2021-07-30: Long Road Back
- Log: Long Road Back
- Cast: Leah Sadalbari, Seraphita, Loren Voss
- Where: New Kasim City
- Date: July 30, 2021
- Summary: Leah and Seraphita plummet into New Kasim City, followed by Loren. Seraphita and Leah are injured from the battle above, and as for Loren, his Gear has become damaged from the fall. With their signals severed, they'll need to struggle on their own to extract themselves.
DG: A party led by Leah Sadalbari is now entering New Kasim City. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Highway to the Danger Zone *>================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The ground at the center of Zanarkand Dome is heavily damaged and weakened. It begins giving away, with even the smallest movement, and the end result is that the ground collapses right in front of the final temple -- right in front of the end of the pilgrimage. In a way, it might seem like a cosmic joke played on summoners and guardians. It is a frenzied, panicked descent into the darkness. Falling pieces of rock, chunks of concrete riddled with rebar, and the occasional pitted and rusted steel beam fall with you. You fall and fall, and need to find some way to arrest your descent -- or at least land without causing severe injury to yourself. When you land, it is dark at first. You are on a concrete surface -- and then lights nearby flicker on, as if detecting your presence. The lights catch reflective strips painted on the road -- and then signs appear. Advertisements flash on digital billboards, in the old language of Zeboim, Zanarkand, and the Ancient Tongue: AMADI HEAVY INDUSTRIES -- SOLVING YOUR CONSTRUCTION NEEDS LIZNER ROBOTICS. GREAT GEARS. GREAT RATES. BUY THE NEW LONGOSSA CRUISER TODAY! The lights also reflect a green sign, outlined in white, and with white lettering that reflects: New Kasim City Population: 88,700 =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure, Exhaust====================================
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
The floor shatters, and they are all sent tumbling. The Watcher's soldiers are knocked aside; the Watcher herself is knocked free in an explosion, grabbing hold of Seraphita as she tumbles and flicking her wrist to activate the gravity module she carries for... well, admittedly, in part for situations just like this.
So she jumps to the next piece of debris, and to the next, the weight of her fall never quite managing to reach sufficient velocity for terrible injury as she keeps redirecting gravity around her. It should be more frenzied, but few things are frenzied for the Watcher. Instead...
Leah tilts her head and activates a transmitter, "Gebler command. Falling into unknown territory. Requisitioning backup on my coordinates. Two injured."
And so they fall.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita was conscious when she was brought back to Leah by Lan, but not by much, and not feeling great! Mostly she wanted to flop over and go to sleep, but you can't do that on the field.
You definitely can't do that when you're falling what feels like a thousand sharls (but was probably less). Even with Leah having ahold of her.
It seems to have woken Seraphita up pretty conclusively, though. She lets out a startled yell, momentarily tries to hang on Leah as if she was hugging her, thinks better of it and just kind of hangs on for dear life instead.
"I'm going to help!" Seraphita raises her voice enough that Leah can hear her over the collapse as she scatters... something. It looks like dust, almost invisible given the current situation, but this dust explodes. Not with bright flashes and powerful heat, but with an almost faded light and a dull thump that pushes; she's angled it to kick Leah (and her!) up slightly and slow their fall.
Seraphita repeats this a couple times, air-braking by setting off a series of pulsed explosions. It's uncomfortable to pass through the shockwaves, the kind of sensation you can feel deep in your chest like a far-too-loud noise, but not painful like an impact at this speed would be.
Seraphita might not be at her best after that battle, but she refuses to be useless, and fresh adrenaline does a lot, as it turns out.
DG: Seraphita has used her Tool Rocket Sand toward her party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
His job had been to watch, this time.
In the security of his Gear, Loren had been on the sidelines, ready to intervene along with the other Solaris forces mustered if required. But the situation had taken a turn for the chaotic, and so, the white Gear plummets down hard. His aim is Leah (the Watcher, rather--) as the ground below buckles and cracks. It's tight timing however he calculates it, but there should be enough time to retrieve her before
And just like that he's too late.
Already, he's acting without leave.
It does nothing to stop him as he follows Leah down, the heavy Gear's engine straining as he tries to accelerate. A little faster and maybe can catch her. It's just a little more--
A large hunk of debris slams into the size of the Gear. The roar of the flight engine mutes into a mere whine; he flares the verniers in an attempt to slow his fall but if one thing is clear, it's the fact that he's not flying anymore. He's falling now, too, and it's all he can do to steer the heavy Gear out of range of the rubble that joins their descent.
Perhaps he'll pay for this later.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone. DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Gravity Module toward her party's challenge, Highway to the Danger Zone.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ==================<* CHALLENGE - Highway to the Danger Zone *>================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The ground at the center of Zanarkand Dome is heavily damaged and weakened. It begins giving away, with even the smallest movement, and the end result is that the ground collapses right in front of the final temple -- right in front of the end of the pilgrimage. In a way, it might seem like a cosmic joke played on summoners and guardians. It is a frenzied, panicked descent into the darkness. Falling pieces of rock, chunks of concrete riddled with rebar, and the occasional pitted and rusted steel beam fall with you. You fall and fall, and need to find some way to arrest your descent -- or at least land without causing severe injury to yourself. When you land, it is dark at first. You are on a concrete surface -- and then lights nearby flicker on, as if detecting your presence. The lights catch reflective strips painted on the road -- and then signs appear. Advertisements flash on digital billboards, in the old language of Zeboim, Zanarkand, and the Ancient Tongue: AMADI HEAVY INDUSTRIES -- SOLVING YOUR CONSTRUCTION NEEDS LIZNER ROBOTICS. GREAT GEARS. GREAT RATES. BUY THE NEW LONGOSSA CRUISER TODAY! The lights also reflect a green sign, outlined in white, and with white lettering that reflects: New Kasim City Population: 88,700 =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Injure, Exhaust====================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 1 *>========================= ====================< Results - Highway to the Danger Zone >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Gravity Module 3 Agility Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(30)--> 30 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Rocket Sand 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Leah Sadalbari 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Injure(2)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Leah Sadalbari 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> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
The yell does not disturb Leah as she falls; the Watcher's armor she wears is fairly well ruined though, her voice modulator largely ineffective. This is fine for the moment; it isn't necessary. Instead, they are falling, and Seraphita does indeed help.
The shockwaves are uncomfortable, but the cyborg of the group is used to discomfort; she feels it deep, and is actually pleased not to be trying to navigate this all alone; her gravity module only has so much power. But as Loren strains his Gear to come down...
She spots Schiehallion falling, and frowns, as she hits the ground finally, landing heavily but not lethally, bending at the knees--and reaching out to set Seraphita down to her feet again, as she looks towards the Gear.
"...Good work," she says to Seraphita, and then over the radio, "Captain. Are you all right?"
The lights start to flicker on. Reflective stripes are painted on the road; there are signs appearing, full of--
A Solarian can recognize then as advertisements, even not being able to read them. So the Watcher looks around, thoughtful.
"I think we've discovered some of what Odessa was after."
"Once we've recovered, our new objective is to explore this area."
At least she left some spare equipment in Loren's Gear.
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - You Spin Me Right Round *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Periodically, the less-crushed parts of New Kasim City have large towers. These have huge, rotating spokes -- which can raise and lower, which act as elevators that connected pedestrials and vehicles to a network of elevated walkways and roads through the city. You find one, and flashing green lights indicate that it is still working. This will allow you to reach a level at a different height. When you enter, it is a large room -- with double-layered doors, one on the interior of the room and another attached to the connecting walkway. The doors close. The room begins to spin... ...and spin... ...and spin even more... ...and you realize the room is spinning, even as it rises to meet where you want to exit. But it is not stopping, and you need to find some way to make it stop. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Overwhelm======================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
More debris slams into the side of the Gear. For a long perilous moment it's sent plummeting into the side of the chasm in which they are falling and grinds down the side.
Loren, from this moment and until a few minutes after the Schiehallion slams into the ground below, is not conscious, blacking out temporarily from the forces involved in his uncontrolled descent.
When he wakes, it's to the sound of Leah's voice.
"...Yeah. I'm fine," he says, opting to omit the details. "Running diagnostics now..."
It's not the greatest report he's received. Yes, he and his Gear have had worse, but...
"40% damage to armor plating. Flight engine is damaged and offline. It looks like it can still move, though. Ether Amps functioning at full capacity. Fuel system seems intact. ...That's about it, ma'am."
There is a long long pause as he takes in the space in which they've landed. The city, the signs, the...
"Where are we, anyway? That looks like Zeboim-era text." Not that he can read it.
A long pause follows.
"Are you two okay? That was a long fall." And if he'd taken a knocking about, well...
Fortunately, he's well-equipped for just about anything short of an organ transplant in here, including Leah's gear. He even has headache medicine in his kit.
Once they've recovered from their dynamic entry into this place, they set off, the Gear motoring at a low speed to not outpace those of them on foot. Or, for that matter, stumble into anything its large size and mass might set off. They're underground, a fact of which Loren is direly aware of. A part of his mind keeps on playing out what will happen if the city above them stops being so above them, and it's not pretty.
One of these towers seems more intact than the others. Schiehallion pulls up outside it. No question about it: this is not going to admit a Gear if they choose to explore it, especially one of Schiehallion's size. But fortunately, his Gear is equipped to handle situations like this, too--
Which is to say, it has some advanced scanning equipment onboard. He might not be able to take it in there, but he is able to get a reading of what it's like inside, as well as how stable it might be. He's silent for a moment, skimming the readout as it comes in.
"Seems stable inside, ma'am," he reports. "Something seems odd, though. There's an upper story and a lower story but no stairs or elevator shafts. ...Maybe the floor is the lift itself?"
Are those blobs he's seeing the electrical controls? Good question.
They'll have to investigate on-foot. Leaving Schiehallion behind, he enters with Seraphita and Leah. As he'd thought, the floor begins to spin as it lifts from the ground.
And spins... and spins...
"...It's not stopping," Loren says, staring at the spot they'd want to get off at as it approaches them at speed. Is it going to make them slam into the ceiling next?!
He turns sharply towards that spot he'd seen in the scan, the part that seems to be connected to the axis about which they're turning. "Ma'am! The electrical system connects there!" he says, pointing.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Tactical LiDAR toward his party's challenge, You Spin Me Right Round.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita sees the Schiehallion too, but there's nothing she can do for it - she doesn't have so much of the explosive (which is, honestly, kind of difficult to make in large quantities) that she can stop a Gear with it. She's not complaining, but it doesn't look like he's having a great landing either... at least he has verniers that will make the landing a little less bad.
As soon as they land, Seraphita lets go of Leah. She's wobbly but she can take her feet. "Ugh..." She really does want to lie down. But not here, so she pushes herself back to her feet. "Loren!" she calls, raising her voice. She's a little far away, but eventually she (and Leah) get a report, and she is at least satisfied that he's more or less all right. That done, Seraphita looks around at...
...
"Where is THIS?" Seraphita can't read any Zeboim, but she is at least capable of recognizing it *as* Zeboim. "Are we on Filgaia? No, we can't be on Filgaia," because she knows she's not missing that much time. "Is this what they sent us to find? Wow! I never expected it would be *Zeboim*! They put a whole city here!"
Under better circumstances she would probably bounce around excitedly, but even Seraphita can't find enough energy to actually do that, so she just kind of vibrates in place until it turns into a wince. Stupid battles.
She's still trying to look at everything when she walks up to the Schiehallion. She'll take some of those painkillers, thanks. They help; she still feels drained as she follows the Gear, and she'd hardly want to fight a battle, but she's moving better than she was before.
Sheeraphita can keep up with the Gear as long as it goes slow. With painkillers, a mild stimulant (and bandages) she's doing a bit better. It does stop her from exploring as much as she'd like, though Loren taking a moment to scan gives her an opportunity.
"Oh, it's one of the screw elevators," she says, brightly. She knows what these are! She's been in one before; it's an efficient way to move heavy things vertically, and she's seen them in ruins before. "It spins and goes up! Like a bolt on a screw," she explains. This is about the technical level Seraphita understands. Do not ask her how they spin it.
Once they're inside, she sits down, trying to make it look casual but really because she needs to. It begins to spin up. Seraphita ignores it because it's supposed to do that. At least, she ignores it at first. But Loren is right; it isn't stopping. It isn't even slowing down.
And, like a bolt, you *can* spin it all the way up to the head of the screw.
"Where?" Seraphita rises up, taking direction from Loren. "Tell me where!" Her fingertip shimmers, the tip glowing white edged with something that's almost blue, welder-hot, as she runs toward the central axis. She's just not sure where to point this thing - and as focused as it is, she can't just fire wildly and hope to hit it. This requires thought, planning, and probably someone to give directions that isn't Seraphita.
DG: Seraphita has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You Spin Me Right Round.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
For her part, Leah needs a couple of spot-fixes to her arm, some basic first aid, and a few other things. By the time they've recovered, she operates as the Major, rather than the Watcher, having secured a spear and a few of her other tools in the intervening period, and changed out of her ruined armor into something resembling civilian attire. She is of course aware that they are underground. And for where they are...
"It does look Zeboim-era, doesn't it? A city predating Zanarkand."
A pause. "This is still Lunar, all right. We're witnessing history. It's interesting, isn't it?" She isn't exactly jumping up and down herself, but she doesn't plan to as a rule. Eventually as they move to exploration....
"Ah, yes." A screw elevator. That's a good name for it. Right? "Then let's see what's in here."
The floor... doesn't stop. That's a problem. Leah frowns. "There," Leah directs Seraphita with Loren as she asks, and then closes her eyes, focusing--on electricity. If the power is surging too much to let them stop, then--
What if she drains it off out into the air outside?
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, You Spin Me Right Round.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - You Spin Me Right Round *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Periodically, the less-crushed parts of New Kasim City have large towers. These have huge, rotating spokes -- which can raise and lower, which act as elevators that connected pedestrials and vehicles to a network of elevated walkways and roads through the city. You find one, and flashing green lights indicate that it is still working. This will allow you to reach a level at a different height. When you enter, it is a large room -- with double-layered doors, one on the interior of the room and another attached to the connecting walkway. The doors close. The room begins to spin... ...and spin... ...and spin even more... ...and you realize the room is spinning, even as it rises to meet where you want to exit. But it is not stopping, and you need to find some way to make it stop. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Overwhelm======================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 2 *>========================= =====================< Results - You Spin Me Right Round >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 5 --(39)--> 44 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 30 --(22)--> 52 Pass Tactical LiDAR 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 5 --(39)--> 44 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Leah Sadalbari 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Conditions: Injure(1)|Overwhelm|Reckless(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Leah Sadalbari has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Seraphita has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Born to Run *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You make your way through the underground city, realizing it wasn't always underground. Layer upon layer has built over it, rock and the structures of Zanarkand, making streets into tunnels. You come into a part where many of the buildings are crushed flat, rock and the underside of a structure from Zanarkand squashing many of the taller buildings. Still, some lights turn on and flicker; the presence of people here has awakened something in the city. Unfortunately, this also includes maintenance drones. You hear a loud, angry buzzing behind you -- and then see a huge robot, floating off the ground. It has large discs under it, which emit a high frequency sound... that is cleaning dust and dirt off the road. It will also pulverize you off the road, unless you can outrun it or otherwise stop it. Unfortunately, it is heavily armored -- made, it seems, to clear the worst roadblocks. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He does his best with her wounds, opting to treat her with medicine and his skills as a medic rather than tap his Ether. Under the current situation, he tells her, it would be best to conserve his Ether in the event they run into further trouble; he only has two doses of Rosesol in his kit (not being prepared for a lengthy campaign) and they all may need use of it.
And what he's got -- bandages, painkillers, and a mild stimulant -- should suffice for what Seraphita needs. She's not injured so badly that he'd be forced to use Ether to resolve the problem.
Or, for that matter, attempt field surgery.
The same goes for Leah: the Watcher is not in great shape and he only has some very basic cybernetics tools in his kit, but it's enough to get her to functional. Painkillers and the stimulant (if she wants it) will do the rest.
"Put an entire city... huh. I guess so," Loren utters at length, dumbfounded. Normally he'd say 'that's stupid' if he were being rude or something like 'I don't think so' if he were being polite but.
But this is Zeboim -- Zeboim stuff, at least. It's on the moon. He doesn't understand why. In this, he and Seraphita are of like minds.
Perhaps Leah has a better guess as to what's going on here. She does say that this 'predates Zanarkand' and that they're witnessing history.
"Zanarkand's... descended from the Zeboim civilization. So all those spheres and things...?"
He's perhaps slightly right but also mostly wrong.
"Oh, yeah. A screw elevator. I've heard about these. Aren't they, uh..."
'Vertigo-inducing' might be one way of putting it.
To say nothing of the fact that it seems like it's going to slam them into the ceiling above. He points at the spot where he'd thought the wiring might have been from his scan, and at once, two things happen:
Some its internal energy vents into the outside air, which causes it to come to a rather abrupt stop.
And then that part of the floor has a minor explosion.
None of them are hurt by it, but it might rattle everyone's nerves a bit.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
It's a whole city, it's clearly part of or descended from Zeboim, and it's on the moon. The fact that someone put it here is self-evident to Seraphita. Cities don't grow out of the rock fully formed!
Except for the people who live in caves, but they don't count for purposes of this argument. This city was clearly not underground at one point, judging by everything about it. How it's laid out. How the streets go. How the buildings stand, and the walls rise above them.
Seraphita is thinking about none of that until they finally get the elevator to stop. The minor explosion and the electrical vent causes her heart to stop (not literally) for a moment, but then everything is fine again except for that the elevator actually stopped about a foot under the door. You have to make a tall step to get out.
She does that, stepping out onto a street that proves that it wasn't underground before; the 'ceiling' is very low here, almost to the point that Zanarkand itself is intruding on it. It might have slipped down over the thousands of years since Zanarkand was destroyed, but Seraphita doesn't know. Maybe they got into this city too. Maybe they knew all about it.
"I'm glad there's lights," is what she actually says. "I don't have a flashlight!" Sure, she could make a torch, but then she'd have to carry it, and those are harder to carry than flashlights.
She looks around as the Solarian party moves. Seraphita occasionally looks back at Leah, or Loren, but mostly she's looking around. She seems to want to say something a couple times but never does. Her ears, almost always flopped forward, perk up slightly - they still flop (they're too heavy not to) but not as much. "I hear something..."
She's right. It takes a couple more minutes to get within visual range, but everyone can hear it before then even if Seraphita noticed it first. The high-frequency sound is too high to hear, even for Seraphita's inhuman ears, but there's a buzzing where something is no longer aligned properly after thousands of years, and of course the ultrasonic cleaning of the street isn't exactly silent.
Seraphita looks at it for a moment, confused, before she realizes that it is advancing. It probably isn't aiming at them except that they are on the street, but because of the tunnel-like part of this section of the street it's hard to be anywhere else... "I think we should go, Major," Seraphita says, hurriedly, as she turns to briskly move the *other* direction. Keep ahead of it, find a turn where it isn't going to or can't go...
As they travel, Seraphita scatters a bit more of that dust. Not to jump ahead, but to mess up the surface of road with the shockwaves a bit. The longer it takes to clean it, the easier it is to elude.
DG: Seraphita has used her Tool Rocket Sand toward her party's challenge, Born to Run.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Painkillers are enough; Leah seems fairly well unaffected by the heavy dosage. The fact that the city is here is not her primary point of interest, either--though of course, that's very interesting. It was once above ground, but...
It is working now that they're here. "But we don't know exactly how long ago this city dates at the moment," she says. "That affects quite a bit of what it means. We do know it has advanced technology... that still functions, unlike most of that in Zanarkand above."
The explosions, the electricity--they don't really get to her, save for the fact that she walks a loittle more slowly after that. Step-step, step-step, an uneven gait.
"...Yes," the Major agrees with Seraphita, "Let's move."
If that thing catches up with them, she'll have to waste valuable time and energy smashing it. But she is not, as a rule, terribly fast except when falling....
"I'm interested that there are lights, though."
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Born to Run.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
There's no going back for Schiehallion after the explosion in the elevator, but this doesn't seem to trouble Loren terribly. After all, these things can work by remote -- at least where movement is concerned. He should be able to bring it to his side without too much difficulty, even as they advance deeper into the city.
It would just be a good idea to get clear of the tunnel ahead, first. It would be a tight fit for the Gear and not one he particularly relishes attempting. He'll have to instruct it to avoid this direction but otherwise the geolocating and pathfinding protocols should...
"We do know it's older than Zanarkand," Loren remarks, looking around now that they're free of the tower. "That's only logical." The question is, how much does it predate it by? And... how old is it compared to the Zeboim civilization?
Okay, that's two questions, but still.
A buzzing comes up from behind them. Loren glances back.
"...That looks bad," he remarks, his walk turning into a brisk one as they move along.
Before much longer he's started to run, apparently keen to keep well ahead of the cleaner. He doesn't like the look of it.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Born to Run.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Born to Run *>========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You make your way through the underground city, realizing it wasn't always underground. Layer upon layer has built over it, rock and the structures of Zanarkand, making streets into tunnels. You come into a part where many of the buildings are crushed flat, rock and the underside of a structure from Zanarkand squashing many of the taller buildings. Still, some lights turn on and flicker; the presence of people here has awakened something in the city. Unfortunately, this also includes maintenance drones. You hear a loud, angry buzzing behind you -- and then see a huge robot, floating off the ground. It has large discs under it, which emit a high frequency sound... that is cleaning dust and dirt off the road. It will also pulverize you off the road, unless you can outrun it or otherwise stop it. Unfortunately, it is heavily armored -- made, it seems, to clear the worst roadblocks. =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 3 *>========================= ===========================< Results - Born to Run >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 44 --(34)--> 78 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 52 --(34)--> 86 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 44 --(22)--> 66 Pass Rocket Sand 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Leah Sadalbari 35 --(15)--> 50 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Overwhelm|Reckless(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Leah Sadalbari has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita's scattered explosive isn't nearly powerful enough to punch through the street, but it *does* char up and crack the top of the asphalt and send little fragments scattered everywhere across it. It will take extra time to clean that up!
And indeed it seems to; the ultrasonic cleaner slows down when it hits the section Seraphita has treated. It doesn't stop and they still need to move, but it is certainly going to take longer to catch up.
Which is important, because none of them are very fast right now; Seraphita normally is but she's injured, and the other two... less so. It's clearly back in audible range by the time they find a side street to duck down, and getting uncomfortably close; Seraphita goes first just to make sure nothing in it is going to jump out and eat them. Fortunately, nothing seems to.
"I guess we can go this way for a while," Seraphita says, progressively raising her voice to talk over the cleaner advancing in the background. It won't fit down this side street. "Anyway... lights... I guess lights make sense, but they have to be getting power from somewhere! It's an island. Maybe they use tidopower?" That isn't a word, but tidal generators are at least theoretically possible... if they weren't buried, too. "Oh, or geothermal!"
...huh, she got that one right.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - All Along the Watchtower *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your brief exploration of New Kasim City shows that it is compact. It is no metropolis, but a carefully built small city, meant to use a small amount of space. You are near what you think must be the edge of it, for there is a large metal wall that rises up to the bedrock of Zanarkand above. Stenciled on the wall, in white text, reads: RAVINE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES -- KEEP OUT There is a stairwell that winds up, to an elevated level on the wall. This elevated level will let you keep walking. Nearby, built into it, is a guard tower; once upon a time, this would have been staffed by the very soldiers that would keep people out. Now, though, it has half-collapsed onto the stairwell. You will need to break your way through concrete, steel beams, and more, to get to the catwalk that leads onward. =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"Very good," Leah answers Loren's remark about the age of the city. But indeed--the questions remain. And some of them get voiced! Down the side street they go, and Leah seems content to go that way. After all, exploration is exploration. Presumably they will either find an exit eventually, or find a secure place to stop and repair Schiehallion. Either's fine.
"We may have the chance to find out. There's a number of possibilities."
But the city is compact; this is familiar to Solarians, after all. Near the edge, the wall up into the bedrock, and there is text:
It doesn't actually matter what the text says.
So up the stairs they go, the Major leading the way, until she spots a nearby guard tower at the elevated walkway. But it's half collapsed...
"Hmm. At least it's a simple problem."
Leah hefts her trusty crowbar and goes to put Cyborg Strength to work.
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Crowbar toward her party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's not the greatest of moments: Loren stumbles (but doesn't fall) on the cracked pavement and for one long terrible moment, he looks back over one shoulder certain he's going to see that thing barreling down on the both of them--
But nothing even remotely like that happens. It's been sufficiently delayed by Seraphita, and the three of them escape into a sidestreet.
His ears burn when the praise comes from Leah. He says nothing.
At least, not to her.
"'Tidopower'? That's not a-- well, I don't see how that would work, ma'am."
Loren is a medic, not an engineer. It shows.
Before long they come across a wall. There's a pathway leading up it -- or rather, there had been, before debris had fallen to block the way up.
Loren considers the problem as Leah advances towards it, crowbar in hand. Reaching for his kit, he pulls out a single device and after a moment's fiddling with it, presses The Button.
Schiehallion can't fly but it can hover under current conditions. After a short time they'll all hear the whine of its (protesting) approach. It's not moving 'at speed' per se, but it is moving more quickly than before, since the Gear has to take the long way around.
Loren needs its amplifiers for what he's about to try, and climbs into the cockpit; he doesn't bother closing it.
"...Initializing," he reports, running some of his Ether through the resonator subsystem. Just a little bit -- if he'd tried this same trick on his own it would have done a number on his reserves. But this? This can do a lot with a little, and the way he's been thinking, eyeing this mess and considering their progress up til now...
They're all going to need a bit of a boost for this.
Green light (if you squint you can see the patterned lines) radiates outwards from Schiehallion. It might make this work a little easier for them all.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Ether Resonator toward his party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower. Lan Lilac (Lan) pages Loren Voss, Seraphita, and Leah Sadalbari: Can I peek? :O
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
When they get to the blocked-off wall, Seraphita squints at the text. Nope! Still can't read it. She wishes she could take a picture, but she doesn't have a camera either. So, staring at it for a few seconds will do.
"Really? I mean, it goes in and out, out and in," Seraphita says, gesturing with her hand. "That's pretty much what a engine piston does! I'm sure you could make it move that way. Oh, except it would be slow, I guess..."
Seraphita is also obviously not an engineer. It shows, but in a different way.
"Okaaay," Seraphita says, looking at the rubble. She pulls out, a few moments later, something that looks like clay but absolutely isn't, judging by the bright colours that practically scream 'warning' even if there's no actual label on it. Seraphita pinches off a few pieces and starts wedging it in specific places in the collapsed debris.
"Fire in the hole~"
Seraphita covers her ears (it's harder than it looks; she only manages to cover the base by cupping them) and crouches before she sets off the modified plastic explosive. Electricity won't do anything to this one! You have to know an Ether trick, and she knows the Ether trick.
DG: Seraphita has used her Tool Ether-Primed Explosive toward her party's challenge, All Along the Watchtower.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - All Along the Watchtower *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your brief exploration of New Kasim City shows that it is compact. It is no metropolis, but a carefully built small city, meant to use a small amount of space. You are near what you think must be the edge of it, for there is a large metal wall that rises up to the bedrock of Zanarkand above. Stenciled on the wall, in white text, reads: RAVINE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES -- KEEP OUT There is a stairwell that winds up, to an elevated level on the wall. This elevated level will let you keep walking. Nearby, built into it, is a guard tower; once upon a time, this would have been staffed by the very soldiers that would keep people out. Now, though, it has half-collapsed onto the stairwell. You will need to break your way through concrete, steel beams, and more, to get to the catwalk that leads onward. =Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 4 *>========================= =====================< Results - All Along the Watchtower >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leah Sadalbari 78 --(5)--> 83 Pass Crowbar 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 86 --(17)--> 103 Fail Ether Resonator 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraphita 66 --(17)--> 83 Fail Ether-Primed Explosive 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Leah Sadalbari 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Collapse|Hesitate(1)|Overwhelm|Slow(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Loren Voss is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Leah Sadalbari 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> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
The Major is also not an engineer. So far as anyone knows. She doesn't comment on whether Tidopower is a word, and how well it would work in this situation. She just moves on from it instead, until they reach this particular obstacle; she waits on Loren's Gear to approach, and will make use of his boosted Ether in her attempt. ...Which involves stepping back at Seraphita's explosive.
As it turns out the explosive echoes in here, and the use of the Ether booster ends up requiring more energy than one might hope. In the end, Leah moves the last of the debris that the explosive didn't outright pulverize, and they're able to move on from there.
"...Still no sign of the others," she comments as she does, looking around in frowning thought, and communicates over the radio. "This is Major Sadalbari. Come in."
Static.
"...If we don't find a new place soon, we may have to take our chances on repairing the Gear."
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Iron Man *>=========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You follow a concrete road into what, once, was a small park. Like much of New Kasim City, it is built compact; the park space had several segmented places for greenery to grow, with metal benches built into walkways between them, and dual levels. A stairwell at the end leads up. A small placard, still lit, reads: ANASTASIA MEMORIAL PARK Unfortunately, the trees and grass are withered to dust; there is a half-petrified stump remaining in one corner. There are a quartet of sentinels here, though: humanoid, metallic, and with arms ending in long cannons. They turn as one, when you enter; their eyes flash a sharp red, before they declare in Zeboim: "Scanning... potential Risen Populace detected. Eliminating!" They fire their gunshots, and add to the bullet holes pockmarking the walls of this park. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright, Injure====================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
This, also, doesn't go over too well from his perspective: attempting to feed his Ether into the resonator to achieve the desired effect goes slightly sideways (at least for him) and he can feel his working starting to fail.
He has no choice but to thread more Ether in than he'd meant. If it's the choice between conserving his energy and their escape from this place taking longer or risking using one of their few Rosesols to replenish himself, well...
There are times for caution and there are times to press on. In this situation--
He exhales a weight breath, leaning back in his seat a moment, and is given to wonder again if he'd really come out of that descent unscathed. Or maybe that's just the stress talking.
Swallowing an NSAID, he says nothing as Leah remarks on the absence of the group that had come with her.
"...Yeah," he agrees, at length.
Getting the Gear to ascend the wall (did it take more bangs on the way over or is he just imagining things?) is An Effort. The verniers are not cooperating, and a Gear of its bulk doesn't like jumping very much. But with some well-timed thrusters, he's evetually, eventually able to get it up and over.
Leaving it behind would be a problem, even if it's easier to advance on foot.
It's not far past the top of the wall that they find themselves fast approaching a park of some sort.
"...I'm going to image the placard," Loren remarks, pausing to get shots from other angles within the park. Intel is going to want to see this.
"...Looks like we have company," he remarks, as he spots the security (and as they spot him). "Guess there's nothing for it. Incoming-- uh," Loren hazards, his gaze falling sharply on the screen that reads:
ERROR DETECTED
WEAPON SYSTEMS ELECTRICAL FAULT. EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN ENGAGED.
"...Are you kidding me?! Now??" he yells, as the bullets slam into Schiehallion's armored plating. Fortunately he's closed the hatch again. Fortunately, too, he makes a great shield.
But Schiehallion refuses to do much else except basic life support systems and comms.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Yeah..."
Seraphita is trying, very hard, to be brave and strong. And she's at least partially managing it. But she can't keep it up forever - and between all the Ether she used in the battle, and the Ether she's using now, she's starting to just plain old run out of energy and it's not from lack of personal stamina. She's dragging and she can't hide it.
She doesn't have her accustomed bounce in her step at all by the time they get to the park. She doesn't even exult in finding something that used to be green and prove it was outside; it doesn't occur to her to take a sample of the stump (well, it probably wouldn't anyway, to be fair).
Seraphita just kind of puffs to a stop as Schiehallion stops to take a picture. "Okay," she says, before looking up again. Incoming?
Seraphita takes cover behind Schiehallion's leg. "Can you shoot them??" she asks, because a Gear-sized weapon would be a great thing right about now. Apparently, the answer is 'no', so Seraphita peeks around the side again.
"Major, catch!"
Seraphita throws what looks like a reddish crystal at Leah. It's stored Ether, like a capacitor rather than the amplifiers in the Gears; just a little bit of fire for your weapons, not something Seraphita can repurpose for big power workings.
She tries one of those anyway, throwing a little white ball at one of the Guardians that erupts into a perfectly spherical, sharp-edged blast of melting heat. The edges waver, but only from heat haze, until the light fades.
DG: Seraphita has used her Tool Pyro Element toward her party's challenge, Iron Man.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
They'd have to go back for it regardless.
Her steps are slow and sure. Slower than before, yes, but the Major continues along. For all her ability, she is not inclined to continue this particular exploration on her own, particularly not as damaged as she still is. Her limbs spark now and then, in the quiet. The humming of electric light is their company.
She is taking images with her hidden mechanical eye, as well as audio--but has no objection to Loren getting some more angles. Especially not isnce...
"That word. It means memorial," she says, recalling one particular word from what she's seen in ruins. "This place was meant to commemorate something. ...Ironic, to see it now. Mortal memory is ever finite..."
She shakes her head, and then suddenly--company. Incoming--
"Apparently not," Leah remarks of Loren shooting them, and takes the crystal. It's stored Ether, and she uses it, channeling it with one hand while she pulls an Ether pistol with the other and starts firing off bolts of lightning straight for each of the robtos, center-mass.
If anything, fighting seems to restore energy for her somehow, as she seems faster now than she did before. Perhaps special equipment...
DG: Leah Sadalbari has used her Tool Yamato Belt toward her party's challenge, Iron Man.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Iron Man *>=========================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You follow a concrete road into what, once, was a small park. Like much of New Kasim City, it is built compact; the park space had several segmented places for greenery to grow, with metal benches built into walkways between them, and dual levels. A stairwell at the end leads up. A small placard, still lit, reads: ANASTASIA MEMORIAL PARK Unfortunately, the trees and grass are withered to dust; there is a half-petrified stump remaining in one corner. There are a quartet of sentinels here, though: humanoid, metallic, and with arms ending in long cannons. They turn as one, when you enter; their eyes flash a sharp red, before they declare in Zeboim: "Scanning... potential Risen Populace detected. Eliminating!" They fire their gunshots, and add to the bullet holes pockmarking the walls of this park. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright, Injure====================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 5 *>=========================
=============================< Results - Iron Man >=============================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leah Sadalbari 83 --(5)--> 88 Pass
Yamato Belt 1 Combat Effects: Embolden and Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss 103 --(X)--> X
Effects:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraphita 83 --(22)--> 105 Fail
Pyro Element 2 Combat Effects: Embolden
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Leah Sadalbari 70 --(20)--> 90 Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(2)|Wound(2)
Effects: Embolden(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Seraphita is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party led by Leah Sadalbari has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Memorial? So this is... Who's it for? Can you tell?"
It would be really great if he could shoot them right now. Or use Ether to hold back their bullets, or use Ether on any sort of large scale at all, frankly. It's not that he can't do anything while the Gear's locked up (with him attempting overrides within) but it's also the case that he's not going to get very far with his use of it with the amplifiers and other systems down. Best case? He can burn through more of his Ether to try and do what he could have done with less gas, so to speak.
It's one thing to use more than he intended in an attempt to get somewhere. It's another to burn through a lot of it without knowing if it will get them anywhere at all.
So he stands his ground, attempting to at least get the Gear to accept his commands again, and inadvertantly forms a wall between Seraphita and Leah, as the former throws a crystal containing a bit of stored Ether the Major's way, and as the Major...
The Major lights them up, so to speak. One after the other, the mechanized sentries spasm and fall, overcome by the surge of electricity.
"...There! I've got control," he announces. The Gear shifts, as if to punctuate that statement. "But that's the good news. The bad news is that I've got a major electrical fault. I can't push it too much. I'll need to go slow, unless it's dire."
DG: Seraphita has drawn a new Challenge.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Sweet Child o' Mine *>====================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come to the northernmost side of the city. Here, there is a large plaza, built in front of a large cylindrical tower. The tower has a pair of hangar doors on it, with the words ACCESS ELEVATOR stenciled upon them. This may allow access to upper areas -- or even Zanarkand itself. However, your first task will be to get the elevator open and functioning... and the doors are closed. Blasting them open is likely to damage the elevator. Fortunately, there is a console -- and some other mechanical equipment -- that may help. Shortly after you start work on it, though, you are given a distraction. There is a large holographic projector. It first shows an image of a woman sitting at a desk, in a suit. She is already speaking in Zeboim. "--e have breaking news. We now take you to a press conference by Governor Alfred Bedd of New Kasim City, regarding the Risen Populations and the Ferocious Incandescent Enigmatic Natural Disaster phenomena that have gripped our colony since its establishment." The feed changes -- showing this plaza, but some thousands of years before. There are more towers, stretching high; there is the sun in the sky. There are also pyreflies, both recorded and real, passing through. On a stage, a balding man in a suit stands. His most notable feature is the spiraling green of his irises. "People of New Kasim City!" he declares. "I know these last ten years have been hard. Torn from our home of Filgaia, forced to know it has burnt, we chose to not follow Althena! We accept no gods but our own... and we will not cast aside the technologies of our ancestors!" He throws his arms out. "We will not turn to Althena. We reject the gifts of magic she has given us. Our scientists are at a loss to explain the power of the Witchlights that cause the dead to rise -- and the rising tide of FIENDs into our lands. It has become clear, that if we are to survive, we must spread across these lands. New Kasim City can only be the start... and cannot be the end! We must have more settlements." He clenches a fist. "We will use our machines to master this new land! We will spread our people wide... and we will build strong communities across the land! I dub our new nation Spira -- after my daughter, left behind on Filgaia!" The feed cuts. A few seconds later, it begins to replay. While interesting, it is quite distracting. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita throws the first sphere, starts to form another -
And fumbles it. It bursts in a cloud of light and hot air in her hand instead of remaining stable. She hasn't messed that Ether trick in literally years.
But she's running the ragged edge. She fought, in Zanarkand, and was defeated; she was only semiconscious when she was brought back to Leah. She's bandaged, sure; she's not going to bleed out. She took painkillers and stimulants but they only do so much, and she's been pushing herself hard. Seraphita bounces back quickly, but she still needs at least a little time to do it, and right now her body just has nothing.
She stumbles, pushes herself up - and does not produce more Ether. Even thinking about pushing energy down those channels is painful and a little nauseating. Loren, the medic, can tell that she really shouldn't be doing anything strenuous for a while, but 'not walking' is not an option. They need to get out of here.
Okay, she tells herself. Keep going. Don't tell them. They have other things to worry about and you need to be strong, or... Her thoughts trail off.
It's all right for a Solarian human to be pushed beyond their limits. Even soldiers have them. But if *she* does it, she's slacking, or she can't keep up, and she's not worth it. She learned that a long long time ago even if she doesn't think of it that way. And so, inadvisably, she forces herself into following along without complaint.
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
"I can't read the name. But our researchers should be able to translate it."
"...Then slow we go," she finishes to Loren for now, looking over the ruined robots and starting forward. Loren's Gear is near unusable in this state; Loren himself isn't doing well, either. Seraphita is clearly tired, to the point where she fumbles an Ether maneuver. She was injured in the first place...
Leah looks over Seraphita, and does not tell her to keep pushing. She instead lets her lean, and says, "I'll handle the doorway. I should be able to..."
Hm. His eyes...
"Alfred Bedd..."
Then, it hits; Seraphita points out his eyes. He knows of Filgaia, and Althena. This is an ancient city; his eyes...
"...Ahahahaha..."
The irony is almost painful. But a lot of things are, here. "Yes. He was in charge. Listen to the way he says 'Althena'--and look at him. This place was on the ground, once. And then..."
She shakes her head. "The story of Man. Ancient history, ancient promises... decline. How far we've come, since those ancient days. Ah, to imagine..."
She shakes her head, and moves to the console, beginning to work it. Can she get the door open? Maybe, maybe not.
"...Extraordinary."
DG: Leah Sadalbari has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Sweet Child o' Mine.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He's largely busy with the machine during the fight proper and misses the obvious -- the clear signs that Seraphita is well past the point where she should be up and about.
He had chalked it up to her injuries before: the fact that she was clearly flagging as they made their way around the ruins.
It's really on their limping approach to the plaza from the memorial park that he, taking it nice and easy with Schiehallion and keeping an eye on the both of them, that he gets that second chance to notice all is not well.
He misses the big signs and catches the little ones: the way she has hardly any bounce in her step at all. The fact that she's opted to lean against the wall. He doesn't know Seraphita well, but--
It doesn't take a genius to align these facts with the additional fact that she's walking wounded.
Schiehallion comes to a stop in the plaza. He's not even paying attention to the recording, really, beyond catching the remarks Leah has about the things the man says.
Althena. Althena. He remembers, Luceid had said 'Althena' in the same way--
That thought is born and then dies as he slips out of the cockpit with nearly his full kit in tow.
"Ma'am... with all due respect," Loren says to Seraphita.
"Lie down," he says, draping her shoulders with a foil blanket.
He can't stand it when people do this.
"Major! I'm going to stay here with the Element. See if you can find a way out."
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Sweet Child o' Mine *>====================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You come to the northernmost side of the city. Here, there is a large plaza, built in front of a large cylindrical tower. The tower has a pair of hangar doors on it, with the words ACCESS ELEVATOR stenciled upon them. This may allow access to upper areas -- or even Zanarkand itself. However, your first task will be to get the elevator open and functioning... and the doors are closed. Blasting them open is likely to damage the elevator. Fortunately, there is a console -- and some other mechanical equipment -- that may help. Shortly after you start work on it, though, you are given a distraction. There is a large holographic projector. It first shows an image of a woman sitting at a desk, in a suit. She is already speaking in Zeboim. "--e have breaking news. We now take you to a press conference by Governor Alfred Bedd of New Kasim City, regarding the Risen Populations and the Ferocious Incandescent Enigmatic Natural Disaster phenomena that have gripped our colony since its establishment." The feed changes -- showing this plaza, but some thousands of years before. There are more towers, stretching high; there is the sun in the sky. There are also pyreflies, both recorded and real, passing through. On a stage, a balding man in a suit stands. His most notable feature is the spiraling green of his irises. "People of New Kasim City!" he declares. "I know these last ten years have been hard. Torn from our home of Filgaia, forced to know it has burnt, we chose to not follow Althena! We accept no gods but our own... and we will not cast aside the technologies of our ancestors!" He throws his arms out. "We will not turn to Althena. We reject the gifts of magic she has given us. Our scientists are at a loss to explain the power of the Witchlights that cause the dead to rise -- and the rising tide of FIENDs into our lands. It has become clear, that if we are to survive, we must spread across these lands. New Kasim City can only be the start... and cannot be the end! We must have more settlements." He clenches a fist. "We will use our machines to master this new land! We will spread our people wide... and we will build strong communities across the land! I dub our new nation Spira -- after my daughter, left behind on Filgaia!" The feed cuts. A few seconds later, it begins to replay. While interesting, it is quite distracting. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=========================<* New Kasim City - Round 6 *>=========================
=======================< Results - Sweet Child o' Mine >========================
Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leah Sadalbari 88 --(34)--> 122 Fail
Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss 103 --(X)--> X
Effects:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraphita 105 --(X)--> X
Effects:
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Leah Sadalbari 90 --(0)--> 90 Fail
Conditions: Fright(1)|Injure(1)|Stupify(2)|Wound(1)
Effects:
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Leah Sadalbari is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Leah Sadalbari has been fully Exhausted by New Kasim City! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
==============================<* New Kasim City *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Bohemian Rhapsody *>======================= |Type: Landmark |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- You find the elevator leading upward. It rushes you up to the surface; it seems that it luckily connects to it, from whenever New Kasim City was buried and Zanarkand later built atop it. It rises up, to near the Zanarkand Dome. The sun is bright -- almost too bright, after so long below -- but you are out. But then the nearby buildings shake, as something flies overhead. Something buzzes nearby... and you see the distant form of a Gear, having already taken flight. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Althena..." Leah's right. There's a tone in the voice that gives it away. It didn't occur to Seraphita as unusual, in her current distracted state, because nobody from Spira seems to like Althena, but this was clearly a long time ago if he's speaking Zeboim... Things must have been different then.
But in some ways, the same.
As for her, Loren notices. Leah notices. Seraphita hates that they notice, but isn't really in a condition to stop them from it.
"Okay," she says, finally letting the exhaustion show in her voice. She doesn't actually lie down but she does sit, pulling the blanket around her. (She doesn't want to lie down because she's not sure she would want to get up for a while if she did, and if the Major finds an entrance, presumably they will have to go to it.) "...Thank you."
Leah works on the controls. It isn't easy. That door wants to remain closed; part of it is intentional security, part of it is simply age. Not everything in there works as intended anymore. Corrosion, degraded plastic, damage from however it got underground in the first place...
But eventually, after an unpleasant amount of work, it does open into an elevator that looks smaller than originally suggested. It doesn't go into the hangar right here.
When taken, it goes up, up - it opens into something that was probably a secondary bay of some kind once but is now just embedded in stone, half-ripped open to form a cliffside cave. There's nothing in here; time has long since emptied this area except for ancient scrap metal that is mostly rusted into a single lump.
But there is the sky, and the sea. There is a way out, even if it's not one the designers ever intended to be an exit.