf has proven to be a wise choice. Lombardia manages, for the first time that any of them have seen, to inflict a mighty wound upon Sin - slashing right through the Clysmian's right fin.
"A-amazing..." Jacqueline remarks, surprised. But, as Lombardia says...they're not done yet.
And then, Sin opens its great maw.
Jacqueline has never seen that power before this close. She wasn't present before at Mushroom Rock Road. But she can feel it - it sends a chill down her spine, and for a second, she's frozen in fear. Her gauntlets whir to life, their barrier spreading over her entire form as if they, too, fear what it's capable of - even though there is no doubt that it would not be nearly enough.
And then, Lombardia calls out, snapping her out of her trance.
"I don't know, but...she's our only hope right now!" Jacqueline says to Catenna, and then...she begins to run, looking to position herself behind Lombardia in the hopes that the Metal Dragon will be able to protect them. As she moves, she tosses out more potions to the party.
Something to take the edge off of the exhaustion that is no doubt creeping in, to maybe, hopefully, give them the chance to make it out of this alive.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Behind the Shield Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
It's something of an understatement to say that Arleph might be feeling a little of awe right now. Watching a Dragon like this fight something as horrible as Sin is certainly a great thing that he's probably not going to be seeing again in the near future.
Well, at least, something UNIQUELY like this, anyhow.
"This is... quite... terrific to witness." Arleph comments, steeling his nerves as they move on forward, his gloves flaring to life with energy as he brings to bear energy to conjur up some shields around the rest of the party. It's hasty, it's fast, it's dirty. But it IS shields that should come up hopefully.
"Do what you can! Throw what magic you may have to come out of this! It's do or nothing!" "We won't know until we try that and, at this point, I'm willing to gamble!"
DG: Arleph Ardan has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Behind the Shield Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
The bad news is that Cyre's bait works a little too well.
The good news is that he has friends to help bail him out of a disaster of his own creation.
The better news is that Lombardia has just taken a huge chunk out of the Clysmian of Obsession. Finally, that anathema Hyadean nature works to the benefit of all of Filgaia, rather than the detriment! Cyre gives a wild, whooping cheer as the monster partially dissolves into so many pyreflies!
The worse news: Cyre feels a terrible sensation ripple through the air. A feeling that is far too familiar for his liking. He's witnessed Catenna deploy similar power dozens of times before, but this is on a whole different level. This is... Giga-Graviton.
Cyre might not have been at the shore on that fateful day near Mushroom Rock Road, but he was close enough to feel the aftershocks of Sin's final attack. His face blanches as he realizes that he's about to get an up-close and personal view of that calamitous power... But it changes swiftly to an expression of pure shock as Lombardia alights and offers herself as a shield.
"Can-- can you block that? Are you sure!?" Though, if the others were telling the truth, the Black Wizard was able to block the spell the last time. So it stands to reason that, perhaps just maybe, Lombardia might be capable of it as well...
It's not like they have any other choice. They must put their faith in this ancient of lost Hyades.
"You've got it," he answers Arleph, even as he stirs the winds to catch in his parachute and propel him toward safety. "It won't be much, but I can try to soften the blow...!"
How, though?
By forming layers of ablative wind between the dragon's barrier and the inclement gravitational chaos?
...Yeah, actually that's exactly what Cyre does. He's not sure if it'll be effective at all, but if Sin is a Clysmian, then perhaps Guardian magic will be able to at least partly defend against its onslaught...?
DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Behind the Shield Wall.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
So far things are going smashingly here they have been able to put the hurt on Sin and its spawn an even somehow pulled off a miracle. They worked with Athena's guard and nothing blew up in either's side faces. However, they still have to make it to the dragon.
"Well in for a penny in for a kilo, right?"
With that she's going to just bolt in trying to use what cover she can, trying to reach the dragon and get behind them. This is the only way she's going to survive this madness. So she's going to run as if the most terrifying thing she can think of is at her heels wishing her doom.
So The first thing to come to mind is Ethius and she actually starts running even faster.
DG: Tesni Inoue has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Behind the Shield Wall.
===============================================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>================================================
========================================<* CHALLENGE - Behind the Shield Wall *>========================================
|Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 4 |
-----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >-----------------------------------------------
Lombardia screeches in the skies above -- and then sends another colossal
beam of green energy down. It slashes into the right fin of Sin. With a
titanic explosion, sending pyreflies and crackles of energy outward, the
limb falls away -- and dissolves into so many pyreflies before it ever
strikes the water. Lombardia hovers there, staring down at a creature that
looks, for the first time, injured and strained.
And yet, the damage to her body is no less severe. Armor plates are crushed
in; silvery blood drips and splatters on the rocks below. Her head turns
down, looking at Sin. "We are not yet done, are we, beast?"
Sin meets the queen's question with a terrific roar, which shakes the very
stone under your feet. Then, it opens its maw. The attack is familiar:
Giga-Graviton, the same that so wrecked Azado and the beach at Mushroom Rock
Road alike. A bead of pulsing black energy appears, shining white.
"No!"
Lombardia descends -- and the damaged Metal Dragon lands on the cliffside.
The ground under her cracks and strains under her great weight, as claw and
tail dig in. Then, a massive barrier of interlocked white-green octagons
appears before her, like a dome.
"Humans! Gather behind me! There is precious little time ere it unleashes
its fury upon us!"
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
==========================================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 5 *>=========================================== ==========================================< Results - Behind the Shield Wall >========================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tesni Inoue 5 --(100)--> 105 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 12 --(100)--> 112 Fail Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 0 --(100)--> 100 Fail Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catenna 0 --(100)--> 100 Pass Grappling Hook 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arleph Ardan 17 --(100)--> 117 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cyre H. Lorentz 12 --(100)--> 112 Fail Reverse Parachute 1 Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Jacqueline Barber 80 --(10)--> 90 Fail Cond
DG: Tesni Inoue is too exhausted to continue! DG: Ethius Hesiod is too exhausted to continue! DG: Arleph Ardan is too exhausted to continue! DG: Cyre H. Lorentz is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge. ============================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>=============================
==========================================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 5 *>===========================================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Unleash Hell *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Sin surges for Lombardia with a speed few thought the creature capable of.
It is a short burst, but enough. The left fin of the monster /slams/ into
the Metal Dragon, and she screeches over the sound of crumpling steel. Then,
she gets slammed down into the rocks of the cliff base. Dust rolls up like a
cloud of smoke.
Sin opens its whale-like mouth, and its screech belies its confusion and
anger. A bead of white glowing light appears in its mouth, causing the
maelstrom swirling over its head to move faster and faster.
Lombardia's left claw slams down -- and she struggles to pull herself free
of the rock. Armored muscles strain, and rocks crack, but she rises so
slowly.
Without something to distract Sin, it may finish the Metal Dragon here.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, Unleash Hell. DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unleash Hell. ============================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>=============================
==========================================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 5 *>===========================================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Unleash Hell *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
Sin surges for Lombardia with a speed few thought the creature capable of.
It is a short burst, but enough. The left fin of the monster /slams/ into
the Metal Dragon, and she screeches over the sound of crumpling steel. Then,
she gets slammed down into the rocks of the cliff base. Dust rolls up like a
cloud of smoke.
Sin opens its whale-like mouth, and its screech belies its confusion and
anger. A bead of white glowing light appears in its mouth, causing the
maelstrom swirling over its head to move faster and faster.
Lombardia's left claw slams down -- and she struggles to pull herself free
of the rock. Armored muscles strain, and rocks crack, but she rises so
slowly.
Without something to distract Sin, it may finish the Metal Dragon here.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer===================================================
=======================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 6 *>========================
==========================================<* Clash at the Cliffs - Round 5 *>===========================================
============================< Results - Unleash Hell >============================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tesni Inoue 105 --(X)--> X
Effects:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethius Hesiod 112 --(X)--> X
Effects:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber 100 --(10)--> 110 Pass
Landscaper Crest 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna 100 --(10)--> 110 Fail
Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arleph Ardan 117 --(X)--> X
Effects:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz 112 --(X)--> X
Effects:
------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------
Leader: Jacqueline Barber 90 --(20)--> 110 Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Suffer(1)
Effects:
================================< Dream Chasers >=================================
DG: Jacqueline Barber is too exhausted to continue! DG: Catenna is too exhausted to continue! DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Jacqueline Barber has successfully explored Clash at the Cliffs!
============================<* Clash at the Cliffs *>=============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - The Sky Screams *>=========================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 3 |
----------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------
You manage to get behind Lombardia, with all of the other combatants on the
field. Unlike many of them, you are directly behind her and her great
barrier. Safe there, you can see the full power of the Giga-Graviton blast
past you -- carving two massive gorges through the cliffs of Macalania. The
barrier, however, holds against it. It crackles and falls away.
Lombardia looks back at you. "I shall drive it to the sea. You have done
well--now flee this place. To the temple, ahead!"
Her wings do not beat when she lifts off. Thrusters drive her into the air
-- and Sin screeches, as it realizes that she had survived his greatest
attack and had the strength to fight on. It begins to do something no living
Spiran has seen before.
Sin backs away, as if frightened.
And then Lombardia becomes a blur. There is a loud, thundering boom and
umbrella-shaped burst of cloud as she shatters the sound barrier, and then
rams into Sin. She tears along its left flank, flesh bursting into pyreflies
as she tears a full half of its body off. Sin screams, listing to the side
-- and then dives into the water, just as Lombardia hits the ocean.
There is a titanic blast of water. A tidal wave, rushing for you -- and
driving you back towards the Lake and the Temple.
OOC: These characters start the Macalania Temple battle with 50 FP.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
They run. That is all they can do.
They falter.
Arleph falls behind, unable to navigate past what is in the way. He can't sorcerer hard enough to clear away, they punch past the shields. Tesni's attempt to psyche herself is met with a challenge of something even more fearful than the image in her mind, the building power of (Obses)Sin something so otherworldly as to blot out all else.
Cyre and Ethius simply cannot float fast enough. Ethius is a given, he gives up altitude and speed for precision. Cyre finds his winds ineffective in helping push against the building power, and the four of them are quickly losing ground.
Up front, Catenna swings along with her gravity tricks and can see that almost everyone is falling behind - but there may not be much she can do to directly help now.
Jay, however, as is her nature... does not stop thinking of others, does not stop helping. Not only does she help ensure almost everyone has their fill of the Rapid Remedy, it seems like they're at the cusp of time and space rending itself apart underneath the immense pressure of the horror's greatest strike.
Somewhere in this, she helps summon a Landscaper Crest to provide a sloping pillar underneath those struggling to keep up - giving them a downhill run rather than the slight uphill dash this otherwise is, and with that... Jay can help see everyone there. Once Catenna gets in position, she might be able to further use gravity tricks to pull everyone closer that's still lagging behind if she is of the inclination.
It's a miracle, as everyone is brought within group hug range one way or another behind Lombardia. They see and hear the full power of the Giga-Graviton blast.
Lombardia's barrier holds. Two massive gorges are carved through the cliffs... and the barrier crackles and falls apart into fading hexagons as the Metal Dragon looks over their shoulder.
"I shall drive it to the sea. You have done well--now flee this place. To the temple, ahead!"
Thrusters drive her into the air, instead of her wings. Sin screeches, for what else can it do? It survived Giga-Graviton. It does something no one could believe it capable of doing: expressing a semblance of fear.
It backs away, and Lombardia strikes - one huge boom of thunder later and an umbrella-shaped cloud burst as the sound barrier is broken, she rams right into sin. Its left flank - no, basically its left half - is torn off in a huge colorful rainbow of freed pyreflies.
It sinks into the ocean, just as Lombardia too hits it. A blast of water rings out, rushing for them... and urging them to give up their position and run back, back towards the Lake and the Temple.
The way back is clear. A hell of a stretch to traverse, but it's clear.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.
As they all huddle behind Lombardia, Catenna inches as close as she can to the group - to Cyre. Her eyes are wide as she looks up at the dragon's back, her lower lip bitten. The fate of Ghaleon once again enters her mind - lost after a spell like this.
This is a foe beyond any one of them. It may be beyond Lombardia. If that's the case, this will be the end.
Sliding her fingers into Cyre's, she turns and looks up at him.
"I love you," she says quietly, her heart in her gaze. "Cyre."
Her lips move to say something else, but the sound of it is lost beneath the intense roar and screech of the Giga-Graviton blast against the shield. Tightening her grip in Cyre's, she pulls close to the Nahual and wraps her arms tightly around his shoulders, drawing herself into his chest in the hopes of somehow silencing the hideous noise. If she's going to die here, better to die with her arms around Cyre, the only man who's been able to understand her - and charm her.
But it passes - and when it does, she opens her eyes. Swallowing hard, Catenna looks to either side, eyes and mouth open in awe at the sight of the trenches carved into the cliffs. As the barrier fades, she stares up at Lombardia.
The dragon strikes true. Catenna outright gasps. Her arms tighten around Cyre as she clings to him not out of fear now, but out of sheer awe. "She did it, Cyre... I can't believe it!!" she exclaims before pulling him in and kissing him firmly.
On her shoulder, Saarda-Shanta is completely silent, stoic.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It's a narrow escape. For a moment, Jacqueline isn't sure they'll be able to make it...but, they do - they make it behind Lombardia's barrier. Jacqueline hunkers down, bracing herself, but she can't help but look as the Giga-Graviton impacts Lombardia's barrier.
Seeing that immense surge of power this up close...it's truly a sobering thing, that puts a lot of things into perspective.
She exhales, realizing that she's been holding her breath all this time. Her body is still shaking, but there's a smile on her face.
And then, Lombardia turns - she actually looks at them. Jacqueline meets her eyes...and, she nods.
"...Thank you." She replies, bowing her head politely.
She takes a moment to make sure her friends are okay, but she doesn't wait for long, doesn't even look toward where Lombardia fights Sin - she turns to run toward the temple. She just has to hope everyone is still okay...
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
In the distance...
Your party can see Lydia ahead. She slows down briefly, looking around, raising a hand. "Hold on..." She says, calling back. There is a brief pause.
"Do you hear that...?" There's no strange noises beyond what you'd expect after a battle between a dragon and a giant death whale. Lydia frowns to herself, "I think...this way?? I think it's..."
And with that she rushes off, further into the temple, without waiting for anyone--not even her own companions.
<Pose Tracker> Arleph Ardan has posed.
Arleph don't remember very much of all of this. A lot of it remains a sort of haze as they ran through, the fear and narrow escape of trying to evade the entire devastation. Pushing energy into his shields, the impacts...
The Symbologist is on his hands, panting with some difficulty as he then look over them, catching the look of the Dragon. She seems still... whole and in one piece. That's a good start.
"Bloody hell." Arleph pants out, wiping off his forhead with a sleeve. "This ... is straight out of a picture book."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Whatever feelings Ethius has about having another brush with certain death and the once more renewed bonds of companionship among the Caravan Kinship, he keeps to himself. He might be rattled.
What was their stake, that they would appear? He thinks, more clinical of their savior than anything. As they all make their way back towards the Temple to catch Lydia holding up a hand...
'Do you hear that...?' She asks. Ethius doesn't hear that. He's good at discerning some kinds of sounds out of a busy environment, and he isn't sure what Lydia is hearing. 'I think... this way?? I think it's...'
...
Ethius gets out the Spectral Lens in a moment of haste, but Lydia has already rushed off out of sight.
"Follow her," he says, firmly, his voice failing to mask the physical exertion that comes with running for their lives at least a few times over.
<Pose Tracker> Tesni Inoue has posed.
Tesni Inoue has pushed herself hard, har as she can she's not going to make it there on her own, yet with some help? She ends up suriving it evne if she's fare worse for wear. Still they have made it the dragon is actually thankful for thei help.She's glad for the barrier as well and she ponder for a moment. Tess while rattle oddly does not seem as cowed by power of this level as much as she should it's not seeming hubris really more? She get the concept of this much power being deployed. Not to say she isn't sobered she looks up to the Dragon and nods.
"We'll get moving...and thanks."
With that she'll move with her friends for the temple.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
"I love you too," he whispers into his lover's ear. "More than all the world, my one and only Catenna."
The most he can hope for beyond this embrace is for death to come quickly.
The world seems to shake apart all around him as gravity gone mad shakes the very foundations of spacetime. Reality itself is made into a chaotic cacophany of sound and vibration that humms mercilessly against his eardrums and throughout the very marrow of his bones. It's deafening, obliterating all other sight and sound until all that's left is the sensation of Catenna clinging to him, and the tightness of his own arms around her.
But then... Then, impossibly, it all goes away.
And... Even more impossibly, when it passes, they are all still there. Still intact. Still alive. Cyre's eyes open slowly. They stare in muted disbelief at the triumphant dragon. To stand against the full might of Obsession and win. Such power is... Incredible.
Is this the true might of that fallen star...?
"She did," he says, breathless, "She really did."
If he was going to say any more, it's summarily silenced by Catenna's lips locking against his.
...It's a good kind of silence.