2020-04-05: The Unexpected

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  • Log: The Unexpected
  • Cast: Citan Uzuki, Fei Fong Wong, Eleanor Klein, Elhaym van Houten
  • Where: Sielje Icy Sea
  • Date: April 05, 2020
  • Summary: A rather routine Gear modifications trial and exploration of a known location suddenly takes a turn for the unexpected, once the group finds what lurks in the depths of Shae Ving.

DG: A party led by Citan Uzuki is now entering Shae Ving.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Shieldmaiden-class Automatons *>=================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The path to Shae Ving is a hard one. A Gear is necessary to reach this high
 in the mountains. The cold winds of Sielje blow snow and ice in great
 swirls, and the slope is steep -- but Gears are powerful enough and have
 flight, letting them rise to the occasion. The entrance to Shae Ving is
 deceptively small, which explains why few have found it: a simple pair of
 blast doors, built into a metal bunker in the mountainside.

 When your Gears touch down and get close enough, you learn that this
 facility is online. A light flickers on the side; it first flashes red and
 then green. The huge double doors slide open, then, and reveal a dark
 interior: steel walls and a platform, leading to a trench... where a pair of
 railway tracks run. A huge flatbed train car, with railing around it, is
 there. Sized for Gears, it also has a Gear-sized set of buttons -- to send
 it hurtling into those depths.

 As you look around this room, you see signs of a battle fought here more
 recently. Slagged metal is on one wall, where something struck it; pock
 marks scar the floor where rounds struck it; there is broken husks of armor
 here and there. It seems, too, that the defense systems here were alerted. A
 quartet of floating automatons patrol the room. Each is tall as a Gear, but
 floats, with the legs replaced with a conical anti-gravity system. The arms
 are large, rectangular shields that house immense cannons.

 The automatons turn when your Gears enter -- and then begin peppering the
 entrance with coordinated autocannon fire from those shield-guns.

 There is business to attend to, before you send the train car hurtling into
 the depths of Shae Ving.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Fright, Suffer===================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Naturally, once you have repaired a part of a machine, the time has come to ensure that the repair was made correctly. Tests in the hangar aboard the Thames appeared to show that the temperature and flow rate within Heimdall's surprisingly atypical systems for a Gear of its age and model were behaving appropriately, but...

    It needs a proper field stress-test. Which meant that a trip to the Sielje region was needed.

    Which may just explain the presence of their fourth member in this expedition, after a trip to the nearby city itself was had and certain encounters ensued.

    To put it plainly, while it would be sufficient to, say, scale a mountain or counduct a short circuit about a section of the region proper, it had become clear that there was a certain opportunity involved.
    Why not, as the saying goes, kill two birds with one stone and pursue the inherent mysteries of a certain ruin that Fei and Elly had investigated prior as well as evaluate the repairs and adjustments that Citan has made to his Gear?

    It has been a difficult advance across the wastes. Even with a Gear, the going is difficult--

    But at least the ventilation system appears to be holding up. And what's more...

    "I believe that I see the facility ahead," Citan announces, over communications lines. "Miss Klein, is everything alright on your end?"

    He may have more concerns towards her, perhaps, given that they have only just met.

    The lights by the door flicker as they make their approach. First red, then green, then...

    "Aha, just as you said," the doctor remarks. "And this must be the track that will take us within. Elly, Fei, if you would..."

    He trails off, as he takes in the signs of the damage within. Is all of that a result of the battle that had been waged here before?

    "Wait."

    Something moves in the semidarkness, before the still-powered lights catch its form...!

    Or to be more precise, their form. Automated anti-Gear systems slowly drift downwards into this space, surveying the lot of them.

    Their optical sensors begin to gleam red.

    "Get back--"

    But it may already be too late. They open fire without discrimination upon the Gears before them. The Heimdall lifts an arm as if to shield itself from the incoming flurry; dents and small pieces of external plating take flight under the leaden storm.

    "External damage is minimal," reports the doctor, apparently calm in spite of the damage the Gear's already taken. "They're automated systems -- there is no reasoning with them. Do not hold back!"

    The storm of bullets subsides for a moment; the automatons appear to be reloading and assessing the situation.

    "I will handle the one on the left. See to the other!"

    Leveling Heimdall's right hand at the left-most one as the automaton reorients its shield-guns back for him, a line suddenly rockets (rocket being the right word, as that is in fact what is propelling it) for that construct. Perhaps it might work to knock it off balace--

    --if it doesn't harpoon the thing altogether.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool ARJUNA-2X Line Thrower toward his party's challenge, Shieldmaiden-class Automatons.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei (and Weltall) are always happy to lend Citan a hand. "It's weird going through this place again." Fei admits quietly over the comms. "It's not just weird for me, is it? It's unlikely for the train to take us somewhere new right? Ahahah...."

Actually, she has yet to talk to Lily about what he saw too. It wasn't really avoiding it so much as not finding a great time to bring it up. It's one of those things that feels important but he isn't quite sure how to articulate why it is important.

He finds himself wondering about 'Ms. Klein'. He doesn't really know her, but he doesn't know much about Sielje beyond there being a super swank academy there and he wonders if she's going to like find a lot to talk with Doc about maybe? He hopes they don't lead her to her death or anything like that. That would be terrible. And agghh now he's thinking about it. He better shake his head quickly and focus up. They probably dealt with most of the danger alread--

"Oh come on!" Fei complains as he swings Weltall around to focus on the automatons. "How can there still be this many mechs left?"

He pulls both control sticks forward, aiming to seize up one of the drones in one hand before slamming it into another like he was a caveman who just picked up the world's first rock, eager to see what it could do to a well placed skull.

"At least they're unmanned..." Fei adds.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Deathblower toward his party's challenge, Shieldmaiden-class Automatons.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

A scholar of the Sielje Academy--a graduate, despite being by a wide margin the youngest of the four here--Eleanor Klein also knows the Sielje snowfields fairly well, and could easily get a map of these mountains. She was happy to make use of it and keep an eye on an expedition into the mountains.

...And to go places where, on foot, there's simply no way that she could make it along. It's much easier in a cozy cockpit with a nice cup of tea now and then. She is so far favorably disposed to her current companions, and has been amiable on the way over. Maybe outright chatty, in fact. But as Citan asks after her...

"Systems are all still functional!" Eleanor answers cheerfully. "My, it's frigid out there," she opines, but is watching carefully as the doors open. The signs of battle... And--"Oh!"

"Look out!" she calls, and operates defensive maneuvers. "Oh, yes, you've been through this before," Eleanor recalls from what she was told. "...Mm. As long as there's no one in them, we have little choice. ...Deploying missiles!"

Eleanor opens a class top and slams down a button, directing them with the controls. These missiles burst into great craggy power, into wind that whirls around the drones with sorcerous force. ...The far ones, not in melee with Weltall.

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Sorcerous Missiles toward her party's challenge, Shieldmaiden-class Automatons.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

'If you would,' says Dr. Uzuki.

Elly raises Vierge's rod, as if to salute the heavens -

When something else comes up and is a new, fresh form of Hell to subject them to the torments of Gear combat. "Oh for the love of little baby ducks," Elly exclaims when she sees the approacing automatons, which is a turn of phrase she almost certainly picked up on the Fereshte at some point. "They must have some kind of hidden storage center, or something... even if they have some kind of manufacturing facility," Elly continues, "they'd have a limitation on supply materials..."

Right, Kim?

Elly steers forwards -- the Ether Amplifier is still, perhaps, a little finicky, and so Elly resorts to brute force and high speed maneuvering, pulling the semi-Solarian Gear outwards after the attack pass.

"... Though," Elly continues, "the hovering components look like they might be worth trying to preserve--"

She's already thinking like a Drifter.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Shieldmaiden-class Automatons.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Shieldmaiden-class Automatons *>=================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The path to Shae Ving is a hard one. A Gear is necessary to reach this high
 in the mountains. The cold winds of Sielje blow snow and ice in great
 swirls, and the slope is steep -- but Gears are powerful enough and have
 flight, letting them rise to the occasion. The entrance to Shae Ving is
 deceptively small, which explains why few have found it: a simple pair of
 blast doors, built into a metal bunker in the mountainside.

 When your Gears touch down and get close enough, you learn that this
 facility is online. A light flickers on the side; it first flashes red and
 then green. The huge double doors slide open, then, and reveal a dark
 interior: steel walls and a platform, leading to a trench... where a pair of
 railway tracks run. A huge flatbed train car, with railing around it, is
 there. Sized for Gears, it also has a Gear-sized set of buttons -- to send
 it hurtling into those depths.

 As you look around this room, you see signs of a battle fought here more
 recently. Slagged metal is on one wall, where something struck it; pock
 marks scar the floor where rounds struck it; there is broken husks of armor
 here and there. It seems, too, that the defense systems here were alerted. A
 quartet of floating automatons patrol the room. Each is tall as a Gear, but
 floats, with the legs replaced with a conical anti-gravity system. The arms
 are large, rectangular shields that house immense cannons.

 The automatons turn when your Gears enter -- and then begin peppering the
 entrance with coordinated autocannon fire from those shield-guns.

 There is business to attend to, before you send the train car hurtling into
 the depths of Shae Ving.
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure, Fright, Suffer===================================
===========================<* Shae Ving - Round 1 *>============================
==================< Results - Shieldmaiden-class Automatons >===================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
ARJUNA-2X Line Thrower              2   Combat  Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Sorcerous Missiles                  3   Combat  Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Deathblower                         2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Citan Uzuki                 0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Suffer(1)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Shae Ving *>================================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Weight Dragging Us Down *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Much of Shae Ving's railway system is automated. The tracks are not
 frequently illuminated, save for the lights on the flatbed car itself. You
 miss the enormous opening above you, at first. The expansive opening is lost
 in the same darkness that obscures the top of the enormous tunnel. The
 screech of steel and massive clatter of a crane, however, cannot be missed.
 A crane slams a second flatbed trailer on after your car -- and a powerful
 magnetic lock hooks the car to yours.

 Your car slows, lurching suddenly. The reason is the second flatbed car.
 This one is piled with heaps of scrap metal, much of it gone to rust, placed
 here for processing by whatever ancient computer systems make this place
 continue its function. To move at a reasonable pace, you will need to lessen
 the load somehow.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Slow, Tire=======================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Understood," comes his response to Eleanor. "I admit, I have often been curious about Sielje. Are there any particular sights you might recommend? I am afraid we had only been able to see a part of the city when we came in."

    Once they venture in, the plan of attack (as it were) shifts slightly. But first, he replies to Fei's concerns over the place: "Hmm. I suppose that we will see, Fei. Your account was helpful, though I look forward to seeing what other secrets this place may hold..."

    Of course, nothing is ever easy.

    A pair of them swoop in after the initial salvo to tangle with Weltall; unfortunately they receive a little more than they bargained for as the Gear rushes in and grapples one of them. It struggles, but the struggle is very much in vain--

    Particularly when Fei proceeds to use it as a bludgeon. Whatever their makeup, it is not particularly durable, it seems: the one he uses as a bludgeon and the bludgeonee both lose considerable sections of their armed plating.

    This makes them open targets for the Vierge, and whatever she will with them.

    "I will endeavor to try, in that case, Elly," remarks Citan as he takes that shot.

    The automaton swoops low at the last moment, perhaps in an attempt to duck out of the way of the harpooning line--
    Unfortunately for it, it means that the shot takes it right through its head-analogue. There is an explosion of sparks; it attempts to rally for a moment, still spitting sparks.

    But ultimately the automaton crashes to the floor in a spray of sparks, fire, and assorted parts.

    The Heimdall releases its end of the line, leaving it with the wreck of the automaton. "...That was, ah, a bit messier than I had hoped for," Citan remarks, as if to lament how it was done.

    As he says this, a bevvy of sorcerous rockets slam into the drone just beyond the one he had managed, and Heimdall pauses for a moment, as if its pilot were considering this display.

    "...A spell convertor, if I am not mistaken, Miss Klein? Such a thing would be quite useful."

    He should probably look into locating one, sometime.

    The further automaton meanwhile does them all the favor of exploding. It's a very impressive explosion.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly wonders if she should visit Sielje sometime. Maybe it would remind her of home? Or maybe it would be a horrible reminder of what she's lost, that would leave her helpless and in tears. It's a tough thing to guess, Elly thinks as she strikes an automaton with resounding force that is only a little bit composed of floating lingering heart effects: Should I take the gamble?

k-BOOM! "Oh," Elly says - "I suppose it might be valuable salvage, at least...?"

* Got 230G
* Got 1x Medium Scrap
* Got 1x Indifferent Scrap

Forwards.

As the group approaches the service train, Elly says, "I suppose this will go down to wherever those automatic machines were based. I don't know if it's going to reveal anything, Doctor, but at least we could keep it from being exploited by Odessa or by bandits or something like that." There's room on the train cars for everyone's Gear, and once they're aboard, the train have started to move...

Through light and dark and light and dark and light and dark. Of course, they're all in their Gear cockpits, separated but together, and climate-controlled. Elly, nonetheless, looks at the screens around her and feels an obscure distance.

"Those missiles were interesting," Elly asks Eleanor. "Were they something that you developed in Sielje? I-" And anything else she was going to say is cancelled out by the SCREECH of metal

the SLAM of a crane

the huge magnetic SNAP as something is attached to their rear

and their train car lurches, its acceleration turning to deceleration so swiftly! It screams, it wails!

SCRAP CAR "KERENSKY"
A SILENT BURDEN DIMMING THE FUTURE'S HOPES

"Oh... poop! I-is that an electromagnetic lock?! It's going to affix your Gear to it if you get too close...! You're going to have to find some kind of other way to -" Elly begins, before pausing, and then saying, "I'm going to try and boot up the Ether Amp and hit it with lightning."

A couple of seconds later there is an annoying and discordant chime from her comm system. "Shoot," Elly says.

"I mean," she dithers, "I mean, shoot at the lock, it's not booting up!"

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Ether Amp toward her party's challenge, The Weight Dragging Us Down.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei says, "I guess if anybody can find new secrets ina place like this, it'd be you, Doc." He seems to be a bit more at ease after the discussion anyway. He has a lot of faith in Citan even as an otherwise nervous gent.

He has also learned that quick moment of brutality often does the job of minutes of well trained maneuvering. He seems pretty pleased with the results--they are unmanned drones, he doesn't feel like he has to be sad about it.

The group decelerates quickly upon coming into contact with a scrap car. Weltall's head twists to look towards Vierge for a moment, and then back to the car. "Uh. Hmm."

He squints for a moment and charges up a guided shot before unleashing it towards the lock!

"This should be enough right??" He asks, glancing back over towards Eleanor.

"So uh. You're from around here right? What's it...like? Living here?" He asks, kind of desperately.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Black Box toward his party's challenge, The Weight Dragging Us Down.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Aside from the observatory, which you should absolutely check if you can while you're there--I could recommend a lot of lovely places in the town itself, and for more serious work a visit to our museum or library. We have a great many objects of historical interest on display from the region and otherwise!"

But at least the fight goes smoothly. Eleanor lets out a breath when everything quiets, sighing in relief--But ah, she was addressed! "Actually no!" Eleanor answers Citan. "I never quite picked one of those up; I enchant each of these missiles myself by hand, which is why I only have a few shots of them at any given moment."

She would be more than happy to explain how she designed them to Elly, but, instead, there is a slam screech snap and everything is terrible. Eleanor, having maneuvered the Three of Hearts onto the cart already and her screens show...

"Oh!" Eleanor calls in surrpise, "Right! I have something for this..." Her Gear has a lot of extra shielding, so she just leans it downward, not quite to the lock where she could be drawn in--and a long device pops out of her Gear's arm, a line between two points becoming a red-hot cutting surface!! "I've got it!"

She's just going to shear off the bit past the lock if she can manage it. ...Well, after Fei charges up his shot. Wouldn't want to get hit!

"Not originally, but I lived here most of my life so far. It's quite cozy! From up at the Academy the snowfields stretch on beautifully for ages, and you can see looking out over the edge.."

"Of course, it's terribly cold, but that's the perfect opportunity for nice scarves!"

She appears entirely able to just chat while working.

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Heat Cutter toward her party's challenge, The Weight Dragging Us Down.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Eleanor produces a few recommendations while they chat, mentioning one that catches Citan's interest, namely:

    "A museum, you say? Well, perhaps if we have some time to spare I may have to see for myself. It would be fascinating to learn more about Sielje's history from their perspective," he says.

    Topics do rather veer from that once they get into combat with the defense drones, of course. And, speaking of, once they destroy said drones. "Oh! I see! How fascinating. Are you a Symbologist by trade, then? I must confess to only having a basic understanding of the arte... and I am no practitioner, I assure you. I am curious, is it time-consuming to craft each enchantment?"

    Thus runs that end of the conversation, before they gather together and assemble on the train cart heading downwards.

     "I suppose we will see," Citan replies to Elly shortly after the cart gets moving. "If nothing else, this should be a good test for the Heimdall. I must admit that I made a few other adjustments while I was working on the ventilation system." He almost sounds a little sheepish about this. "Old habits die hard, I suppose..."

    At which Fei remarks that if anyone could uncover something new in here, it would be him. Citan's reaction is to chuckle. "Really now, I do not think that my ego needs bolstering, Fei. But I shall see what we can find."

    And then everything just comes to a sudden lurching halt. The Heimdall staggers but manages to maintain its balance. "Something has-- ah, I see, it has attached a car behind us..."

    Which is weighed down with scrap.

    "We will need to detatch it from our car. Of course, the lock may make this difficult. Now, let me see..."

    Eleanor produces a heat-based cutting device soon after. "Aha! Allow me to assist in that case, Miss Klein. I believe that this may help," he says, working in alongside her Gear to deploy from a holstered section on Heimdall's forearm a wedged extensible device. "A 'jaws of life', as they are called," he explains, working to try to slip the device into the gap she creates. "If I am able to fit this in here, I may be able to force this apart. ...Normally these are used for tearing open ships or damaged Gears in an emergency, but it should function just as well here..."

    He, too, seems to be capable of carrying on a conversation as he works, commenting to Elly, "Is the Ether Amp malfunctioning, Elly? I suppose I could... ah, but here would be a bad place..." the doctor dithers for a moment. "Ahem! My apologies. We must attend to the problem at hand and not get sidetracked."
    ...Well, in a manner of speaking, perhaps.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Jaws of Life toward his party's challenge, The Weight Dragging Us Down.
===============================<* Shae Ving *>================================
================<* CHALLENGE - The Weight Dragging Us Down *>=================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Much of Shae Ving's railway system is automated. The tracks are not
 frequently illuminated, save for the lights on the flatbed car itself. You
 miss the enormous opening above you, at first. The expansive opening is lost
 in the same darkness that obscures the top of the enormous tunnel. The
 screech of steel and massive clatter of a crane, however, cannot be missed.
 A crane slams a second flatbed trailer on after your car -- and a powerful
 magnetic lock hooks the car to yours.

 Your car slows, lurching suddenly. The reason is the second flatbed car.
 This one is piled with heaps of scrap metal, much of it gone to rust, placed
 here for processing by whatever ancient computer systems make this place
 continue its function. To move at a reasonable pace, you will need to lessen
 the load somehow.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Slow, Tire=======================================
==========================<* Shae Ving - Round 2 *>===========================
==================< Results - The Weight Dragging Us Down >===================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Jaws of Life                        2   Brute   Effects: Strengthen
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Ether Amp                           3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Heat Cutter                         1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       10 --(0)--> 10                 Pass
Black Box                           3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Citan Uzuki                 20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(1)|Slow(2)|Tire(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

GUIDED SHOT!
GUIDED SHOT!

The magnetic lock shudders and makes a horrible smell from the carbon layers catching fire. Fortunately, nobody can smell it. Maybe Citan if he has the vents open.

Elly answers Eleanor a little hastily as she goes through a reboot cycle. "Be careful, that's a powerful magnet..." But Eleanor is able to make her blow! The sheer invisible paramagnetic FORCE of that drawing object nonetheless makes her swipe curve in a way that's hard to define - it's like that feeling you get if you stick your hand out of the window of a fast-moving train and dip or lower it, and let the lift draw you up or down...

Even so, it's damage. Damage counts. Enough damage and you go from red to white to dead. "Do you all, ah, have to live inside all the time? In the snow?" Elly gabbles as she waits for the spinning reboot screen for the Ether Amp to take its sweet time and begin running again. Citan produces a helpful device, which turns the combined damage into a larger, ripping piece of metal. The lock breaks loose... the scrap car begins to slide away...

... and then it accelerates towards them, even as the train car turns and begins to go down hill. Yes, their car is speeding up, but that one behind them is backed by gravity, and that vast sea of scrap on top if it is easily ten times the weight of their Ge--

            "Bolt!"

ZOT!

The forward rail wheel of the scrap car is blasted out by a bolt of lightning. The scrap car slumps forwards, throws up an enormous shower of sparks and dislodges a large set of old rotting girders onto the heroic party's car, but doesn't...

actually...

Collide.

As the scrap car recedes, Elly says a little timidly, "I hope we don't have to come back this same way."

* Got 11x scrap!
* Got a wharf roach! It's beyond reproach!

DG: Eleanor Klein has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Rail-Rider Automaton *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The screech of steel echoes loud enough to be heard even through your Gears
 and even over the roar of the flatbed train car rushing down the tunnel.
 Sparks fly ahead of you, as a massive automaton rides the same rails. It is
 a huge, fat-bodied Gear, with legs that ends in rows of railcar wheels,
 which help it speed down the track.

 One arm ends in a huge autocannon. That opens fire first, and the first
 shots punch out a trio of service lights on the left side of the track,
 before it adjusts its aim and peppers the front of the car -- and your
 Gears. A moment later, shoulder panels open -- and a salvo of short-range
 missiles hurtle out, rushing straight towards you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire, Fright=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Crest Sorceress, actually!" Eleanor answers Citan. "Though our Symbology program is also very good. It does take a little while to do--it would be prohibitive to use them all the time. But I have downtime between Gear missions and so I'm able to keep up with my usage."

The magnet... It's a spoooky feeling, and Eleanor is admittedly a little new to Gears. She shows some interest in Citan's talk of adjustments!

Elly's question prompts Eleanor to talk back over the radio again, "Despite the snow it's entirely reasonable to go out and about in the city and at the Academy, though I recommend a coat or a nice sweater at the least."

Eleanor may be quite accustomed to cold weather. However, when Elly casts her spell, she watches it with great interest. "What a well-placed spell! You said that you have an 'Ether Amp' on your Gear?"

Pause. "I-I'm sure we can find another way back..."

But soon, there are sparks, the scratch of steel, and a big old Gear that rides the track, the autocannon on its arm opening fire. "Aaah!" Eleanor cries in surprise, and some of the lights go out. Eleanor quickly adjusts her position and--

There are an awful lot of guns on Eleanor's Gear. Not a scrap of Sorcery this time, just a lot of gunfire.

"Another unmanned device!?" she wonders.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei says, "Up...at the academy..." He closes his eyes for a moment. "Oh...yeah...Wow. Honestly it's nice to have some floating cities out there that aren't, uh." He kind of trails off a bit because he's not really sure how Sielje works. It feels a little weird to him that such a place even exists--but also kind of reassuring? It's nice to know that places like Solris and Shevat don't have a monopoly on bullshit.

He smiles a little and adds, "You're kind of an optimist huh?" He asks.

Nevertheless, he doesn't end up asking about magics but he does add, "Eheh, okay okay." to Citan. "I'll cut it out. Don't want Yui to get mad at me for inflating your head." But he wasn't exactly lying so he doesn't take it back either.

Instead he focuses on the big gear ahead with the autocannon. "Aw geeze. That one is also automated ri---ggghht!" Weltall ducks under some weaponsfire and barely straightens up as Fei peers at this new enemy.

"Nggh... Let's try this..."

He jogs forward and, like Sabin, leaps forward with his gear and aims to heft up the automaton and suplex it back down into the floor before hopping back onto the car with the others.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Deathblower toward his party's challenge, Rail-Rider Automaton.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Ah, my mistake. I am afraid I know rather less about Crest Sorcery than Symbology. So in this case, it would be an application of material that can take a Crest, rather than inscribing a Symbol directly onto the missile. Is that correct?" he asks, on the matter of how Eleanor gets her missiles enchanted.

    Within the cockpit, Citan just sighs. "Yes... I am certain she would say I have a large enough ego as it stands," he remarks, in the subject of his wife.

    But after a fashion, they're able to pry the lock free--

    After which there is a bolt of lightning. "Ah, I see that you got it working," Citan remarks to Elly. "Is this behavior new, or has it been malfunctioning lately?"

    Engineering problems, apparently a sure-fire way to get Citan's attention...

    "Hmm... I believe finding another way back may be feasible," he remarks, watching the now-stuck car recede behind them into the far distance. "There may be a service elevator. Whoever built this place would have taken into account times when the train would not run."

    But soon there is trouble--

    "Another Gear? --Something must have triggered its autofire!" Citan remarks as bullets spray.

    And are soon followed by missiles.

    "There is no helping matters, we must destroy it!"

    They're close enough that it's fairly trivial to jump tracks; Heimdall does so, landing with a crash on the opposite car as Weltall slams the larger Gear down. "Now, let us see--"

    Lashing out with a flurry of jabs and kicks, Heimdall seeks out whatever weakpoints the suplex drop may have opened upon the larger Gear.

DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rail-Rider Automaton.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly, in the background of Fei's attempted suplex, is running to the far side of the train car, eluding several extremely thicc and slow-moving missiles.

SOON ENOUGH:

"I think it just needs an overhaul after what I was doing in that battle against Ymir," Elly says to Citan. "I just know Hammer's got a line and I don't want to try and push him -"

Elly's contribution to the battle is another burst of Ether - this time from the functional amplifier, and in the form of -- well -- fire.

To Eleanor, she explains, "Yes... it's a sort of... hard to explain, but it's like a magnifier for my own Ether abilities. Um. Do you know about Ether? This is a bad time for theory but it's..."

totally sweet

"... another form of magic, essentially!"

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rail-Rider Automaton.
DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rail-Rider Automaton.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Rail-Rider Automaton *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The screech of steel echoes loud enough to be heard even through your Gears
 and even over the roar of the flatbed train car rushing down the tunnel.
 Sparks fly ahead of you, as a massive automaton rides the same rails. It is
 a huge, fat-bodied Gear, with legs that ends in rows of railcar wheels,
 which help it speed down the track.

 One arm ends in a huge autocannon. That opens fire first, and the first
 shots punch out a trio of service lights on the left side of the track,
 before it adjusts its aim and peppers the front of the car -- and your
 Gears. A moment later, shoulder panels open -- and a salvo of short-range
 missiles hurtle out, rushing straight towards you.
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire, Fright=====================================
===========================<* Shae Ving - Round 3 *>============================
=======================< Results - Rail-Rider Automaton >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         10 --(8)--> 18                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   10 --(3)--> 13                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       10 --(8)--> 18                 Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       10 --(3)--> 13                 Pass
Deathblower                         2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Citan Uzuki                 40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Tire(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki 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> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"That isn't hm?" Eleanor asks, but Fei adds that next part and the smile in Eleanor's voice is audible. "I try to be," she says. "In a world with so much danger, it's up to us to try to brighten it."

She laughs a little about ego, but doesn't join in; she doesn't know them that well, even if she can guess a few things. However, "That's right!" Eleanor answers. "A bit like an old gunpowder firework, is about the best analogy I can think of. You have to all but complete the spell, and then leave a mechanism on detonation that performs the final piece."

But there is a lot of something to destroy. Fei, well. Fei suplexes a Gear, in a Gear, and it's awesome. Elly blasts fire through the Amplifier with the power of her Ether. Citan and Eleanor, meanwhile, continue with weaponry melee and ranged, respectively, and while they take a little more damage, the party succeeds!

"Oh!" Eleanor replies. "I have little knowledge of Ether, though I've heard rumors of something by that name, I think." Super sweet. "I'd love to hear the theory another time! For now I'll simply be happy to have another sorceress about!"

Wht does pulling through look like? Well, there's a lot of explosions on the track they leave behind and not a lot of 'visible Gear that isn't falling into the abyss.'

DG: Fei Fong Wong has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Shae Ving *>================================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Anti-Intruder Turrets *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The service lights in the tunnel whip by, streaks of aquamarine light that
 speak to the train car's speed. Then, light from the headlamp glints across
 a dozen domes mounted in the walls. They swivel as one, splitting open to
 reveal triple-barreled autocannons inside. The guns turn, twist as one, and
 track your train car.

 Then they open fire, the dark tunnel illuminated by muzzle flashes -- and
 the rounds slam into the flatbed, punching holes in the bottom of the train
 car -- and quite possibly your Gears, too.
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Slow, Wound=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Ugh was it me? Did I trigger the autofire? Fei tries to stay chill about it.

"I'm not sure I super get ether." Fei, font of infinite ether energy, says. "I usually just...kind of feel it?" He wrinkles his nose a little. "I guess I wouldn't really be able to talk about the theory of it all." For that it's best to gab up Elly, definitely. She seems to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject. "Oh, uh," He adds to Eleanor. "It's a bit of a long story."

There isn't too much time to relax, though, because lights from the train's headlamp reveals several domes mounted in the wall. They swivel as one and open up with a hell-full of bullets. "Oh fuck--!" Fei shouts. "There's no way we can take all those down! Find some cover!"

Fei crouches down in Weltall before remembering that his gear...can fly! Maybe he can use that? He activates his thrusters and tries to draw some firepower away from the train. "Maybe...maybe this'll do it?"

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Remembered Flight Engine toward his party's challenge, Anti-Intruder Turrets.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "I see. If you do not mind, I would be willing to take a look. Perhaps we may be fortunate and it merely requires an adjustment. Of course, if it is a matter of replacements, then we may need to, ah, darken Hammer's doorsteps, I am afraid..."

    Certain things just can't be easily had on the surface.

    "Ah, an optimistic outlook... You are quite right, Miss Klein, we do need more of that in this world," Citan remarks, and does not indicate which camp he falls into, himself.

    On the matter of Ether, Citan remains silent, perhaps content to permit Elly to take the lead on the matter.

    Heimdall takes a little more damage than he would have preferred -- a consequence of being in such close quarters with the larger Gear. "...Not to worry, it appears my external armor is still in satisfactory condition," he remarks, once he makes his way back to the car. "I do sense some additional repairs in the near future... but such is the price of taking risks. Now then--"

    He turns, as Fei calls out. There are a number of turrets up ahead, and from the look of them, they are in the process of swiveling into position.

    "Ah," Citan remarks, watching them advance.

    Unbuckling himself from his seat, he rises, retrieving the kit close at hand and swiftly prises open the access panel in the cockpit. "Now-- if I adjust this here--"

    Is this really the time to be making adjustments to the Gear?

    "--there, that should temporarily improve output--"

    Apparently, yes.

    The temporarily overclocked Heimdall's reflexes are now vastly improved-- but is it enough against the turrets?

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Emergency Gear Repair Kit toward his party's challenge, Anti-Intruder Turrets.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"It's got a big theoretical basis behind it and I'd actually love to share," Elly says (REBEL) "but, yeah, later -" And then they are faced with turrets.

Elly slaps a trigger on her cockpit dashboard.

To Citan she says even as the Vierge makes a peculiar humming sound, "Certainly, Doctor - I think it might just be out of tune since it's working fine - I was kind of pushing the limits... Oh, and speaking of Hammer, he did something that I'm about to -"

A rainbow shimmer and

FLASH!

Vierge is up in the air three Vierge-lengths as the turrets fire on her! The Gear's head turns to look at Weltall as Weltall's flight system kicks in. Elly laughs, a little, and then stops laughing when the turrets pivot toward her. Another rainbow shimmer and

FLASH!

That was a surging strike with crossed arms, a full bore body check into one of the turrets. Hopefully it won't wreck the Gear!

("I know what you mean, though, about nearly completing an effect and then triggering it later... I suppose with a physical medium, so to speak, it'd even be able to be more robust than a purely mathematical--")

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Hammer Circuit toward her party's challenge, Anti-Intruder Turrets.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"That's still very interesting," Eleanor tells Fei, though she won't press him for answers at the moment. Just like she does meddle about Gear knowledge that Citan is showing. But he does remark to her, and Eleanor answers, "Thank you! I'm glad you see the need."

She would agree that later is fine if circumstances didn't require them to do it that way. As it stands, it's implicit. There is a cool thing that happens here, a lot of them, but Eleanor's primary recourse is to just move her Gear as quickly as is possible, to evade where she can and put the most heavily-armored parts of her Gear in the way where she can't. Luckily, the Three of Hearts is much more physical than Eleanor herself in combat, and that may be enough to help.

"Right! Cover!" But, "(The physical medium really speeds matters up, but that may be particularly because we're drawing on ultimately physical forces in the world--)"

DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Anti-Intruder Turrets.
===============================<* Shae Ving *>================================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Anti-Intruder Turrets *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The service lights in the tunnel whip by, streaks of aquamarine light that
 speak to the train car's speed. Then, light from the headlamp glints across
 a dozen domes mounted in the walls. They swivel as one, splitting open to
 reveal triple-barreled autocannons inside. The guns turn, twist as one, and
 track your train car.

 Then they open fire, the dark tunnel illuminated by muzzle flashes -- and
 the rounds slam into the flatbed, punching holes in the bottom of the train
 car -- and quite possibly your Gears, too.
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust, Slow, Wound=====================================
==========================<* Shae Ving - Round 4 *>===========================
=====================< Results - Anti-Intruder Turrets >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         18 --(3)--> 21                 Pass
Emergency Gear Repair Kit           3   Agility Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   13 --(3)--> 16                 Pass
Hammer Circuit                      3   Agility Effects: Liability and Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       18 --(3)--> 21                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       13 --(3)--> 16                 Pass
Remembered Flight Engine            3   Agility Effects: Fanfare
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Citan Uzuki                 60 --(15)--> 75                Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(1)|Slow(2)|Tire(1)|Weaken(1)|Wound(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has passed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Unfinished Gryndille Prototype *>================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The flatbed train car that you have boarded rushes along into an open area,
 with a bridge over a reservoir. Huge chunks of steel have landed below,
 where a battle has left chunks of metal in the water -- sticking out like
 grave markers, and fresh. The bridge continues until a docking station,
 which reaches out like a port in the storm. The tracks end here.

 The train car slows to a stop. The docking station has a number of old
 crates, and one of them shudders -- and then shatters apart with a burst of
 metal and rust, as soon as the train comes to a stop. From it, a skeletal
 automaton emerges: a humanoid torso, with a large cannon arm and a bladed
 arm, and then a spider-like lower body. However, the machinery is unarmored
 and unfinished in places, giving it an unsettling look.

 It is a model like the infamous automaton, Gryndille, which destroyed at
 Krosse -- but unfinished. It is, however, tremendously hostile.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Suffer============================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

The turrets don't stand a chance against the power of FLIGHT.

But actually they don't really stand a chance against anyone. Heimdall is readily able to avoid the swath of weaponsfire with its augmented systems and when one manages to train onto Citan to the point that no amount of reflexes will protect him--Elly actually rams Vierge into the turret and destroying it in an instant. They are many and powerful but not super durable. They're a horde, really.

Eleanor's armoring takes some damage, but she does manage to protect the more sensitive portions of her mech by crouching down appropriately.

Eventually the group moves past that particular heat-racing area and Weltall drops back down onto the train.

"That wasn't as bad as I was expecting!"

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Indeed, it does," Citan says, finally speaking up on the subject. "If you find it confusing, Fei, perhaps we should have a discussion about it? Of course, perhaps it may be best to avoid the, ah, more technical aspects of the topic. They may overcomplicate things," he adds, which may be quite the statement from him of all people, but Citan has never been one to shy away from contradiction, and so...

    In any case, augmented reflexes aside, the situation does turn into a rather hairy one, the sort that requires near-perfect piloting--

    And even that is nearly not enough.

    But Vierge is here.
    And it destroys the turret before it can fire.

    "My thanks, Elly," says the doctor, who clearly must have realized what nearly happened here. But they're all in the clear now.

    And the docking station is rapidly approaching.

    "There, it seems that this journey is at an end--" Citan starts to say.

    Just as the sudden emergence from a crate below makes him into a damn liar.

    "--Is that..." he begins to wonder, perhaps nearly overawed at the sight of it. Only to interrupt himself: "There is no time! Spread out and engage-- it may be incomplete but do not let down your guard! I will attempt to ensnare it!"

    This he says, as he fires the second and final charge from line thrower at it, the restraining bolt propelling for the Gryndille-like automation at full speed.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool ARJUNA-2X Line Thrower toward his party's challenge, Unfinished Gryndille Prototype.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Air attack wins! Elly passes by Fei on her way to land on the train again - flight is rather fuel devouring, after all, and she may need that fuel for something else very shortly. "Sometimes I wonder if we're building up a debt whenever we have a good situation like this," Elly says. "but that's not how it really works, is it?"

(Perhaps, Elhaym, it is.)

Elly stares at the revelation of Gryndille, reborn, in prototype form. She takes a deep breath and lets it out, feeling a moment of terror, of fear, and a subtle hint of triumph on some level. She fought Gryndille in Aveh, didn't she? This is just a replica -

Except, Elly thinks with a sinking feeling, that that was a version of Gryndille which had been rehabilitated, or repaired, and this one - was it STORED? Or was it under construction? What has happened here? What -

Elly catches up with herself. "... We need to try to preserve some parts of it," Elly says, with a fast heat, "because, you see it too, don't you, Dr. Uzuki?"

Vierge doesn't surge forwards, in a traditional sense, because all of that conserved condensed Ether fuel is being routed from Vierge's storage cells into the power cores of -

ANIMUM
ETHER
RESPONSE
OPERATION
DRONE

- autonomous units that flit out from behind the Gear, Elly leaning back as her mind expands outwards, touching the different things. They twinkle and sparkle as they fly, tiny dancers in the dark and loop round. Citan is moving to immobilize it. Her eyes narrow.

And from behind this creature, this revenant, this PROTO GRYNDILLE (?) there is a sudden chaos-swarm of needle-lasers, aiming to rip it apart from behind.

The true power of remote weaponry: You can always go for the back attack.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unfinished Gryndille
Prototype.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Whew!" Eleanor says over the radio, and beams. To Fei she replies, "It was actually kind of fun, wasn't it?"

She finds interesting this picture of Ether as a discipline that is highly intuitive. She wants, of course, to listen for a while to information about it, but there isn't any time for that right now, and she is not only a wizard but a person with manners and recognizes that there are plenty of other good subjects as well.

But the docking station shows a great and terrible thing. Eleanor was not at Krosse or any of the other places that had Gryndille at them, but she sure sees an unfinished montrosity ahead of the group, and decides immediately that she's going to use all of her remaining missiles on this machine. "Scattering!" Eleanor replies with perhaps unexpectedly military precision, relying on her maneuvering thrusters to get out to a better position. She can't say whether it does work that way, storing up--but she marvels a bit at the Aerods, and wonders at trying to preserve.

"...Right," Eleanor answers. "I can't exactly go easy, but I'll try not to it the most delicate parts!"

From the front, opposite Elly's lasers, fire missiles that blast into elemental forces once again, battering earth foremost among them.

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Sorcerous Missiles toward her party's challenge, Unfinished Gryndille Prototype.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Weltall offers Elly a hifive.

And then uh... Gryndille. Some kind of proto-Gryndille. Fei is, in this moment, glad Lily and Leon aren't here because they'd probably be more worried about them than normal--but the point is, he has to make sure everybody survives so they don't suffer. Also for all the other reasons but he definitely doesn't want to be thesource of more trauma for those two.

"Fun? Uhh..." Fei says, cheeks reddening from inside the cockpit. "Y-yeah. I guess a little fun. Sure." He seems hesitant to admit that.

"Oh sure--if you think it'd be a good idea? Maybe it'll help me stay in control too." Fei says. Or at least better capable of defending himelf so he doesn't have to rely on Id as much.

"Ensnare?" He asks of Citan, wondering if this is even possible but he swallows faintly--it's not a complete Gryndille and Weltall is definitely sturdier than a Fei. He better just focus up and try to hit it hard and fast.

He darts forward with his gear, closing into range as he pummels it rapidly with Weltall's fists, finishing his technique with a burst of dark energy that ripples out of Weltall's hands and into the gear before he backflips back onto the traincar, not wanting to be too close to that thing for too long.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool Deathblower toward his party's challenge, Unfinished Gryndille Prototype.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
================<* CHALLENGE - Unfinished Gryndille Prototype *>================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The flatbed train car that you have boarded rushes along into an open area,
 with a bridge over a reservoir. Huge chunks of steel have landed below,
 where a battle has left chunks of metal in the water -- sticking out like
 grave markers, and fresh. The bridge continues until a docking station,
 which reaches out like a port in the storm. The tracks end here.

 The train car slows to a stop. The docking station has a number of old
 crates, and one of them shudders -- and then shatters apart with a burst of
 metal and rust, as soon as the train comes to a stop. From it, a skeletal
 automaton emerges: a humanoid torso, with a large cannon arm and a bladed
 arm, and then a spider-like lower body. However, the machinery is unarmored
 and unfinished in places, giving it an unsettling look.

 It is a model like the infamous automaton, Gryndille, which destroyed at
 Krosse -- but unfinished. It is, however, tremendously hostile.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Suffer============================================
===========================<* Shae Ving - Round 5 *>============================
==================< Results - Unfinished Gryndille Prototype >==================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         21 --(100)--> 121              Pass
ARJUNA-2X Line Thrower              2   Combat  Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   16 --(100)--> 116              Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       21 --(100)--> 121              Pass
Sorcerous Missiles                  3   Combat  Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       16 --(100)--> 116              Pass
Deathblower                         2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Citan Uzuki                 75 --(10)--> 85                Fail
Conditions: Slow(1)|Suffer(1)|Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Citan Uzuki is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Eleanor Klein is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Fei Fong Wong is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over.
DG: The party led by Citan Uzuki has been fully Exhausted by Shae Ving!
DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
================================<* Shae Ving *>=================================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - The Emptied Dock *>=======================
|Type: Landmark    |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Your arrival at the docking station at the end of the tracks was...
 impactful, to say the least. Unfortunately, the automated systems detected
 that impact, and have slid huge blast doors down that block the rows of
 doors that lead into the store houses of this facility. The exception is a
 pair of large double doors that were already open, which lead to another
 dock: this one into an underground sea, with a huge steel pier. The ship
 that was here has sailed.

 However, you are able to find a few things of use in there. The first is a
 set of crates with Gear supplies that could help repair your Gears and make
 future repairs easier. The other is a Gear-sized door on a path along the
 side, which opens onto the mountainside, and allows you to leave this place.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Is it the case that when things go well, eventually a balance must be paid?

    Logically, of course not. Things happen because they happen.

    But the mind is not a logical place.

    Citan does not reply to that comment from Elly. Perhaps he is looking ahead to the dock below. Perhaps.

    It is not long after when the skeletal structure of the Gryndille-alike bursts from the crate.
    The mind is not a logical place, and often seeks patterns.

    Elly speaks again. "...I do," he replies. "I will attempt to not overly damage it!"

    The line's harpoon-like end slams into the automaton and the cord goes taut. But this was meant to form a line between Gear to ship in a disaster and it does not snap but holds fast. The machine can go no further now--

    Which is to its detriment as Weltall closes, as Elly's AERODs zip through the air, as the missiles are let fly. The automaton raises that ARM it bears in the aftermath, smoldering but still intact. Will it fire upon them now?

    The enormous ARM clicks once and then simply explodes, perhaps from some damage taken in the melee just before, taking the automaton out with it.

    The explosion's roar makes the structure shake, and ahead, the blast doors slam shut, in some recognition of the damage done.

    It's no good. They won't open again anytime soon. But all is not terrible--

    "Here, Elly. What do you think?"

    Most of the wreck of the automaton is just that -- a wreck. But from the scattered pieces, Heimdall lifts a section of the machine's head for her to see.

    "This should be of interest."

    They will find that not all of the containers on the dock are empty. A few of them bear still functional Gear supply and general-purpose parts -- good for repairs, now and later.

    And there is indeed a lift -- it still works -- that will bear their Gears back up to the surface.