2020-06-06: Baskar Mysteries
- Log: Baskar Mysteries
- Cast: Riesenlied, Dean Stark, Noeline, Rebecca Streisand, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Baskar Village
- Date: June 06, 2020
- Summary: The Outreach ventures to the Baskar Village for a variety of reasons, but finds the place plagued by oddities. Resolving to investigate by nighttime, the group hides themeselves in the village. What, precisely, is going on here?
DG: A party led by Riesenlied is now entering Mysteries in Baskar Village. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ===============<* CHALLENGE - Waiting Around til After Dark *>================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Every night, the Baskar Village closes its gates. Life in the wilds of Kasutho Island can be dangerous, with the beasts outside the village posing a threat to travelers... and whispers of Veruni are not so hushed. While the Aquvy Baskar do not tell visitors to leave, they do not welcome them -- and will not admit them after dark. Thus, to investigate the happenings in the village after dark, when the strangers are said to gather, one has to get here during the daylight. But, standing around waiting for it to get dark would be suspicious. You need to find some way to disappear into a not particularly crowded village until after sundown. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire, Exhaust===================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has been lately focused on the restoration of Honeysday, but... after some thought and discussion with Noeline, there was something on her mind too-- something she wanted to pursue while she was here in Aquvy.
Namely, she wanted to see if she could talk to Odoryuk again.
A Baskar village seemed like the first natural step, so drawing on her friends' knowledge, she's identified one in Kasutho that might know something... though Noeline would be well-travelled enough to know this one particularly doesn't view outsiders too kindly.
Not that that's anything new for Drifters.
But that's only part of it, of course -- the other part is that she wants to spend more time with her friends, Avril, Dean and Rebecca.
But when they arrive there, it's clear the mood is not amiable -- and when Riesenlied starts to ask people of nearby temples of Odoryuk and other going-ons, the general reluctance in the air is so palpable it's nearly cuttable with a knife.
"... I do wonder what is happening here," Riesenlied quietly admits. "They seem rather worried about something..."
Perhaps the most telling clue is that of the presence of the Veruni. But it seems, if they are to investigate, they must wait until after dark. And that means being stealthy.
Riesenlied is... antithetical to stealthy!
"Umm, hmm... Noeline, everyone, do you have suggestions?" She says, as a cucco pen bobbles behind her. Her horns are already wiggling.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Waiting Around til After Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
It's a good thing Dean no longer uses 'firing bullets' as his way of working out intellect-based problems during quests such as this, because even at the best of times, Dean is not really all that stealthy either.
"Yeah, they're not friendly at all here," Dean observes, looking around the village. "I guess I can't blame them--their people have been through a lot..." He remembers the time that, in another Baskar Village over in Ignas, the Noua Shax Guardian Statue was attacked and almost shattered by the Trial Knight and a giant Hellion. That was the time he and Id first met, and sparked off their best-budship with Id nearly strangling Dean to death! Good times, good times.
"Maybe we could find a temple for ourselves and look around there?" Dean suggests, pulling out his Danger Sphere. It still doesn't have information on non-Spiran stuff, but maybe he could add to it. If he could only figure out how... Regardless: "How hard could it be to find one from here?"
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Danger Sphere toward his party's challenge, Waiting Around til After Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline has to admit that as they travel further out into rural Baskar regions, her knowledge of their customs and habits becomes more and more sketchy. When she originally travelled through the area she tended to stick to larger towns, visiting most of them in turn - but as she narrowed down the location of the shrine that had held her interest so unnaturally, her path became tighter and more focused, and she overlooked several of the villages at the same time as they became more insular.
So while she came prepared to make some headway by bringing along some traditional local greetings and gifts, it's not a great surprise to her that the overall mood remains quite frosty - and when she catches wind of a Veruni presence, the reason why becomes much more sharply clear.
Waiting with the others, she frowns a little as she looks back at the majority of the village, tilting her head towards Dean. "Out this far, you're probably not looking at full temples so much as shrines - cairns of stones in the priest's house, or a ruin a ways out of town, that sort of thing," she notes, though she's not opposed to the idea... but feels loath to leave the village at the same time.
"... still, it would be good to take a quiet glance around the place," she muses. An old, rarely-used instinct suggests sneaking in solo under cover of darkness - but she's loath to leave Riesenlied behind in any situation where the Veruni might choose to pick her up, even if Kaguya would surely put a stop to that.
She turns to her partner, looking thoughtful at Riesenlied's request - and then snorts to herself as she more or less scoops the Hyadean up in her arms, takes five steps past where she was standing, and places her in the midst of the cucco pen. "Perfect camouflage," she notes wryly.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Waiting Around til After Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca's been in the small marketplace for a little while after the jaunt to the temple, making an odd transaction every now and then. Just bits and baubles. After every single one she writes down the transaction in her bound travel diary as if it were simply a ledger. "Thanks for your business."
And is greeted by a terse nod.
Eventually as the group confers quietly, she adds in after Dean, "Yeah. Back where we grew up Dean, we didn't have half the worries these people did."
Rebecca puts both her hands behind her head, as if mulling it over...
... before surprisingly being agreeable to Dean's idea. "That's not a bad idea Dean. I heard in the market there's a few temples I think that allow for offerings through the night. We could just... lay low inside one."
Rebecca then watches Noeline pick up Riesenlied and plop her down in a Cucco Pen.
"... You're going to get us kicked out if that Cucco Farmer comes by. I've met a few that can get pretty..."
Count the seconds of her pause. It's almost a full twenty.
"...protective."
Why'd it take her so long!?
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Rebecca's Travel Diary toward her party's challenge, Waiting Around til After Dark.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The mood here reminds Avril of something, though she cannot, as much as she considers it, really pinpoint what it might be.
It would be par for the course for the amnesiac queen, were it not for the sense being stronger than usual, more familiar than even her deja vu typically allows.
"It seems that we will be tolerated here during the day, but no more than that," she remarks to the others. "Undoubtedly, once dusk falls, they will ask that we leave."
If their intent is to remain here overnight, then they will need to do something about the situation--
A situation into which Dean makes a particular suggestion.
"Into the temple..." Avril echoes. The last time they had gone into a temple to deliver an offering, well. She had ended up trapped inside.
She pauses for a moment.
And then brings out the mirror.
"I do not wish to deceive, but if we were to present this as an offering..."
Not that she intends to leave it behind, of course.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Waiting Around til After Dark.
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ===============<* CHALLENGE - Waiting Around til After Dark *>================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Every night, the Baskar Village closes its gates. Life in the wilds of Kasutho Island can be dangerous, with the beasts outside the village posing a threat to travelers... and whispers of Veruni are not so hushed. While the Aquvy Baskar do not tell visitors to leave, they do not welcome them -- and will not admit them after dark. Thus, to investigate the happenings in the village after dark, when the strangers are said to gather, one has to get here during the daylight. But, standing around waiting for it to get dark would be suspicious. You need to find some way to disappear into a not particularly crowded village until after sundown. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Tire, Exhaust===================================
=================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village - Round 1 *>================== =================< Results - Waiting Around til After Dark >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Mirror of De Soto 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rebecca's Travel Diary 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Danger Sphere 2 Wits Effects: Resilient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Stupify(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Yes, I agree..." Riesenlied speaks to Dean when he mentions they've been through a lot. "The Fereshte were... largely the same too. It took a long time for a good number of the village to open up to me, because I was not born there." It's something of a complicated situation for her, because she can understand where it comes from -- but in the end, that same reticience... didn't end up well for her village.
He suggests finding a temple for themselves. "Mm, maybe..." Noeline chimes in that they might not find full temples as much as shrines. "Perhaps... but I think that can wait until we understand more of what is happening here."
Their whispers of the Veruni, after all, catch her interest.
Rebecca gets a few items from the marketplace, and Riesenlied smiles and waves towards her. "I was reminded, Rebecca. You have been using the Ley more recently, have you not? I wanted to compare notes on how you do it, with my own channeling."
She nods as well towards Avril. "We will need to be careful--"
But then-- eh? Eh?
Noeline moves and puts her down in the midst of the cucco pen. Eeeeh...
It's comfy...
In the end, Rebecca finds a shrine to Ge Ramtos of all things that they can find shelter in; Avril presents the Mirror of De Soto, which seems to shimmer softly with a meaningful intent.
Meanwhile--
A Cucco Farmer passes by and looks at Riesenlied sitting in the midst of her cuccos.
The Cucco Farmer rubs her chin for about ten seconds and squints suspiciously.
CUCCO CAMO INDEX: 80%
"Checks out," she concludes, before passing by on her day.
Ehhhhh?!
Riesenlied wipes her brow. Whew. "Thank you, my friends..."
DG: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Release the Hounds *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A few civilian patrons of Baskar Village keep it safe, looking for any monsters that sneak into the village. There are also, on some properties, local defenders: a particularly hardy, often vicious type of dog. Large, with a wolf-like coat, and a predilection to attacking those who get close... well, when you hear loud barking, you know you have their attention. A trio of hounds lope towards you, rushing into the narrow alley that you entered. They growl, snarl, and then lunge for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"Oh... You think so?" Dean asks Noeline. He looks around the village, and the areas beyond its bounders. "...Guess you're right," he agrees. "Well, if they've got a little thing inside the village, maybe we could look for that?"
He nods to Rebecca. "Yeah. Capo Bronco didn't have a lot, but we had all the necessities: food, water, ruins to dig for Golem parts in--" dean literally only you would consider that "--and since there was no one else around for miles, we got left alone." He frowns. "I never figured that would be a good thing until I became a Drifter and saw how some towns get treated by bigger cities."
When Rebecca actually agrees with his idea, though, he brightens. "You think so? Oh man, you *never* agree with my ideas!" Avril suggests they pretend to offer the De Soto Mirror as an offering. Dean folds his arms and considers this. "I dunno... It'd be a great offering, don't get me wrong, but it seems wrong to offer something as a gift and then take it back. Maybe--"
Then Noeline plops Riesenlied inside a cucco pen.
"......the perfect disguise," Dean breathes in wonder.
Regardless, they manage to find a shrine and make temporary offering of the Mirror of De Soto. After night falls, the group converges again at the cucco pen. It's a bit difficult, but the starlight above guides their way.
"Great, we made it 'til dark!" Dean whispers to the group. "So... what exactly are we looking for now? We found a shrine to Ge Ramtos," he gestures at Rebecca and Avril here, "but not for Odoryuk... D'you think he'd pick up a prayer at someone else's shrine?"
A nearby shuffle and growl interrupts Dean's thought. He turns and looks to see several large, wolf-like hounds skulking around the cucco pen--no doubt defending the delightful little birds, or more accurately, defending any would-be thieves from the birds, because a small pack of vicious dogs is still better than an angry flock of cuccos.
"Oh, hey puppies!" Dean whispers, right before the dogs break into loud barking and charge the group. Dean summons Twin Fenrir and blocks the first dog's vicious chomp just in time. "Woah!! Down, boy! Easy!!" he whisper-yells. Shoving it back, he grabs Ace of Spades, swings it around along the ground and upwards, and flings a scraping of dirt into the pup's face. "Guys, let's get out of here!!"
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Ace of Spades toward his party's challenge, Release the Hounds.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"Hmm... hehe," Riesenlied chuckles at Dean. "You had Ruins to explore in ever since you were little? That sounds rather exciting. No wonder the Drifting life came rather naturally for you, did it not?"
Though Riesenlied is probably still not aware that Avril literally Golem-armed into his and Rebecca's life one day.
Dean also wonders if Odoryuk would accepts a prayer at someone else's shrine, and... Riesenlied actually does try, limp-walking over on her braces to kneel down and undergo her usual prayer routine!
...
...
"... hmm..." Riesenlied tilts her head as she lifts her head up. "I do not hear... anything. It is expected, I suppose..." she won't be too let down!!
But-- the noise of barking catches her attention, and she yelps as she hurries out to call, "Dean!"
One of the dogs shoves its way towards her and she focuses on the Dragon's Tear as she tries to pacify it, reaching out with her hand to go, "Shh... it is all right... who is a good boy? You are!"
She gives a glance towards the group to give them some time!
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"How is that a necessity!?" Rebecca blurts at Dean, putting two fingers to her forehead with a faint shake of her head. "You spent way too much of your time in those ruins for how dug up they were already."
And then... "... I do when they're actually good ones Dean!" She says in mild protest. Before looking seriously at Avril's idea of the offering. "Yeah... and it's something precious to you right? You're looking in it all the time." She says with a faint smile, "Even if it's just for a short time, it wouldn't feel right to give it away."
Then the Cucco farmer...
... causes Rebecca to put a finger to her forehead again, with an exasperated shake of her head.
Thankfully, they made it until dark. Though the moment the wolf-like hounds are seen skulking, she takes a wary step back.
"Not puppies! Dean!"
Rebecca whips out her ARM, then seems to think better of pulling the trigger...
... well she figures Dean is tough enough to handle wild dogs for a bit.
Instead she takes out her medium as they try their retreat, and says to Riesenlied who's in the midst of pupper petting, "It's not like I've had any training to do it like some of those Shamans I've seen. Ever since I got this. It's been just a lot of..."
Channeling her will into the ley beneath her feet, she susses it out and...
"... instinct, and practice."
As if she were simply taking the Ley Lines in her hands and twisting them in a tug, she suddenly switches Yellow to Blue
"... A little bath never hurt anyone... much."
Water seeps out of the ground, before erupting upwards in a column around one of them, likely causing a a wild hound to be popped up in the air before...
... coming down on the others, with a smattering of rain being left behind.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"There were rumors," Avril utters after a moment more, "that the Veruni were involved somehow, here... I wonder, were they only rumors? Or...?"
But so long as the villagers are unwilling to speak, there is little she can do but wonder. About them, about the nagging sense that this -- or something very much like it -- has occured before, and, perhaps, the role of the Guardians.
Even Rebecca and Dean's talk about their hometown brings little respite -- all she can do is glance at the two of them, her expression a wistful one, nearly. "Growing up and being able to encounter the world on one's own terms... It seems as if it was a happy childhood," she remarks.
But they need, now, to find a place to hide.
It is not the most tasteful of actions. It is akin to going back on a promise, in fact. But at the same time, as outsiders, if they can't prove that they are in fact here to present an offering...
And she does not wish Rebecca to offer up her diary, or Dean his treasured Golem screw.
So perhaps this is the most pragmatic 'offering' she can make, under the circumstances.
"I am sorry," she murmurs in the dark, plucking the mirror from where it rests, within. "Perhaps..."
At some point, there may be the opportunity to atone for this sin. But it will not come just yet.
They need to get to the heart of this.
Particularly if the Veruni are somehow involved.
Out the three of them creep into the stillness of the Baskar Village night. Riesenlied, fortunately, seems to have made it to nightfall.
But unfortunately, they're not the only ones out and about in the dark.
One of the dogs lunges for Dean. Nearly, Avril calls out.
Instead, a twisting spray of ice crystals leaps for the hound, seeking to envelope it in a harmless but paralyzing jet of cold.
She had not been practicing her magic on Lunar so long ago for nothing. Control is needed to prevent undue harm when it matters most.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline just smirks at Rebecca. "We'll see. I think it'll be reasonably alright," she decides after a moment of surveying her 'work', knowing full well that Riesenlied in the midst of a cucco pen has a tendency to admit some sort of calming field. She's not entirely sure how it works, but she's more than happy to place her trust in it at times like this.
Sure enough, a litle later she's plucking Riesenlied back out of the midst of the cuccos, giving the other Hyadean a moment to realign herself. "We might as well try it. I still don't claim to know everything about how Guardians work, but we do at least know they are in-- some sort of communication," she concludes, but it's with an uncertain frown on her face as she watches Riesenlied try. Ge Ramtos is not exactly the most hospitable-sounding Guardian, after all.
"It would be rather unusual for the Veruni to be this far out," she concludes towards Avril. "I mean, along the edges of Ignas, certainly. Aquvy? In a serious of backwater villages?" Perhaps they travelled east from Elru rather than west, but that still leaves her without any real idea as to their motives. "Let us look around, at least."
She hears the dogs coming before she sights them, already tensed up by the time they round the corner; it's with a quiet huff of annoyance that she faces them down, but at least here they're in one of her elements - quite literally, as her own spark of sorcery joins the others and she pulls the gloom around them to muffle the fight, before turning to take one of the dogs lunging at her and twist around its jaws to slip past it.
DG: Noeline has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Release the Hounds.
=======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Release the Hounds *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A few civilian patrons of Baskar Village keep it safe, looking for any monsters that sneak into the village. There are also, on some properties, local defenders: a particularly hardy, often vicious type of dog. Large, with a wolf-like coat, and a predilection to attacking those who get close... well, when you hear loud barking, you know you have their attention. A trio of hounds lope towards you, rushing into the narrow alley that you entered. They growl, snarl, and then lunge for you! =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
==================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village - Round 2 *>=================== ========================< Results - Release the Hounds >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 15 --(8)--> 23 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 15 --(8)--> 23 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Sky Medium 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 15 --(8)--> 23 Pass Ace of Spades 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 8 --(8)--> 16 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Riesenlied 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean grins broadly at Riesenlied. "Yeah! Since before I was born, even!" he gushes. "I only found something once, but even once made it all worth it!" Rebecca protests that those old ruins were so dug out it was a miracle he found anything at all. Dean huffs at her in perhaps startling Noeline-like fashion. "Hey, I found *something* there, didn't I? Old Man Tony said it was a real Golem part and everything!"
This Golem part is separate from his treasured Golem screw, which he keeps on himself at all times. That, he found on Celestial Peak, quite by accident.
Avril remarks that it must have been a happy childhood. "Yeah, it was," he says, nodding to her as Riesenlied attempts prayer at the Ge Ramtos shrine. "I used to think it was boring, and honestly it *was* mostly boring, but looking back, I don't think that was a bad thing at all. I got to do the things I loved, and I was safe and fed. It could've been a lot worse." He frowns when she mentions the rumors of Veruni involvement, but doesn't remark. He'd heard that too, but...
But then puppies.
"All dogs are puppies!" Dean argues in defiance of long-established fact. Regardless, the guard dogs are driven back by rain and sleet and dark and dirt and questions of Who Is A Good Boy?. Soon, they calm down enough to stop barking, maybe even wag their tails a bit at Riesenlied, and then trot off in the darkness to return to their master's house, wherever that is.
DG: Noeline has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Climbing Down a Well *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- One rumor notes that the well in the northeastern part of the village, which dried up five years ago, is used by the village's youth to pass messages back and forth. Sneaking over there is not so difficult; it is in a part of the village that few travel to. When you arrive, you see a badly frayed rope that has been lowered down. Someone has been coming here, though their regard for their own safety is questionable. Climbing down the well to look will be dangerous. The insides are slippery, the walls of the well are smooth, and the rope is frayed and treacherous. The bottom is far, far below. IF SUCCESSFUL You find a message below. Paper that has been lacquered and then sealed in an envelope awaits. When you open, you see a note: "Friend: We've talked to him. He is interested in meeting you. The new Guardian offers us a hope the elders never allowed us. When you see me tomorrow, nod twice if you want to arrange a meeting." =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure, Exhaust====================================
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's frown remains on her face as they sneak into the village, because whichever way she cuts it, it feels like something doesn't quite add up. Certainly, the Veruni have made inroads into Aquvy, a fact she has mysteriously just remembered - but that still doesn't explain why they would be here in this village. And it would only explain why the village is frosty to them if the Baskar had aligned with the Veruni, which seems terrifically unlikely.
Instinct guides her towards the quieter sections of the village, and she pauses as she takes a few moments to look over the little square, thinking back to daytime. Earlier, when they'd been trying to arrange shelter, she'd spotted a couple of the older children hanging around it - not exactly used to subterfuge, they'd been so fidgety and cagey that she couldn't help but make a mental note of it for later. She was sure she'd seen something get slipped down the well, but...
She cranes over the edge, and looks terrifically glum. "Either way you look at it, this is a pretty poor way to try to pass messages around. Unless it connects to someone's cellar or something, wouldn't you just have the most terrible time actually getting the message to relay it?" she grumbles, never mind that she's making Strife do most of the work by clearly intending to ride the little machine down rather than risk the walls or the rope.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Strife toward her party's challenge, Climbing Down a Well.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
The adorable dogs eventually calm down with their efforts, and there is a sigh of relief from Riesenlied as she pats one gently and smiles quietly, waving them away.
Rebecca mentions that she does it instinctually, with a lot of instinct and practice and... watches as she channels and shifts the Ley. She tilts her head, nodding quietly. "I think you are more refined at certain aspects of it... I would like to compare notes sometime, since I am also in the same place."
She tilts her head. "I can only rely on what is already there and channel it, rather than shift, for instance..."
Avril speaks of the rumors, and Noeline mentions how the Veruni don't seem likely to be spending time around Baskar villages... "Actually, I..." she glances aside. "I saw in hindsight that there may have been Veruni even in the village of the Fereshte..."
A pause. "I wonder if they have an interest in the Baskar for some reason?"
Dean speaks of his childhood some more, which elicits a smile from her. "Wow... I think I understand a little what that is like. There was something like a small cave that--" A pause. "I would get dragged to, even if it a proper Ruin."
Noeline heads towards a nearby well, and looks to Strife as she starts fluffing the ARM up and adding feathers to it, as if it will make it more manueverable.
"I believe in you.. Soar past the Clouds, Strife!"
Zach, this is good, isn't it?
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool My Dear Friends toward her party's challenge, Climbing Down a Well.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca almost counters Dean with 'What about the Hellion? Was it a puppy too?' But... she doesn't.
It's a sore spot for her. She decides to let Dean have that one.
"Maybe... but the Veruni have gotta have spies right?" She suggests to Noeline, even though she no longer suspects some of the Veruni she's met of spying for Lord Volsung... "So they could be involved if they think there's something worth conquering out here."
... which is a long story.
"Refined? Well..." She looks more pleased than embarrassed, "... maybe I am."
She'll definitely be writing a journal entry later on how Riese saying that is a sign of how she's maturing.
"I don't know. Maybe it's not practical but it feels pretty romantic to me." Shift, foot scuff. "Makes me wonder if there have been any Baskar kids whose parents didn't want them to get hitched. So they pass along secret messages to me."
Still, Rebecca decides not to climb down there herself, since Noeline is already doing that. So instead, she simply takes out her Portal Gun and fires it off to the side of the well.
She then looks inside and fires one as deep down as she can while still aiming at the wall.
(She's careful not to aim for the bottom itself lest they all get splashed by a fast emptying well.)
"Shortcut back up!" She calls down.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, Climbing Down a Well.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"They are rare in this region, but... not precisely unknown. I wonder if perhaps it might be..."
Kaguya. She hadn't told Avril the details of her plan, and Avril hadn't asked. It hadn't seemed right to. "Were they? Hmm... Perhaps, it may have been to learn more of the Guardians?"
After all, they represent a part of the planet's will. If they could speak to the Guardians, then maybe...
It was a happy childhood, Dean agrees. She smiles, if fleetingly.
Avril cannot remember her own childhood at all. This may be for the best, if the experience within the dark mirror had been any indication.
She glances between him and Rebecca, reflecting and not for the first time that the two of them really do have something that... she can never understand or share in.
But now is not the time for any of that, she reminds herself. Right now they...
Night eventually falls.
A quick burst of that frost is enough to see the hound she targets decide that there are better options right now than to have a go at Dean. Or any of them, really, as they by various turns impress that the dogs should go from this place unto another place.
Following Noeline's lead in the dark, she ventures closer to the well, investigating the rather dubious rope. "I do not think this would hold up long," she remarks, then slides out the Sea Medium. "I wonder, perhaps they do not need to use the rope?"
...What does Avril think they do, fly down the well?
"Here. Perhaps a small blessing might help?" she says, invoking the Medium's power. Perhaps it might help if Strife bumps into anything in the dark.
It's probably best if only one or two of them head down...
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Climbing Down a Well.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Not only was it a puppy, it was a GOOD BOY, so THERE, Rebecca. Try to argue that one!!
"Oh yeah?" Dean asks Riesenlied with interest. "Did you ever find anything cool there?" He slows when they find the well with its frayed rope and signs of a message below. He peers down as Noeline remarks on it. "Yeah, you'd figure they'd at least get a stronger rope," he comments. "They... do have rope in this village, right?"
Rebecca, naturally, thinks it's romantic. Dean knows better than to roll his eyes, but he does make a face. Avril suggests that maybe they don't need to rope, though, and that gives him pause. "Hey, huh, yeah," he muses. "But if they aren't using the rope, how else are they getting down there?"
...he says as Rebecca uses a portal gun and Avril uses a Medium and Noeline uses Strife. Mystery-solving teens!!
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Climbing Down a Well.
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Climbing Down a Well *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- One rumor notes that the well in the northeastern part of the village, which dried up five years ago, is used by the village's youth to pass messages back and forth. Sneaking over there is not so difficult; it is in a part of the village that few travel to. When you arrive, you see a badly frayed rope that has been lowered down. Someone has been coming here, though their regard for their own safety is questionable. Climbing down the well to look will be dangerous. The insides are slippery, the walls of the well are smooth, and the rope is frayed and treacherous. The bottom is far, far below. IF SUCCESSFUL You find a message below. Paper that has been lacquered and then sealed in an envelope awaits. When you open, you see a note: "Friend: We've talked to him. He is interested in meeting you. The new Guardian offers us a hope the elders never allowed us. When you see me tomorrow, nod twice if you want to arrange a meeting." =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure, Exhaust====================================
=================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village - Round 3 *>================== ======================< Results - Climbing Down a Well >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 23 --(8)--> 31 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 23 --(8)--> 31 Pass My Dear Friends 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Portal Guns 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 23 --(15)--> 38 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 16 --(8)--> 24 Pass Strife 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(2)|Slow(2)|Wound(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline gives Riesenlied a glance before she goes down, tilting her head as she imagines that. "... I suppose with the Fereshte I could understand it more. That would have been closer to their home base, after all, and on the same landmass. But I suppose it must be something like that," she adds with a quiet smile. "Just as the two of us went out into the world, so must some of their number, too. ... perhaps I'm just being too skeptical." Strife bobbles happily in response to the encouragement.
"What if there's a trickle of water at the bottom? The walls are still slick, even! Your love letter's going to get muddy," she grumbles to Rebecca, as one school of romantic thought clashes against another. But she nods in appreciation as the acrobat sets up the portals - not least because it's good to know that other people have Kaguya's back should she need it, and have her in their thoughts.
When she hesitates a final time, it's first to snort at Avril and Dean. "Well. I would venture a guess to say that I am a bit heavier than any of the young people of this village, for a start. It might be just a matter of practice and caution more than anything else."
It doesn't take her long to nip down to the bottom of the well on the back of the little pod, and then she has the interesting experience of hopping through Rebecca's portals back to the top, an envelope in her hands. She stares at it for a moment, tears it open, and scans through the letter before handing it over:
"Friend: We've talked to him. He is interested in meeting you. The new
Guardian offers us a hope the elders never allowed us. When you see me
tomorrow, nod twice if you want to arrange a meeting."
Slowly, she purses her lips together, rolling the words 'the new Guardian' around her brain a few times. "Disillusionment, I suppose? A rift between the old faith and a new faith that wants to bubble up to the fore?" she murmurs. "But still, it doesn't take much of a guess as to who might be dangling the offer."
"Two nods?" she adds after a moment's struggle, her professional pride in spy affairs feeling very dented. "That would be the easiest thing to do by accident!"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Leave No Trace *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A rumor suggests that one tavern is sometimes used as a meeting place for some of the village's men and women. Rather than meet in the main room, they meet in the cellar. Unfortunately, getting there means breaking into the cellar, to try to listen to their conversation. The wooden door to the cellar is reinforced with iron, and will not budge easily. But you need to do so quietly -- and you need to make sure that passing patrols do not find a broken open cellar door. Once you do, though, a crawlway to listen in should be accessible... IF SUCCESSFUL: After reaching the crawlspace, you find a meeting of a few tired-sounding parents of the village. A few snippets of conversation can be heard: "...do you think that Stranger is real?" "Doubt it. We'd have found him." "My girl seems convinced, Kanessa." "Doesn't he say he can put an end to using Pillars?" "Nothing can do that..." "Wishful thinking by those kids, that's all. They'll learn." =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Exhaust=====================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Hmm... maybe so," Avril allows, though a part of her does seem to still wonder. Perhaps the ways of the young in this part of the world are simply more refined. More skilled, somehow.
(or perhaps the rope used to be more functional and they're all lucky something terrible and tragic hasn't happened yet!)
In any case, Noeline delves into the depths and brings back a letter from below.
"The 'new' Guardian?" Avril echoes, tilting her head to one side as she considers the matter. "Are Guardians..."
It occurs to Avril in this moment that she knows very little about them, truly, despite speaking to the Baskar in Ignas, and despite making use of more than a few mediums as she's traveled over the last few years.
"...I wonder what that might mean," she settles for, before glancing back towards the cluster of homes proper. "We may find some answers if we head back. If they are still awake, we may be able to hear what they say only to each other."
Whether or not any of them had heard a rumor about the tavern or not, it still stands out as a likely place to try. It's still open at this hour, so some discretion is advised on approach.
But the lights come not from the top room, but from a small and heavily distorted glass window towards the foundation.
"...They must be meeting in the basement," Avril whispers, then tenatively reaches for the small door nearby.
The small reinforced door. Reinforced, with iron.
It doesn't budge.
"...Careful," she cautions the others, resting her hand against the metal. It's a warm night. But if she alters the temperature, perhaps the iron may shrink back, permitting a somewhat easier passage within.
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Leave No Trace.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied just sparkles a bit as Rebecca seems pleased at being called refined. Maybe there are some commonalities she has learnt from being around Noeline, but she does respect Rebecca's own talents.
"Lydia left the colony because of her parents..." she explains to Rebecca, on the topic of Baskar kids. "Though it was not a matter of marriage." She tilts her head. "There... were a couple, back in my own village, I suppose. But they eventually spoke out and left to strike their own fortune, heading to places like Elesius."
Avril mentions if it might have been to learn more, and Dean asks if she learnt anything-- "The Veruni investigator trapped in the village had passed away at about the same time the anomaly on that day occurred, but..."
She tilts her head. "I think Avril is right. It must have been to investigate the Guardians and the Ley, and what the village customs were regarding them."
She helps Noeline and Avril back through the portals, then looks to the letter herself.
"'Him'... the new Guardian?" Her eyes widen. "Could it be..."
She gasps. "The Guardian of Wisdom??" Riesenlied, PLEASE let that one go, just take the L. A pause. "No, that could not be..."
They arrive at a tavern next, where some people are talking in the basement -- but she cannot hear what is being spoken. "I will see if I cannot focus on their thoughts and emotions," she offers Avril, once more focusing on the Dragon's Tear, just in case the door does not work.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"There are ways to waterproof it!" Rebecca counters, though she doesn't quarrel for long given Noeline's descent. She misses Dean's eyeroll, which is a good thing too. Dean is safe... for now.
Upon hearing the message, Rebecca speculates aloud, "Sounds like there's a rebellion going on amongst the youth of the village." Her expression grows tight as she comes to the same line of thinking as Riesenlied, "Yeah... they might be chafing against restrictive traditions that keep them from following their dreams - just like Lydie."
Avril's comment jolts her out of that speculation. "It... might not mean Guardians as in, those Guardians." Rebecca indicates to Avril, simply to banish the idea of Guardian babymaking from her mind.
Thus Rebecca is all too willing to let Riese's suggestion go as to try not to think about how a Guardian of Wisdom was created.
As they come upon the tavern though, Rebecca whispers back, "Let's see if we can find out what kind of trouble they're getting into..."
Avril tries to freeze the lock, and Rebecca simply tries to snap the butt of her ARM against the narrow part of it, trying to break it gradually through simple bludgeoning force.
As it turns out, when you don't have a hammer, sometimes a Revolver will do.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Leave No Trace. DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Leave No Trace.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
New Guardian? One that gives a hope the elders never did? Dean gives a confused look to his friends, but it doesn't seem like they understand any better than he does. Riesenlied suggests it might be the Guardian of Wisdom, but he remains confused. "How d'you get *new* Guardians?" he wonders. Rebecca suggests maybe they mean a different type of Guardian. "But this is a Baskar Village! What other Guardians could they mean?" If only they could just *talk* to the Guardians and find out!
Oh, right. That's literally what they came here to do.
"Maybe we could stick around 'til tomorrow and start nodding at people and see who sets us up with this guy," Dean suggests to Noeline. She muses that there might be a rift forming between the young and the old, and Rebecca brings up Lydia. "Hmm... Maybe you're right. It's natural for kids to want to stretch out their wings and fly on their own," Dean muses. He nods to Rebecca. "That's why we left, huh?" Well, it's why HE left. But Rebecca has her own dream she's pursuing too, and that's why she left with him and Avril, right? She didn't leave because she was terrified of being left behind, right? That'd just be silly.
Riesenlied speaks of a Veruni investigator who died, which gets Dean to go quiet for a moment until Avril suggests going back. "Sounds good to me," he says. They return to find a tavern, and specifically a tavern door that needs budging before they can eavesdrop on those inside. Dean dusts up his hands with salty chalk, then attempts to wrench it open, planting one boot on the door frame. He'll probably wrench his arms out trying, but at least he's trying.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Purifying Chalk toward his party's challenge, Leave No Trace.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline often laments the fact that part of her brain has been more or less hardcoded to be suspicious and cagey, but there are times when it helps to offer her other perspectives on a problem. While Rebecca and Avril wonder if the note means some other kind of Guardian or if perhaps new Guardians could be made from old, the Hyadean's mind immediately starts to wonder if the Veruni are spreading rumours of a new Guardian to cause a rift in the Baskar.
She doesn't voice it, though. She'd honestly prefer to be optimistic - years at Riesenlied's side have taught her that much, and she does dearly hope she's wrong. But at the same time, it doesn't really hurt to keep that suspicion in the back of her mind, in case she might need to refer back to it later.
Riesenlied's comment is a welcome reprieve, and she snorts softly at the other Hyadean, touching her arm out of sheer affection in the moments before she concentrates on the Tear. "No, I'm not sure it's that one," she snickers, tilting her head as the other little round orb around her shoulders floats forwards and around the house, searching for an ajar window it can slip through.
The pod disguised as a cucco manages to squeeze through one of them, leaving naught but a few fake feathers behind as it can be seen gently rolling between rooms of the house. Several moments later, and with thankfully a minimum of clattering and banging and confused metallic squeaks, there is a bonk on the door from within, as well as without.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Trouble toward her party's challenge, Leave No Trace.
=======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================== ========================<* CHALLENGE - Leave No Trace *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A rumor suggests that one tavern is sometimes used as a meeting place for some of the village's men and women. Rather than meet in the main room, they meet in the cellar. Unfortunately, getting there means breaking into the cellar, to try to listen to their conversation. The wooden door to the cellar is reinforced with iron, and will not budge easily. But you need to do so quietly -- and you need to make sure that passing patrols do not find a broken open cellar door. Once you do, though, a crawlway to listen in should be accessible... IF SUCCESSFUL: After reaching the crawlspace, you find a meeting of a few tired-sounding parents of the village. A few snippets of conversation can be heard: "...do you think that Stranger is real?" "Doubt it. We'd have found him." "My girl seems convinced, Kanessa." "Doesn't he say he can put an end to using Pillars?" "Nothing can do that..." "Wishful thinking by those kids, that's all. They'll learn." =Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Exhaust=====================================
==================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village - Round 4 *>=================== ==========================< Results - Leave No Trace >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 31 --(8)--> 39 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 31 --(8)--> 39 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 24 --(15)--> 39 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 38 --(8)--> 46 Pass Purifying Chalk 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noeline 24 --(8)--> 32 Pass Trouble 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Riesenlied 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(1)|Overzealous(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Riesenlied has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Dangerous Package *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Your investigation has led you to a small shed, which is used as a drop point for packages being given by the mysterious cult at the heart of this village's woes. You sneak towards the shed, but don't have a chance to really inspect it. However, you hear a noise behind you. A muffled cry of 'run!' and footsteps, taking off. And a package does, in fact, fly through the air. It comes down for you, the package beginning to strain. More than that, the prismatic and ember-like glow of pyreflies begins to emit from it. Then, the leather wrapping and cords break, as a massive red Bomb appears -- and not an explosive, but a leathery Fiend, with red flesh and a fiery mien. It already grows, mightily, in size. And opens its mouth and /snarls/ at you, before it soars in. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The Veruni had not been behind the anomaly, that much Avril had been able to work out among the mystery encircling Fereshte. But, what had happened back then?
"They may be looking into the Guardians even now. ...Most Veruni," herself and one other excluded, "are not able to make use of Mediums or Guardians. I understand this is true even of those few who still survive from... long ago."
Not many of them left, now. Attrition over the thousands of years has seen their numbers wither.
Which, speaking of Guardians--
"Oh... then, I wonder what they might mean," Avril replies at Rebecca's quick interjection on the matter. "A 'new Guardian'," she murmurs again, her brow crinkling in confusion.
Riesenlied can feel, as the others try the door, a vague sense of unease within. Not yet fear, but certainly distrust is the mood of the hour. Uncertainity lies as heavy as fog.
Perhaps the temperature shift did something. Perhaps it did nothing. It doesn't budge when Rebecca presses into the door, which seemingly stands firm.
But when Dean puts his boot into it, it suddenly shifts forward, sticking but a little. A final series of nudges from within see it open enough for one person to slip inside and slide into the crawl space...
A stranger, speak the voices, for whoever it is who dares be the one eavesdropping.
Someone who can put an end to the old ways, or so the youths of the villager believe.
Who can put an end to the practice of Pillars.
"Pillars...?" Avril ventures, once the information is relayed to them all.
There's a weight to that word. As if it were bearing up the entire world.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Rebecca speaks of restrictive traditions that keep them from following their dreams... and she knows a little about that -- both from her Fereshte side, and her Hyadean side too -- but also mentions that might not mean those types of Guardians. It's fair; parents are guardians. Even Wakka is a kind of guardian.
Dean mentions they could try sticking around until tomorrow and nod at people... would that work? They mention dreams, though...
"It is lovely to see you all pursuing your own paths," she comments quietly, with a smile. She wants to help each of them pursue their own dreams, she thinks. She has, for a while now.
Noeline teases her a little! "N-nmm... just you watch. I will discover the Guardian of Wisdom someday," she pouts and her cheeks balloon up a bit.
But eventually, their efforts give way as she pauses and feels the unease and fear-- the uncertainty blanketing her and quieting her comments in turn.
"Pillars..."
The look on Riesenlied's face is a bit pale, as she bites her lip. "Pillars. Are they the same... concept as what the Fereshte had...?"
From the way they use the term... 'put an end to using Pillars'...
She shakes her head, positively spooked. Eventually, they must leave before they arouse more suspicion -- but as they head towards the next point of investigation, she does relay:
"The Fereshte... had such a concept, of a Pillar. I..."
She reaches gently to the shed's door. "Every generation, the chieftain lineage of the Fereshte would consign a newborn to a destiny as a Pillar. They would dedicate their life to Guardianship and Shamanism, and... at a certain age, at a certain place and time, they would... their life..."
She doesn't quite get to finish or clarify herself, because a noise is heard-- and a cry of 'run!' is heard as a package suddenly flies through the air. "Ah! W-was I too loud? I am sorry."
Sorry would have to wait, though, because the package strains -- and familiar Pyreflies float through the air and the wrapping and cords break -- and Spiran Bombs emerge from it!
"A-are these not Spiran Fiends?!" Riesenlied exclaims with surprise. She looks to Rebecca, focusing on the Tear as it shimmers and ebbs with power, coursing between her and Noeline. "Rebecca, I want to try something. Could I borrow the Water-shifted Ley from you?"
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Rings of Promise toward her party's challenge, A Dangerous Package.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline hears the word, and instantly her gaze shifts to Riesenlied with a solemn, drawn frown. She hadn't thought about the concept of Pillars in a long time - though she'd known of it vaguely from her travels in this region, all she'd been able to glean was that it was something she really didn't much like the sound of, and was content to let the term fall back into the haze of her memory after not hearing it for long enough. But the way that Riesenlied reacts, and with what she knows of the Feresthe...
... it's suddenly all too clear why the youth of the village might be so easily set against their elders. It's not a pleasant thought; instead, she swears under her breath, quietly wondering just how many factions are intersecting here.
The answer is apparently 'one, maybe two more than she already suspected', because first a voice tells her to run and then a hand - maybe the same person, maybe not - throws some kind of satchel down from which a Bomb springs out, flame roaring around it. "I don't think this was even meant for us--" she starts to say back to Riese, but it's much too late to split hairs.
Instead, she focuses on her ring, establishing her end of the link with Riesenlied as she starts to share power along it. Propelling herself forwards, her sword is in her hands before she can even stop to think about what she's doing - and with the understanding that Riesenlied has a plan, braces herself as she takes the snarling charge on the flat of her sword, planting her feet to stand her ground and try to lock it in place.
DG: Noeline has used her Tool Rings of Promise toward her party's challenge, A Dangerous Package.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
'Are they the same... concept as what the Fereshte had...?'
Avril glances over at Riesenlied, her expression a curious one. An answer does not come right away. Avril in the meantime sees to closing the door again once Rebecca is safely back out, and the group moves onwards, towards a particular shed.
And explains further.
The destiny of the Pillar.
Dedicating their life to the Guardians.
Their...
Avril slowly turns her head to look again at Riesenlied, and this time there is no confusion there to be found.
Just realization, breaking slowly and coldly over the horizon.
...entire life.
Someone shouts suddenly; Avril turns sharply towards its source, just in time to see a package thrown through the air.
"Are those... Pyreflies?"
is what she says, mere moments before the cords break. There, glowing and red in the dark of night, are a set of Fiends.
Absolute Zero comes to hand readily. Avril presses her lips thin and as quick as she can, lunges for the nearest of them. Silence is of a secondary concern. If these things spread into the rest of the village, then...!
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, A Dangerous Package.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Dean - doesn't matter who we nod to or how many times, we're outsiders. Think about it. If you and me had made an exclusive secret ... I dunno Golem club back in Capo Bronco, and some new guy rolled into town and nodded at us and said - they want in. It'd be suspicious right?" Rebecca hopes Dean understands that. Hopes. He probably doesn't, but he's shown far more moments of maturity lately so, maybe???
"That'd make sense. Though if this village had promising finds... we'd probably have seen..." Rebecca sweatdrops, "... him, here... already."
She never thought starting out on this journey she'd meet a mountain with muscles, but she did.
"It could be a title?" Rebecca simply guesses Avril's way, "Though I wonder what kind of title it might be when the Guardians are held in such high esteem by the Baskar."
Rebecca's brow furrows, as she speculates quietly, "Maybe the kids of this village are discarding them too... in favor of something else."
Rebecca abandons her effort after too long, sure she maintains her ARM well but she's not looking to scuff it up. Instead Dean's boot handles it. And eventually once in the cellar they found a small crawlspace. "Okay..." As she hands over her pack to Dean, "Don't go through that Dean." Translation: Don't read my diary Dean. "I'm going to just... squeeze in there."
She has to work for a bit, but manages to flatten herself just enough to crawl in and eavesdrop.
-=-=-
"Pillars." Rebecca repeats, upon her return. "I wasn't fond of the sound of that." A brief pause, "I don't think the ones who are flocking to this new Guardian like the sound of it either."
Riesenlied explains though, and Rebecca looks at her with shock. "What... really?" Certainly there was an omission, but she can fill in the gaps. Rebecca can imagine any number of kids who were chosen to lose someone they loved or cared about to this practice. If it's the same here in Kasutho...
... she doesn't blame the kids for wanting to end it.
Then there's a package, and Rebecca suddenly quickdraws her ARM, pivots, and spins as if she were going to shoot a bomb out of the air.
Suddenly it bursts and suddenly she realizes...
... she had no idea how right she was. "Those little lights are... they have to be, Avril..."
Rebecca doesn't gawk for long, instead pulling out her Medium at Riese's suggestion. "Water! And here I thought you were a Heart kind of girl..."
No Heart isn't an Element. She's just teasing - it's an empath joke, really.
Feeling out the Ley, Rebecca realizes the fire ley lines have shifted as a result of the Fiend appearing. Suddenly she tugs at them, and forces an intersection of groundwater's mystical presence to simply converge on Riesenlied's position.
"Go for it! I'm relying on you Riese!"
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her party's challenge, A Dangerous Package.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Rebecca attempts to explain to Dean that it would be suspicious if some total stranger rolled into Capo Bronco and said he wanted in on their Golem Club. "What? Why? Golems are awesome!! I'd love to have a new Golem lover in our Golem loving club!" Dean declares, staring at Rebecca as if she'd suddenly grown snake arms. (Bad example, Rebecca.)
Rebecca sneaks into the crawlspace while Dean holds the door open. "I won't!" he protests at her warning. She comes back soon enough with news of what she heard, but until then...
Dean grins at Riesenlied and rubs a finger under his nose when she praises him and his friends for pursuing their paths. It turns into a look of puzzlement at the teasing over the Guardian of Wisdom. "So there *isn't* one? Or there is?" he wonders, puzzled.
His puzzlement only grows when the conversation turns to the Pillars as mentioned by the villagers in the tavern. Riesenlied doesn't finish what she has to say, and Dean--he's not stupid, but he's naive and has his own way of thinking, and he just can't conceive of making someone dedicate their entire lives to something in a literal sense.
But then there's someone yelling to run and a package and IT'S A BOMB, RUN. Or fight! Dean's encountered these in Spira before, so he knows how to deal with them. Still, he draws Ace of Spades so he can help ward it away from the spellcasters of the group so they can make short work of it with their water and/or ice magic.
"Yeah, I think so!" he says to Riesenlied, holding the shovel at the ready. "What're they doing here, though? Did some of them get transported over somehow?" He wouldn't exactly put it past Odessa, though even he thinks it's odd that they'd bother.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Ace of Spades toward his party's challenge, A Dangerous Package.
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - A Dangerous Package *>===================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Your investigation has led you to a small shed, which is used as a drop point for packages being given by the mysterious cult at the heart of this village's woes. You sneak towards the shed, but don't have a chance to really inspect it. However, you hear a noise behind you. A muffled cry of 'run!' and footsteps, taking off. And a package does, in fact, fly through the air. It comes down for you, the package beginning to strain. More than that, the prismatic and ember-like glow of pyreflies begins to emit from it. Then, the leather wrapping and cords break, as a massive red Bomb appears -- and not an explosive, but a leathery Fiend, with red flesh and a fiery mien. It already grows, mightily, in size. And opens its mouth and /snarls/ at you, before it soars in. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Injure============================================
=================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village - Round 5 *>================== ======================< Results - A Dangerous Package >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Avril Vent Fleur 39 --(12)--> 51 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 39 --(12)--> 51 Pass Rings of Promise 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rebecca Streisand 39 --(12)--> 51 Pass Sky Medium 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dean Stark 46 --(12)--> 58 Pass Ace of Spades 2 Combat Effects: Embolden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noeline 32 --(12)--> 44 Pass Rings of Promise 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Rally ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Riesenlied 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Overzealous(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Riesenlied has successfully explored Mysteries in Baskar Village!
======================<* Mysteries in Baskar Village *>======================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - Message from the Leader *>=================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- Inside of the shed, you find a few emptied crates. The supplies in them have been emptied out, but you do find a letter within. The letter appears to be a tract, written by the mysterious masked individual who has been seen. That masked individual is, apparently, providing some form of religious literature: 'Our world is a spiral. An endless spiral of death, which we try to escape through penance and ceremony. It obscures truth from us, but I have come to these lands to offer you truth. I offer you knowledge of sin. Of how to shape sin. Of how to shape the instrument of your own liberation... by breaking the spiral.' =Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied does not finish, but neither Rebecca nor Avril need her to to draw a conclusion. Noeline gives her some comfort and closeness, and-- the battle is soon joined as the Bombs form.
Noeline stands in front as she steadfastly does, planting her sword to the ground; Rebecca shouts that she'll rely on Riesenlied, and the Hyadean nods. She doesn't want to let her down!
"Heart? Maybe so-- Here it is... focus... focus!" Riesenlied whispers to herself, as she lets the Muse-aspected Ley gather in the air and transforms it into a powerful blessing; for Noeline's weapon, for Absolute Zero, and any bullets Dean and Rebecca fire that aren't Freeze Rounds either.
Noeline helps protect the team against attacks while Avril cleaves one of them in half with her saber; Dean smacks one with his Ace of Spades, and it causes it to flinch as it whimpers to the ground-- enough for the rest of them to mop up with their enchantments now.
Fortunately, the battle is over quick enough for no fires to spread... or for any Baskar children to sob about their dead parents and summon a Titan on them. Landslides... landslides... the landslides.
"N-nice!" Riesenlied breathes, winded as she droops and lowers herself to the floor to recover for a moment. "That worked well. Thank you, everyone."
Dean asks a question about the Guardian of Wisdom, and-- Riesenlied scratches her head and whines, "Duras Drum actually teased me about it a long time ago. A Guardian teased me! Can you believe it??"
It's a sore point when one of your deities teases you, it seems.
Inside of the shed, it seems that whoever was in there was not able to take everything with them-- there is literature:
'Our world is a spiral. An endless spiral of death, which we try to escape through penance and ceremony. It obscures truth from us, but I have come to these lands to offer you truth. I offer you knowledge of sin. Of how to shape sin. Of how to shape the instrument of your own liberation... by breaking the spiral.'
Riesenlied tilts her head for a moment longer. "... this would not be amiss in Fereshte literature, I admit. Life and death are two sides of the same coin, yet... spiral... spiral..."
Come on, Riese, it's a round thing! Spira! ... she'll get there.