2020-03-28: In Memory's House

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  • Log: In Memory's House
  • Cast: Riesenlied, Kaguya, Avril Vent Fleur, Noeline
  • Where: The Cape of Breath
  • Date: March 28, 2020
  • Summary: The Outreach ventures into Capel Coffa to investigate and ideally retrieve something to help support efforts in Honeysday; Kaguya joins them. In the depths however, they find someone unexpected...


DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Capel Coffa.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Into The Depths *>=======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A few things can be gleaned about Capel Coffa from the outset: first of all,
 it's clearly an Elw ruin to judge by the flowing nearly-organic architecture
 visible from the outside, deep within the crevice in which it has been
 enclosed.

 The second thing that can be safely assumed is that this place was made to
 be protected from the outside world.

 For what reason is not immediately clear: if it was to protect the
 inhabitants, then the question arises of how they would ever leave the place
 easily on a regular basis.

 ...Because to get into the Elw ruin you first need to negotiate the drop
 down to the white-doored entranceway in the stone, far below. The tight
 walls of the rocky crevice make most forms of flight tricky business. This
 will be tiring -- and potentially painful if one slips -- going.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIgWiOju3P4
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    The almost-daily grind, as it were, is continuing still for the Outreach: Honeysday still requires more funding to replace the broken housing and fields and request resources from elsewhere, as well as to recompense the workers that they're employing alongside the Carakin to help make those efforts happen.

    Today, Riesenlied is being-- well, one could say daring, but... she knows that it's important to push oneself out of their comfort zone if they're going to make bounds and leaps in their walking.

    She's come on the leg braces, though the wheelchair is tucked away as a Just In Case (tm) -- she kind of hobbles over towards the pearlescent white structure, murmuring, "There it is... I..."

    A pause.

    "It must be Elw-made. I can sense it. The usual presence of their organic technology," she admits.

    There is a pause, though, and a look of surprise as she hurries along when she notices something black--

    Hellerune. Lily's Gear.

    "This is... Hellerune, is it not? Is Lily inside?" she turns towards the rest of the group. "Perhaps we can meet up with her!"

    But first, they're going to have to lower themselves down to the entranceway. She looks at herself, then the drop...

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Into The Depths.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya would totally say daring. Well, no, it's not the kind of word she uses that often. The spirit is there regardless. Now, here and far away from Honeysday, Kaguya is planning to help Riesenlied through a Dig, but is getting a bonus here. She can confirm with Riesenlied--

"Yeah, it looks like theirs, too," Kaguya says as she gets close enough to see a little downward. "You gotta appreciate after a while the organic components; at first I thought it was weird, but it's 'grown' on me. Heh heh." Pause. "Don't appreciate the teleporters, though."

She stops talking to consider Riesenlied's find, though. "Hey, cool. Extra friend in the dungeon is the good kind of surprise."

Kaguya just steps over to the cliff face and hammers a piton into its surface with her gloved fist--she's in one of her Suits here, all green with buckles and straps and a breathing mask, though she's foregone the goggles and full helmet. She threads in some black cord--rope of some kind, to look at it. "Want some help down? I can lower you if nobody's got a better idea. For me I can just jump it, whatever right?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "Is that...?"

    It's Lily's Gear, left resting here as if it were abandoned, nearly.

    Avril approaches it almost warily, something she cannot entirely parse scrawling a... warning?
    No, not a warning, a...

    She turns, only in the shadow of the Gear.

    "...Oh, yes. Perhaps we may well meet her within?"

    Something bothers her still, but she does not have the time to pay it any great heed or interrogate it at length.

    Not when the more pressing matter ahead is the drop that waits before the entrance into Capel Coffa.

    They had come here in short out of a three-fold need:

    * To explore and potentially obtain some source of funding for Honeysday
    * To permit Riesenlied to stretch her growing capacity that much further.
    * And to investigate the mysteries of the Elw.

    Perhaps there's no better place to do the last than here, but it's the 'getting down' that may be the initial problem.

    Which necessitates Avril leaving the nagging thought regarding the Gear behind her and approaching to the edge of the crack in the earth.

    "Perhaps... this may help," she says, producing the Medium.

    Into this scene, as the Medium of the Sea Guardian begins to shine with light, walks Kaguya.

    Avril's attention -- perhaps at a critical moment?! -- shifts from the Medium she holds and up to the Veruni. Her eyes widen a touch--

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Into The Depths.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Noeline has done what she can to help facilitate the care efforts in Honeysday, but she's definitely feeling like she's hit the limits of what she can do for the place. There are only so many Wayside volunteers, and they already know the ropes - while the other volunteers don't really need someone helping organize them.

    So faced with the need to use her energy for something, she's been more than ready to encourage Riesenlied towards taking another trip into a Dig. The wheelchair is hooked over one of her shoulders, as she both carries its weight easily and offers Riesenlied an arm to lean against should she need it for her balance - or just because they're walking along together.

    "It is unmistakable," she nods in agreement to Riese's comment, and a light snort to Kaguya's estimation, not exactly as enamoured with the ancient race's works. "I don't even need any senses for that--" she goes to add, but cuts herself off.

    Her partner is the first one to notice it, but her eyebrows still raise in surprise when she too spots the Hellerune, and she finds a frown drifting across her face. Like Avril, something about the Gear just being quietly sat here makes her insticts shiver, a wariness creeping over her just a little. "... to think she'd be out here alone... still, that would be a stroke of luck," she admits, letting the worries go.

    Strife and Trouble are already making slow, lazy loops around Riesenlied, but the other Hyadean still offers Kaguya a smile and a nod. "I figured these two would offer her a ride - but if you could accompany her down just to make sure, I think that would help a lot." It's not clear if it's entirely necessary, but as far as Noeline's concerned she'd rather offer that connection between them.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Into The Depths.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Into The Depths.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Into The Depths *>=======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A few things can be gleaned about Capel Coffa from the outset: first of all,
 it's clearly an Elw ruin to judge by the flowing nearly-organic architecture
 visible from the outside, deep within the crevice in which it has been
 enclosed.

 The second thing that can be safely assumed is that this place was made to
 be protected from the outside world.

 For what reason is not immediately clear: if it was to protect the
 inhabitants, then the question arises of how they would ever leave the place
 easily on a regular basis.

 ...Because to get into the Elw ruin you first need to negotiate the drop
 down to the white-doored entranceway in the stone, far below. The tight
 walls of the rocky crevice make most forms of flight tricky business. This
 will be tiring -- and potentially painful if one slips -- going.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIgWiOju3P4
=Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 1 *>==========================
========================< Results - Into The Depths >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Strife                              2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied                  0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied does spend a bit of time looking at Hellerune, sighing very quietly as she murmurs, "I do not think it was abandoned because of a battle. I hope she is doing fine, yes."

    Kaguya is present too, which cheers her up as she looks towards the cliff face and her daughter in her Suit! "Hmm..."

    Noeline does offer Strife and Trouble as well, but Riesenlied nods towards Kaguya as she expresses, "I could use some help, but I want to try as well."

    Avril also offers assistance through the Sea Medium, and there's strength in their steps as they feel the power of Leap assisting. "Thank you, Avril!"

    She takes hold of the rope and starts lowering herself, one step at a time... it's a bit precarious, and Strife needs to hold her up and Kaguya might need to offer assistance in the end, but--

    Eventually, they arrive at the bottom! The door opens to reveal...

DG: Kaguya has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Race Against Time *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 An announcement rings out as you step into this corridor, echoing out in a
 number of languages as sirens ring before hitting upon one which you speak:

 "Fire detected in this location. Please evacuate."

 There is no fire. --There must be some sort of glitch in the system, but
 there's no way (and no time) to convince it of that. Gleaming
 crystalline-blue suppression doors are beginning to slam down in the
 corridor as jets spray some sort of fluid.

 Time to run for it, lest you get trapped by a fire suppression door.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya gets caught right up in borrowed Guardian power, which indeed works on her still, though it's a little bumpy. She in fact just makes the leap, but it's easier and smoother than she expected. Her eyes are wide, too, because she hadn't quite expected this part--

But when they land, she siiiiiigghs dramatically. "You love that thing," she grouses at Avril without real rancor for the moment--it's maybe the most casual she's been around her in a while. No telling how long that will last, considering the strange looks she kept giving Avril the last few times she saw her. She looks to Noeline with a little shrug. "Ah, well. We made it anyway."

Kaguya leads the way inside in her bombastic kind of way just slipping to the front of the group. Once inside, after a few twists and turns, they come to a fresh corridor that is neat, clean, and completely untouched.

Alarms start sounding about a fire. There is not, in fact, a fire. Kaguya looks around to confirm this fact, and frowns--but the fire doors are starting to slam down (are they fire doors?) and the jets are spraying something so Kaguya sprints forward as quickly as she can with her smaller strides. It might seem like she's leaving people behind!

But in reality she's hoping to get to the door first and force it to stay open in case one of them is slow. ...And maybe specifically moving out of Avril's hex for some reason. Mysteriously.

DG: Kaguya has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Race Against Time.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    A part of Riesenlied is perhaps acting as Understudy Dean when Dean isn't here, in wanting to make sure that Kaguya and Avril get along! She understands the tensions between the two, of course, but almost puppy-like...

    Well, it's not an issue yet. There's a breath as they arrive at the bottom, and--

    "A... fire alarm?" Riesenlied asks, perplexed. Her eyes start shining. "That is so clever! Warning people about a fire. What a good safety system-- WEH!"

    *bloop bloop bloop*

    Riesenlied gets suds-ed up, whining as she starts pawing away at bits of... soap? Fire-suppressing stuff in her hair. "Noelineee..."

    ... there might be a great length to go until she can really run fast out of danger.

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Race Against Time.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    True to Riesenlied's request, Noeline's ARMs don't help overly much on the way down - a nudge here and there to keep her on balance, but otherwise they more or less make it down to the bottom without incident, and as Noeline hops off the ladder she allows herself a pleased and relieved sigh. "Well done," she nods to her partner with a smile.

    She looks up at the same time as Avril, watching to see what Kaguya's reaction to the Guardian is; there's a second, more private puff of relief as she seems to come out of it more or less unscathed. What exactly that means for anything going forwards, she's not sure - but it seems important to mark it in some kind of fashion. "That is the privilege of a shaman, after all," she comments wryly, making a deliberately light show of it. "At least, for those whose Guardian hasn't got a direct line into their head."

    "Leave it to the Elw to make it more complicated than just a simple alarm, though," Noeline comments with a deadpan as the alarms begin to blare, doing her level best not to grin at the sight of a rather bedraggled Riesenlied; she hooks an arm around her partner and propels the both of them forwards, swinging her pack off her back. It might be better to wait until they're somewhere dry, but she still tosses a towel over Riese's horns anyway, to offer her a little shelter.

    Ahead of her, the twin pods race forwards to help Kaguya with the door. For two spherical shapes whose range of motion is bonking against things, they're remarkably good at throttling against the doors to push them back into their housing.

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Race Against Time.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    The Guardian's power comes through loud and clear, regardless of Avril's current distracted state.

    She tilts her head at Kaguya's (not entirely meant) barb. "It is mine," she says, as if this were somehow an explanation for it. "Should I not use it?" The words might almost, almost come off as a return volley, were it not for the utterly serious look on the Veruni Queen's face.

    She glances, sidelong, at Noeline, as if to query after her own comment.

    "A shaman..."

    No, she is not one truly, but, still, there is that moment of consideration. Just for the moment.

    And then they all enter through that white door and are not a long distance down the entry hall when an alarm begins to play out.

    "A fire? But--"

    There is no fire she can see. No heat she can feel. "--An error!"

    Behind and about them, the doors begin to slam shut. Narrowly ducking out of the way of a spray of foam, Avril draws forth the Medium again, casting but one glance Kaguya's way as the light begins to shine. If they can't outpace the suppression doors, they'll have to break through somehow, runs the thought.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Race Against Time.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Race Against Time *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 An announcement rings out as you step into this corridor, echoing out in a
 number of languages as sirens ring before hitting upon one which you speak:

 "Fire detected in this location. Please evacuate."

 There is no fire. --There must be some sort of glitch in the system, but
 there's no way (and no time) to convince it of that. Gleaming
 crystalline-blue suppression doors are beginning to slam down in the
 corridor as jets spray some sort of fluid.

 Time to run for it, lest you get trapped by a fire suppression door.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple==================================================
==========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 2 *>===========================
========================< Results - Race Against Time >=========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Strife                              2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(8)--> 8                   Fail
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied                  20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Cripple|Injure(1)|Tire(1)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Kaguya has posed.

"Aw, it's no fun if you're all earnest about it." Kaguya waves a hand vaguely. "You should. It's too useful not to. It doesn't hurt or anything." The privilege of a shaman... She doesn't dispute that. But neither does she answer it before the alarm happens.

Once it has, well: "For real," Kaguya agrees with Noeline over her shoulder. She rushes down, pods catching up with her quickly by virtue of a greater speed, and between the three of them, the doors are starting to close but aren't managing it yet, machinery complaining with a groan about the delay.

Riesenlied is pretty slow. She is also soapy? It's gunk anyway. There is indeed a lot to go. Kaguya pipes up, "You're too nice!"

But Avril is able to bring herself and Riesenlied and Noeline up close very quickly thanks ot the power of the Medium, though Kaguya is quick enough to outrun the effect this time. Everyone makes it through, and just in time; the door slams shut once Kaguya and the helpful spheres make it through.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Wall of Light *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This obstacle in your path presents itself quite literally: it stands in the
 middle of the winding corridor through which you currently walk, as a
 barrier of light.

 To all appearances a shimmering veil of pearly white-blue light, initial
 attempts to pass through it soon meet in failure: it may appear to be light,
 but it presents a surface as hard as a steel wall. Is this passage then
 impossible--?

 Perhaps all hope is not lost. It may stand fast, but it can be felt. It has
 a surface. And if it has a surface... perhaps it can be broken.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken======================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Avril uses the Medium to bring them all closer to the further door. But this is not without cost: pausing her stride for the moment it takes to invoke the Guardian's power means that she takes a tragically direct hit from the soapy foam...

    She has about a moment to consider her current state once they are past that last door. "Oh..."

    And even those concerns fall by the wayside soon enough as she looks back up and realizes that, perhaps...

    ...they have not quite cleared all the barriers the fire system had initiated to quell the non-existing blaze.

    Avril approaches the barrier and places a hand against it.

    "It is... only light," she remarks, sliding her hand across the cool wall of blue-white energy that serves to wall them in this section of passage. It's this way or, somehow, back through the metal barrier behind them.

    "..." she muses, regarding the barrier.

    A thought -- an impulse, really -- occurs to her.
    She pulls out the strange device she had retrieved, once, in the hands of the scientist who had been harrassing Lydia, flips it open, and pushes the button within.

    There is at first nothing.

    Then, a distant rumbling, as if something were approaching, somehow. But will what comes help or hinder?

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, A Wall of Light.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    "P-pweh, pweh..." Riesenlied wicks herself with that towel as Noeline saves her from a sudsy death!! Fortunately, most of it goes on her rather travel-purposed capelet, so she's protected from the worst of it.

    "I just thought it is nice to tell people if there is a fire..." she muses to Kaguya.

    "A shaman..." Riesenlied also murmurs, as Noeline comments about Guardians that has a direct line to their heads. She doesn't quite have the same relationship Noeline does with Duras Drum. Odoryuk's voice is faint and fleeting to her, no matter how much she tries...

    She hasn't heard him since the Pleasing Gardens, in fact.

    Avril asks if she shouldn't use it, though, and Kaguya responds that she should -- it's useful. Before she can think of much more, though, they coem onto a barrier of light--

    "Mmm..." Riesenlied closes her eyes. "This light is not the Ley, so I cannot connect with it."

    She instead rummages in her inventory with a bright gleam, perhaps eager to show something a Certain Mentor of hers has been teaching her (off-screen). "Here I go, then..." She sucks in a breath.

    "Pow Hammer!!"

    She kind of volleyball tosses a bright yellow squeaky hammer, which spirals through the air and goes BONK! against the light.

    ...

    Nice job, Riese...?

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Wall of Light.
[OOC] Avril Vent Fleur says, "bluray"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I see. Then, I shall continue to use it around you, Kaguya," comes her just-as-serious response. ...Was the Ice Queen quite this serious-minded, or did she have a sense of humor somewhere...?

    Avril uses the Medium to bring them all closer to the further door. But this is not without cost: pausing her stride for the moment it takes to invoke the Guardian's power means that she takes a tragically direct hit from the soapy foam...

    She has about a moment to consider her current state once they are past that last door. "Oh..."

    And even those concerns fall by the wayside soon enough as she looks back up and realizes that, perhaps...

    ...they have not quite cleared all the barriers the fire system had initiated to quell the non-existing blaze.

    Avril approaches the barrier and places a hand against it.

    "It is... only light," she remarks, sliding her hand across the cool wall of blue-white energy that serves to wall them in this section of passage. It's this way or, somehow, back through the metal barrier behind them.

    "..." she muses, regarding the barrier.

    A thought -- an impulse, really -- occurs to her.
    She pulls out the strange device she had retrieved, once, in the hands of the scientist who had been harrassing Lydia, flips it open, and pushes the button within.

    There is at first nothing.

    Then, a distant rumbling, as if something were approaching, somehow. But will what comes help or hinder?

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Perhaps Noeline picks up a little on Riesenlied's thoughts, because she offers a light squeeze of her partner's arm in silent reassurance once they're done being propelled forwards by Avril's Medium and the power of the Sea Guardian. The smile she's got on is a little wry, but also very sympathetic - she can only hope that Odoryuk comes to a reconciliation soon, sure it might help with Riesenlied's deterioration. Somehow.

    "As if you mind it," she puffs towards Kaguya. Without elaborating, it seems safe to say she's talking about Riesenlied being too nice rather than Avril's use of the Medium, and the Hyadean seems content to leave it at that, especially when their path is further blocked by a wall of solid light.

    "How odd," she comments thoughtfully, her expression a little blank. Trouble is already bonking repeatedly against the wall, narrowly missing Riesenlied's technicolor hammer mid-flight, but Noeline still prefers to check the wall herself, tapping a knuckle against it once she's sure it won't actually hurt her.

    It's only when she turns around that she spots Avril's condition, and has to blink for a second, snorting under her breath. For someone so composed to end up like that is a sight she won't forget easily. The only trick is making sure she can describe it well enough to Rebecca later. "It reminds me of some of Devit's work around projections. Except, of course, for the solid-as-a-rock part," she hums. "She'd be jealous, I'm sure."

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, A Wall of Light.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Oh, that's true," Kaguya answers Riesenlied. "Maybe I should incorporate some warnings into my alarm systems," she muses. What does she have now? It's better not to ask. Noeline's response, though, gets another siiiigh in that particular way of hers.... it ends around the time she glances back to Avril. "Yeah," she says. "Use your strength. That's part of it. Otherwise you're just risking yourself and the people around you."

They reach... the barrier. "Hmm," Kaguya hmms as she looks to the barrier as well, tilting her head as she observes Avril's interactions with it. Apparently solid, but transparent. Made of... "Light. Nice, so we got one of the cool ones." Not the Ley, either. "That's fine--" Pause. Blink blink. "You..."

She claps. "Very nice," she tells Riesenlied, and then glances around at the rumbling. "That's encouraging."

She steps towards the barrier, pulling a bomb from her things as she does. The silver casing with green plastic at each of its corners may be familiar; as she walks up by where Trouble is battering, she pops the bomb open casually and begins to make a couple of adjustments, moving a couple of wires and flicking a couple of switches."

"Instead of amplifying the explosion, this will amplify any vibrations in the barrier," Kaguya explains, and then places it. She grins at Noeline in particular. "Cool, right?"

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, A Wall of Light.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Wall of Light *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 This obstacle in your path presents itself quite literally: it stands in the
 middle of the winding corridor through which you currently walk, as a
 barrier of light.

 To all appearances a shimmering veil of pearly white-blue light, initial
 attempts to pass through it soon meet in failure: it may appear to be light,
 but it presents a surface as hard as a steel wall. Is this passage then
 impossible--?

 Perhaps all hope is not lost. It may stand fast, but it can be felt. It has
 a surface. And if it has a surface... perhaps it can be broken.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken======================================
==========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 3 *>===========================
=========================< Results - A Wall of Light >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          0 --(5)--> 5                   Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Trouble                             2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    8 --(0)--> 8                   Pass
Remote Golem Override               4   Brute   Effects: None
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied                  40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Cripple|Overzealous(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "...Yes. If I do not use my strengths, there is the risk that another may be harmed," Avril says, though something about the approximate set of her mouth, something about the look in her eyes just might suggest she is uneasy about this reality. Even if she accepts its necessity.
    And knows that she must accept that about herself.

    Rebecca might think it's very funny.
    Or maybe, it might make her embarrassed by proxy? It is, at the moment, a look not quite becoming of a royal figure. Unless one considers that pile of suds on her head to be a fluffy crown.

    Avril's focus is on the barrier and so, she doesn't notice--

    Though she does blink as a unreal hammer impacts the barrier, sending a shockwave of a ripple out across its surface. "Is that... your magic, Riesenlied?" she asks.

    The rumbling is getting closer.

    The barrier is still pulsing with that last impact when Kaguya approaches it and sets a very special bomb indeed. Instead of the wave dying out, it stays steady--

    And amplifies once Trouble slams into the barrier.

    The rumbling is very close now.

    "Everyone, please-- move back," Avril says, suddenly alert as if she has come into possession of quite certain knowledge.

    Shortly after this happens--

    It's ancient. Bits of the armoring has come off, revealing musculature beneath. This might be best appreciated after the fact.
    After the part where the Elw Golem's arm, seemingly unattached to anything else, slams into the already unstable barrier.

    The barrier gives up the ghost, accordingly. Where there was once a wall of light, there is now a hallway only half-obstructed by a Golem's fist.

    Avril lingers as they pass by it, resting a hand against it, just for a moment.

    As if to say, 'thank you.'

DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Verdant Recursion *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 This room seems unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden
 in miniature: the plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy
 stone paths.

 And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in
 the middle of the mini garden.

 When one of the tiles is stepped on, you are taken to a room that seems
 unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden in miniature: the
 plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths.

 And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in
 the middle of the mini garden.

 ...It's a teleporter maze, and a fiendish one at that, with each room
 appearing just like the last. Is this what the Elw considered
 recreational...? But perhaps there is no way forward but through.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Stupify========================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Let's face it, even if Noeline did cause second-hand embarrassment to Rebecca as well, that's still a good outcome as far as she's concerned. And, speaking of which: "Ah--" she blurts as Riesenlied's Pow Hammer doonks off the barrier, her eyebrows raising high at the sight of it. "Wherever did you learn that one?" she snorts gently under her breath.

    Kaguya's boast is met with a pretty indulging smile as the Hyadean chuckles, nodding her head slightly to herself. "Pretty cool," she replies, keeping up her deadpan a little longer. "But until it accompanies it with a fanfare, I'm not sure I can really feel the full impact of it."

    The donk-donk-donk of Trouble bouncing off the barrier suddenly and expectedly takes on a much deeper timbre. Noeline hadn't thought too much of Avril's device at first, but something makes the hairs on the back of her neck rise, and before she can even properly work out what she's worried about, she's tugged Riesenlied into her arms and tensed, ready to jump.

    So when the wall more or less explodes due to the force of a gigantic fist, she's more prepared and less surprised than she otherwise would be - but still pretty damn shocked, blurting out a wordless noise as she dives into a side room just beyond the barrier, skidding across the floor as she perhaps goes a little far in avoiding the golem's destruction.

    "Honestly," she mutters when she stands back up, helping Riesenlied with her before planting her hands on her hips and pacing forwards. "You could at least have given us a little more--"

    With the next step, she's gone in a sudden shower of light.

    ...

    . . .

    . . .

    And then she's back, but from the other floor tile. "Oh, you are kidding me," she blurts in exasperation.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    The wall explodes as an Elw Golem erupts on through! She kind of scampers to her feet groggily from where Noeline's grabbed and saved her from imminent Golem-explosion. "Uuh..."

    As Avril pauses to thank it, Riesenlied looks up at it too, a conflicted emotion in her heart.

    "Once, I was trying to steal these..." she whispers. She places a hand on it too, gently. "Thank you."

    Avril asks her, however, if the hammer is her magic, and Kaguya says it's nice.

    Riesenlied does smile with a, "Thank you, but not my magic, actually! A very kind Seraph who I feel comfortable with has been teaching me some ways to fight. This 'Pow Hammer' is one of her abilities." She asides to Noeline, "It was when we met Liath in Windfall."

    She doesn't... exactly know why she feels so much comfort around Liath, but feels glad that she does.

    But! Avril has suds on her hair, and so she says, "Oh, Avril! Hold a moment..." and she'll clean Avril's hair with a smile, if allowed. "There. All better."

    Kaguya's explanation of how it amplifies the vibrations gets a look of excitement too. "Wow, that is so clever..."

    There is a non-zero chance Riesenlied doesn't really understand why amplifying vibrations actually helps. But she trusts Kaguya knows it'll help.

    She's helped forward until...

    ...

    . . .

    "... I am tired..." Riesenlied sags. "Did this one go there, or here, or... mmm!"

    She huffs as she focuses on the light of the Dragon's Tear on a particular tile of light as she pours ALL of her energy into it.

    "I will try to change this so that it solves itself for us," she poutily says.

    Riesenlied has acquired the power of CHEATING!

DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Heritor's Regalia toward her party's challenge, Verdant Recursion.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya sure notices that set of Avril's mouth. There's a hardness underneath the casual, joking sort of tone there in the small Veruni's too. She seems rather invested in the idea. But she's back to her 'normal' self as they move on.

"Oh, yeah, you met Liath?" Kaguya asks. "She's cool."

But speaking of cool... Kaguya frowns!! At Noeline. Before she grins. "Okay. Challenge accepted." She'll have to add music, too. And Riesenlied calls her clever and if she were a bird she might preen a little at this point but instead just just beams. And then...

Then there is a Golem arm and Kaguya just kind of stares at it for a little while. "...I need one of those," she says, and actually means the button.

"Oh, this is nice. Got a little water, some nice plants... Oh I should get a sample of that one..." Bwoop. Light. Kaguya pauses. ".....Man, I had to talk about teleporters," she sighs. "Hey--" Riesenlied's idea. "That's a great idea--Oh, sec, I'll..." Kaguya pulls a small green case from her bag, and kneels down, pulling some tools with which she starts messing with a little circuit of some kind and attaches it to her tablet. "I can read the teleporters for similar locales to get a feel for how it's laid out, and tell us things about how close we are. It's simple, really--you just have to tap into the," Kaguya talks in highly technical terms about teleporter readings as she works. She's obviously pleased with herself.

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Mad Science Case toward her party's challenge, Verdant Recursion.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "My apologies, Noeline. I had only realized from what angle it was to appear too late," she says, shaking her head.

    But lingers there just long enough to overhear what what it is that Riesenlied has to say to the now silent Golem.

    She lifts her hands to her chest and there lingers a moment, as if considering what she heard.

    "...Oh, I see. Liath... I do not believe that I have met her," Avril says, glancing at Riesenlied, then over at Noeline. She's just about to proceed onwards when--

    "Oh? Ah--"

    She realizes that she had been indeed bearing a crown of a sort when Rieselied takes care of it handily. "Thank you," she says, and actually...
    ...flushes lightly, as if she were just a little embarrassed. "You will not tell, will you?" she whispers, to Riesenlied.
    Perhaps she might worry more about the others in the room!

    Though, speaking of that particular room...

    Avril stands for a long moment, watching the others as they come and go, or start to make their rounds in various ways within. "Hm..."

    After a moment's time, she pulls out the mirror, tilting it as if to catch the world about her in silver. "I see... so this is how this room is arranged..."

    Mirror still held as if it were a dowsing rod before her, she walks towards one of the teleporter panels and vanishes.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Verdant Recursion.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Verdant Recursion.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Verdant Recursion *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 This room seems unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden
 in miniature: the plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy
 stone paths.

 And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in
 the middle of the mini garden.

 When one of the tiles is stepped on, you are taken to a room that seems
 unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden in miniature: the
 plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths.

 And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in
 the middle of the mini garden.

 ...It's a teleporter maze, and a fiendish one at that, with each room
 appearing just like the last. Is this what the Elw considered
 recreational...? But perhaps there is no way forward but through.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Stupify========================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 4 *>==========================
=======================< Results - Verdant Recursion >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Heritor's Regalia                   3   Wits    Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Mad Science Case                    2   Wits    Effects: Enlighten
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             0 --(0)--> 0                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    8 --(5)--> 13                  Fail
Mirror of De Soto                   1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied                  60 --(20)--> 80                Pass
Conditions: Cripple|Overzealous(1)|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Weaken(1)
Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied 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> Noeline has posed.

    Before Riesenlied begins working to subvert the teleporter grid, Noeline's approach to it is one of dogged and rather stubborn determination, and she's evidently tried several different configurations before once again appearing at the start of the maze, huffing out an annoyed breath. At least she's smart enough to stop once Riesenlied begins, recognizing that might lead to her being irrevocably trapped.

    "My compliments to Seraph Liath, then," she says as she waits, chuckling softly. "It's a very impressive move, that much is for sure." It doesn't even seem like she's being tactful, so much as serious - but well, from her point of view, maybe it really is as much about the show of shaping and directing light as it is the actual power of the thing.

    She peers over Kaguya's shoulder, her eyebrows raised, silent as she follows along with Kaguya's logic - at least, most of the way. "Not that I don'tunderstand what you're doing, but I have to admit that I'm not terribly used to Elw patterns. At least, I'd expect an ouroboros spiral of teleporters which would somehow be impossible to read and yet infinitely simple all at once," she grouses.

    In the end, a combination of Riesenlied's light and Kaguya's technical know-how shaping the other parts of the teleporter are what ultimately get them through.

    ... get most of them through.

    "Where is Avril?" notes Noeline with a careful tone of 'ohhhh shit' as she looks around their destination. When the Veruni woman hadn't come back, she'd thought that maybe Avril got safely through the maze. Suddenly, those worries about being trapped inside come right back--

    --and are thankfully dispelled when an unused panel on one wall lights up, unceremoniously dropping Avril to the ground.

DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Access Denied *>========================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Ahead of you is a delicately-spun bridge, seated across a span; water
 improbably flows in the depths of the complex below. Across the bridge
 stands a single white door, giving the (likely incorrect) impression that it
 is made of porcelain. Tall in comparison to the rest of the doors in the
 complex, it is a certain thing that whatever is most important to the Elw
 lies beyond.

 The moment you step onto the bridge a blue light washes over you.

 That's when the alarm starts. When the door to the back shimmers over with a
 pearly-blue light.

 [NON-ELW ENTITIES DETECTED. INITIATE DEFENSE PROTOCOL.]

 The sentinel automaton that descends from the compartment on the ceiling
 above you manages to be both incredibly hostile and vaguely insectoid in its
 appearance and form. Great translucent wings spread from its back as it
 takes you in its sights and engages.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1usoOVrybQ
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Weaken=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Avril looks embarrassed as she whispers to Riesenlied, and there is a bigger smile as she retracts the towel after they are done. "It will be our secret," she chimes to Avril, perhaps understanding a little where she's coming from.

    Though Rebecca teasing Avril would be cute...

    "I will introduce you sometime, hmm?" Riesenlied muses, of Liath. And, when Avril reveals the mirror...

    "I had meant to ask you about mirrors..."

    But then TELEPORTATION happens.

    In the end, though...

    "It is amazing you can read the teleporters," Riesenlied speaks of Kaguya. "I can only adjust them through... instinct, I suppose. Being light for a moment lets me read where light may flow, because light will always travel in the most expedient pattern."

    It is perhaps still a miracle that Riesenlied somehow touches upon some of the theories of light and quantum mechanics with her, at times, absolutely Bird-fuelled Brain.

    She looks to Noeline too and says, "It is okay, though. I want to learn from you too. And you have done a lot too to--"

    *rumble*

    "Oh, oh?" Riesenlied wobbles as the alarm rings.

    NON-ELW ENTITIES DETECTED. INITIATE DEFENSE PROTOCOL.

    "Oh no...!" Riesenlied looks to the insectoid sentinel, wincing as it takes sight of them and begins their assault. She barely has time to focus and bring forth the Heritor's sword before--

    *WHAP*

    --she's bounced onto one knee and skids against the floor, the braces hissing with a little arc of electricity. "It bears such speed...!"

    She focuses instead on her usual forte -- channeling the Ley to bring healing on her party. "Be careful, everyone...!"

DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Access Denied.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya would absolutely tell, when it is most hilarious. But did she notice while talking???

She glances at the mirror but mostly goes on about teleporters. "Oh, yeah, like, there's still definitely some maze work to do. It shouuuld just make it easier." She laughs. "Yeah these are pretty cool. I don't really have any stable teleporters--all mine are generally single-use. Getting a bunch of them together like this is really impressive." She includes Riesenlied and nods, thoughtfully. "That's really nice. I can't get them intuitively at all--it's all instruments here. I don't have a full read on each, but it should be good enough."

Pause. "Uh, not that I don't hate them, or, whatever. I definitely don't like thier stuff or something."

Pause. "Good thing we didn't lose Avril!"

Learning from one another is lovely. But Kaguya instead looks to the insectoid sentinel and grins. "Now, here's something fun. I wonder if your friend will be waiting for us at the exit?" Kaguya asks as she pulls a few things together. The device she used to read the teleporters is quickly repurposed along with some weirdly glowing objects in yellow and black. It's hard to see what she's using, but she throws the whole device forward, and--

It disappears. If it works, it'll reappear and maybe overload the thing's systems from within its shielding...! Or at least blast it from the outside.

Maybe a little too big a blast.

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Loot Abuse toward her party's challenge, Access Denied.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "About mirrors..." Avril murmurs in an echo of what was said, her gaze fixed on the depths of the mirror itself and not truly on Riesenlied. Teleportation happens shortly thereafter.

    For a period of time, drawing on whatever guidance the mirror appears to provide her, Avril wanders.

    But not for terribly long. She rather suddenly drops a short distance, landing heavily on a bush. "Oh...!"

    A few moments afterwards, having extracted herself from the bush (it was thankfully not a rosebush), she rejoins the others. "My apologies, I appear to have become turned around. I had been attempting to use the mirror as a guide, but there is something about this place that seems to alter the flow of the Ley, perhaps."

    She is not entirely certain, it seems.

    "It would seem that we are close to the center of this place," she remarks, commenting perhaps on the nature of the bridge itself.

    Then she stops, pausing for good three seconds.
    And then the alarm rings.

    Absolute Zero comes readily to hand once the sentry's hostility is undeniable; she throws out her left hand as if to shield Riesenlied--

    And fails to be fast enough. "No! --Noeline!" she calls, as if to ask for the other's assistance in helping the downed Heritor.

    Avril, in the meantime, takes directly to the field, sword blade vanishing in a burst of light before she lashes out -- literally -- for the sentry. Ideally, to get its attention her way, it seems...

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Access Denied.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    "All you'd need to do is make a teleporter maze which changed its destinations on a regular basis," puffs the Crimson Notble towards Kaguya, immediately punctuating her suggestion with an amused smirk. "Then you would have truly surpassed the Elw in being casually infuriating."

    "Riese!" yells Noeline sharply, as the rest of the world gets filtered out until all she can see is the other Hyadean getting barreled to one side by the sentinel automaton. Before she's even aware she's doing it her sword has manifested in her hands, swept around in a heavy, solid arc to slam against the construct and send it pitching to one side, then simply flinging the slab of metal after it.

    That's all she needs to dive to one side, sliding across the floor until she can get into a position to cover her partner along with a solemn, curt nod to Avril's command. A moment's concentration and the metal of her sword simply dissolves, sliding back across the floor to her for it to reappear in her hands, braced against her as she shields the pair of them from Kaguya's blast.

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Rings of Promise toward her party's challenge, Access Denied.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Access Denied *>========================
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Ahead of you is a delicately-spun bridge, seated across a span; water
 improbably flows in the depths of the complex below. Across the bridge
 stands a single white door, giving the (likely incorrect) impression that it
 is made of porcelain. Tall in comparison to the rest of the doors in the
 complex, it is a certain thing that whatever is most important to the Elw
 lies beyond.

 The moment you step onto the bridge a blue light washes over you.

 That's when the alarm starts. When the door to the back shimmers over with a
 pearly-blue light.

 [NON-ELW ENTITIES DETECTED. INITIATE DEFENSE PROTOCOL.]

 The sentinel automaton that descends from the compartment on the ceiling
 above you manages to be both incredibly hostile and vaguely insectoid in its
 appearance and form. Great translucent wings spread from its back as it
 takes you in its sights and engages.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1usoOVrybQ
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Weaken=============================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 5 *>==========================
=========================< Results - Access Denied >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          5 --(15)--> 20                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Loot Abuse                          2   Combat  Effects: Cleanse and Sacrifice
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Rings of Promise                    4   Combat  Effects: Efficient and Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    13 --(15)--> 28                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied                  80 --(0)--> 80                 Pass
Conditions: Reckless(1)|Slow(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Break Through *>========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 However you dealt with the sentinel automaton (or didn't), a more pressing
 matter presents itself when it comes to piercing the heart of the ruins of
 Capel Coffa to begin with:

 The pearly-blue light still cloaks the far door. Whatever security alert was
 triggered, it's still in effect and preventing you passage beyond its doors.

 You'll have to work out some way of breaking through if you want to get any
 further (and not to mention, potentially escape the sentinel if it's still
 about). But how do you break through a barrier of light itself?

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGHKV12USHo
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    The fight, as most fights tend to turn out to be, is brutal and swift.

    Swift, because the group springs into action very quickly -- Avril lashes forward in a powerful burst of light with Absolute Zero, tearing a glowing line across the sentinel which gives it pause;

    It gives Noeline time to slides back and protect Riesenlied, who offers more healing to sustain the group long enough to--

    *BLIP*

    The sentinel automaton looks around as Kaguya hurls the device on it and it finds itself in another part of Capel Coffa.

    "??"

    It steps in one tile and gets lost.

    MAZE END

    "S-sorry," Riesenlied answers shakily, trying to get up and--

    *bzzt*

    It looks like the device didn't quite make it out intact from the battle they engaged. But it isn't the worst of outcomes, because the Dig itself isn't offering a challenge that requires speed, rather...

    There is another wall of light.

    "Mm," Riesenlied frowns quietly, leaning to one side. "Perhaps..."

    She procures, following on what she was going to ask Avril earlier, a dark mirror. Its surface is pitch-black and seems to offer no reflection. The symbol of Leitea Salk can be seen upon it.

    "Perhaps darkness can help counter light? But... I cannot channel the darkness, it is my opposite. So I was wondering, with this mirror..."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Mirrors are interesting. But Kaguya thinks. "That would make sense," Kaguya says. "The teleporters might scramble it a little. Or something else. It's just a guess."

But Noeline brings up a solution and Kaguya brightens. "That'd be the perfect way to guard a secret lab or something. I'll remember that!"

Once the others are safe and the battle ends, Kaguya beams. "Well that worked. Someone else's problem now! Take that, Elw."

But she looks in some concern to Riesenlied as she edoesn't make it up, and then at the light. "Hrm... I think I saw some parts back there that might help us get through." She pulls a bomb, and hands it to Noeline. "I'll be right back."

And indeed she will, but as she goes, there's a cough from nearby, and attention can be drawn to a woman crawling out of a hole in the wall, the familiar face of one Lily Keil. She looks... Well, kind of rough, frankly; burned arm that she isn't using much, without sleeves, pale. But she is in fact here. "Hey," she says. "Somebody call for darkness? ...Can't do that much at the moment, but..."

DG: Kaguya has used her Tool Magnetic Resonance Bomb toward her party's challenge, Break Through.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Break Through.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    The sentinel is duely disposed of, in a fashion that prompts Avril to tilt her head in consideration of where it had gone.

    "I wonder what became of it?" she muses, before turning to face the doorway.

    The doorway now firmly locked down by another barrier of light. "Oh..."

    She thinks, briefly, of the Golem--

    Then discards the thought, considering the bridge upon which they now stand and the possible danger that may be posed to whatever is beyond the door. "Perhaps, if I..."

    She takes all of a step forward before Riesenlied asks what she had attempted to pose to her earlier. Avril turns back towards the Hyadean woman. "About... mirrors," she echoes, for a second time. "That symbol. Is it...?"

    She almost knows the answer. But it won't come.

    "...Perhaps. A mirror that cannot reflect, against a wall of light..." All she can offer is a 'maybe' -- De Soto's Mirror, whatever its ultimate tethers to the world and its lifeblood, is just a normal mirror by comparison to the antimirror now in Riesenlied's grasp.

    A woman then coughs, an unexpected sound that echoes from a hole in the nearby wall. A woman begins to crawl forth.

    "...Lily?" Avril picks up the pace, hurrying to the clearly wounded woman's side. The barrier may be a footnote for her now; she kneels and draws out the Sea Medium. "Here, let me see..."

    Her efforts are here focused: using the Medium's power to mend the woman's wounds.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Break Through.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

    Noeline pauses for a long moment, as if unwilling to believe that the automaton is actually gone. Only after a long beat does she let herself relax, slowly lifting up as she puffs out a slow breath, and then turns to Riesenlied to help her up as well, tension and concern written across her face for a moment before she lets it go with a relieved sigh and looks towards the new wall of light.

    Her eyebrows raise as Riesenlied brings out the stone mirror she found; she can't help but glance between it and Avril's, naturally comparing the two of them against each other with a thoughtful hum. Whatever clever thing she was going to say is lost when a part of the wall once more begins to bulge outwards - she throws a wild glance towards Avril, but that button isn't in her hands--

    --which obviously only leaves the automaton, and a very confused Noeline when that guess turns out to be completely wrong. "What on Filgaia are you--" she starts to say, then realizes that asking Lily that question is only going to result in a point-blank, forthright, and probably unhelpful answer, because Lily is entirely the sort of person to go somewhere on her own and bust through a wall.

    Instead, she chooses to concentrate, turning back to Riesenlied as she mulls the problem over. When her partner brings the mirror to bear, she taps gently into her own Medium's power - because it's shadow that can make darkness twist and shift, hopefully past the wall's defences.

DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Break Through.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Break Through *>========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 However you dealt with the sentinel automaton (or didn't), a more pressing
 matter presents itself when it comes to piercing the heart of the ruins of
 Capel Coffa to begin with:

 The pearly-blue light still cloaks the far door. Whatever security alert was
 triggered, it's still in effect and preventing you passage beyond its doors.

 You'll have to work out some way of breaking through if you want to get any
 further (and not to mention, potentially escape the sentinel if it's still
 about). But how do you break through a barrier of light itself?

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGHKV12USHo
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Exhaust========================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 6 *>==========================
=========================< Results - Break Through >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Riesenlied                          20 --(15)--> 35                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaguya                              10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Magnetic Resonance Bomb             3   Brute   Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noeline                             10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Trouble                             2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    28 --(15)--> 43                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Riesenlied                  80 --(35)--> 115               Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Exhaust(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored Capel Coffa!
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Where We Went *>========================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Disabling the light shielding and passing through the barrier, you find
 yourselves in amidst a forest floor. The air is still here, and were it not
 for the presence of the crystalline spire that commands the center of the
 floor, you might think yourselves transported to some primeval copse.

 When approached, an image stirs in the heart of the spire, taking the
 ghostly form of an Elw woman. The image speaks, as if playing back a
 recording.

 You who disturb this memorial hall...
 Know that the Elw are of Filgaia no more.
 The land dies and we, its children, travel now for the promised land of Elw
 Borea.
 We never will return to this world.
 For you: twin warnings. Leave the past behind. No good can be there found.
 And do not make the mistake she did. The world reels from it still.
 Filgaia belongs to you now. Do with it as you will.

 With the message given, the woman's image vanishes.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lszMYq03ZFA
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

    Riesenlied herself doesn't seem to really have much knowledge of the mirror's power, and as she says... just because this is a Guardian-aligned artifact, the fact that it is a mirror of darkness...

    It is like mixing fire and ice together, perhaps.

    But before long, Lily makes her presence known-- and there is a gasp as Riesenlied goes, "What the goodness! Lily, your wounds!"

    Avril has the Sea Medium at hand, however, as Riesenlied hovers... well, nearby, given she's at best on one leg until she gets that wheelchair back to her.

    "Were you separated from the others?" she asks worriedly, given there's a chance there might be a team missing now.

    But Kaguya decides to go for a much more direct solution -- as she hands Noeline a bomb, and leaves to investigate some parts...

    And with that bomb, the dark mirror, and the powers of the Mediums--

    *CRASH*

    It shatters... and they arrive at a forest floor, the crystalline spire that commands the center of the floor amongst them. And then a ghostly image appears...

    ...

    Riesenlied lowers her head. "Elw Borea..." she murmurs. "Much like the Veruni, they travelled away in the wake of their mistakes. But... I know!"

    She looks up, still clutching the mirror. "I know it is painful to look to the past, but we would be lost as a people, us Hyadeans, if we did not reflect on what had happened, what had not worked for us as a species."

    It's... of course, a passionate plea that goes unheard, since it is just a recording.

    'She', though? She has to wonder who the recording means... Mariel? It's difficult to know.

    "... we should be able to gather some herbs and plants here to sell, for Honeysday's efforts... can I have the wheelchair now, Noeline? And, thank you, everyone..."

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"Yeah," Lily identifies herself to Avril, and offers a lopsided smile Noeline's way, in the way of someone inured but not that concerned about it. "Jumped while scouting outside," she explains. "Long story. ...He got away, I think." the Sea Medium's power washes over her, and it helps visibly. "Just tired. I'll explain later." Lily will be quiet for a while; she's in fact tired enough to actually lean on possibly Avril through the next while, dozing.

Meanwhile, Kaguya... "Huh. Guess you found her after all." Past the barrier, in the still air, Kaguya walks forward, returning to the group. "...What?" Kaguya asks as she sees the image amidst the beautiful stand of trees. She would love to take samples here, but first--

"Wait--"

Kaguya rushes forward for the image, and it speaks. The message... "You--You just--"

"Who is she?" Kaguya demands of the image. "TELL ME!" But the image doesn't. Kaguya balls up her hands into fists, shaking for a moment. "...What makes you any better than us, then!?"

Her shoulders sink. She turns towards the group, but looks over her shoulder to where the image was. "...Hmph. Can't even repeat what the mistake was. Useless. Do with it as we will? That's just foisting the problem off on the future."

She turns back, and shakes her head. "Yeah. I want some samples, too. I just... It's not like ignoring the past makes it go away. It's the past's mistakes we have to fix," she says, bitterly.

"Whatever. I just--I just hate people like that."