2020-05-17: The City that Fell From the Skies: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "*'''Log: The City that Fell From the Skies''' *'''Cast:''' Character :: Fei Fong Wong, Character :: Dean Stark, Character :: Rebecca Streisand, Character :: Emer...")
 
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Latest revision as of 02:44, 19 May 2020


DG: A party led by Fei Fong Wong is now entering Fila del Fia.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Mind The Gap *>========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 There are stories about Fila del Fia. The majority of them circulate thus:
 it was a city that fell from the sky. The site where it fell in the Damzena
 desert is filled with dangerous creatures. And no one has ever ventured
 inside and come out to tell about it. But there's a first time for
 everything.

 Just inside the entrance, though, you meet with a massive problem. A
 massive, deep problem.

 It's a gap, right in the middle of the floor, a big ragged wound in the
 depths of Fila del Fia. You cannot see the bottom. Even a stone pitched into
 its depths fails to report a sound for /some/ time.

 Under the circumstances, it may be best to find a way to circumvent the gap.
 ...Which oddly seems to be growing wider by the moment. Haste in your
 crossing may be ideal.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyalHwMVeyg
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Hesitate, Reckless==============================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

A city that fell from the sky! Fei thought that maybe they could check this place out and maybe learn about...other cities that are in the sky? Like Shevat?? He doesn't really have much in the way of leads right now so he'll take Fila del Fia. If nothing else, he might be able to find something to steal.

"Hear this one's pretty dangerous," Fei says. "So let's not fret it too much if we can't get too far in. More important to be safe, right?"

He has naturally brought along Elly, Emeralda, and Doc for the ride but it's felt like a long minute since he's spent any time around his good friend Dean so he invited him (and by extension Rebecca) along as well. It's a dangerous place, he heard, so he'd rather have ruin delvers he can count on until he has a better idea on how vicious the place is.

INITIAL D(anger)! Just as the group heads on in, there is ... a giant hole in the floor. Fei takes a rock and chucks it into the abyss.

He waits.
He waits longer.
He swallows faintly. Still nothing.

"Let's uh.." He says. "Let's not fall into that."

He takes several steps back before RUNNNING IT and trying to jump all the way across, believing in his people's natural ability to not move into ones occupied by unpassable territory thanks to the power of invisible walls. Oh that isn't a thing?

Well, he'll probably be okay.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mind The Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    And even if there's no connection between Fila del Fia and other sky cities, there'll still be an adventure!! Dean is always up for adventure with his good friends Fei and Rebecca, so he's pretty cheerful about this. Granted, he's usually pretty cheerful. Avril would have come, too, but she's still recovering from a different adventure she went on the other night. Maybe next time.
    
    "Sounds good!" he says to Fei. "But in the meantime, let's do our best!"
    
    But right away, sure enough, there's danger: a massive cliff between them and the grounded city. He squints at it as Fei throws a rock into the abyss. "Is it just me or is it getting wider?" he wonders to his friends. "That's just me, right?"
    
    Fei takes a running leap across the gap. Dean takes this as his cue to do the same. Fei is a great role model!

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mind The Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


What kind of city was up in the sky in the first place? Rebecca still thinks it's incredibly impractical to build a city that flies. Sure it'll be safe so long as you don't wander near a rail or come into contact with a fleet of airships, but you'll have to import everything.

"I'm relieved to hear you say that Fei." Rebecca notes, "You hear that Dean? Let's not do anything too reckless!"

And then the abyss. Rebecca peers at it as Fei throws a rock.

"A-greed."

But then she sees Fei taking a few steps back, "H-Hey wait! There's no need for that I have..." Too late, and then Dean follows suit, "DEAN!"

Rebecca fumbles with grasping her portal gun, then sends a blast across the gap. She then points it straight down at her feet, and falls through.

Doing a flip as she lands on the other side.

"... a portal gun!"

Scrambling to the edge, she attempts to brace herself and ready herself to catch anyone who might fall a bit short and pull them up and over.

"DEAN! YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW I HAVE ONE-!"

DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, Mind The Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "WAIT, YOU DO?? OH YEAH, I FORGOT!" Dean yells back.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"YOU HAVE A PORTAL GUN? THAT'S MUCH EASIER THAN JUMPING." Fei shouts midleap.

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca takes this moment as emblematic of her entire existence.

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Of course Emeralda came along. She didn't have to be asked twice. A chance to explore an ancient ex-flying city is something not everybody gets to do! And she'd rather do it with Fei and Elly than anyone else, so hearing they are both coming is just a cherry on top (Citan is nice and all, but he's not Fei and Elly).

"Okay!"

Emeralda seems unworried about the possible danger Fei is warning her about. Maybe she has an excuse; she's pretty tough, and given time, she can recover from all sorts of injury. She strolls up to the hole, looks down into it, and takes about twenty steps back. Then a few more for good measure.

And then Emeralda runs directly at the pit.

She leaps at the last moment, and her hair, always voluminous, billows out and out, spreading almost like fibrous wings; she doesn't glide (she is too heavy to glide) but she does get some more distance than might be expected, and she can even steer a little bit, which she does by shaping her hair just so and causing her to swerve slightly to the left to get to a closer bit of ground.

"Wait, people have a portal gun? Fei can I have a portal gun??"

DG: Emeralda Kasim has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mind The Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

A city in the sky?

That's ridiculous, right ELLY?

Elly van Houten has come here for the obvious reasons, viz 'learn about a city in the sky' and 'support Fei.' Perhaps once there were many cities in the sky and now there are only two - three if you include Sielje, which seems to be a marginal case?

She hasn't heard of them, but, she wasn't exactly a history major, and if Solaris shot them down hundreds of years ago, why would they tell schoolchildren about it?

"Y-yeah," Elly tells Fei. Even as Fei goes to take a leap of faith-- which might cheer him right up, even as somewhere, a disk begins to spin.

The disk of a portal!

Elly blinks at Rebecca, points at the portal, then pauses, as if to contemplate this, and quietly snaps up the flap on her fishing gear as she says, "I think I could make this jump but to be honest with you I feel like I abuse this stuff a lot as it is... I should take care of my belongings."

Elly smiles at Dean and Rebecca, says "Thank you for coming," and then, "I'll see you on the other side," before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z51lfE2k7jU

... walking through the portal. "Nobody really makes them," Elly tells Emeralda, "at least not lately. Maybe we can ask an ARMS meister if they can be duplicated."

DG: Elhaym van Houten has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mind The Gap.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Fila del Fia is if nothing else, if the stories are at all true, the graveyard of untold numbers of would-be fortune-seekers. There are sometimes places in this world that are too dangerous to be worth exploring; there are things that must not be touched.

    Citan, of course, has heard the stories.

    When Fei had proposed venturing to that place to see what might be in the ruins of the fallen city, thus, he had asked to come along.

    The first thing they find within the city walls is a terrible scar torn across the interior. Folding his arms over his chest, the country doctor watches as Fei tosses a rock in.

    There is no sound.

    "..." Readjusting his glasses, Citan remarks, "Perhaps we should take caution with crossing..."

    Which is the point when he turns to see Fei run for the edge and leap.

    By nature, Citan is fairly calm and unflappable. But there are times -- times like now -- when that's anything but the case, to judge by the expression on his face. "Fei! Wait!"

    It's a little too late for that.

    Shaking his head, the doctor watches as he's soon joined by Dean in similar fashion (and Emeralda in a uniquely her fashion) when Rebecca remarks that she has a portal gun.
    And demonstrates it, to boot.

    "Oh, well, now... that certainly is convenient..." he comments, and after a moment's consideration, similarly joins Elly in crossing over to the other side.

    "Wherever did you get such a thing?"

    It's not just Dean, though -- it really does look like the gap has widened from this side.

DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mind The Gap.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Mind The Gap *>========================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 There are stories about Fila del Fia. The majority of them circulate thus:
 it was a city that fell from the sky. The site where it fell in the Damzena
 desert is filled with dangerous creatures. And no one has ever ventured
 inside and come out to tell about it. But there's a first time for
 everything.

 Just inside the entrance, though, you meet with a massive problem. A
 massive, deep problem.

 It's a gap, right in the middle of the floor, a big ragged wound in the
 depths of Fila del Fia. You cannot see the bottom. Even a stone pitched into
 its depths fails to report a sound for /some/ time.

 Under the circumstances, it may be best to find a way to circumvent the gap.
 ...Which oddly seems to be growing wider by the moment. Haste in your
 crossing may be ideal.

 BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyalHwMVeyg
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Hesitate, Reckless==============================
=========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 1 *>=========================
==========================< Results - Mind The Gap >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       0 --(12)--> 12                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   0 --(12)--> 12                 Pass
Portal Guns                         2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         0 --(15)--> 15                 Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               0 --(10)--> 10                 Fail
Conditions: Cripple|Hesitate(2)|Reckless(2)
Effects:
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Citan Uzuki has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Awkward Orientation *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You notice as you continue up the narrow corridor here that the whole path
 ahead is approaching a definite lean. Perhaps it makes sense -- if this
 place really did fall out of the sky, who is to say it landed the right side
 up?

 Eventually this situation begins to become outright impassable. That is,
 except for the fact that there are sufficient 'outgrowths' on the sides of
 the corridor. You could use them as platforms to essentially ascend this
 branch of Fila del Fia.

 That is, if they would stay still. They are, improbably (though perhaps not
 unexpectedly), moving, as if seeking a more comfortable arrangement. This
 will make the climb more difficult than it ought to be.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Tire============================================
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Rebecca manages to cheat with the portal gun like some kind of dirty cheater. As for Fei? Well, HE at least is able to clear the jump though he fires a chi burst midjump to get some extra space before landing on the other side. All Dean has to do is fire his own chi blast to give him that extra lift but--

--oh. Right. Dean actually misses the jump but luckily he manages to hit the far wall and use that to climb up rather than fall to his doom!

Elly walks through the portal and has no trouble crossing to the other side along with Elly just as Emeralda, who also managed to get across--

--woops misjudges her flight a bit and ends up crashing into them. BONK. Emeralda is a little heavier than she looks, but perhaps with the power of love Elly might be able to--well, anyway, it results in a bit more strain.

This all could've been avoided if they simply jumped across like Fei! And Dean. Who didn't quite make it. But lets ignore that okay?

Regardless, everybody made it across eventually and considers getting Emeralda a portal gun. "I don't know... I'm not even sure where I'd find a portal gun. Is everybody okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Emeralda is-- oh dear," Citan has time to say, once on the other side.

    Perhaps this is a turn of events that could have gone better!

    But at least no one is badly injured as a result. "I am alright, Fei," says the doctor, once that business is all said and done. "The gap appears to still be growing, however, so perhaps we might consider moving onward?" The growth is a subtle thing, but much in the way a living thing might breath while it is at rest, the rend in the floor is widening.

    For the most part, the trek after is uneventful -- for a place like Fila del Fia, that is.

    Until it isn't. Until it seems like the hallway is reaching upwards as if to grasp the heavens. Gazing upwards, Citan considers the path ahead.

    "I believe if we ascend thus, we may be able to continue this way," he says, after a moment's thought. "However, and perhaps my eyes are playing tricks on me, it seems that some of those, well, 'ledges' let us say, are shifting about. I wonder..."

    This is the sort of situation in which is good to have a dependable and flexible pair of shoes. Jumping becomes a necessity after a while--

    Though even that becomes complicated once it becomes painfully clear that it wasn't just a trick of the light. The 'platforms' really are moving and rearranging themselves.

    "What in the world...?"

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Martial Arts Shoes toward his party's challenge, Awkward Orientation.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool H&S Badge toward her party's challenge, Awkward Orientation.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Hey, Dean made it! Specifically he made the far end of the crevasse, which is a sight better than just falling forever into pitch darkness. After scrambling up, Dean takes a moment to catch his breath. Then he uses the power of his never-say-die attitude to perk up and march onwards with the rest of his friends. "Yeah, I'm fine, Fei!" He brightens when he sees Emeralda in particular use her hair like a hand glider. "Cool!!" He still thinks it's cool even after she crashes into Elly and the others. Dean clearly has not learned his lesson whatsoever. But never mind that.
    
    "I think Rebecca got hers from--uhhh, I forget that, too," he says of the portal guns, scratching his head. "Rebecca, who gave you that gun again? Was it Lydia? I'm pretty sure it was Lydia."
    
    Citan in particular leads the way. Dean doesn't think they've met before, but he seems to be a friend of Fei's, plus he just seems like a really nice and smart and straight-up kind of guy, so Dean trusts him implicitly. When he notes the ledges are moving, he peers at them for himself. "I think you're right," he says slowly. "That gap before was getting wider, too. Is this... a really tiny earthquake or something?"
    
    Either way, there's nothing for it but to climb. Rebecca might have her portal gun, but he can't just rely on her all the time. You have to use your own hands and feet! (Rebecca would probably like it if Dean would rely on her a *little*, but never mind that, too.)

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Awkward Orientation.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Emeralda collides with Elly, who is probably lighter and certainly less dense. "Uff!" Elly says; her face is a brief >_< worthy of Yue's Minder before she dusts herself off. "Hah... wow! These kinds of portals really mess with your expectations, don't they?"

"I'm alright," Elly answers Fei, before she gazes upwards at this onward space, trying not to think about the prospect of that gap behind them steadily... growing. But, she thinks, they have Rebecca's portal gun, right? Even if that gap doubles in size, they can still get loose. And if all else fails they can call their Gears. Or Hammer, Elly concludes.

Hammer is probably eating a burrito right now.

Elly sighs, and now she DOES get out her fishing tackle. Though at least in this case it's not quite as absurd as it might be. She attaches a hook suitable for deep sea game fish to a spare reel of line, weighting it with a couple of sinkers and then throwing it up ahead as an improvised grapnel line.

Tug, tug... catch!

As she begins pulling herself upwards, Elly lets the line trail for the benefit of the public.

"If this is a wreck section, it certainly didn't land in true," Elly says. "... Though there's still power...?"

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Fishing Tackle toward her party's challenge, Awkward Orientation.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


After Dean is safe, Rebecca apologizes to the others who got injured crossing using it, "Sorry about that. It takes a little getting used to."

Then its asked where she got it. "It was a gift from a friend." Rebecca says, a little cagily, as Citan asks. The sudden interest in this incredibly useful (and possibly one of a kind) device, and desire for it causing her to be somewhat guarded in her answer. Dean however... answers for her. And Rebecca suddenly shoots him a glare like, DON'T SAY UNNECESSARY THINGS.

Because she knows Lydia is going through a lot right now. "I don't know where she found it. She just told me she didn't need it anymore."

Though she quickly agrees, "Yeah - let's move on."

After a trek, Rebecca suddenly finds herself looking up.

... and up...

"Looks like it. I'll see what I can do."

Like before, Rebecca creates a portal. And shoots it up higher, across from one of the platforms. Gauging the timing for a moment, she suddenly hops up into a backflip, tucking in - as she falls through a portal.

And rockets out of the other side - assuming her timing is correct, causing her to land on a platform.

And thus when Dean gets up to where she is since its likely she's faster, Rebecca waves for a moment before giving him a triumphant look and asking.

"Need a hand?"

Notably, she doesn't offer that hand until he asks for it, as she attempts to ride the platform right over his position and back.

DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, Awkward Orientation.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

It honestly is pretty cool even if Emeralda fudges the landing a bit. Fei doesn't seem bothered by it at least but maybe that makes it worse. MAYBE IT IS WORSE THAT HE LOVES YOU EVEN IF YOU MESS UP. And he's smiling!! Oh no!

But really, considering what he's heard about this ruin, comedically bouncing into one another is--really--kind of a good sign in his book. Thre weren't any ancient evils trying to eat anybody or attack drones--he's getting real sick of attack drones let me tell you though he supposes it's better than attack people or attack YEEESH of which he's seen a fair amount of as well.

"Not sure." He admits thoughtfully. He quirks his head a bit before electing to try and use Elly's line to help get himself up.

"Where'd she get it?" He wonders kind of in shock but elects to not push too hard.

"This doesn't exactly look like a city so far." He admits.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Awkward Orientation.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - Awkward Orientation *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You notice as you continue up the narrow corridor here that the whole path
 ahead is approaching a definite lean. Perhaps it makes sense -- if this
 place really did fall out of the sky, who is to say it landed the right side
 up?

 Eventually this situation begins to become outright impassable. That is,
 except for the fact that there are sufficient 'outgrowths' on the sides of
 the corridor. You could use them as platforms to essentially ascend this
 branch of Fila del Fia.

 That is, if they would stay still. They are, improbably (though perhaps not
 unexpectedly), moving, as if seeking a more comfortable arrangement. This
 will make the climb more difficult than it ought to be.
=Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Tire============================================
==========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 2 *>==========================
=======================< Results - Awkward Orientation >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       12 --(16)--> 28                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      15 --(16)--> 31                Fail
H&S Badge                           1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   12 --(16)--> 28                Fail
Portal Guns                         2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   15 --(16)--> 31                Pass
Fishing Tackle                      2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          15 --(16)--> 31                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         15 --(16)--> 31                Pass
Martial Arts Shoes                  2   Agility Effects: Resilient
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               10 --(10)--> 20                Fail
Conditions: Cripple|Hesitate(1)|Reckless(1)|Tire(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - The Floor Is... Acid Probably *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Fila del Fia is strange. For a city apparently constructed of metal ages
 ago, the walls within show no signs of decay or erosion. In fact, if it
 weren't for the unusual texturing to the walls, you might even say it was
 pristine.

 Underfoot the floor begins to resound oddly as you enter this large room.

 And then it begins to bubble and hiss. The floor has become decidedly
 corrosive, both ahead of you and behind you!

 You need to escape. Quickly.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Maim==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    Apparently, it was a gift from a friend. If the doctor displays any interest at this point, it's mild. He glances over at Dean. "Lydia, was it...?"

    Which is the point where Rebecca interjects, and says that she doesn't know where her friend found them. Citan nods in response, regarding her for a moment. "Ah, I see. Well, no matter, then. It was mere curiosity on my part. You might say that I am, well, a bit of a hobbyist when it comes to older machinery?" But he shakes his head. "...Now is not the time for that, of course."

    There is an apparently hallway to...

    ...ascend.

    "No, I must admit that it does not seem much like a city," says Citan, watching the ominously shifting platform alternate him before leaping across.

    The ascent, as it were, is the easier part of business here. Far more difficult is managing the shifting -- and sometimes vanishing -- platforms. In particular, this is a situation that catches Rebecca up just moments after she's given Dean an assist: the platform drops out from under her, leaving the two of them to plummet! But, fortunately, Fei is there to catch both of them, though the effort will slow him down somewhat as he ascends after Elly.

    It's also a situation that fouls up Emeralda's attempts, as careful as she makes them. It's as if the corridor were somehow alive, somehow knowing when to whisk a platform away at the worst possible moment.

    Citan isn't far from where she is. "Look out--!"

    Maybe it's some paternal instinct on Citan's part -- Midori's about her age (appearances-wise, at least). But he grabs for Emeralda, which...

    Is an action to be somewhat regretted, given her relative weight. But he still doesn't let go as he hauls her up (with difficulty, mind; even a simple country doctor has their limits to what they can physically accomplish).

    The fishing line ends up ultimately being the easiest, safest way up...

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Oh," Elly says as they keep on climbing upwards, her own slow and steady anchoring keeping her intact, "I'm actually not too surprised -- ah!! Doctor--!!"

She exhales with great relief as Citan's gotten her.

Is it concern about the limits of Emeralda's fabulous, astonishing composition? No: it is simple and deep-rooted concern about the welfare of a young girl, however unusual. Then she keeps on going upwards, even as they reach a place that retains a disstinct upper incline but much less of one - it's more like walking up a hillside than the shuffling mountainside they had previously faced.

Elly then gets back to her explanation. "My father would speak sometimes about his job... he explained that the parts of the city which we resided in were only part of the city. Because it was an artificial structure, they had to accomodate all of the things that are normally done by the ground itself, or by other things... Assuming that this really is a fallen city, just by sheer chance, we would have almost certainly ended up in some kind of facility space, rather than just wandering into the old town square."

Elly laughs, a little. "In fact," she says, "it'd be surprising if we did end up directly there!" The ground begins to get comfortably warm under their feet. "If there was some kind of - direct way to get into the town, it would have been picked clean already. It would have probably been occupied by someone's army - you can see how a lot of the machinery still works, right?"

"The air isn't that bad, so there's ventilation, or recirculation... there's obviously power... I wonder if there's..."

Elly trails off.

She sniffs the air for a moment and looks at Fei and Dean for a moment, before her brow knits. She turns her head to look behind them and then abruptly shrieks, "RUN!!"

Why?

Because, perhaps by the disturbance of their passage or perhaps by sheer bad luck, a pipe in the roof with long-faded markings is starting to gently drip downwards, and it's leaking what looks for all the world like water! Until it touches the otherwise immaculate ground, of course, at which point it fizzes with a vicious chemical fume.

When we compared it to leaking water, dear reader, we meant in the sense of a house's water main breaking, not to a simple drip-drip-drip. Yes, indeed: nearly pure sulfuric acid is flowing merrily outwards, and the pipe is starting to break apart as the group hustles upstairs. "Don't let it get on you!" Elly cries out, perhaps for Emeralda's sake - she throws another of those deep-sea fish lines ahead of her, but she has to aim low, rather than the...

the
pipe
in the ceiling fixtures
which were a great place for fishhooks to rest
ELLY.

I've doomed them all! Elly thinks, in despair.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Fishing Tackle toward her party's challenge, The Floor Is... Acid Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "You guys okay?" Dean asks of Elly and Emeralda. It looks like they are, and Elly tells Fei she is, so he nods and moves on. He chats about Rebecca's guns and who gave them to her, and Rebecca gives her a scathing glare. He returns it with a bewildered stare, as if to say: what?? They're Fei's friends, so obviously they can be trusted?? What's the problem???
    
    Rebecca will likely explain the problem at length, later. For now, though, he shrugs at Citan. "I bet she probably found 'em in a ruin like this," he says. "I think most people do."
    
    The climb is steep and weird and haphazard! Dean rolls his eyes goodnaturedly at Rebecca when she offers him an assist. "Sure, thanks--" he says--but then they both get shunted off! Thankfully Fei's there to catch them both and help them up. "Phew! This place is crazy," he complains once they're safely up top. "Thanks, Fei. You're a lifesaver."
    
    They walk onwards. Elly explains things. Dean nods as if he understands them (he doesn't). Every so often, he says things like, "Huh. Wow! Hehhh."
    
    Then she stops and sniffs then air. Then she yells RUN!!
    
    "What? Why??" he utters, baffled. Thankfully, he also starts running, because Elly doesn't strike him as the kind of person who'd stop and scream RUN!! for no reason. Dean may be as dense as a lead brick sometimes, and his logic might be strange by the average person's reckoning, but he's not dumb.
    
    This is good, because soon enough he realizes the floor is dissolving beneath their feet. With a bellow, Dean sprints forward while attempting to avoid the acid drips, picking up speed and looking around himself for anyone who needs help. Though given his record so far in these ruins, probably the one who'll end up needing help is him.

DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Floor Is... Acid Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Fei though asks where Lydia got it and... she answers, "I didn't ask. She has - had a lot of things going on at the time and it felt you know... invasive."

Citan's demeanor may put her at ease a touch, though she's not exactly convinced he wouldn't jump to try to take it apart to find out what makes them work.

Rebecca wonders if Dean is going to consider her even more reliable after this as she gives him a hand. "You're wel-!" Unfortunately the platform drops out from under her. And Rebecca finds herself getting caught by Fei. "Oh t-thanks." He's pretty reliable when he's not jumping into bottomless pits huh?

Rebecca looks puzzled as Elly explains, "Wait - where'd you say you grew up again?" The story mentions her living in a city with no GROUND after all.

However, then, RUN.

Rebecca didn't think anything of the liquid dripping out before, but as she turns around and immediately sprints, she manages to as the floor starts dissolving.

And when the floor finally feels like it's going to give out - she leaps-!

Dean she thinks will be okay. Because in crazy situations like this he can double jump.

It's only mid-leap that she realizes, to her horror, that he needs his shovel out to manage that...

DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Floor Is... Acid
Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda seems more interested in the portal guns as a cool thing rather than acting out of any particular desire to take Rebecca's own, at least. It doesn't even occur to her to get all steal-y. She was brought up better than that!

"I don't think *I* want to live in this city," Emeralda agrees, while hanging onto a bit of sloped floor (wall?) that is quite a bit beyond 45 degrees. She scrambles up it, hopping up to wedge herself behind a platform that is busily sliding itself back out of the way. By the time Emeralda gets to it, there's about three inches to stand on, and those inches are rapidly disappearing into the wall.

Emeralda lets out a startled squeak as she slides down the wall with a squealing noise as she tries to catch herself, and largely fails. Fortunately, Citan catches her; unfortunately, she nearly yank him off the wall until she gets her heels down and supports her own weight.

Her face is red again. She'll get this eventually!

"You mean like the sewers?" Emeralda asks Elly, when she says 'facility space'. Her nose wrinkles. "That's gross," she decides after a few moments. "But it might be because it smells like chemicals, and that's where you put chemicals, right?" She's got a hint of the acid...

...and, shortly, not 'a hint' at all.

Emeralda turns and flees with the rest of them, but - unlike most of the others - she falls a little behind, stumbling. Where the liquid touches Emeralda's boot, it foams - and the boot itself ripples and distorts, rapidly shifting in shape and venting some gas created as a byproduct of the effect.

"Ow!" Emeralda yelps - and it does hurt, but it's not crippling. She uses the cord to pull herself higher, using a lip of floor to hide herself from the liquid. Her boot is still rippling, and it would be turning black with iron sulfide if it wasn't already black.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool H&S Badge toward her party's challenge, The Floor Is... Acid Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei lashes out a hand to catch Eeralda but he can't quite reach--so instead a simple country doctor snags her and he breathes out a sigh of relief. It's comically at the same time as Elly's own sigh of relief.

Once they get up, Fei says, "Thanks Doc," with a weak smile. His heart skipped more than one beat there. "We'd be in trouble if you weren't around--" Riesenlied probably wasn't too far off when she talked about how much he looked up to Citan.

Nevertheless, before he can say more, Elly is shouting to RUN.

Fei, naturally, des as suggested but he can only really jump--this time following Dean's lead. There isn't a lot of time to check up on the others, but he does give Emeralda another worried look, trying not to stray TOO far...

...Just in case.

Fei, it should be noted, does not have a shovel.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Floor Is... Acid Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "That may well be so," he remarks to Dean, coupling the remark with a slight smile.

    Eventually, they all reach the top. Surreptitiously, Citan rolls his shoulder and cannot help but wince, slightly. True, it may be the case that Emeralda may well have been 'fine' if he hadn't reached out to grab for her...

    But he's no longer the man who would have let her fall on grounds of pragmatism alone.

    "It is fine," he says to Fei, shaking his head. "We are all safe, and that is what matters."

    Elly speaks then of what goes on the guts of a city.
    Particularly one that flies.

    He glances first at her, then at the others.

    "Yes, this much is true. Even with modern cities, the amount of infrastructure required to permit them to function is astounding. Moreover, if they are well-designed at all, they will operate without their inhabitants ever becoming aware that such systems exist." He pauses, then glances upwards at the pipes skating the underside of the ceiling. "Until such a time that they no longer function as they should." He's silent for a moment. "...Still, there is something that seems..."

    He trails off perhaps at the same moment that Elly does. He, too, has caught a scent in the air. "...Is that..."

    She shouts for them to RUN!

    "This is... acid!"

    He starts to run, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure the others are keeping pace. Emeralda is lagging behind, though. Wait--

    "A... chemical reaction?" he cannot help but wonder, in spite of their present danger.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Martial Arts Shoes toward his party's challenge, The Floor Is... Acid Probably.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - The Floor Is... Acid Probably *>================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Fila del Fia is strange. For a city apparently constructed of metal ages
 ago, the walls within show no signs of decay or erosion. In fact, if it
 weren't for the unusual texturing to the walls, you might even say it was
 pristine.

 Underfoot the floor begins to resound oddly as you enter this large room.

 And then it begins to bubble and hiss. The floor has become decidedly
 corrosive, both ahead of you and behind you!

 You need to escape. Quickly.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Maim==========================================
=========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 3 *>=========================
=================< Results - The Floor Is... Acid Probably >==================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       28 --(16)--> 44                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      31 --(16)--> 47                Fail
H&S Badge                           1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   28 --(16)--> 44                Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   31 --(16)--> 47                Pass
Fishing Tackle                      2   Agility Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          31 --(16)--> 47                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         31 --(16)--> 47                Pass
Martial Arts Shoes                  2   Agility Effects: Resilient
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               20 --(10)--> 30                Fail
Conditions: Maim|Overwhelm
Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There is little that can be said to be good, well or just about what dwells
 in the depths of Fila del Fia. Perhaps you have already had a taste for the
 ruin's unsettling features. But if you have not, this may be your first
 practical lesson:

 Perhaps they were once people. Perhaps they were something else, before
 whatever it is about this place twisted them. But shambling through this
 corridor towards you, a low moan gurgling up from their throats, are a host
 of what could be fairly accurately termed 'the undead'.

 Regrettably, there are a lot of them. It doesn't seem like an escape will be
 any easier than facing them head on.

 Do they eat flesh? ...Do you really want to find out?
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Wound=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Emeralda yelps in pain and Elly feels a hot agony in her cheeks and her heart. A dread, a terror, something formless yet damnably familiar. Emeralda keeps moving and what is relieving Elly, right now, is that this is the braided cord used to reel in truly enormous fish. It should hold up even if they all dangled from it. Elly remembers catching a sunfish, and the memory was sufficient that she is able to feel less of that gnawing frantic terror in her guts, and keep

moving

forwards

Dean and Rebecca scramble upwards. There is no double jump to save them, but there is some relief that this access space is in fact meant to be accessed, however iffy it may be. Raillings would have been really great around now, yeah?

The relief is twofold. First, that the disintegrating pipe, in its cascades and freshets of lethal horror - of high-purity sulfuric acid - is a single point of acidic source. While the floor is breaking away behind them, there isn't much to make the acid catch up - it might even be safe, in the sense of "not lethal to acid", to come back this way. of course, the floor is pitted and destroyed, but never mind that. Is this why that gap was expanding?

The second is that after they pass a certain point - curiously arbitrary - the disintegrating pipe just zigs left and disappears into a wall. There is a thick metallic nut there; the pipe eventually finishes collapsing and a steady flow of acid comes out, but soon enough it just becomes a nasty little spray of a waterfall, and then - several minutes later i.e. by the time they come back this way - nothing.

Elly embraces Emeralda and Fei both, separate or together, once they're close. She takes long moments to say anything more.

"I," Elly tells Emeralda, "I'll make, ah, with Ether, I'll make you an ice cover, alright? If we run into this again? I promise. Alright?" Behind them there is a door, which got knocked open by SOMEBODY, perhaps decades ago. There's a light.

Nothing is coming after them through it.

But to go through that door...

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda comes to a stop, leaning against the wall when it is finally safe to do so. She does not need to catch her breath but she has a posture that suggests she's doing it anyway.

"I can do it," Emeralda says. "I just - " She didn't think of it. She's powerful in Ether - surprisingly so, given her total lack of training (she doesn't even practice much) - but she's not nearly as creative with it as she is with her body itself.

She puts her foot down. It flexes weirdly; it isn't moving like a human foot, but just bending whenever weight or pressure causes it to. Her toes, or at least the toe of her boot, droops when she lifts her foot. It feels really weird, but it doesn't hurt any more, at least... the acid got pressed out of it when she was running, though there might be some damp footprints. Every once in a while, when she moves her lower leg, a puff of gas escapes - Citan is right on the chemical reaction front, though it appears to have ended, mostly.

She apparently decides it is fine after a hug from Elly. "Hey, that door is open," Emeralda says, pointing. She wanders over without much of a limp and sticks her head inside.

"Aaah!" Emeralda, an instant later, throws a fireball inside the room. There is a muffled thump. "There's zombies in there!!"

There are, coming in from a different hallway. And they're advancing; the side door is jammed open and won't close, so pretty soon they'll be at the party, lunging and swinging. Emeralda throws another fireball as she backs back up.

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Large Etherstone toward her party's challenge, All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Railings *would* have been great! But everyone makes it through alive and unmelted, more or less, so it's all good. Dean *does* give Emeralda a concerned look when her foot seems to be kind of, um, melty?? But Elly hugs her and she isn't acting hurt so it's probably okay.
    
    "Yeah, me neither," Dean echoes after Emeralda. "This place is awful!" Even by normal ruins standards!!
    
    They go through a door. There's zombies in there! Dean's dealt with something similar in the past in the form of Reapers, but that doesn't make them any less creepy. The side door is also jammed open, so there's no way to run. They'll have to fight them head on.
    
    "I'll take point!" he declares, pulling out Ace of Spades. When the first of the zombies start shambling through, he charges, swinging the Devil's Arm to slice the front undead clean through while others are incinerated by a fireball. "YAAAARGH!!"

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Ace of Spades toward his party's challenge, All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca eventually lands, skidding roughly into a stop - as she takes one deep breath after another, "Aha... ha... this place is crazy..." Perhaps she's agreeing with Fei.

Crazy enough that she's considering calling Uncle. Telling Fei that's it, that's as far as they should go. Yet at the same time, she gets up, and instead resolves to keep going as long as she can. She has her reasons.

As she dusts herself off, she watches Emeralda with Elly and Fei, and crosses her arms. As she prods Dean, "Don't they look like a happy family to you?"

It's not so much a HINT HINT anymore, but... she still finds the sight sweet enough to want to share her thoughts.

She's relaxing for a moment, when Emeralda checks the door.

And then fire alerts her, as she draws her ARM and points it towards the door. It takes only a glimpse though to feel like her ARM might be a bit inadequate, as she replaces it with her Medium. Dean charges to the fore... "Dean! Be careful not to get bit!"

And Rebecca uses her Medium to feel out the ley point she's on. With a certain grim desperation, she immediately invokes it to make her invocation a touch more widespread.

Emeralda finds her fire joined by a chain of fiery explosions that detonate like crimson blossoms amongst the tech zombies.

DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her party's challenge, All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly's expression and the whip-snap-twirl unlimbering of her tri-section staff suggests that her feelings about Emeralda's report are: 'Not for long, there won't be.'


Her face colors a little at Rebecca's words, taking some of the edge off of the ANTI ZOMBIE NUNCHUCK FRENZY that ensues.

But not too much.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Three Stick Nunchucks toward her party's challenge, All Dressed Up And Nowhere
To Go.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    They all make it clear of the acid, but...

    "...Is she alright?" he asks Elly, who has currently wrapped Emeralda in a tight hug. Given Emeralda's unique... physiology, it's tempting to think that all is well, but...

    He's certainly watching her, now and again, as they move onwards. It seems like his initial asessment about what had happened back there had been correct.

    "Perhaps now might be a good time to consider our..."

    And he trails off as Emeralda approaches the door, opens it, and declares that there are zombies on the other side. Citan exhales a breath, closing his eyes briefly.

    "I will back you up from here," he says, tapping a hand on the shoulder of the nearest person to him. Instantly, they will feel an invigorating effect, perhaps a result of a little light manipulation of their chi*.

    (*honest)

DG: Citan Uzuki has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei is ALSO going to get involved in that hug there. He doesn't speak aloud a similar offer, worried of the inevitability he will break such a promise but he does say, "We'll make sure you stay safe." Well, safeish. It's still an adventure after all but Emeralda is the toughest child in the world as far as Fei knows, she is more likely to get out of here in one piece than anybody...but even if that is the case, one can still be afraid, one can still hurt.

And that's when Fei sees them. For some reason, he thinks of the Wels. And in this place, he slides back a bit, fear wracked firmly across his face. He quickly thrusts his hand into his pocket, squeezing his RPS Badge tightly with his fist, eyes closing as he bites his lip, pushing away visions, thoughts that don't quite seem like his own.

And then he exhales sharply, darting forward to strike at the zombies with his fists and, occassionally, burst of fire that explode out of his knuckles.

"Can't believe they're still.... WORKING...at this point. You think maybe they're adventurers that uh.."

He remembers that he is part of a group of adventurers.

"...Passerbys that got lost in here?"

He grimaces.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
===============<* CHALLENGE - All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go *>===============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There is little that can be said to be good, well or just about what dwells
 in the depths of Fila del Fia. Perhaps you have already had a taste for the
 ruin's unsettling features. But if you have not, this may be your first
 practical lesson:

 Perhaps they were once people. Perhaps they were something else, before
 whatever it is about this place twisted them. But shambling through this
 corridor towards you, a low moan gurgling up from their throats, are a host
 of what could be fairly accurately termed 'the undead'.

 Regrettably, there are a lot of them. It doesn't seem like an escape will be
 any easier than facing them head on.

 Do they eat flesh? ...Do you really want to find out?
=Dungeon Conditions: Overwhelm, Wound=========================================
==========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 4 *>==========================
=================< Results - All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go >=================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       44 --(16)--> 60                Pass
RPS Badge                           3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      47 --(16)--> 63                Pass
Large Etherstone                    2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   44 --(16)--> 60                Fail
Sky Medium                          2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   47 --(16)--> 63                Fail
Three Stick Nunchucks               1   Combat  Effects: Stalwart and Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          47 --(16)--> 63                Pass
Ace of Spades                       2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         47 --(16)--> 63                Fail
Fight                               0   Combat  Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               30 --(20)--> 50                Pass
Conditions: Overwhelm|Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - So Close And Yet So Far *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Fila del Fia is quite old. How old is uncertain -- but it is best
 demonstrated by the following series of events:

 You approach a large archway, dead ahead, as you make your way through the
 city fallen from the sky. A faint glow, however improbable, shines from
 further ahead.

 And then a good chunk of the ceiling collapses ripples downwards in a
 cascading semi-organic flow, sealing off the rest of the passageway, glow
 and all.

 If you want to try and get through here, you're going to have to clear the
 way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Exhaust========================================
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda's more exotic injuries are sometimes hard to eyeball for severity. She's walking on this one, so it surely can't be too bad, even if it does make her lower leg and foot move in an uncomfortably inhuman way if you watch it too carefully.

The zombies can do far more damage than that if they catch her (or, indeed, anybody else), though. Especially in quantity - and they are definitely coming in quantity, a lurching crowd that bulls their way through obstacles and presses through the door. Fire from Emeralda, Dean, and Rebecca thin the crowd for the closer-ranged adventurers to get in; Elly's three-section staff and Fei's hands are good at keeping the crowd back, especially with Citan's empowerment.

The zombies thin out, and eventually collapse, leaving ancient bodies and minor injuries to the adventurers behind. Emeralda squats down and pokes one, which doesn't get up. Gross, Emeralda thinks to herself. "Eew, it's all dusty."

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


"I wouldn't touch a zombie if I were you Em." She teases with a sort of fondness for her childlike behavior - seemingly enjoying it in someone that feels like an actual child, "Don't want to get zombie dust on you."

Rebecca notes as she then checks behind the door that Emeralda went through earlier.

As they trek through the coming hall, the ceiling seems like its dipping unnaturally, in ways that are definitely not designed by some Architect.

A glow appears at the end of the hall...

"What's that down there-"

And that's when the ceiling buckles further with a creak of metal.

"Back up! Back up back up!"

It starts small, by dumping some strange unidentifiable substances in front of them. It leaks out semi-solidly, creating an awful teaming sludge, like some chemical pipe the years had not been kind to had burst - and left behind some awful waste product of what used to be contained.

And then the ceiling simply falls into it.

Creating a sludgy mass of awful smelling mud and scrap metal.

It's only a few feet thick. Probably. Yet that's gonna be a lot of work to clear it out.

Rebecca takes one grim look at the mess, like she's being faced by a weighty decision. Then slowly turns to Dean and...

"Dean... I think this is a job for..."

Lengthy sigh.

"...White... Fenrir."

The very act of saying that causes her to take twenty five fatigue damage on the spot.

DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, So Close And Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Rebecca nudges Dean and points out that Fei, Elly, and Emeralda are cute together, like a little family. He grins, since it's not *him* being made into a family, and nods. "Yeah, they are pretty sweet, huh?" he whispers back.
    
    Then zombies happen! Fortunately, this group is better at murder than they are at running. The zombies are toast. Extremely dusty, gross toast.
    
    Further onward, there is an archway. Light gleams on the other side of it. Dean lights up himself and picks up speed--but then there's a creak of metal, and Rebecca yells a warning, and he screeches to a halt just in time to avoid getting crushed by semi-organic metal, which is a very odd and disturbing way of describing metal.
    
    "What the heck??" he utters.
    
    Rebecca turns to him and says that fateful statement. He turns back to her, eyes widening. He breaks into a smile, and says...
    
    "A-actually, I've only got Ace of Spades on me right now. Sorry?"
    
    It might be worth noting that his smile is the portrait of sheepishness.
    
    "Still, a shovel's a shovel!" he declares. "It gets kinda squiggly when I try to use it like a regular shovel, but lemme just dust up my hands, and I'll keep a solid grip!" Sure enough, Dean dusts his hands with a salty sort of chalk, and then he grabs Ace of Spades and starts shovelin'. True to his word, it wiggles and writhes as he sticks it and its frenetic single eye into the garbage. Maybe it and Fila del Fia have some things in common...

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Purifying Chalk toward his party's challenge, So Close And Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    "Strange," Citan remarks, gazing at the bodies of the zombies once all is said and done. "I wonder... are these the remains of the occupants? Or, might they be those who came in here seeking the city's secrets?" His expression is pensive, perhaps even troubled. He stands gazing at one of the fallen creatures for a long moment.

    Before he ultimately shakes his head. "We should not stay here," he says, trailing along close behind as Rebecca leads the way down the corridor ahead.

    Something glimmers in the distance. "A light? Wait--"

    He has noticed that the ceiling is decidedly bending.

    And all-too-suddenly, gives way entirely, dumping a semi-organic sludge upon the path forward.

    "...I believe you are correct that we are, ah, in the guts of the city ruins, Elly," he remarks, shaking his head again. "Though, there is still something..." But this, too, he shakes off. "No, now is not the time for that. I am afraid that this is all that I have," he says, pulling out a single very ordinary hammer. "Perhaps, if we create an alternate place for this, ah, waste to flow, we may be able to clear the way. Of course, that also has its risks," he says, searching the flooring here as if he could be so lucky.

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Perfectly Normal Hammer toward his party's challenge, So Close And Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

"Oh no!!"

Emeralda busily tries to wipe her fingers on her skirt to make sure there is no zombie dust on them. This is a futile pursuit, but she sure tries hard.

Having fallen behind to clean up, she is well out of range of the collapse, but the sheer noise of it causes her to clap her hands over her ears and flinch away from it. She doesn't open her eyes until the noise stops, peeking one at a time.

"That's a mess," Emeralda says, once she sees it. "But digging is easy! Also that's a really weird shovel," she adds to Dean, as she finally returns to the front of the group, pulling out a literal honest-to-god crowbar she had stashed away.

Emeralda applies the crowbar to fallen metal - while the words 'semi-organic metal' may disturb Dean, it doesn't seem to really bother Emeralda while she tries to lever up a gap that she can jam her (uninjured) foot into.

Said foot split and spreads; Emeralda retrieves her crowbar and wiggles it into her *own foot*, which begins to look more like a scissor jack than anything else. Emeralda leans on it, levering a gap open for Dean (or whoever) to scoop into.

It looks... well, it looks really weird, especially given the scissor jack her foot and lower leg has transformed into has the black and red colouring Emeralda's boot usually does. But if it works...

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, So Close And Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly doesn't seem to protest the idea of being a family unit, especially when it comes with an invigoration of the chi* from a friendly local doctor. Perhaps that does make Citan their family physician!

There is another, leisurely collapse - perhaps the sulfuric acid tank collapsing now that it's empty of fluid? Perhaps the xenon storage giving way? who can say! Elly can't. She comes up short, but at least it's in front of them, Elly thinks, and they could always just -

- just turn back -

- after everything -

after being so scared...

Elly gazes at the wreckage for a moment. Citan proposes a form of drainage. Elly nods, once, slowly, and she digs out an aquasol, which she sips carefully, before turning around. She gazes at the ground.

Ether twists lightly and the earth begins to slowly divot downwards, sighing, almost, as the corroding metal on its way to becoming an ore layer is, in one particular area, helped along further. She glances occasionally to Emeralda as Emeralda rips at the -- at her own foot?? Elly relaxes, of course, because that wasn't a hole in Emeralda's foot in the same sense that it would be a hole in her own foot.

"Is it wrong of me, Doctor," Elly says to Citan, "to hope there's something really... good, inside of this place, after all of this trouble?"

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Inventory Clutter toward her party's challenge, So Close And Yet So Far.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei says, "Wh--why??" to Rebecca. "What happens if you get zombiedust on you??" It's probably nothing Fei!! She's clearly joking!! Nevertheless, it seems that Rebecca's teasing is... SUPER EFFECTIVE. DANG!!

Someheow despite this, he still manages to smile at Emeralda being FREAKING ADORABLE about it. Fei has a few minds about this situation and they're all yelling at him simultaneously about it!

He looks to Citan as if expecting him to know the dark truth o f these tech-zombies. "An alternate path...?" He considersfurther before looking to Rebecca.

He pats her twice on the shouldder though with a bit of a frown because he's still worried about ZOMBIE DUST now thanks to Rebecca, even if it was teasing, becaeuse he can't stop thinking about it!

He turns to the rubble, extends an arm, and unleashes a wave of red chi towards the rubble.

Which is actually unexpected because Fei only intended to use MIDDLING amounts here and he gets thrown off his feet for his trouble.

M..maybe Id is kind of worried about zombie dust too. Fei groans as he picks himself up.

DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool The Other Guy Lends a Hand toward his party's challenge, So Close And Yet So Far.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
==================<* CHALLENGE - So Close And Yet So Far *>===================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 Fila del Fia is quite old. How old is uncertain -- but it is best
 demonstrated by the following series of events:

 You approach a large archway, dead ahead, as you make your way through the
 city fallen from the sky. A faint glow, however improbable, shines from
 further ahead.

 And then a good chunk of the ceiling collapses ripples downwards in a
 cascading semi-organic flow, sealing off the rest of the passageway, glow
 and all.

 If you want to try and get through here, you're going to have to clear the
 way.
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse, Exhaust========================================
=========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 5 *>=========================
====================< Results - So Close And Yet So Far >=====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       60 --(16)--> 76                Pass
The Other Guy Lends a Hand          4   Brute   Effects: None
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      63 --(16)--> 79                Pass
Reinforced Bar                      2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   60 --(25)--> 85                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   63 --(25)--> 88                Fail
Inventory Clutter                   1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          63 --(16)--> 79                Pass
Purifying Chalk                     1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         63 --(25)--> 88                Fail
Perfectly Normal Hammer             2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               50 --(10)--> 60                Fail
Conditions: Collapse|Exhaust(1)|Overwhelm|Wound(1)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
=============<* CHALLENGE - Regenerating Walls Are Hard To Break *>=============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There is something strange about Fila del Fia. For a long-abandoned city, it
 appears to be largely a matter of corridors and small side rooms. Perhaps
 the needs of civilization were different, once? But there's also the sense
 that there is something animate about the place.

 A sense which may be proven justified when a wall /grows/ -- there is no
 other word for it -- across the corridor you are attempting to traverse. It
 closes the gap tightly.

 Attempts to damage it are swiftly repaired by itself. You may need to apply
 a lot of force, quickly.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Weaken===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca arches an eyebrow at Fei, as if trying to gauge if he's serious or not. After deciding he in fact must be...

"It's probably fine." She suggests, without clarifying what it does at all.

Fortunately through a combination of Dean's effort, and Fei's wave of Red Chi that was definitely from the some other guy Rebecca knows...

And Emeralda's...

Foot Crowbar?

That act causes Rebecca to double take, blinking as if she didn't see it right.

Strangely while that cleared about half of it, the substance feels a bit resistant to outright disintegration from that guy.

All the same - with a concerted, tiring effort of Elly controlling the Earth and Citan prying away scrap with the hammer that they manage to clear enough of a way through for them all to sliiiidddeee through the gap.

"I'd say that desire is pretty reasonable at this point Elly."

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    Alternate flow route is a good idea! Dean and Emeralda get right on that. "Digging *is* easy, especially with a shovel!" he agrees. He gawks at her observation, though. "Ace of Spades isn't *weird*! It's cool!!" he protests. The eye on its cross-fixture darts towards Emeralda, wobbling as its pupil fixes upon her, red veins creeping through the sclera. "...Well, it's weird, too," Dean admits, observing this. "But it's weird in a *good* way!"
    
    Like... like her foot, maybe. Did it--did she just turn it into a scissor jack?? After splitting it with a crowbar????
    
    ...Well she's probably part robot or something. Dean thereby stops thinking about it and accepts it for what it is. Together, everyone chisels and hammers and shovels and all sorts of things through the blockage and eases their way through.
    
    "All right! We made it!" Dean cheers, pumping a fist. "Now the way forward is free and clear!"
    
    He strides forward two steps. Then a wall sprouts up out of nowhere, right in front of him, just in time for him to walk right into it.
    
    "RUDE?! THAT'S SO RUDE!!" he yells at the ruins. Then, grumbling, he re-dusts his hands and gets right back to shoveling his way through the brand-new wall--a titanic effort indeed, considering it immediately starts repairing any dents he puts into it. Double-time, people!!

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Purifying Chalk toward his party's challenge, Regenerating Walls Are Hard To Break.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly breathes out with force when they are confronted with a new, perhaps regenerative wall.

Elly reaches into her pouch again. Ah... perhaps for another item to sooth her mild headache?

Perhaps some kind of a lubricant to help them wiggle through?

Maybe something to lift their spirits...?

No.

Elly brings out what looks like a small tool for potato mashing, fiddles with it, and sidles to the side. "Excuse me, Dean? Could you scoot over a couple of steps for a moment?"

Elly pulls the friction fuse and immediately hucks the stick grenade through the gap in question.

"Thanks," Elly states, glaring at the wall as she does.

DG: Elhaym van Houten has used her Tool Inventory Clutter toward her party's challenge, Regenerating Walls Are Hard To
Break.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

It's fine. Emeralda's foot is supposed to do that. She turns it back into a foot after a few moments, retrieving her reinforced bar and squeezing through the gap. Which she does the easiest of all. (No cheating required; it's just that she's the smallest.)

And it looks like they might be making good progress until a wall grows across their path.

"What!" Emeralda has seen metal move before (even disregarding, well, herself) but she's never seen it grow like that before. She walks right up to the wall, hands on her hips and leaning forward slightly as if about to scold the wall.

No, wait, she's looking at it. Closely. After a few moments of that, she takes another step forward and licks it. She looks thoughtful. "I don't know what it is," she informs everybody afterwards.

Well, that wasn't very helpful.

Emeralda considers the wall for a few moments before one of her arms shifts, her fingertips pressed together as her hand and lower arm shifts and distorts into a cone-shaped drill. She presses the tip against the wall and begins to spin it, spraying sparks and metal dust every which way. If it was not obvious she's something weird before, it certainly is now!

She's only trying to weaken the wall so that she can pound her way through with the bar held in her other hand. It can handle it. It's made of the same stuff as Crescens' superstructure. Which explains why Emeralda is not shy about smashing it as hard as she can whenever she finds (or makes) a weak point. "Haaa! - This'll get all the zombie dust off at least!!"

DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Reinforced Bar toward her party's challenge, Regenerating Walls Are Hard To Break.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    As if he were catching Fei watching him, Citan glances over his way and simply shakes his head.

    The doctor turns, though, in the process of attempting to crack open the floor and takes a look at Dean's shovel.
    It looks back.

    "...Interesting," he says, which may just be the understatement of the century. "Is that... shovel alive?"

    Before, of course, turning his attention on -- with Elly's help -- peeling back a section of the flooring in order to permit it to drain away the muck, grime, and who-knows-what of Fila del Fia.

    "I do not think it is wrong," he says to Elly, hooking the head of the hammer into the divot that is forming. "Naturally, we want our labors to bear fruit, and it's an appealing thought to think that we could be the first to uncover whatever this place may conceal at its core." He pauses a moment, though, and smiles a touch grimly. "...Though, I must confess, the idea of a hot shower right now is also appealing."

    They're able to get some of the mess drained away with the hole they carefuly (and painstakingly) carve into the floor, but not before Fei releases a burst of chi that prompts Citan to straighten a touch. Just now, that was...
    But when he turns his head, that is still Fei standing there. "..."

    He stands after a moment more. "...It seems we have this way clear," he says--

    And then the wall regenerates right in front of them.

    He stares at it for a moment, as if in abject disbelief. "I..." he starts, only to trail out again.

    He takes a breath, and then, hammer still in hand, approaches the wall with grim intent. Well, when you have a hammer, as the saying goes...

    This isn't a nail, but perhaps the difference is moot at this point. It's not the best tool for the job, but perhaps with a little bit of force* it'll work out.

    (*really)

DG: Citan Uzuki has used his Tool Perfectly Normal Hammer toward his party's challenge, Regenerating Walls Are Hard To
Break.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


"Pretty sure it's just weird Dean." As Rebecca tries not to look at the eye. "And not a good weird."

And as Citan asks that question. "I try not to think about that."

After squeezing through the gap, Rebecca yelps as another wall sprouts out of nowhere in front of Dean. "OH COME ON!" She shouts as well, immaturely, perhaps this trip has gotten her a little frazzled.

As she immediately moves forward and works out her frustration by kicking a wall.

To be fair to her burst- she can kick pretty hard.

Unfortunately, the wall is pretty thick and apparently self-repairing so its doubtful its gonna do anything more than maybe make her feel a little better, and that's dubious since she's kicking a solid wall.

DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Regenerating Walls Are Hard To
Break.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei for SOME REASON is a little more on edge than norm---oh who are we kidding, Fei being this much on edge is completely normal and to be fair, being on edge when your kid has a partially melted foot is probably okay too. But he frowns a little at all the strange corridors and small side rooms.

Anyway...are you sure you should be here alone? Surely, your mother is looking for you

Something about a place like this feels...familiar and yet, also, unfamiliar. He feels...lost.

Well, Fei tells himself, you probably are lost aren'tcha? In more ways than one. Regardless, he seems more at ease once Citan gives confirmation that zombie dust iis not dangerous.

"Haha, well, hot showers for everyone once we're out of this place!"

He used a bit too much OOMPH last time so when faced with REGENERATING WALLS--That at least is super new to Fei--he just keeps throwing normal chi blasts at it to try and keep them at bay.

"They weren't wrong about this place being rough. Don't think I've been in a dig this rough since Linaweyul...!"

DG: Fei Fong Wong has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Regenerating Walls Are Hard To
Break.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
=============<* CHALLENGE - Regenerating Walls Are Hard To Break *>=============
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 There is something strange about Fila del Fia. For a long-abandoned city, it
 appears to be largely a matter of corridors and small side rooms. Perhaps
 the needs of civilization were different, once? But there's also the sense
 that there is something animate about the place.

 A sense which may be proven justified when a wall /grows/ -- there is no
 other word for it -- across the corridor you are attempting to traverse. It
 closes the gap tightly.

 Attempts to damage it are swiftly repaired by itself. You may need to apply
 a lot of force, quickly.
=Dungeon Conditions: Suffer, Weaken===========================================
==========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 6 *>==========================
===============< Results - Regenerating Walls Are Hard To Break >===============
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       76 --(16)--> 92                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      79 --(16)--> 95                Fail
Reinforced Bar                      2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   85 --(16)--> 101               Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   88 --(16)--> 104               Fail
Inventory Clutter                   1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          79 --(16)--> 95                Pass
Purifying Chalk                     1   Brute   Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         88 --(16)--> 104               Fail
Perfectly Normal Hammer             2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               60 --(10)--> 70                Fail
Conditions: Suffer(1)|Weaken(2)
Effects: Cleanse
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Rebecca Streisand is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Elhaym van Houten is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Citan Uzuki is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has failed this challenge! The party gained 10 exploration! If anyone needs to use
party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Elhaym van Houten has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* Fila del Fia *>==============================
======================<* CHALLENGE - A Foe Most Foul *>=======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 A low growling alerts you to trouble as you traverse the darkened corridors
 of Fila del Fia. It's been rumored that strange, twisted creatures call the
 ruined city home -- but still, perhaps you didn't expect /this/.

 You can't entirely tell if they're functionally alive or not. They look like
 they have been merged with pieces of scrap metal, pieces perhaps from this
 very ruin, flesh and metal joined so well that you have difficulty telling
 where machine parts stop and flesh begins.

 On the side of a piece of metalloflesh from one creature you can just barely
 make out the block capitals 'HILA'.

 The growling breaks into a snarl and with a rush and a patter-clank of legs
 along the floor, they are for you. Time to defend yourselves.
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Exhaust==========================================
DG: Fei Fong Wong has used his Tool RPS Badge toward his party's challenge, A Foe Most Foul.
DG: Emeralda Kasim has used her Tool Large Etherstone toward her party's challenge, A Foe Most Foul.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    "I'm not sure," Dean admits to Citan, pausing just long enough to scratch his head and look over Ace of Spades. "I don't *think* so. I found it at the end of Linaweyul. There's this forge, and all these weapons, and all of them have these little hole thingies in them--see?" He turns the shovel to show off eight divets in the shaft, one of which is filled by a round, glittering violent jewel. "None of the others seemed alive, so I think it's just, like, magic, or something."
    
    The eye shuts. It is impossible to tell what this signifies.
    
    "Anyway it is *too* good weird," he insists to Rebecca, right before maturely sticking out his tongue at her. Elly asks him to step to one side. "Oh sure," he says, stepping aside so she can stick some dynamite into the hole.
    
    *Schlup*, goes the hole. A moment later, it burps explosively. So to speak.
    
    "Gross," Dean declares, disgusted.
    
    Long story short: this wall is an asshole and regenerates faster than they can dig through it. Only after everyone is thoroughly exhausted and wiped out does it... open back up. Of its own accord. Like a JERK.
    
    Stupid ruins!!!

DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Ace of Spades toward his party's challenge, A Foe Most Foul.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - A Foe Most Foul *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 4          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 A low growling alerts you to trouble as you traverse the darkened corridors
 of Fila del Fia. It's been rumored that strange, twisted creatures call the
 ruined city home -- but still, perhaps you didn't expect /this/.

 You can't entirely tell if they're functionally alive or not. They look like
 they have been merged with pieces of scrap metal, pieces perhaps from this
 very ruin, flesh and metal joined so well that you have difficulty telling
 where machine parts stop and flesh begins.

 On the side of a piece of metalloflesh from one creature you can just barely
 make out the block capitals 'HILA'.

 The growling breaks into a snarl and with a rush and a patter-clank of legs
 along the floor, they are for you. Time to defend yourselves.
=Dungeon Conditions: Fright, Exhaust==========================================
==========================<* Fila del Fia - Round 7 *>==========================
=========================< Results - A Foe Most Foul >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fei Fong Wong                       92 --(16)--> 108               Pass
RPS Badge                           3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emeralda Kasim                      95 --(16)--> 111               Pass
Large Etherstone                    2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rebecca Streisand                   101 --(X)--> X
                                                Effects:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elhaym van Houten                   104 --(X)--> X
                                                Effects:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dean Stark                          95 --(16)--> 111               Pass
Ace of Spades                       2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citan Uzuki                         104 --(X)--> X
                                                Effects:
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Fei Fong Wong               70 --(20)--> 90                Pass
Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Fright(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Fei Fong Wong is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Emeralda Kasim is too exhausted to continue!
DG: Dean Stark is too exhausted to continue!
DG: The party has passed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over.
DG: The party led by Fei Fong Wong has been fully Exhausted by Fila del Fia!
DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
===============================<* Fila del Fia *>===============================
================<* CHALLENGE - Joint Aid and Wellness Network *>================
|Type: Landmark    |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You're forced to bid a hasty retreat. Whatever obstacle you faced, it was
 too much for you. But as you make your way through the confusing chaos of
 Fila del Fia, a room you hadn't seen before catches your eye.

 CLINIC, reads the sign outside. Huh! This one seems intact and not suffering
 from the strange degeneration that has plagued much of the signage in this
 ruin.

 True to the sign outside, this does indeed appear to have been some sort of
 clinic or the like. It's in startlingly pristine condition, though most of
 its contents appear to be gone. Taken by others, perhaps? Or one of the
 things that have degraded or decayed over the years? Or...

 Perhaps 'reintegrated' into the ship, somehow? You've likely seen it for
 yourself, how strange this city can be.

 Your searching eventually turns up something: a small device that when the
 buttons are pressed and it's pointed at a wound, emits a light that helps
 heal the wound. It works best on minor injuries, as any experimentation will
 reveal, and regenerates its charge with sufficient sunlight.

 Even more curious is the engraving on the back which claims that this is the
 property of the Pangalactic Federation.

 Huh. What's that?

 (OOC: This strange object could make for a Wits-type Tool (Rally or Cleanse
 are options) or it could be an ARM-type healing move in Gunslinger.)
=Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Through the regenerating wall. Forwards - the wall irises close for a moment, briefly separating the group. Elly says something in disgust that is in Solarian and will probably amuse Citan, if he dares reveal it. She then calls, "Emeralda, Fei - Dean - we'll find a way around, alright?!"

BUT THIS PROMISE - LIKE THAT OF CYRUS - IS IN VAIN!

For Cyrus was not favoured by Zeus, and he died in strange lands. The Greeks who accompanied him did not long survive him. The favour of Zeus is indispensible!

Of course, this is not that world. Olympus, if it yet stands, is far away.

Here, now, a young girl from another age, a young father without his memory, and the G.O.A.T. - Golem Obsessive of All Time - are faced with something else. Something that growls. Something that drags itself forwards. What are these entities...?

They're like nothing on Filgaia - in a number of ways. They have three arms and two legs; no head that can be seen; their bodies have absorbed metal in a chitinous way, creating an organism of durability and strength. A particularly prominent one - even as it opens its trefoil mouth to SHRIEK a virtual siren of warning - gleams with painted letters, painted somewhere, somehow. The letters are recognizable, approximately:

HILA

What does it mean?

They attack!

The good news for our heroes is that they attack with predictable blind rushes, and smash into corridor walls. They are blind. They seem to be able to detect Fei and Dean more clearly than Emeralda. The bad news is that they are fast - that Ether seems to roll off of them like water on a duck's ass - and that they seem to be able to aid each other.

It is long, weary, draining, through dark and rusted corridors. The most that can be said is that up here it is less filled with horrid acidic hazards. In the end, four of the beasts are rent asunder, revealing polytechnic guts, and the remainder opt to go in the other direction. A door with a green cross over it abruptly opens -

"Fei!" Elly says. Then she looks round at everyone.

She waves everyone in urgently. The door has three layers and there is a short positive-pressure airlock. Elly seems uncomfortable about the little airlock corridor, though it is not certain why.

Inside...

It is stripped bare, but the structure of a clinic can be seen. The lights are still on. Elly plops down on one of the examination couches, which sheds tiny fragments of ancient pleather. "... At least this place seems safe... that sink even has running water. Actual water," she adds. "I don't know if it's safe to drink but it isn't acid, at least."

The Item is under a filing cabinet. Its charging rack is partially destroyed, but a helpful engraving declares 'PHOTO POWER: GOOD!' and has a cute little red-yellow-green indicator bar.

Indicator for WHAT?

<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.

    The wall opens, but not long enough for everyone to pass through. "Fei--" Citan starts to shout, before Elly makes her own statement on the matter.

    He keeps a straight face, all right, given present company (Rebecca) though he does share a look with Elly that may hint at his true feelings on the matter.

    He grew up Third Class, however he might approach life now.

    "Yes, we will work to find another way around. Be careful," he cautions those of them on the other side of the barrier.

    It's a long way around. But--

    Once the others are waved into the small clinic, Citan and Rebecca are there to greet them.

    "We happened upon this room by chance. It appears to have been a medical center of some sort, once. I conducted some scouting around and it seems that this immediate area is safe." He fidgets with his glasses, briefly.

    "Though I am... uncertain about the water," he adds. "Elly is correct, at least: it is water."

    He leans against the wall. "I recommend that we rest here and then search for a way out. I do not think we are in any condition to press our luck further, today."

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

"...okay! But don't get lost!" Emeralda calls back through the wall. She either does not hear or does not understand the Solarian. It could be either one.

Emeralda has never seen a monster quite like this one.

She doesn't like it. Not at all. They frighten her, whatever they are (a Hila?). And yet part of her sees how they work, and it *makes sense* to her. She intuitively understands their armouring and absorbed metal. She's pretty sure she could hit their weak point if they would sit still.

But they do not, and even her Ether is at a loss to penetrate. She settles for using Earth instead, drawing up chunky constructions to work as obstacles as much as weapons. Once she makes the hallway shake, but a tile falls off the ceiling and she stops before anything else does.

It's a relief to duck inside the room, both because she has seen Elly again and because she gets to sit down. Emeralda has steadily started to lag, because her foot is really starting to bother her a lot more than it did before; it's floppy and a little numb. Maybe she should recirculate that mass - but she doesn't want to accidentally spread it around.

So instead Emeralda flops onto one of the couches, sitting in a legs-folded position so she can poke at her injured foot. A few moments of that, and she ejects some greyish-black powder from her boot, which seems to help matters a little. "I think I want to go home," she says, eventually. "We're not going anywhere in here! I mean, we're not getting further in. It's like Doc says."

She picked that name up from Fei. Sorry.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei tilts his head at 'HILA'. Is that...part of the structure or something??

Regardless, a battle can only be endured so much before they have to escape somehow. The group rushes through a door wiht three layers and inside--

--is a clinic?

Fei nods to Citan. "Sure thing, Doc." He looks pretty thrashed about at this point with several cuts and bruises. He says, "I'll see if I can find someting that can help. Or uh. Anything that could be a problem."

He rummages around for a while before he spots it, picking up The device. He looks at it for a moment and says, "Photo...Light..." in a soft voice before instinctively, he approaches Elly with it...

"Something about this..." He says as, almost thoughtlessly, he points the device towards Elly's forearm that has some acid splatter on it--

And presses a button???

A light shines out of it and runs down Elly's arm--healing the minor wound considerably. The little charge indicator goes down a bit.

"Huh...?" Fei turns the object around and it says 'PROPERTY OF THE PANGALACTIC FEDERATION'.

Fei blinks at it.

He blinks at it again. Is he about to have a mysterious flashback about the Pangalactic Federation revealing Dark Secrets or something?????

"I have no idea what the Pangalactic Federation is." Fei says instead. Sorry folks! Abel predates that noise!

"I guess after the beating we took, this was the best place we could end up. Some kind of..." A long pause. "Medical...House?"

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.


Rebecca slumps against the wall, as the others declare they'll find a way around. "Fei - Em - Look after Dean!"

The good news is that when the others are waved into the small clinic, they're there to greet them.

"We were pretty fortunate he spotted it..." She nods her appreciate to Citan, "...this was the perfect place to take a breather."

The running water comment by Elly - and Citan causes her to sigh, "What I wouldn't give for that shower right about now."

She grew up in an environment that only allowed for drawn baths really, so showers so far have been a luxury for her ever since reaching Aquvy.

Rebecca just lets herself sink down to the floor, putting her hands behind her head as she leans up against the wall, lightly shifting each twintail aside.

"Don't worry Em. I think we're all in agreement. Let's just rest up for now." As she glances her appreciation Citan's way, "Doctor's orders."

Fei though shows off the device, and Rebecca arches an eyebrow, "Pangalactic - what now? ... ... ... Sounds made up. Though that seems pretty useful. Wish we'd had it back in Capo Bronco growing up."

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

    It was a long and arduous battle.......
    
    However, after splitting up with Elly, Citan, and Rebecca, Dean and the others make it into some kind of weird hospital room or whatever this place is, thanks to Elly spotting the right door and ushering everyone in. It *does* look safe, and the water looks clear, too. Dean refrains from drinking it, though, remembering the incident with the acid. It'd be too late to know for sure if something's not poison after you drink it.
    
    "Thanks, guys," he tells Citan and Rebecca. "We owe you one."
    
    He sits down on one of the beds to take a rest. Fei picks up some kind of weird doohickey, then shines it on Elly, and heals her wounds. Amazing! Even with this amazing gadget, though, Dean nods to Emeralda. "I think we need to know when we're beat," he agrees. "After we've rested up, let's get out of this place. We can always try again some other time!"
    
    Panga-what now? "That *does* sound made up," he agrees. "But the doohickey seems pretty handy itself. Are you gonna keep it, Fei?"

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

whummmmm

"...?" Elly says, turning her arm over and looking at the burn spatter. It had been brief, and so she had not worried about it (one of those little 11-out-of-400 hits you take along the way) and now it is...

Gone.

"Oh... don't mention showers, please," she says to Rebecca, with a soft and authentic misery.

Then she says, "The what what?" to Fei.

"... That has to be something from a ten-gella novel or something," Elly says, slowly, "but... why would you put that on a piece of medical equipment?"

("Something like that would be impossible... unless you had memory cubes across different planets or something, I suppose...")