2020-04-14: The Gobs and the Dead

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  • Log: The Gobs and the Dead
  • Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Eleanor Klein, Dean Stark, Cyre H. Lorentz, Lydia Seren
  • Where: Desecrated Shrine
  • Date: April 14, 2020
  • Summary: The Gobs, never one to let an opportunity past them, have raided the still-rebuilding town of Honeysday for their food. It's up to a band of brave Drifters to go and get it back!

DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Desecrated Shrine.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Master Of Unlocking *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 According to local lore, the abandoned shrine has stood here for as long as
 anyone can recall, and save for one brief interlude roughly a decade prior,
 hasn't been in use in all that time either. That is, until a band of Gobs
 arrived and made this their headquarters for harassing nearby fields and
 stealing their food. This may even be why you have come here -- or perhaps
 it's simple curiosity.

 Regardless, immediate entry to the shrine is obstructed by a makeshift fence
 piled across the doorway in. There are piles of scrap stacked behind it, and
 only one gateway, which, naturally, is locked, barred, and blocked with yet
 more piles of stuff. When you don't have a key and no other obvious
 entrances present themselves, then the only answer that remains is the brute
 force method.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRLRUyvkJY
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Work continues in Honeysday, and by all accounts it is going quite smoothly: the buildings that needed to be reconstructed from the ground up or merely undergo some repairs are well underway. The fields have been cleared of the debris from the battle and mitigation is progressing (with help, perhaps, from Kaguya of all people).

    But into that a persistant problem has made itself known.

    That is the presence of the Gobs in the nearby shrine. With their attention scattered by the necessity of the rebuilding process, the villagers cannot adequately defend their fields and foodstores...

    And it could not be at a worse time, with some of their fields still recovering from the Gear attack. They really don't have the food to spare.

    Which is why the group is here now, facing down the makeshift blockade outside the ancient shrine. Their mission: delve into these depths and recover that food.
    (some 'lessons' dealt out to the Gobs would not be remiss, either)

    "It seems they may have been expecting someone to follow after them," Avril remarks, regarding the barrier. It's made up of scrap metal, broken up pieces of wood, some stray fencing, is that a part of a Gear, and other such sundries.

    "Well, we shall need to force our way inwards, then," she says, approaching the barrier and laying a hand upon a sheet of corroded metal. Frost begins to rime the scrap, spreading outwards in fractal rays as she attempts to weaken the barrier for other, perhaps more forceful, attempts to break through.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor Klein finds that now and then, her days are decided in advance. In this case, she's had four visions of the Desecrated Shrine in the last couple of days. Then, wouldn't it beat all that her pack was raided by a few very dextrous and very hungry animals, necessitating she stop in Honeysday to acquire more supplies...

She took the hint, and decided to meet some friends! Who may not have realized they were going to meet her. She seemed perhaps unusually unsurprised about the Gob troubles, when she arrived; she would have helped them anyway, but... She can't very well acquire what the town doesn't have, can she?

Besides, these people don't have someone to care for them. And... Gobs. How many times has Eleanor had trouble from Gobs on expeditions???

"A Gear fragment?" Eleanor says with a lifted eyebrow, looking over the barrier with a sigh. "Ugh, honestly. I, ah..." She pauses, and looks apologetic. "I'm not really... good at this sort of thing... How about I make us a nice cup of tea to take with us and refresh everyone after their hard work?" Yes. That's it.

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    It's bad enough that the people of Honeysday had their fields raided by Gobs before, and it's even worse that those fields were the site of a semi-recent battle, but the fact that the Gobs *came back* while people were busy trying to clear the fields?? That's just unforgivable! It's time to teach them a lesson! Again!! Even if you're hungry, you can't just steal the products of people's hard work, and Dean is going with Avril and the others to make sure they get the point!
    
    It's too bad Dean doesn't have a sword or anything. That would've made that an awesome one-liner.
    
    "They *have* been doing this for a while. It's no wonder," Dean says grimly at Avril's observation as he dusts his hands with salt-chalk. "But this isn't gonna stop *us*! Right guys?!" With that, as Avril starts frosting over the materials and Eleanor offers to make everyone tea, Dean starts physically hefting parts and moving them out of the way. "Sure, that sounds great!" he says encouragingly to tea. "I'm sure we'll all be thirsty once we're done!"

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Purifying Chalk toward his party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

The Caravan Kinship has spent quite some time around Honeysday in the past few months. Several of their members were instrumental in the village's defense many times over the last little while. But it won't be long until the call of business and profit means they'll need to move on. For at least a little while, Honeysday would be without several of its protectors.

So it's only natural that Cyre would want to see as much taken care of as he possibly can, before they inevitably need to move on.

"These gobs are really persistent, aren't they?" The wind shaman sighs, scratching thoughtfully at his cheek. "Alright. Everyone, you're going to want to cover your ears. I'll make us a way in, but it'll be loud."

Loud, indeed. Cyre hefts what appears to be a completely ordinary glass jar hanging from his hip... Except that it doesn't seem to contain any liquid, potion or explosive. Instead, it's full of... Wind. Lots of wind. A tornado's worth of wind. Cyre points the business end of his bottle at the blockade and tugs the stopper open with a convenient length of rope.

...And proceeds to blast the barricade with exactly half (1/2) of a tornado.

It's loud.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Bottled Tornado toward his party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Did someone say Gear Fragment??" AHH WHERE DID LYDIA COME FROM? SHE JUST SHOWED UP. "Oh shit look at all this junk, it's amazing!" Lydia rushes over to the blockade and starts digging through it, occassionally using a hammer to pry some bits and pieces free so she can get a better look at it. "Shiiiit, if only I had my cart. Shit!" She pulls free an actual gear. Not Gear. a gear. A cogwheel. And she says, "Nice!" as she shows it off. "This looks sweet ayy eff."
R
She pauses to look over to Cyre. "Yo Cyre." She wave. "Woah!" She hoops back away from the tornado and then looks back to Dean. "Deeeean!! Avriiiill! Eheheheh..."

She is laughing because she is imagining the three person sweater but she doesn't actually mention the three person sweater.

DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Tiebreaker V 2.0 toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Master Of Unlocking.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Master Of Unlocking *>======================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 According to local lore, the abandoned shrine has stood here for as long as
 anyone can recall, and save for one brief interlude roughly a decade prior,
 hasn't been in use in all that time either. That is, until a band of Gobs
 arrived and made this their headquarters for harassing nearby fields and
 stealing their food. This may even be why you have come here -- or perhaps
 it's simple curiosity.

 Regardless, immediate entry to the shrine is obstructed by a makeshift fence
 piled across the doorway in. There are piles of scrap stacked behind it, and
 only one gateway, which, naturally, is locked, barred, and blocked with yet
 more piles of stuff. When you don't have a key and no other obvious
 entrances present themselves, then the only answer that remains is the brute
 force method.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRLRUyvkJY
=Dungeon Conditions: Weaken, Tire=============================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 1 *>========================
=======================< Results - Master Of Unlocking >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Purifying Chalk                     1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Bottled Tornado                     3   Brute   Effects: Sacrifice and Strengt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         0 --(10)--> 10                 Pass
Tiebreaker V 2.0                    4   Brute   Effects: Efficient and Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Tire(2)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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... I wonder if there might not be some way to induce them to cease," Avril muses, regarding the junkpile barrier as Dean remarks on the Gobs. Fortunately for his hands, the frosting that coats the barrier is slow moving -- and really, just cool to the touch, the brunt of its destabilizing power sinking deeper into the assortment of precarious debris.

    "Oh, Lydia, I did not expect to see you here," Avril remarks, at Lydia's arrival. "That does remind me, will you introduce me to your friend sometime?" Oh no.

    It is indeed part of a Gear. It looks like it had partially caught on fire somehow...? Mysterious.

    Fortunately, the cogwheel Lydia prises free as her prize is not so damaged. In fact, she can get some good quality scrap out of this, if in piecemeal fashion--
    Though some of it may be a little chilly to the touch, somehow.

    In any case, she and Dean make good progress at moving the junk out of the way, though much of the barrier still yet remains.

    This is when Cyre bids them all to move clear. Oh, and to cover their ears (which is done, fortunately). This warning as it happens turns out to be a good one--

    It's not quite a literal tempest in a teapot, but it'll do. The remaining debris (weakened by magic and the removal of certain load-bearing junk) goes flying away, revealing the entrance into the shrine proper.

    Eleanor, meanwhile... does not actively participate, but nonetheless, it is a fine cup of tea that she produces for everyone, in the end. Just the thing after a bout of hard labor from the rest of them!
    Well, perhaps just for Dean and Lydia, if we're being honest here, but tea is fine to have at any time.

    The barrier handily dismantled, Avril glances back at the others, cup of tea in hand. "Well, shall we?"

DG: Eleanor Klein has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Blame Yourself Or Gob *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Within one of those rooms apparently in transition from crumbling shrine to
 Gob fortress you find yourself face to face with a door. This door is first
 of all obviously a Gob-made door -- ramshackle thin scrap metal welded and
 nailed together -- but it is also an obviously Gob-made trap.

 Exhibit A: the coiling wires protruding from the alligator clips on the door
 and leading off somewhere deeper in the shrine.
 Exhibit B: the smell of ozone in the air.

 It's a safe bet the door is completely electrified and that opening it might
 be a... shocking experience. So, this is your problem: how do you safely
 open the door?
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor makes tea. It involves a little hot stone that she picked up on her travels that's perfect for warming a kettle to the appropriate temperature, and she hands out cups once the barrier is down. "This should do for the moment," she says as she does. "Very good work everyone!"

Avril's question of whether to go prompts a "Yes, let's," from Eleanor, who ends up in front of the marching order for a moment as she sort of... puts herself there. "No, not that way," Eleanor says of a doorway to the left, "This way. Hmmm..."

"There it is," she murmurs more softly, as they come to a door. A very Gob-made door, with coiling wires and the scent of ozone. "Ahem," she starts, "I have... a suggestion."

Eleanor pulls her trusty boomerang, but its handle is wrapped in some hard, springy material. "This should allow us to cut through wires without being shocked, but we'll have to decide what to cut." She focuses, thoughtfully.

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Hunter's Boomerang toward her party's challenge, Blame Yourself Or Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "Yeah, it'd be good if they just stopped doing bad things," Dean remarks to Avril as everyone works on clearing the rubble. He moves out of the way when Cyre tornadoes through it, and grins and gives Lydia a thumbs up when she arrives with ~*passion*~. Well, right before covering his ears, anyway.
    
    "Yeah! We did it!" he cheers once the entrance is open. He accepts tea from Eleanor and knocks it back, then coughs a bunch because slugging back a hot drink is not really a great idea. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, hands back the cup, and says, "Wh-what's that?"
    
    A boomerang to cut wires. Dean coughs a little more, but this doesn't dampen his enthusiasm or dull the sparkle that springs to life in his eyes. "Oh man, what a cool idea!! Let me see if my Danger Sphere doesn't have anything on what wires to cut..."
    
    Why not? This is machina-related stuff, sort of, and this sphere included Al Bhed knowledge! It might know the answer. Either way, Dean fetches the sphere he got in Spira and activates it to try to find information about, well, deactivating traps.

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Danger Sphere toward his party's challenge, Blame Yourself Or Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Lydia," Cyre says to his WAYWARD LITTLE ROBOSIS in-between sips of tea. "How are the sky-tyrant slavers treating you? Did you tell them that we'd come up there and shit on their rainbows if they messed with you again?"

Cyre, still bitter, still holding a grudge. This is not a surprise, he is, after all, some manner of cat. Their wrath is great and their memories long.

He takes his tea slowly, because honestly it is REALLY HOT and also he kind of feels like he's contributed substantially to the adventure already. Even if all he did was 'drop half a tornado on a thing.' He takes one look at the horrible mishmash of wire and door. It's obviously electrified, the smell gives that away almost immediately. But!

"What if," Cyre says, very obviously overthinking the complexity of a gob-made trap, "The trap is actually set up so any interruption of the circuit will trigger some kind of awful punji-stake pitfall underneath us? Maybe we should check around first, before just snipping the wires just like that?"

Beat.

"...What's a danger sphere?"

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Blame Yourself Or Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "No, there is something not quite right about that direction," Avril muses, as Eleanor leads on. It's little more than a feeling, a sense of the way she ought to be going...

    But it meshes with Eleanor's assessments perfectly. Which may be why she regards Eleanor a touch quizzically once they enter into that room.

    The room that reeks of ozone.

    "Hm..."

    She approaches the door and kneels before it, producing the mirror.

    She gazes into its depths, partially tuning out her surroundings. Small whisps of light begin to curl up around her, as if bid up from the mirror itself.

    "It seems that... the dark green wires ought to be cut, but from a distance," she says, after rousing from her trance. "But, was that all? There was something... I could not entirely see..."

    Something that perhaps the Danger Sphere might be able to report in on. Or perhaps, Cyre is in the right and lingering about the center of this room is a bad idea for various Gob-induced reasons?

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Blame Yourself Or Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia seems pretty happy to snag that gear out. She whistles a little. She doesn't seem to notice the chill. Even though her body feels warm, she doesn't have the great sense for the cold.

"Yeah I can be pretty sneaky." She quips to Avril, though she tilts her head a bit about the mention of 'a friend' and she brightens quickly. "Hey! Just give me a time when you're not busy with Honeysday, and I'd be happy to introduce you to Kathy anytime!" She continues to beam even as she turns to look to Eleanor with a quirk of her head, following along from some distance from behind. She seems a little surprised by Eleanor's knowledge of the area but she keeps quiet on it for now.

"What's a Danger Sphere?" She asks of Dean. "That sounds amazing. iI want a Danger Sphere too."

She asides to Cyre, "Oh no real change there. I think some of 'em are not really sure what to do with--uh."

Pause as Cyre asks what a danger sphere is.

"Does it matter? It's obviously awesome!" Maybe it's a magic 8-ball.

Nevertheless, Lydia ultimately pokes the door, gets electrocuted, and puffs smoke out of her mouth. "Dang."

DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Blame Yourself Or Gob.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Blame Yourself Or Gob *>=====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Within one of those rooms apparently in transition from crumbling shrine to
 Gob fortress you find yourself face to face with a door. This door is first
 of all obviously a Gob-made door -- ramshackle thin scrap metal welded and
 nailed together -- but it is also an obviously Gob-made trap.

 Exhibit A: the coiling wires protruding from the alligator clips on the door
 and leading off somewhere deeper in the shrine.
 Exhibit B: the smell of ozone in the air.

 It's a safe bet the door is completely electrified and that opening it might
 be a... shocking experience. So, this is your problem: how do you safely
 open the door?
=Dungeon Conditions: Injure===================================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 2 *>========================
======================< Results - Blame Yourself Or Gob >=======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    10 --(15)--> 25                Pass
Mirror of De Soto                   1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          10 --(20)--> 30                Fail
Danger Sphere                       2   Wits    Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     10 --(20)--> 30                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         10 --(15)--> 25                Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       15 --(15)--> 30                Pass
Hunter's Boomerang                  1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            20 --(10)--> 30                Fail
Conditions: Injure(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"...That's true, they could've gotten smart on us," Eleanor admits to Cyre about the matter of the trap. "I think we can trust your keen eyes, yes?"

"Oh! Yes, that's an excellent idea!" Eleanor says to Dean, and indeed his danger sphere finds data on danger. Unfortunately, the Al Bhed know how to use machina, and this particular trap is an affront to all things mechanical. That is to say, the entire room is dangerous. And as it turns out, it is.

Avril is quite right about the green wires, as it turns out, and Cyre is half-right about the room. It's not so much that the room is an awful pitfall so much as this trap was hastily put-together. Thus, Lydia is not the only one to be zapped, and it's perhaps less comical when the rest of the room has to deal with the explosion that comes when Eleanor's insulated boomerang cuts through the green wires correctly and the whole thing just cracks apart.

"..." Eleanor sighs heavily. "I was trying to avoid that..."

Sometimes, it's just fate...

DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Gobsmacked *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise. And yet: as you crawl your way
 through the Gob-built structures strung through the shrine, you hear a
 series of thumps behind you, rattling the catwalk upon which you stand
 wildly.

 When you turn, there are a pair of shotel-bearing Gobs -- having just
 dropped down on the boards from somewhere above to greet you... violently.
 It's definitely violently.

 Look sharp. Here they come.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Cyre and Lydia both ask Dean what a Danger Sphere is. "Oh! It's a sphere I got from a Crusader, right before... you know. Operation Miihen," he explains seriously. "He and an Al Bhed who were fighting together made this sphere that talked about all the different dangerous things in Spira. This--" he holds up the Danger Sphere, "--was the rough draft. He said he didn't need it anymore since they had the new, cleaned-up version, so he'd give it to me." He scratches his head, then rubs a finger under his nose. "So, sorry, Lydia, but this is the only one on Filgaia. You'd have to go to Spira for another."
    
    At least there is information on wires, but it turns out that the Al Bhed, for all their ingenuity, could not have anticipated the sheer technical incompetence of the Gobs. For all everyone does their best, the room, or at least its entrance, straight-up falls apart. Dean gawks into what is now a pile of rubble blocking the way forward.
    
    "...That's just cheating!!" he exclaims. "Come on! We'll just find another way!" He looks around, then up--and now that the entrance has collapsed, it shows boards abovehead that look sturdy enough to climb and walk. He points up at them, then climbs. "There! Let's go!"
    
    Unfortunately, all this noise has finally attracted the attention of the resident Gobs. Once everyone's up on what is essentially the scaffolding, because apparently the Gobs have been here for ages and still haven't finished building their base, they only have to walk a few yards before there comes the dark cry: "GOOOOOB!!"
    
    Then two Gobs jump down, violently rocking the scaffolding boards, as they raise shovels threateningly. "Gob gob!!" they snarl.
    
    "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" Dean shouts back. "You think you can scare us with that?!" He pulls out and raises his own shovel--that is to say, Ace of Spades, the Devil Arm with the wildly searching eye at the cross-section. It wheels about, then bores in on the Gobs as Dean, too, glares at them. "Here's MY shovel! I'll show you how *I* wield it!" Then he launches himself forward into battle, yelling, "CHAAAAAAARGE!!"

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Ace of Spades toward his party's challenge, Gobsmacked.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Aaaaand everything goes to absolute poop. It's a damn good thing that Cyre is so familiar with being electrocuted, or he might be a little more upset at this situation than he turns out to be! Goblin ramshackle comes crashing down in a heap, piling high in front of the door they had hoped to take. Fantastic. Wonderful! Cyre sighs and rubs tiredly at his head, "You'd think, with how long these gobs have been up here, they'd figure out how to actually build a halfway decent fort. Ah, well."

Dean explains what a danger sphere is, and Lydia gives Cyre lip for asking about what it is. "We asked the same question!!" Cyre complains, and completely shamelessly goes to ruffle Lydia's hair. "You want to know just as much as I do! Hrmph! It's too bad that it's Spiran. That sort of thing seems pretty marketable. We could make a killing selling orb-shaped danger encyclopedias..."

Riese would probably buy out a crate's worth. Just for being round.

But it looks like the gobs are not quite as incompetent as they seemed. At least they bother to show up to scope out what's been making all this noise in their gobhouse. "Gobs," Cyre huffs. Wind begins to whirl around his limbs as the scaffold shifts and creaks. Too much here might send them all toppling into the abyss. But that just means Cyre has to be careful with his generous application of gale-force. For example, rather than just hurling a tornado all willy-nilly, he darts forward and shoryus one of those gobs right in the chin as it leaps down at them. And then a tornado explodes out of his fist.

Because Cyre is nothing if not dedicated to his thematics.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Gale Claw toward his party's challenge, Gobsmacked.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    On one hand, Avril's senses via the mirror are correct in that the green wires are the ones to cut.

    On the other hand, Gobs are really bad at electrical work. What a surprise!

    While she narrowly avoids getting shocked in the discharge that follows (thanks to a well-timed rise to her feet and diversion of herself about two feet to the left of the door) it does not bode well for things such as going through the door.

    But there are other routes than the obvious, as the advance up into the rafters of the shrine permits. Dean leads the way upwards and onwards.

    "These were created by the Gobs," Avril remarks as they move along--

    Well, speak of the devil.

    ...More or less.

    "They're on the attack," Avril remarks, just behind Dean and Cyre. "Well, then in that case...!"

    She produces the hilt of Absolute Zero, twisting her wrist to bring about the manifestation of the blade.

    Then she is behind Cyre no longer, taking the fight directly to melee range with the Gobs.

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

"Oh nooo..." Lydia sinks to the ground in despair at the DANGER SPHERE being a ONE OF A KIND ITEM. Perhaps she should ask again later on its origins and hopefully learn more.

SOMETIMES ITS JUST FATE LYDIA.

She stands herself up eventually and adds, "Well we probably are going back to Spira eventually. We left too much unresolved when we were there! It'd be weird if we didn't go back! And also probably bad for Spira since...all those Summoners ended up coming back with us?"

Yeah that could be bad, she reflects, but she doesn't ultimately dwell on it. Not much she can do about it now! She looks up and towards the shotel knights--but can they defeat a shovel knight? Lyidia doubts--ahhhh they're right on top of them ahhhh!

Lydia hops back a bit and Lydia looks to Cyre. "Yeah! But then I thought about it for a minute, Cyre!! You know my mouth runs faster than my brain!"

She is shamelessly ruffled. AND IN FRONT OF THE GOBS NO LESS

Nevertheless, Lydia draws a sword out of her arm and darts forward in a smooth motion, expertly wielding her blade. It seems like Solaris has been focusing on at least one aspect of what to do with Lydia since she certainly didn't know how to wield a sword really before.

DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Rachiel Medry Is Doing Her Best toward her party's challenge, Gobsmacked.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor quiets at the talk of Operation Mi'ihen, looking down to the ground a moment. She doesn't get to say a lot what with the ensuing ruin of everything. But it's a moment. But here...

"Aah!!" That is the sound of Eleanor's surprise as Lydia suddenly has a sorceress hiding behind her. Eleanor pokes her head back out. "Shovels? Shovels????" Eleanor exclaims, staring at their weapons. She shakes that off after a moment. She likes the scaffolding well enough, for something she has to climb, but this is not ideal, so she steps back--caaarefully--and pulls her flute from her bag. "Oh--Wow you're very good with that..." Pause. "Arm?"

Right, right, helping. Eleanor sets the flute to her lips, and begins to play a strange, Gob-disorienting melody...

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Your mouth and brain use the same legs, Lydia! That saying doesn't even make sense!" Cyre answers from in the middle of his amazing tornado shoryu. It's quite the long-winded uppercut, that's for sure.

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Eerie Flute toward her party's challenge, Gobsmacked.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Gobsmacked *>==========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise. And yet: as you crawl your way
 through the Gob-built structures strung through the shrine, you hear a
 series of thumps behind you, rattling the catwalk upon which you stand
 wildly.

 When you turn, there are a pair of shotel-bearing Gobs -- having just
 dropped down on the boards from somewhere above to greet you... violently.
 It's definitely violently.

 Look sharp. Here they come.
=Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate, Injure=========================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 3 *>========================
============================< Results - Gobsmacked >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    25 --(0)--> 25                 Pass
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          30 --(0)--> 30                 Pass
Ace of Spades                       2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     30 --(0)--> 30                 Pass
Gale Claw                           3   Combat  Effects: Sacrifice and Embolde
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         25 --(0)--> 25                 Pass
Rachiel Medry Is Doing Her Best     3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       30 --(0)--> 30                 Pass
Eerie Flute                         2   Combat  Effects: Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            30 --(20)--> 50                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Dean Stark has posed.

    "Marketable?" Dean echoes blankly, blinking at Cyre. He considers this for a moment. "Never really thought about that... That kinda thing just seemed so common over in Spira."
    
    Riese probably does have an expansive collection of spheres, though.
    
    Regardless!! Battle ensues. ...It's honestly pretty embarrassingly one-sided. Dean goes shovel-to-shovel with one, Cyre shoryukens another, Avril and Lydia sword another--wait, there's only two Gobs here--and Eleanor plays a beautiful but disorienting melody. At the end, the two Gobs fall off the scaffolding, wailing in unison, "I REGRET GOBTHIIIIIIING...!!"
    
    Splat. It's okay, folks! They're totally* okay**!!
    
    "And *that's* how you use a shovel," Dean concludes, putting Ace of Spades away. Then he turns and grins at his friends and companions. "Awesome teamwork, guys! Now let's keep moving ahead!"

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - What Hath Gob Wrought *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Treading one of the sections of the shrine heavily remodeled by the Gobs
 (likely at the cost of some poor farmer's entire barn, if the amount of wood
 going into this is any judge) your passage is interrupted by a tell-tale
 'click'.

 A Gob-laid trap! This entire length of the passage was a well-disguised
 netting trap! And unless you move quickly to escape, it will be you who is
 caught in the net!
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

*They are more than totally okay! In fact, these goblins seem to be a bit more ingenious than anyone could have predicted!

**Because they just landed in a saftey net strung up beneath the scaffolding. And one of them is reaching for a very ominous-looking rope...! "If you want to complain about your terrible fate..." The gob groans around a bruised and thoroughly uppercutted jaw, "...Then blame yourselves or gob..."

He pulls the rope and sets off a rube-goldberg-esque sequence of events that causes the scaffold to fall out from under the party's feet like some kind of devious, rope-operated Gutsman platform! Cyre yelps out of surprise as gravity suddenly asserts itself... And sends them tumbling toward precariously-strung net traps! They've been caught in a devious gob-trap...!

Except Cyre is, unfortunately, a notorious cheatyface. He unfurls his trusty parachute just as he begins to fall and conjures a strong updraft to fill its pouch! "Hang on, everyone!" The shaman shouts-- and drops a rope of his own for someone to grab onto... But if they're not quick on their feet, they might end up tumbling into a net, ripe for the gobbing...!

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, What Hath Gob Wrought.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    The scaffolding, after a cheeky and ingenious Rube Goldberg sequence, falls out from underneath them, down towards a ready net trap. Dean's options: to blame himself or gob.
    
    "I BLAME GOB," Dean shouts.
    
    Oh and also to maybe grab hold of Cyre's foot as he parachutes up and away with some magic wind for a boost. Which he'll do, and he'll do for dear life!! Unless, you know, he slips and falls. That's also an option.

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, What Hath Gob Wrought.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    For a moment, all seems well. Avril takes a moment to return Absolute Zero to its hiltish mode. She takes one step forward.

    From below a single phrase is uttered.

    She realizes, somehow, on a deep and intuitive level, even as the Gob's hand closes about that rope, what is about to happen.

    "--No!"

    But it is far too late to do anything about it. The walkway gives way, sending them plunging downwards into the trap in which they have been caught.
    But, and this is important, not yet snared.

    Cyre's parachute unfurls and begins to lift, trailing ropes for others to grasp. But Avril -- and perhaps others -- find that the rope is yet out of reach...!

    But Cyre is not the only one with a trick up his sleeve. Bringing forth the Medium as she plummets, Avril invokes thus:

    "Lucadia!"

    The power of Jump -- no, of Double-Jump! -- is activated!

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, What Hath Gob Wrought.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"I don't think so!!" Eleanor answers, grabbing onto the rope Cyre holds and switching her active equipment to her trusty Ice Rod! The white implement has a crystal-blue gem at its top, and in short order she calls forth its magic to start freezing the edges of the net in place to try to avoid it catching too well.

And no sooner does she start than suddenly, she can Jump again, and sails upward along the rope, still firing away with the ice rod. "Ah! Take that, Gob-genuity!"

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Ice Rod toward her party's challenge, What Hath Gob Wrought.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"What? It totally makes sense!" Lydia says. "It's a whatchacallit, a METAPHOR. It isn't meant to be taken all literal-like!"

"Thank you for teaching us proper shoveling." Lydia says quietly.

Lydia doesn't seem to be concerning herself too much with gob safety. She slides that blade of hers back into her arm and then looks down. "...."%rThere isn't a ground underneaeth their feet anymore.

Lydia fans out her wings and hovers in place for a moment. "Huh...Oh! Right.... AHHHH!!!!"

She promptly plummets and tries to grab Cyre's rope.

DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Radical Skates toward her party's challenge, What Hath Gob Wrought.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================
===================<* CHALLENGE - What Hath Gob Wrought *>====================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Treading one of the sections of the shrine heavily remodeled by the Gobs
 (likely at the cost of some poor farmer's entire barn, if the amount of wood
 going into this is any judge) your passage is interrupted by a tell-tale
 'click'.

 A Gob-laid trap! This entire length of the passage was a well-disguised
 netting trap! And unless you move quickly to escape, it will be you who is
 caught in the net!
=Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 4 *>=======================
=====================< Results - What Hath Gob Wrought >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    25 --(3)--> 28                 Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          30 --(3)--> 33                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     30 --(3)--> 33                 Pass
Reverse Parachute                   1   Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         25 --(3)--> 28                 Pass
Radical Skates                      2   Agility Effects: Quicken
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       30 --(3)--> 33                 Pass
Ice Rod                             2   Agility Effects: Quicken
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            50 --(20)--> 70                Pass
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(1)|Slow(2)|Tire(2)
Effects: Quicken(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"W-wait!" Cyre squawks, sounding every bit like some kind of overburdened condor. "Hold on! I can't carry all of you!" But that's exactly what ends up happening. Lydia alone would be way too much, what with being MADE OF METAL and all, but then you add Eleanor to the rope, and Dean to one leg-- "Hey! There's a perfectly servicable rope right there! Augh--"

It's too much! Too much weight! Cyre can probably manage a strong enough wind to carry them up regardless, but that rope is tied around his waist and there's only so much weight his spine can bear! But then, just when it seems like he's about to lose it, the power of a totally different Guardian fills the world. "Grrrraaah!" Cyre grunts and springs off the empty air as Avril channels Lucadia's power. He springs just far enough... To land on solid temple-ground.

"You... dare spit in the face of gob..." The goblin groans and reaches for a second rope. "Behold, the wrath of gob...!"

He goes to pull it, and... The rope shatters, because Eleanor's judicious application of her ice rod froze the length somewhere further up. The goblin groans and promptly loses consciousness, his traps defeated...!

"E-everyone alright?" Cyre asks, shimmying loose the rope around his waist. "Ugh, I feel like I just lost a few inches around the middle there..."

DG: Eleanor Klein has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Stuffing Their Gobs *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There! There's a bundle of the villagers' stolen food, hanging in a sack
 high atop a wooden tower built by the Gobs. If you could get up there, it
 would be a piece of cake to take it down and return it to the villagers or
 use for your own nefarious purposes. There are just two little problems.

 The first is, the Gobs have smeared the structure with something slippery,
 probably oil. Probably cooking oil.

 The other is that they have hammered a lot of nails into the structure which
 has effectively studded it with spikes. Getting up there without injury is
 /theoretically/ possible, but...
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Treasure===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"I'm okay~!" Eleanor says happily as she watches the trap fail to take off the second time. "You think so?" she asks Cyre. "Well, it's working for you." She looks around, thinking. "Now, I think..." She pulls a little notebook and consults, before stepping ahead into another passageway, coming out onto a wider platform. "...Here!" she says. "Ah, so..."

Eleanor still has her Ice Rod out. "What happens to oil when you chill it?" she asks. "Hope someone brought gloves!"

Eleanor begins to freeze up a path, "Well, I brought gloves, of course, but that doesn't mean they'll fit everyone else..."

"It feels nice to be helping, doesn't it?"

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    In this moment, the Sea Guardian Lucadia comes through!

    Particularly for the overburdened Cyre, as the power of the Guardian sees him over and past the threat produced by the defeated Gobs, which languish below.
    Which also attempt to spring a second trap, only for it to be denied them. Avril glances down at the figures of the Gobs, below. Her gaze there lingers for a long moment.

    Then she turns away.

    Up here in the rafters of the Gob-altered shrine, they find something perhaps immediately relevant to their quest within:

    Which is to say, they find food, tied up in a sack and hanging from a wooden tower that spirals upwards in this section of the labyrinthine walkways.

    "I wonder... if it might be possble to safely ascend," Avril muses.

    Eleanor takes a more direct approach and at least converts the oil into something a little less...

    Well, it's less bad than it was. Certainly less likely to see them all slipping on their ascent.

    "Hmm..." Avril considers her options, eyeing the route upwards. She holds the Medium still in her hands.

    "I will try, then. Please take care," she says, before invoking the Medium's power--

    And leaping up for an outcropping on the tower, then leaping upwards again. ... ... Is this what is meant by 'taking care'?

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Yeah I'm good." Lydia says, floating back up top and following along until--ah---yes. A greasy gross wooden towerr in the way.

"Aw man," Lydia says, hovering in place. "How are we gonna get above that?" She thinks for a moment. "I guess we could blow it up. Did anybody bring dynamite?"

She sits in midair, frowning as she cups her chin in deep thought. "Or I guess we could just try to take the food back. Honeysday could probably use it."

Think think think, she mulls, is there a way to get up there without damaging something? Hm hm hmm... What to do, what to do.

She watches Avril SUPER LEAP up the tower. "Oh! Yeah! That could work! We can just go up it."

She starts floating up as well at a lazy pace.

Maybe she can help bring it down. Or you know, keep Avril company.

DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Radical Skates toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"Ugh..." Cyre groans, rubbing at his belly. It's probably bruised. A bruised belly. Bruised kidneys, maybe even! How awful! What a terrible fate! "I'd rather just use diet and exercise." Not that he's going to be dieting any time soon, living at the Carakin. The food is too good. Curry! Almost every night! It's wonderful! Culinary paradise!!

Speaking of food.

"Lyds... Did... Did you forget about the whole 'I can fly' thing?" Cyre asks as his parachute unfurls again, and a swift gust of wind sends him sailing up toward the top of the tower.

He doesn't drop a rope this time. Because Cyre is not a masochist.

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "Sorry," Dean says sheepishly to Cyre, of grabbing his foot. "But Eleanor had the rope!" Which, well, he can't just take the rope from someone else.
    
    Soon, though, they find the stolen food! It's in another trap. If these people were smart, they'd be wary of it!
    
    Some of them might be smart. Dean is only smart in his own way.
    
    "Okay! Meet you at the top!" he tells Avril as she uses her totally shareable Medium power to double-jump to the top. Dean, though... Dean will use good old-fashioned elbow grease...!

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Ice Rod toward her party's challenge, Stuffing Their Gobs.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Stuffing Their Gobs *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There! There's a bundle of the villagers' stolen food, hanging in a sack
 high atop a wooden tower built by the Gobs. If you could get up there, it
 would be a piece of cake to take it down and return it to the villagers or
 use for your own nefarious purposes. There are just two little problems.

 The first is, the Gobs have smeared the structure with something slippery,
 probably oil. Probably cooking oil.

 The other is that they have hammered a lot of nails into the structure which
 has effectively studded it with spikes. Getting up there without injury is
 /theoretically/ possible, but...
=Dungeon Conditions: Maim, Treasure===========================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 5 *>========================
=======================< Results - Stuffing Their Gobs >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    28 --(3)--> 31                 Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          33 --(8)--> 41                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     33 --(3)--> 36                 Pass
Reverse Parachute                   1   Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         28 --(3)--> 31                 Pass
Radical Skates                      2   Agility Effects: Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       33 --(3)--> 36                 Pass
Ice Rod                             2   Agility Effects: Quicken
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            70 --(25)--> 95                Pass
Conditions: Maim|Slow(1)|Tire(1)|Treasure(1)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"N-no!" Lydia stammers.

She did.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Diet and exercise..." Eleanor looks very troubled at this prospect. ARMS wouldn't be the same without delicious breads! She just sort of steps to the side as if she can evade the very concept. Though, truthfully, she is getting exercise here today...

"Wow," she says as Avril starts leaping with the power of Lucadia. In point of fact, a couple of super jumps absolutely gets her up there before Lydia's lazy floating even. Cyre's parachute, too, sends him sailing upward. And Dean takes the old-fashioned approach and climbs.

The climbing does work out, but it's kind of gross, and involves having to go back down, too. Regardless with this many people sailing upward, it's not at all difficult to bring down the rest of the food, with Eleanor back on the ground checking for danger as they do. "...Flight..."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

"..." Cyre just sort of stares at Lydia as he slowly rises. "...Muttonhead."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia immediately starts pulling on Cyre's cheeks with her terrible robot hands.

DG: Lydia Seren has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================
=======<* CHALLENGE - Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long *>========
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 "Hold it right there, gob!"

 While making your way through the crumbling shrine, you are approached by a
 trio of apparent representatives of the most recent occupants of the
 shrine... the Gobs. These three are just as well-armed as any others you may
 have encountered during your explorations. But these three seem to want to
 talk.

 "What you doing in here, gob? Making all this noise?!"
 "This private property, gob!"
 "Was napping, gob!"

 ...On the other hand, they do seem willing to talk. Is there a chance you
 could argue the point on the purloined food to them -- or negotiate passage
 inwards? ...Do you even want to try?

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnO8w_-wA0
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Stupify, Reckless================================
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia pulls on Cyre's cheeks for a bit longer and then floats back down. "Oh, uh, sorry Eleanor. Did you want me to carry you?" She offers her arms. "No? Okay." She is about to say more when--

a trio of Gobs now! That's one more than two! They seem armed too but instead of attacking they seem to have their own idea of conflict resolution.

"What you doing in here, gob? Making all this noise?!"

"Sorry I--" Lydia begins.

"This private property, gob!"

"Uh but you stole stuff from other private property so--"

"Was napping, g ob!"

"Okay that's fair." Lydia saays. "So uh." She looks to Avril. "What do we do?"

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre's cheeks are thoroughly abused by some kind of muttonheaded little sister monster. He huffs, rubbing his cheeks as he descends with another sack full of rescued food. "So violent, going right to butting heads over a simple observation--"

The party is spared from further sheep puns by the sudden appearance of the trinity gobhead. Cyre cranes his head owlishly at the gobble of gobs. "It's private property, huh? Where're your papers? We need to see some kind've proof of ownership, or like, tax forms or something. Squatting is just causing trouble for everyone else!"

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is
Way Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "Private property?! Hah! More like STOLEN property!" Dean thrusts a finger at the Gobs. "What d'you think you're doing, stealing food from the people of Honeysdale again?! They worked really hard to grow those crops! If you want food, you have to give them something back for it!! And if you didn't have money, you could've offered to help out with helping clean the town after that attack recently! But you didn't! What's up with that, huh?!" Dean folds his arms as hard as he can and glares. What's up with THAT.

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way
Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Oh!" Eleanor says to Lydia brightly, and what would be her answer? It is a mystery. She is interrupted before the chance to fly around with a cute girl by Gobs. Gobs who were napping, which is admittedly rather sympathetic if not for the trouble it's causing to the people.

"Let me show you," Eleanor says, approaching. "The future. What I see ahead of you, if you don't stop and listen and return the food." She takes out her boomerang, and brandishes it without actually moving into combat. "I see..."

She focuses into the boomerang, and its sensor abilities shimmer, transmuting knowledge of general health, of weaknesses...

"Also if you keep robbing them at this point they'll starve and then you'll have no one to rob. But mostly," she says, and makes a 'chop chop' gesture with the boomerang.

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Hunter's Boomerang toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is
Way Too Long.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    The ascent is easy. The descent... rather less so. Still, after a fashion (perhaps with assistance from people who can totally fly Lydia) she is able to get down, food in hand.

    Which is of course when they are greeted by the trio of Gobs, apparently drawn in here to parlay by the racket they have been making (also possibly the incident with the trapdoor and netting might have clued them all in that there are intruders in their base).

    Avril regards the trio coolly, her expression akin to mask as Lydia asks her what they should do.

    Cyre comes in directly with the question of proof, Dean with the impassioned argument that they have been stealing.

    She must have been holding the Medium just moments ago.

    Now, in her hands, is the mirror, streaming with light.

    "You will return what you have taken," she informs the Gobs, in a tone that brooks no argument.

    "And you shall do so immediately. Honeysday cannot tolerate your actions any longer."

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is
Way Too Long.
DG: Lydia Seren has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way
Too Long.
===========================<* Desecrated Shrine *>============================
=======<* CHALLENGE - Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long *>========
|Type: Climax      |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 "Hold it right there, gob!"

 While making your way through the crumbling shrine, you are approached by a
 trio of apparent representatives of the most recent occupants of the
 shrine... the Gobs. These three are just as well-armed as any others you may
 have encountered during your explorations. But these three seem to want to
 talk.

 "What you doing in here, gob? Making all this noise?!"
 "This private property, gob!"
 "Was napping, gob!"

 ...On the other hand, they do seem willing to talk. Is there a chance you
 could argue the point on the purloined food to them -- or negotiate passage
 inwards? ...Do you even want to try?

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnO8w_-wA0
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Stupify, Reckless================================
======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 6 *>=======================
=========< Results - Five Minutes With The Goblins Is Way Too Long >==========
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    31 --(15)--> 46                Pass
Mirror of De Soto                   1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          41 --(20)--> 61                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     36 --(20)--> 56                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         31 --(20)--> 51                Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       36 --(15)--> 51                Pass
Hunter's Boomerang                  1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            95 --(0)--> 95                 Fail
Conditions: Maim|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Suffer(1)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has failed 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.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Maybe Eleanor would've said 'yes' to being flown around but Lydia just made assumptions about it... THE FOOL!

Nevertheless, the group tries to convince the gobs to not steal food! Dean brings up a pretty good point that if they just relied on cooperation with Honeysday they'd probably be better off in the long run! And there is only so much they can steal before there is nothing left!

The gobs kind of stare blankly at Dean.

Cyre meanwhile asks for their papers and the Gobs turn and provide their papers!

It turns out their papers is the horde of toilet paper they are, uh, hording but they seem to think they have been properly prepared for Cyre's objection. Lydia kind of hangs in the background looking a bit deadpan as this goes down.

"We got your papers, gob!"

Eleanor and Avril basically end up THREATENING them....

....and uh.... well, they start throwing their junk at the group. "We have 60 whole hit points! They don't stand a chance!!" The gobs shout, apparently thinking that's a lot and maybe for gob society...it is!! Maybe Eleanor should've shared Eleanor's hp too.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Go With Gob *>==========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 However your negotiations with the Gobs have gone they are interrupted by a
 call from the crisscrossing catwalks above:

 "We'll save you, gob!"

 There is an ominous creak from overhead. ...Are there nets up there?
 The Gobs to which you were just speaking react to this call from above with
 alarm. "Still down here, gob!!"

 But it is too late. A rope somewhere is audibly cut and the nets, laden with
 heavy debris and stones, are dropped down upon you and the Gob ambassadors.
 Hurry! If you make a run for it, you should be able to make for the far door
 and escape being crushed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Injure, Hesitate================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Avril's forceful tone may in fact work better on Veruni than it does on Gobs.

    She slightly lowers the mirror, still streaming light, as she gazes at the trio.

    And sidesteps, as a roll of toilet paper zips past her head.

    The negotiations have clearly...

    ...failed.

    And into this scene, here and now, there intrudes the ominous sound of ropes creaking, as if they were bearing up a terrible heavy weight.

    "...Ah?" Avril utters, looking up slowly.

    Just as before, the Gobs have...

    ...prepared a terrible trap.

    "We should run," she says, in the silence that stretches out in those seconds before there is a cry of "We'll save you, gob!" from above.

    As a blade slice through a rope.

    Mirror trades places once again with Medium; light shines about the Medium as Avril, already breaking into a run as debris comes crashing down in a terrible rain from above, invokes the Guardian's power.

    "Lucadia--!"

    But will it come, and will it come quickly enough? The few yards to the nearest doorway seem suddenly miles off.

DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    You know, come to think of it...
    
    ...didn't negotiations go basically exactly like this last time, too...?
    
    Dean has only a few seconds to contemplate this before more gobs arrive to "save" the first, and everything threatens to fall. "NOT AGAIN!" Dean opines, and he might stand and fight--fight what? the falling rubble, maybe--if Avril had not advised the group to run. "Ggh...!"
    
    But he listens to his friend, and turns and books it. If he's fast enough, he might be able to reach Avril in time to hitch a ride with her and Lucadia.
    
    HA HA as if Lucadia would give a ride to anyone but Avril!!

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Negobtiations have broken down. A roll of toilet paper sails by Cyre's head. The shaman's cheek twitches-- maybe they should have just straight up punched these gobs into the stratosphere while they had the chance. Certainly before their gobbuddies had a chance to set up an ambush of falling rocks! "Yeah, I guess," Cyre answers Avril with a tired sigh and unfurls his parachute again. It's time to move.

...But he's not using it to move.

Cyre hoists the thing between him and the falling debris. He waits, patiently anticipating just the right moment...

...To open his bottled tornado into his parachute's pouch, and hopefully send a barrage of trash bouncing right back up at their goblin ambushcaders!!

DG: Cyre H. Lorentz has used his Tool Reverse Parachute toward his party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor Klein has training and schooling in diplomacy and proper conduct at negotiations, but the gobs have 60 hit points. And... papers... But junk starts getting thrown and Eleanor, "Augh! Stop that!"

Eleanor is not at all a fan of this. The terrible trap is prepared; Avril spots it, but Eleanor seems to already be pulling something from her bag; she points out hr rod and directs it at not the net, but the ground this time, dragging herself onto a growing path of ice that should take her and perhaps others away quickly. "We can make it!"

DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Ice Rod toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia, who has a roll of toilet paper hanging between her horns, gives a long look at Cyre. Then Dean says 'NOT AGAIN' and Lydia's response is to cry out, "Not again?? Again??"

She activates her skates and promptly trips over a stray roll of toilet paper, faceplanting directly into the ground.

"We're driving them back, gobs!" The first group of gobs shout as Lydia stumbles back up into a standing position. This time she tries to ROLL OUT as quickly as she can, carefully avoiding fallen debris as best she can--but honestly it's a bit rough here.

Hopefully these gobs don't gain exp from winning battles because hooboy. Lydia would like to live this down one day.

DG: Lydia Seren has used her Tool Radical Skates toward her party's challenge, Go With Gob.
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Go With Gob *>==========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 However your negotiations with the Gobs have gone they are interrupted by a
 call from the crisscrossing catwalks above:

 "We'll save you, gob!"

 There is an ominous creak from overhead. ...Are there nets up there?
 The Gobs to which you were just speaking react to this call from above with
 alarm. "Still down here, gob!!"

 But it is too late. A rope somewhere is audibly cut and the nets, laden with
 heavy debris and stones, are dropped down upon you and the Gob ambassadors.
 Hurry! If you make a run for it, you should be able to make for the far door
 and escape being crushed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Injure, Hesitate================================
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Go With Gob *>==========================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 However your negotiations with the Gobs have gone they are interrupted by a
 call from the crisscrossing catwalks above:

 "We'll save you, gob!"

 There is an ominous creak from overhead. ...Are there nets up there?
 The Gobs to which you were just speaking react to this call from above with
 alarm. "Still down here, gob!!"

 But it is too late. A rope somewhere is audibly cut and the nets, laden with
 heavy debris and stones, are dropped down upon you and the Gob ambassadors.
 Hurry! If you make a run for it, you should be able to make for the far door
 and escape being crushed!
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Injure, Hesitate================================
=======================<* Desecrated Shrine - Round 7 *>========================
===========================< Results - Go With Gob >============================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avril Vent Fleur                    46 --(0)--> 46                 Pass
Sea Medium                          2   Agility Effects: Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          61 --(10)--> 71                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cyre H. Lorentz                     56 --(0)--> 56                 Pass
Reverse Parachute                   1   Agility Effects: Rally and Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia Seren                         51 --(0)--> 51                 Pass
Radical Skates                      2   Agility Effects: Quicken
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eleanor Klein                       51 --(0)--> 51                 Pass
Ice Rod                             2   Agility Effects: Quicken
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Avril Vent Fleur            95 --(25)--> 120               Pass
Conditions: Cripple|Hesitate(2)|Injure(2)|Reckless(1)
Effects: Quicken(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success!
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has successfully explored Desecrated Shrine!
============================<* Desecrated Shrine *>=============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - An Untouched Armament *>=====================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Ducking into the far room, you find yourself in one of the Gobs' main
 storerooms for their ill-gotten goods from Honeysday's fields, the shrine,
 and perhaps elsewhere as well. Most of the contents are food and crops
 stolen from Honeysday, which the villagers will certainly reward you well
 with but in an inspection of the items you also find--

 Amazing. This firearm-type ARM must be thousands of years old. Was it
 salvaged by the Gobs from somewhere in this shrine? It looks like it's still
 in good condition, though it will need some work from an ARMs Meister to get
 it working properly. What a find.

 You hear distantly the shouting and thumping of many small feet. It may be a
 good idea to collect what you can of the purloined supplies and make a
 retreat before the entire Gob populace is mobilized.
=Dungeon Conditions: Vault, Treasure==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Dean stumbles in their flight, perhaps shunned by Lucadia...!

    But Avril grabs his hand as the enchantment overcomes her, and she and he both soar for the entrance as the junkpile above comes raining down in a terrible crash.

    A terrible crash that is, pointedly, rather averted by Cyre's bottled whirlwind that sends the debris spiraling in a safe torrent both upwards and about the place where the lot of them stand and flee.

    The good news is, there are some shouts and screams from above as the Gobs see their trap quite literally blow back up in their respective faces.

    Eleanor slides into home, and Lydia also makes good use of her current form, similarly gliding at speed across the ice.

    ...And what luck, they have escaped into the very storeroom they were attempting to reach. Food lies haphazardly piled in here, along with...

    An ancient ARM, of some extraction. Is this from the Gobs--

    "This... resembles a Veruni weapon," Avril remarks, tilting her head to one side as she regards the weapon. "But, whatever could it be doing here?"

    Perhaps the time to wonder about it may need to wait. There is (distantly) the sounds of Gobbish shouting. Either they should make tracks with the food, or prepare for a fight.