2020-05-13: What Becomes of the Discarded: Difference between revisions
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Latest revision as of 02:16, 19 May 2020
- Log: What Becomes of the Discarded?
- Cast: Loren Voss, Anaitis Sura
- Where: Capel Coffa
- Date: May 13, 2020
- Summary: Loren (accidently) ends up traveling to Capel Coffa with Anaitis. The conversation ends up traveling down a more emotionally weighty path than usual, however...
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Capel Coffa. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Into The Depths *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A few things can be gleaned about Capel Coffa from the outset: first of all, it's clearly an Elw ruin to judge by the flowing nearly-organic architecture visible from the outside, deep within the crevice in which it has been enclosed. The second thing that can be safely assumed is that this place was made to be protected from the outside world. For what reason is not immediately clear: if it was to protect the inhabitants, then the question arises of how they would ever leave the place easily on a regular basis. ...Because to get into the Elw ruin you first need to negotiate the drop down to the white-doored entranceway in the stone, far below. The tight walls of the rocky crevice make most forms of flight tricky business. This will be tiring -- and potentially painful if one slips -- going. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIgWiOju3P4 =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Facing down the chasm below, Loren pulls his face in an unhappy grimace. Of all the stupid...
A DAY AGO
Loren Voss, recently returned from his work in the field (currently his plans are going along just fine, but at what cost), had dropped by engineering, as he usually does when he's back on base, schedule permitting.
There, he had met with Anaitis, and after some chatter, he had cut to the heart of the matter. After all, he wanted to spend a little more time with Anaitis. Ideally, alone. Perhaps, even...
But you don't just ask that -- burgeoning relationships are fraught enough as they are without the possibility of an out if you're not on the same page. Besides, there's the significant chance Anat will take this suggestion guilelessly literally, so he's perfectly fine with that outcome, anway.
All well and good. They'll likely get some coffee together and he'll get to know them a little better.
But, even though that was the most likely outcome...
He'd been nervous. Positively anxious, actually. So what he'd actually asked the engineer was...
NOW
He almost wishes he could travel back in time to warn himself first, or something.
Cup of coffee.
Capel Coffa.
And Anaitis had seemed so interested, so of course he hadn't been able to backtrack...
Well, fine. He was hoping to spend more time with the engineer, and it looks like he's getting his wish. Just in the usual monkey's paw resolution that usually seems to be the way with his life, lately.
Now he really does know how Lunata feels.
He attaches one end of the tether to a sturdy-looking rock, the other clipping to the harness he's donned. Then he glances back at Anat. "It's going to be tough getting down. Do you want to... um..."
He glances away, suddenly far too self-concious for this sort of thing. Damn it.
"A-anyway, this is supposed to hold up to five hundred pounds, so..."
He absently reaches into a pocket, bringing out the Wing-aligned feather token, toying with it in his nervousness.
"What I mean is... I could carry you down...?"
He hates, instantly, the way that he's turned that statement into a question.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Pinion Charm toward his party's challenge, Into The Depths.
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
Anaitis had been terribly happy to speak more with Loren, ever since the captain mentioned he wanted to spend more time with them. But one suggestion went to another, and there was a look of quiet surprise...
"I would, Loren."
NOW
There is a different air about Anaitis today. They look -- pensive, perhaps; there is a palpable tension just slightly under the still-airy expression they carry.
"Capel Coffa... hm."
There is a look towards Loren as they reach over towards his hand, and slips closer to them. "I would."
Anaitis is the kind who usually keeps a fairly flowing, easy countenance; but to those who know them well enough -- Loren -- there is something troubling, somewhere, difficult to pinpoint.
DG: Anaitis Sura has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Into The Depths.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - Into The Depths *>======================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A few things can be gleaned about Capel Coffa from the outset: first of all, it's clearly an Elw ruin to judge by the flowing nearly-organic architecture visible from the outside, deep within the crevice in which it has been enclosed. The second thing that can be safely assumed is that this place was made to be protected from the outside world. For what reason is not immediately clear: if it was to protect the inhabitants, then the question arises of how they would ever leave the place easily on a regular basis. ...Because to get into the Elw ruin you first need to negotiate the drop down to the white-doored entranceway in the stone, far below. The tight walls of the rocky crevice make most forms of flight tricky business. This will be tiring -- and potentially painful if one slips -- going. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIgWiOju3P4 =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Injure=============================================
==========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 1 *>=========================== =========================< Results - Into The Depths >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(8)--> 8 Fail Pinion Charm 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anaitis Sura 0 --(0)--> 0 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Tire(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
There had been something about the look in their eyes...
Something that seems yet different with the engineer's nature today. He's been watching them -- watching and trying to understand what might lie behind that subtle shift. Has something happened lately? Does this place remind them of something?
Still, there's the matter of getting down there...
Even if getting down there has its own unique hazards included.
Besides from the drop alone, that is.
"You're, uh... okay like this, right?"
Because he still has to check. Insecurity is an essential component of his being, even now. Perhaps, especially now.
The drop is a difficult one. He's no weak-armed Ether specialist, but this is still an exertion above and beyond what he's accustomed to.
But he has his pride: he doesn't dare whine or complain, not about this. Not when what's on the line is his basic ability to take care of his, his...
His person, he supposes.
He winces once they finally touch down outside the white doors to the complex proper, rubbing his shoulder in a way he hopes is innocuous.
"It's just inside from here."
DG: Anaitis Sura has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Verdant Recursion *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This room seems unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden in miniature: the plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths. And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in the middle of the mini garden. When one of the tiles is stepped on, you are taken to a room that seems unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden in miniature: the plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths. And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in the middle of the mini garden. ...It's a teleporter maze, and a fiendish one at that, with each room appearing just like the last. Is this what the Elw considered recreational...? But perhaps there is no way forward but through. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Stupify========================================
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
Subtly, something seems to be assisting them -- Anat isn't making any grand overtures like a spellcast or using their Graphs or anything, but... the footing is just a little bit more sure and dry when it might be slippery, and just when there's an obstacle in their way--
The ground underneath melts away, wettened by something.
"I am," Anat answers softly. They touch down upon the door. Their expression is unreadable, but that in and out of itself is telling of something.
"I see..."
They enter... into a garden, a miniature one -- plants resting in pots, the bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths...
"... what do you think of the Elw, Loren?"
They put their hands behind their back. "This garden is beautiful, is it not?" There's no happiness in the way they say it, though. "So well manicured, even now. A perfectly cast image."
They have not yet gone to one of the teleporters.
DG: Anaitis Sura has used their Tool Engineering Kit toward their party's challenge, Verdant Recursion.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's strange. Regardless of the strain this puts on him, it's like the world about him -- in a sense -- is waiting right there to catch him. He never once slips. He might have some muscle aches, come tomorrow, but he won't be seriously laid up.
It really is strange. But he doesn't comment.
Not now.
Something about the chamber they enter into seems oddly familiar, he thinks, as they head into the complex wrought by the Elw. He's in the process of trying to place it, pulling out his tablet computer to pull up the details from the last time, when...
"What do I think about the Elw?"
He's silent a moment.
"I... guess I never really thought about them much. They existed, it seems, but I don't think we really know much about them. They built this place, right?"
Silence, again; he looks about himself.
"I guess... they really liked plants."
He pauses, remembering for a moment a room filled with plants, the air thick and heady with the scent of greenery. He remembers--
That he'd come apart in that room.
But why? When? ...Whose room?
His gaze distant, he slowly lifts a hand to about chest height and stares down at his open palm.
Anaitis continues, breaking the reverie. "--Yeah. I wonder if Lan'd..."
He trails off, noticing at last that they seem...
Not unhappy. But not happy, either. Loren tilts his head slightly to one side, his expression a questioning one.
"I guess... we should see where this goes, huh."
He remembers soon after why this spot seemed so familiar. Which is when his pensive mood gives way, once again, to naked irritation.
"Oh, of all the--"
At least the medical computer is good with detecting subtle temperature shifts.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool MediScan v7 toward his party's challenge, Verdant Recursion.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>=============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Verdant Recursion *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This room seems unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden in miniature: the plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths. And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in the middle of the mini garden. When one of the tiles is stepped on, you are taken to a room that seems unusually small when you enter. It showcases an Elw garden in miniature: the plants resting in pots, a small bubbling spring, the mossy stone paths. And somewhat atypically, a choice of two glowing tiles set side by side in the middle of the mini garden. ...It's a teleporter maze, and a fiendish one at that, with each room appearing just like the last. Is this what the Elw considered recreational...? But perhaps there is no way forward but through. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Stupify========================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 2 *>========================== =======================< Results - Verdant Recursion >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 8 --(13)--> 21 Pass MediScan v7 3 Wits Effects: Rally ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anaitis Sura 0 --(23)--> 23 Fail Engineering Kit 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Reckless(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Anaitis Sura has posed.
"True. And yes, they did..." Anaitis answers. They don't even bother with an excuse like 'if I read the reports correctly'. It's as if they just confirmed it like a fact they know off-hand.
"I wonder. Let us say you had a well-groomed plant that you wanted to model in a certain image, Loren..."
They step quietly after Loren as they start to work through the teleporter maze. It takes them quite a while. The medical computer does assist in this regard, inadvertently building a map based on temperature for them.
"But through one accident or another, it comes out misshapen. Deformed. Would you then discard it and start anew?"
They do not seem to be in a hurry, however.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Enduring Green *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A door slides open to reveal a garden, the plantlife still vivacious and living even after this complex was abandoned by the Elw. Stones that would not look out of place on a forest floor create a pathway around a bubbling pool of water, fed by an eternal trickle from an aperture that descends from the ceiling above you. It's very peaceful and would be a good place to rest. Would, if it weren't for the manifestation of hostile earth and water elemental spirits as soon as you enter. But perhaps you can fix that minor issue. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It is a pretty strange way to put it, but perhaps, Anaitis is simply interested in the Elw. In the same way, then, of any historian speaking about an event that they weren't there for?
It isn't easy picking their way through the various indentical rooms.
Loren pauses, though, when Anaitis continues on. Normally, there's a very particular way he would have answered a question like that, but it seems as if it might be a poor choice of words, now.
He is silent for a good room and a half of exploration, considering his options.
"I... don't know about plants," he says, finally. "But, I've made some models before. When you mess one of those up, sometimes you can start over. Or adjust what you have..."
What in the Emperor's name was Anaitis' home life like, he wonders privately.
"Do you have siblings, Anat?" he asks, about another room over, using the map that's being generated based on temperature shifts to work their way out of the maze.
The duplicate rooms finally open up into an atrium-like space. "Finally. I was starting to think we were stuck," he gripes, planting his hands on his hips as he stares up at the falling water. "...I guess something's still managing this place," he remarks, turning to face...
A quartet of restless elemental spirits.
"..."
Loren slowly presses his lips thin. "Great," he remarks, flatly, going for his kit, then tossing an Aquasol to the engineer.
Then he goes for his sword.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Enduring Green.
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
"... a while back, I did, yes," Anaitis responds somewhat unhelpfully. What, did they die? It seems to be something of a private matter at the moment, however. They've never talked much about their family, let alone their siblings.
"That was quite the contraption..." they agree with Loren when he gripes about how they could've been stuck.
When you mess one of those up, sometimes you can start over. Or adjust what you have...
"I see. Yes... if you have the chance to 'correct' something, you ought to," Anaitis answers.
It... doesn't sound like they quite agree, but then again, this is one heck of a veiled conversation they're having right now.
But the restless spirits come, and they accept the Aquasol--
Anaitis steps forward gently, as if to peer into the water elementals.
"You do not wish to fight us."
DG: Anaitis Sura has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward their party's challenge, Enduring Green.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - Enduring Green *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A door slides open to reveal a garden, the plantlife still vivacious and living even after this complex was abandoned by the Elw. Stones that would not look out of place on a forest floor create a pathway around a bubbling pool of water, fed by an eternal trickle from an aperture that descends from the ceiling above you. It's very peaceful and would be a good place to rest. Would, if it weren't for the manifestation of hostile earth and water elemental spirits as soon as you enter. But perhaps you can fix that minor issue. =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
==========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 3 *>=========================== ==========================< Results - Enduring Green >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 21 --(20)--> 41 Fail Solarian Medical Kit 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anaitis Sura 23 --(20)--> 43 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 30 --(10)--> 40 Fail Conditions: Reckless(1)|Save Point(1)|Stupify(1) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
He doesn't remember much about family in the medical files -- but all they really do is mention next-of-kin. If they have siblings, which they very well could, it could be novel information to him.
"Oh," he says simply, feeling as if he's trod into something awkward and unfortunate. Perhaps this is one those 'best not to pry' moments...
"Why did they even make something like that? I mean, what's even the point," the medical officer continues to bemoan, a question that he wouldn't have even raised had he chance to explore the Pleasing Garden.
It's a pretty good, even downright healthy way to look at an error. Start over or make the best of it.
It's just too bad it's not a lesson Loren can apply to his own life.
"Yeah," Loren muses, his gaze distant.
At least not in a healthy way. Correcting an error, after all, can come in quite terminal forms.
There's something strange about the spirits, when they interact with Anaitis. Almost as if...
They twist from Anaitis. But quelled or not, there are still the earth elementals to deal with. "What was that--" Loren starts to remark, on that technique of theirs, though the earth spirit he's deal with has other ideas. "--ugh, why won't you give it up!"
Still, one way or another, in the end there's a moment of peace to be gleaned.
DG: Anaitis Sura has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - A Wall of Light *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This obstacle in your path presents itself quite literally: it stands in the middle of the winding corridor through which you currently walk, as a barrier of light. To all appearances a shimmering veil of pearly white-blue light, initial attempts to pass through it soon meet in failure: it may appear to be light, but it presents a surface as hard as a steel wall. Is this passage then impossible--? Perhaps all hope is not lost. It may stand fast, but it can be felt. It has a surface. And if it has a surface... perhaps it can be broken. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken======================================
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
The Aquasol Loren handed comes in handy, when some of the earth elementals manage to injure Anaitis. It is a small wound, but even a small one... well, most people seem to have more of a reaction than 'nothing'.
"That was rather vexing, was it not?" Anat quietly murmurs to Loren, looking him over. "Thank you for the medicine."
Start over...
"I wonder... even you start over. What becomes of the discarded?"
It's not a question the junior engineer leaves hanging in the air, as they depart slowly and--
*ping*
There is a barrier.
"... this is quite the obstacle," Anaitis comments. "Perhaps more than we can manage at the moment." Still, it would not do to not even try, so they draw a Crest Graph and focuses upon it...
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"!" It's minor, but it still makes something in him stop up. "Are you okay? It looks like one of them got you..."
Anaitis doesn't even seem to have noticed, though.
"You're, uh, welcome," he says, because Anat really brings out the politer young man. Maybe because he feels that there's the need to attempt to impress, still. Like Anaitis might slip away from him unless he's very, very careful. Like this is his only chance, however fleeting...
"If I start over? Well... it depends on what can be salvaged, I guess..."
He knows Anaitis isn't just talking about model kits. But all the things he wants to ask, he just can't.
His own brother was...
It's like trying to hold onto the wind, now.
A barrier manifests before them, then. "What's... really?" He pokes at it, then shoves at it with the palm of his hand. "...Seriously. How are you supposed to take care of this?" he asks, rhetorically, then splays out his fingers, trying to thread some trace of earth Ether into the gaps--
Are there even gaps?
"How did you learn," he says, pausing a moment where he needs to take a breath from the strain of attempting to breach the barrier, "Crest sorcery?"
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, A Wall of Light. DG: Anaitis Sura has used their Tool Crest Graph S toward their party's challenge, A Wall of Light.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>=============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - A Wall of Light *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 4 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- This obstacle in your path presents itself quite literally: it stands in the middle of the winding corridor through which you currently walk, as a barrier of light. To all appearances a shimmering veil of pearly white-blue light, initial attempts to pass through it soon meet in failure: it may appear to be light, but it presents a surface as hard as a steel wall. Is this passage then impossible--? Perhaps all hope is not lost. It may stand fast, but it can be felt. It has a surface. And if it has a surface... perhaps it can be broken. =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Weaken======================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 4 *>========================== ========================< Results - A Wall of Light >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 41 --(15)--> 56 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anaitis Sura 43 --(15)--> 58 Fail Crest Graph S 2 Brute Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 40 --(10)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Anaitis Sura has posed.
Fleeting.
Perhaps that's a way to describe Anaitis right now; unlike the flowing water which they seem to present like, conforming to any space or container upon which they flow--
It feels like fleeting, driving rain, perhaps.
Loren is skeptical as well. They thread earth Ether and use the Crest Graph in succession, and... largely do not make much of a dent on the barrier.
It does seem to be something that is beyond them right now.
"... I think it would be best to find another route, lest we spend too much power," Anat advises.
A pause, as Loren asks them how they learnt Crest Sorcery.
"... I wonder. It is something I have always been able to do, is perhaps the simplest way to express it," Anaitis answers, lifting the Crest Graph. "I know it is not common at all in Etrenank."
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - A Revealing Word *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- At first glance, there is nothing in this simple stone side chamber, which could alone spur a number of speculations on the Elw. But a glance downwards soon reveals it is not entirely so. The floor is studded in simple large tiles, each engraved with a character of the known Elw alphabet. When one is stepped on, it depresses into the floor -- and after a series of them are stepped on, the depressed tiles reset. What is the purpose of this? A meditative exercise of some sort? ...Though the thin outline of a sealed door on the opposite side of the room may suggest at a possible hint. But which word or name could be the one that grants entry? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Secret=============================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It... doesn't work out.
Perhaps this outcome could have been predicted from the start. But so it goes, perhaps. Loren shakes out his hand as he pulls away, and not due to any actual pain as much as...
Frustration, maybe. Between the tension (is that the right word?) that undergirdles Anat today, and his own stressors, he's more than willing to give this path a pass and not beat his head against the wall further.
"Yeah," he agrees, following along.
"I guess so," he allows, remembering the last time he had implied Anat was in any way unusual. "Neither's Symbology." The last, particularly because it requires marking up the body. First Class is unlikely to do it, and Second Class, in emulation, the more so. He had heard there were some elevated Thirds who used it, but...
"Did your parents use it, then?"
Said as they press on into a new room, one that features nothing... except a tiled floor, decorated in...
Loren kneels before one, pressing down lightly upon it. It depresses gently.
"Elw characters?" he wonders, rising to his feet. "You don't happen to know these, do you?" Pause.
"Because I don't."
He draws out the medical computer, taking a surface scan. Normally, this is used to detect skin cell abnormalities... but it should also tell him something about which of the plates are perhaps the most worn. Which might, perhaps, suggest which ones are the right ones to step on.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool MediScan v7 toward his party's challenge, A Revealing Word.
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
"I think... in a sense, yes, they did use it," Anaitis answers... in a non-answer way? Did they do it or not? It rather sounds like they aren't entirely certain themselves. "They certainly used the principles plenty, but by the time I had served onboard the Tzadkiel, I refined the craft for myself."
A pause, as they come onto a new room and there is nothing.. save for a tiled floor.
There is a long silence.
"Elw characters... no, I do not," Anaitis answers.
Yet as they try the plates out... there is a certain combination of letters that spells out a name, wordlessly, without sound.
Would it work, in this case?
DG: Anaitis Sura has used their Tool Engineering Kit toward their party's challenge, A Revealing Word.
===============================<* Capel Coffa *>================================ =======================<* CHALLENGE - A Revealing Word *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- At first glance, there is nothing in this simple stone side chamber, which could alone spur a number of speculations on the Elw. But a glance downwards soon reveals it is not entirely so. The floor is studded in simple large tiles, each engraved with a character of the known Elw alphabet. When one is stepped on, it depresses into the floor -- and after a series of them are stepped on, the depressed tiles reset. What is the purpose of this? A meditative exercise of some sort? ...Though the thin outline of a sealed door on the opposite side of the room may suggest at a possible hint. But which word or name could be the one that grants entry? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Secret=============================================
==========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 5 *>=========================== =========================< Results - A Revealing Word >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 56 --(0)--> 56 Pass MediScan v7 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anaitis Sura 58 --(0)--> 58 Pass Engineering Kit 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Overzealous(1)|Secret(2)|Tire(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Loren Voss has posed.
Now it's starting to make sense. Their parents were dabblers, and they had picked up on the craft from them. "If you ever have to fight someone using Ether, it could give you the upper hand," he notes, even if the ugly thought of Anaitis having to defend themself against Azazel intrudes. He doesn't want to think about that. Doesn't want to think about Anaitis' body run through like...
When... did that happen?
"They'll expect you to use Ether," he continues, after a second's pause. "Sometimes, surprise helps. ...But I hope it won't come to that."
Some of the plates are worn in the right places.
Some of these further seem to suggest, at a probing, that some other mechanism is wound up within.
A certain name does, eventually, suggest itself. They reach the other side without incident, whereupon a door previously only suggested opens.
"I wonder what that word means," Loren muses, then shakes his head. It's not his problem.
DG: Anaitis Sura has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Triplight Trap *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Twisting tunnels -- putting one in mind, perhaps, of plant roots -- lead from section to section of Capel Coffa. The one you are in is lengthier than the others, which rapidly reveals itself to be a problem. Since, as you quickly find out, the security in this place -- along with the lighting -- is still /very/ much active. Small and previously well-disguised panels open up along the hallway just ahead of you, creating a lattice of laser lights. It will take finesse to move through these without touching one. They seem more like tripwires than any attempt at damaging an intruder-- --But do you want to find out what happens if you set them off? =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
"I suppose so, yes..." Anaitis answers on the topic of having the upper hand, against what people expect Solarians to use. They glance to Loren's distracted thought for a moment. They're thinking about someone...
"Prudence is best when fighting, I find."
What does that word mean? Loren does not know. To Anat, it is nothing more than an extremely bitter memory. That it works... it just makes certain things more sour.
They do not get much of a chance to dwell on it -- they arrive at tunnels, and with security that's still quite alive, creating a lattice of laser lights.
Anaitis is seated on their boat paddle like a witch flying on her broom, before Loren can even spot them taking it out!
"Would you like a ride?"
DG: Anaitis Sura has used their Tool Boat Paddle toward their party's challenge, Triplight Trap.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Prudence... huh."
It's funny. Just days ago, he'd felt like an entirely different person. Fei had stirred some unpleasant feelings, even if he had similarly done his best to (emotionally) wound Fei. He'd felt again like he had in Spira, like he was blurring at the margins, like any sort of intense feeling was all he had to cling to.
But right he feels...
Maybe not calmer. Maybe not even more like himself, whatever that even means anymore. But more... centered, maybe, when he's around Anaitis. Even if they're talking about weighty things, in a sense. Even if he's a little worried about Anat.
No, maybe, it's the sense that something's worthwhile, after all?
"I hope... you don't have to fight, though. If something happened to you--" He stops dead verbally as well as physically.
His gaze lingers on the laser beams a moment.
"I mean..." he hazards, pulling out the Ley-aligned feather and cord as if to fidget with it.
And then his gaze shifts to Anaitis and the boat paddle. "..."
Without a word, he climbs aboard.
"You still haven't told me how this works," he says instead, perhaps more than willing to move away from his earlier comment than anything else. The Wing token dangles from the cord, now wrapped around his wrist.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Pinion Charm toward his party's challenge, Triplight Trap.
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>=============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Triplight Trap *>======================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Twisting tunnels -- putting one in mind, perhaps, of plant roots -- lead from section to section of Capel Coffa. The one you are in is lengthier than the others, which rapidly reveals itself to be a problem. Since, as you quickly find out, the security in this place -- along with the lighting -- is still /very/ much active. Small and previously well-disguised panels open up along the hallway just ahead of you, creating a lattice of laser lights. It will take finesse to move through these without touching one. They seem more like tripwires than any attempt at damaging an intruder-- --But do you want to find out what happens if you set them off? =Dungeon Conditions: Hesitate=================================================
=========================<* Capel Coffa - Round 6 *>========================== =========================< Results - Triplight Trap >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loren Voss 56 --(3)--> 59 Fail Pinion Charm 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anaitis Sura 58 --(0)--> 58 Pass Boat Paddle 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Loren Voss 70 --(30)--> 100 Pass Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Secret(1)|Tire(1) Effects: ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored Capel Coffa!
==============================<* Capel Coffa *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - Memorial to a Forgotten War *>=================
|Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
Disabling the light shielding and passing through the barrier, you find
yourselves in a rather stark chamber. Evidence suggests there were once
lights -- candles -- set on the near the bottom of the polished stone face
of the memorial before you, but only traces remain. No one has been here in
some time.
With effort, you can clean off the placard and see, in a series of
languages, the following text written:
In Honor of the Heroes of the War Against Belia Lugos
Kressen, Yulia, and #######
And in Memory of All Lives Lost in that War
...One name has been completely defaced. It's impossible to make out what it
was supposed to be anymore. Even the name of Yulia shows some signs of
scratchmarks, though the name hasn't been obliterated to the point of
illegibility.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr1rzkDg7d4
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Anaitis Sura has posed.
Anaitis' face twigs for a moment as they look towards the charm Loren is using. "Wing..." they express. "That charm is aligned with the Wing Ley, is it not?" Ah, it would make sense that Crest Sorcerers are interested in such things, would they not?
Loren comments on how he hopes they don't have to fight.
"If it is for you..." A pause. "Then, perhaps I can have less regrets."
They don't elucidate further on that, because as they speed forward, assisted by the Charm--
*BAMF*
"Oh dear."
Anat has accidentally tripped past a wall that actually turns out to be very illusory, and they land on a stark chamber upon which several stone memorials lie before them.
ELSEWHERE, AT THE CLIMAX:
The Elw-detecting automaton guardian readies itself for an epic battle with the next lot of Drifters, sharpening its claws and readying its sensors.
...
Nothing happens.
"?"
ELSEWHERE, AT THE FINAL:
The shimmering blue barrier protecting the chamber that Anat and Loren has just busted into readies itself by standing empowered, its perfect shielding repelling all encounters.
...
Nothing happens.
"???"
HERE, AT THE DISCOVERY:
"Heroes... of the past, hmm?" Anat mutters quietly. "'Tis nice to be remembered, I suppose. And yet... it appears one of them was not remembered fondly."
There is a tilt of their head. "... I will make sure to never forget you, Loren. No matter what."
There is a rumble, as the subjects of the Climax and Final begin to realise what has happened. "Ah, we should perhaps escape before we attract their attention."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren nods. "Yeah. I found it in that... Baskar burial ground. Xiba... something."
Xibalba, wherein the Primarch of Wind had rested. Until fairly recently.
Even the cord is laced with traces of the Ley, but it, too, had come from a Baskar site.
Fereshte.
"It... kind of feels lucky." He pauses. "Is that weird?"
Especially with his luck being quite so bad, largely. Holding onto the paddle, he tries not to look down. Which means he's watching as they speed towards a wall.
"Oh sh--"
Things happen very quickly. In the end, Loren finds himself sprawled (should have held on, Loren) in front of a memorial. "What's... this," he utters, picking himself up to stare at it.
"Belia... Lugos," he repeats, scrunching up his brow as he stares at the inscriptions. He approaches the stone, running his fingertips along the carvings.
"Someone... wanted to forget them," he murmurs, and that, too, seems to strike a chord in him, somehow.
If I could erase all evidence you had ever...
He turns then, facing Anat.
Ever so slightly the fingers of his left hand curl inwards towards the palm. Face faintly flushed with mild embarrassment, he looks away. "H-hey, you... don't have to say stuff like..."
Something rumbles, then. There are perhaps other things to be worried about. Loren reflects, for a moment, on the thing that they had fought outside the vault the last time. "R-right," he stammers, pulling himself together. "Let's go!"