2021-09-03: ALL OF THEM
- Log: ALL OF THEM
- Cast: Seraph Lanval, Magilou, Zed, Josephine Lovelace, Layna Manydays
- Where: Guara Bobelo - The Arena
- Date: September 03, 2021
- Summary: Zed wants to fight everyone the Guara Bobelo Arena can serve up to him. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, he isn't about to quite get his wish...
DG: A party led by Seraph Lanval is now entering The Screams of the Silenced. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Choose Your Challengers *>==================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The Screams of the Silenced demand fresh blood. Nevertheless, there's a process involved, and would-be gladiators must first meet with one of the arena's organizers--a blonde woman named Sally who genuinely loves bloodsport. Her office overlooks the arena floor, and it's here, rather than the arena proper, that the first test begins. Sally needs people to fight monsters, constructs, and each other. She has a long list of possible matchups, and while she's alarmingly cryptic about some of them--the better to keep the crowd in suspense, she claims--she also likes to sweeten the pot with gella, medicines, and minor relics. Can you choose your enigmatic foes without biting off more than you can chew? OOC: If you've done this Dig before, your characters might be familiar with some of the matchups! Feel free to reference them, but be advised, Sally's plans can change--especially if she feels she can talk you into something "more exciting". =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
There are a whole lot of reasons why anyone would throw themselves into one of the biggest bloodsport spectacles on this part of Filgaia, and there's no point in shrouding any of them in nobility or just cause. The Screams of the Silenced is how Guara Bobelo helps grease the palms of Guild Galad without being treated as strictly about produce taxes. This may be something of a necessary evil, for Guara Bobelo is sprawling, and its people hungry, poor, and desperate. Many of them have never even stepped outside.
This is the place to go to try and ignore ALL of that!!!
"Welcome, welcoooooome," Sally plays it up, a Zeboim-era microphone in hand. Zeboim-era. That means it is maximally tuned for clarity, volume, and horrible audio feedback! "To the Arena, and the altar of flowing blood!! We're always looking for hot-blooded challengers!!" This isn't even the arena proper. This is her office. Its acoustics are such her voice carries and echoes like it's there anyway.
A vainglorious repurposing of a chamber once meant to house heads of church. Those days are long gone. Some of the walls still bear the scorch marks and damages of artillery strikes from 477 PC.
"Sooo, the first law of the Arena is the survival of the fittest!! Think of what you're doing here as being the fitting room!" She puts on a flirtatious smile as she slides a long, long list of matchups with exciting titles.
Meanwhile, Seraph Lanval is over there, waving a hand as if to say 'yeah, I know most people can't see me, so it's cool, I'll see you all safe and/or cheat like hell.'
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Choose Your Challengers.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Oooh, you look tough." Is that how Magilou greets strangers in general??? Maybe it's different around Guara Bobelo. "How about you come have a good old-fashioned scrap, cutie?"
Is Magilou working for this 'Sally'..?!
Not quite.
But she does have a bet going with a mean old bearded rogue sitting in the bleachers, and look, sometimes you've just got to be proactive about your gambling. So she flounces around outside the cathedral for a while looking for tough cookies, and...
"Oh, you can't possibly have me," Magilou waves a hand, dismissively, as Sally includes her in her bombastic greeting once she's dragged some likely subjects in. "I assume you want to still have an arena when you're done, else you'd be sounding much more glum. But don't worry, chum! I've got you some fun!" This is about the time she puts a hand on her poor victim's back and gives a good neighbourly shove forward.
A hand to her hip, she flips her hair over her shoulder. Her bangs fall right back into her face. Tragic. "Now, if you were to make it really interesting, I could be convinced to participate... but really, I'm just here to win a bet!"
IS THAT THE WHOLE REASON SHE JUST DRAGGED STRANGERS IN FROM THE STREET?!
DG: Magilou has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Choose Your Challengers.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
AN ARENA!? AN ALTAR OF FLOWING BLOOD!? LOOKING FOR HOT-BLOODED CHALLENGERS!!??
If there's anything to say about Zed's presence here, it's that it's genuinely a surprise that he didn't spontaneously materialize at the front desk the moment the place opened.
"All of them," Zed says, firmly, seriously, with the utter commitment and zeal of someone who probably should not be making this decision, let alone doing so on the behalf of an entire team of people. "I want to fight... All of them."
"ALL," Zed declares, his eye twitching with the mania of a genuine addict. Does he even recognize anyone else is here at all? Does Magilou's presence even register!?!? HOW CRUEL, TO IGNORE THE CLOWN!! "OF THEM."
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Choose Your Challengers.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Great plan, Magilou," Magilou asides to Magilou. "You couldn't have picked 'em better if you'd called out Rokurou himself!"
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Yeah? Well, yer on," drawls the long-legged lady in the corner of the room, a crooked smile on her face. She's been smoking like a chimney since she rolled on in, regarding the array of names on the sheet -- and the arena below -- with a decidedly well-soused interest.
Josie is drunk. She may even be very drunk.
This is a factor only furthered by the way she (shakily) jabs a thumb at a name in particular on the list. "That one."
"'N that one, too."
"...Hell, why not her?"
Zed suggests all of them. Josie grins in a bright, glazed over sort of way.
"Sure! Let's do 'em all, right?"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Choose Your Challengers.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Guara Bobelo is Layna's kind of place. It's lawless and dangerous just like her, and there's even a coliseum for those who like fighting more than more sensible activities, just like her. So it really should be no surprise that Layna signed up immediately once the call went out for Drifters to participate in the fights. And that's what brings her to Sally's office. She offers the organizer a grin as she gives her pitch.
Layna appreciates a woman with a good, pure love of violence. Though she isn't here right now she can feel Dahlia's eyes boring into her back at that thought, so she elects to get right down to business.
"Lemme see..." Layna considers. She draws out her telescope, taking a quick glance out the office window into the arena below.
She is, in fact, literally scoping out the competition, using it to gauge the condition of their potential opponents - and in so doing, getting an idea of who they should challenge and in what order.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, Choose Your Challengers.
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Choose Your Challengers *>==================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The Screams of the Silenced demand fresh blood. Nevertheless, there's a process involved, and would-be gladiators must first meet with one of the arena's organizers--a blonde woman named Sally who genuinely loves bloodsport. Her office overlooks the arena floor, and it's here, rather than the arena proper, that the first test begins. Sally needs people to fight monsters, constructs, and each other. She has a long list of possible matchups, and while she's alarmingly cryptic about some of them--the better to keep the crowd in suspense, she claims--she also likes to sweeten the pot with gella, medicines, and minor relics. Can you choose your enigmatic foes without biting off more than you can chew? OOC: If you've done this Dig before, your characters might be familiar with some of the matchups! Feel free to reference them, but be advised, Sally's plans can change--especially if she feels she can talk you into something "more exciting". =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
==================<* The Screams of the Silenced - Round 1 *>=================== =====================< Results - Choose Your Challengers >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Captain's Telescope 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magilou 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 0 --(20)--> 20 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Conditions: Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Seraph Lanval has posed.
'I want to fight... All of them.'
Sally's eyes light up. "All of them...?"
'ALL OF THEM.'
And then a wish was granted.
DG: Layna Manydays has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - Audience "Participation" *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Screams of the Silenced is not a classy institution. The crowd can be rowdy and unpredictable, especially if the fight's been heavily-advertised, and there's money on the line. Maybe someone just lost a bet. Maybe they think the match was rigged. Maybe they just don't like your face. Whatever the reason, someone in the crowd throws something onto the arena floor. Someone else joins in. Within minutes, the crowd is jeering, fighting amongst itself, and throwing all manner of junk into the arena. It's a hailstorm of rocks, metal scrap, broken bottles, and anything people can get their hands on. On the plus side--if there is one, really--some of the junk might be useful in its own right. You never know... =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck, Treasure=================================
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
'All of them'. Layna laughs raucously, at that.
"Well, well, well! I guess I can appreciate that line of thinking." Layna replies, chuckling to herself. Shortly after that, everyone gets organized and is eventually sent out into the arena.
"...And coming up next, some of the meanest, toughest Drifters scraped off of the bottom side of society! You better get used to seeing them, folks, because they're here to challenge the deadly gauntlet - that's right, folks, every last one of our expertly-picked combat teams in a non-stop marathon of immaculate bloodshed and violence! They're leaving champions, or they're leaving in a bag! You gotta love it!" Sally's voice rings out over the intercom. The crowd seems to love it - their voices are already picking up!
...But wait, those... definitely aren't cheers. The crowd is very unhappy today because, as it turns out, the previous challenger to the arena happened to be a crowd favorite who got knocked out in the first round by what they claimed afterward to be completely unfair and cheating. They had it all calculated out - they had a ninety-nine percent chance of winning! Someone had to be cheating!
And so Layna and her party today receive the brunt of the crowd's ire, in the form of a volley of all kinds of trash - rocks, metal scrap, broken bottles, real, actual knives... things like that.
Layna, for her part, draws a bottle from her coat and takes a deep swig as she weaves her way through the chaos, eventually picking up with her free hand a long metal pipe that had been thrown into the arena. She taps it against the ground a couple of times to test its durability.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Quartermaster's Stash toward her party's challenge, Audience "Participation".
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval, off to the side of the arena, invisible to all(?), is just reclining lazily within that creepy-ass flat-bodied rubber horse, currently drinking out of a chewed up straw from a shattered glass bottle happily(?) provided.
"...He did ashk fer all of 'em." Lanval has a dopey little smile as chaos and garbage rains all around them. As he tilts the busted glass bottle up, he decides that's none of his business.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bouyant Steed toward his party's challenge, Audience "Participation".
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
From the crowd, Magilou hears a voice...
"What are you doing down there?! YOU CHEAT!"
She flashes a 'V' for victory, with a cheerful wink. "It's not my fault you're not proactive! I told you the new challenger would win, right? So let's just sit back and see what happens." Magilou leans against the wall leading up to the audience stands, pointing a lazy finger-gun in Zed's direction.
"By the way," she gestures loosely to Jacqueline and Layna, who she just assumes has had some rum already today, which is a horrible stereotype, Magilou, "I didn't give them that liquid courage, so I'm totally blameless."
Tragically, that bearded ruffian is sitting up there in the stands. And somehow, his weapon of choice seems to be...
A bowling ball.
In true RPG fashion, it's probably a perfectly viable weapon in the field. Here, of course, he just drops it right on her head.
"Oop!" Magilou woops, as she reaches back to unclasp the book behind her, and merrily sails over to the other side of the arena, propelled by a dove popping up with great force.
"No negative consequences for my actioooons..!!!"
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Super Pop-Up Book toward her party's challenge, Audience "Participation".
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
'All of them,' Zed demanded.
'All of them,' Zed was granted.
"ALL OF THEM," Zed, the Metal Demon, the being whose very essence was forged for the sole purpose of battle, for war, for slaughter and carnage. Whose quicksilver blood surges in the anticipation of a fight with no strings attached. Whose BURNING SPIRIT swells at the air of violence radiating from the rampaging crowd.
He might not be a machine of war anymore-- perhaps he was never truly one at all-- but in this moment, at this singular time...
There's nothing but joy in his overflowing heart.
"I SAID ALL OF THEM," Zed roars, his scarf whirling around him in a tornado of orange living metal cloth. Each buffeting revolution slaps a weapon, rotten vegetable or broken beverage container out of the air. But he does more than that.
Because. BECAUSE!!
HE'S THROWING SO MANY OF THOSE WEAPONS RIGHT BACK AT THE CROWD. "AAAALLL OF THEEEMMMMM!!"
They'd better start behaving soon, or this could get painful...!!
(Also... who is Rokurou......?)
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Audience "Participation".
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Call it bad luck. Call it fate. Call it what you will--
But it's true. They did ask for all of them. And doesn't the crowd count here...?
"They don't seem... happy 'r none," Josie drawls out, the last few words seemingly sticking a moment for her before she gets them out properly. "Those bottles they're thrownin' 'n all...?"
They are in fact throwing bottles. And pretty much anything else they can bring to hand.
"Hey, y' don't think..."
She sways for a moment and then, right out of the blue--
Snaps out a hand to try and pluck one of those hurled bottles right out of the air.
Maybe they're not empty.
But if they are, Josie ain't too bad when it comes to throwing beer bottles back. She's been in her share of bar fights! And what's this but a really big bar fight?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Audience "Participation".
======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - Audience "Participation" *>================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The Screams of the Silenced is not a classy institution. The crowd can be rowdy and unpredictable, especially if the fight's been heavily-advertised, and there's money on the line. Maybe someone just lost a bet. Maybe they think the match was rigged. Maybe they just don't like your face. Whatever the reason, someone in the crowd throws something onto the arena floor. Someone else joins in. Within minutes, the crowd is jeering, fighting amongst itself, and throwing all manner of junk into the arena. It's a hailstorm of rocks, metal scrap, broken bottles, and anything people can get their hands on. On the plus side--if there is one, really--some of the junk might be useful in its own right. You never know... =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Bad Luck, Treasure=================================
=================<* The Screams of the Silenced - Round 2 *>================== ====================< Results - Audience "Participation" >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 12 --(5)--> 17 Pass Bouyant Steed 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 12 --(5)--> 17 Pass Quartermaster's Stash 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Super Pop-Up Book 4 Agility Effects: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 12 --(13)--> 25 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 15 --(25)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Reckless(1)|Slow(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Cheating, Magilou?" Layna says in mock horror, looking Magilou's way. She grins and laughs, then. "I wish I'd thought of that! I'll have to keep that in mind for next time!"
It's true what she says, though - Layna somehow always seems to carry just enough beverages on her. This is a constant.
Magilou deftly bounds away from a hurled bowling ball and repercussions, while Zed takes a more active approach to audience's anger by retaliating, hurling thrown projectiles back at him with surprising speed.
This actually does a lot to quell the crowd, because as it turns out in order to attend you have to sign a waiver, because by it's very nature the Screams of the Silenced is a very dangerous place, even for those who are just attending. Better to not invite more trouble than they attend to?
Josie will be disappointed, alas, to find that all the bottles that end up thrown her way are completely empty. They'll make good projectiles, at least, but it's no replacement for a drink.
Lanval, in the meantime, is completely spared from the barrage because this place is basically a spiritual deadzone, and the gathered crowd has approximately the Resonance levels of a rock - no offense to any Earth Seraphim out there.
And so with the crowd quieted, they can move on to their actual first challenge!
DG: Magilou has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Technical Difficulties *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- One of the Screams' virtues--if you could call it that--is the adaptability of its arena. Levers offstage can raise and lower sections of the floor, while Symbological enhancements can create fog, fire, freezing temperatures, or other complications. At this moment, though, things are not going as planned. Perhaps a lever is stuck in place, or a Symbological effect has misfired, leaving the arena strewn with inconvenient terrain. The crowd is growing agitated. The staff want this problem fixed, and they want it fixed yesterday. Technically this isn't in the contract, but the show can't go on if the arena isn't restored to normal. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"I'm just helping things along!" Magilou replies to Layna, entirely too cheerfully.
TRAGICALLY, in the wake of the audience's rage, the battlefield is strewn with empty bottles, milk crates, revolver magazines, and one entire dog. The dog is fine, despite having been flung in from above. So fine, in fact, that he starts digging a hole in the ground. Dig dig dig dig dig --
His scrabbly little doggy claws hit a Symbological sigil, but he doesn't care, because he's busy burying a potted flower which was flung from the stands and is now broken on the ground. He's a dog, so he must not register as an opponent, and yet...
"Hey, uh," Magilou says, lifting a hand as she feels the magical aura of the arena shift. "Head's up."
This is about all the warning she gets out before the ground is instantly frozen over, in a slippery, slidey icy problem, which makes it ALL THE MORE DIFFICULT to avoid slipping and sliding right into the things which the audience has thrown down here. Which somehow include an entire bust of Leitea Salk, a handful of not-yet-exploded grenades, and a locker from the changing rooms. (How did he get it out?)
The dog merrily slides on scrabbly little claws off to the door of the arena. He's having a great time and is now off to go chase some squirrels.
Magilou, meanwhile, lands on her butt immediately. "Ugh!" She exclaims, reaching up to secure her very impressive and large hat. "Someone find the off switch for this thing!"
DG: Magilou has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Technical Difficulties.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Aww, look at that doggie. Such a good doggie. In fact, said doggie encounters another doggie, for certain definitions of the word 'doggie.' Goldie may be a horrifying alien monster pupper, but a dog is a dog no matter what star it hails from.
Butt sniffing ensues.
MEANWHILE, Zed, who is NOT a dog-kicker, seems to have noticed that he is not having nearly as much traction as he aught to have. "Hm, the floor... is the ice itself an enemy as well...? Ah, Ratatoskr, if only you were here to witness..."
"Well, no," Zed thinks to himself as he pulls a GIANT SPIKED BALL out of his scarf (HOW DID IT FIT IN THERE?! (It's a mystery~)) and begins whirling it overhead, "Perhaps not, after all. Regardless, I hear your challenge, Aru Sulato! Behold my answer!!"
"BAAAAALLLLLLLL!" Zed roars, slamming his GIGANTIC BALL into the ice in a single, fell swoop...! It might break something more than just the ice, but hey, nobody ever made a sans rival without cracking a few cashews.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Berserk Hammer toward his party's challenge, Technical Difficulties.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval has a singular benefit when the Symbologically-conjured tundra props up underneath the lot of them. He's already on that... thing. He starts sliding along with it, looking none the more concerned about the present developments.
"I know what yer thinkin'. Yer thinkin' I can wave my hand 'n make it all fix itshelf, huh," Lanval says as Zed starts to contemplate the matter of whether Aru Solatu also wants to fight. "Well, hate ta shay it - 'n I ain't gonna hear what Seraph Ceimglace hash ta shay 'bout it!" He sits up on the raft. "Water and ice, they ain't the shame thing!" Now he's standing on it. Soapboxing. On a raft. Soaprafting?
"Ya go by the eight elementsh," he asides to an unseen figure, "yeah, I know, Void 'n all that, bear with me," back to the rest, "of Seraphim, ya have Ice Seraphim and ya have Water Seraphim! 'n ya go here! Ta Filgaia!" He stands and puffs out his chest. "It'sh pretty clear! Ya have a Guardian of Water 'n a Guardian of Ice! Shooooo they can't be the shame thin--"
Zed gets a giant spiked ball out of his scarf, declaring that he's heard Aru Sulato's challenge, and that he's drifted a bit too close to the epicenter of where that thing's going to land.
He thinks next time he should pontificate, like, inside where people steer their giant horseless metal carriages or something, that seems to be the perfect staging ground for sharing true and honest information.
DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Technical Difficulties.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
The battlefield is now littered with trash. Layna is normally fine with this, she can maneuver around garbage with the best of them. This would be fine, but then... dog happens. A curious little dog who digs up something very important, which caused the entire arena to freeze over. Things which would have been able to be kicked aside are now frozen-solid obstacles.
Some things are not frozen, though, but those tend to be even more hazardous.
"Off switch? I don't know where it is... but I can sure as hell make one." Layna replies. She rests the metal pipe she picked up from the battle field on one shoulder, the other hand reaching into her coat and drawing out an arm-mounted drill. It begins whirring dangerously as she looks for the most-important looking device here, and begins drilling right into it.
"...Didn't realise it was so complicated." Layna comments in the middle of her work, as Lanval discusses the very important differences between Water and Ice.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Arm-Mounted Drill toward her party's challenge, Technical Difficulties.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The good news is that Josie doesn't eat a K.O. from some flying bottle about ten seconds into the arena.
The bad news is that the bottle is empty. Josie stares at the bottle she's caught blearily for a second or two before, frustration coloring her expression, she throws it back at crowd, with vigor.
And suddenly the floor is ice, which is not at all what Josie thought she was signing herself up for with this situation, insofar as she was thinking anything except some string along the lines of 'I'm drunk and I'm in Guara Bobelo so I might as well fight something'.
Currently it's better than the way she was feeling before she got drunk. Yes, even the part where there's ice intruding into the situation here.
But it doesn't make it any less surprising.
"Wha--"
Josie stumbles for a moment, trying to keep her footing.
And into this very confusing (did she not know that the arena could do this? or is it just the drunkenness) she hears a rant.
"But water's... just melted ice. Iff'n I put ice over a fire, right, it'd just... melt into water. So ain't theys the same thing?" she begins to argue before planting a foot wrong and officially going ass over teakettle on the ice.
"Oh, yeah. The ice," she drawls, fumbling drunkenly for her pack. One way or another, the edge of a mattock when introduced to ice probably is a losing proposition for the ice.
(Even Symbological ice?)
"...Where'd the dog come from?"
"...When'd you get here, Layna?"
(She's pretty drunk.)
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Technical Difficulties.
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Technical Difficulties *>==================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- One of the Screams' virtues--if you could call it that--is the adaptability of its arena. Levers offstage can raise and lower sections of the floor, while Symbological enhancements can create fog, fire, freezing temperatures, or other complications. At this moment, though, things are not going as planned. Perhaps a lever is stuck in place, or a Symbological effect has misfired, leaving the arena strewn with inconvenient terrain. The crowd is growing agitated. The staff want this problem fixed, and they want it fixed yesterday. Technically this isn't in the contract, but the show can't go on if the arena isn't restored to normal. =Dungeon Conditions: Weaken===================================================
==================<* The Screams of the Silenced - Round 3 *>=================== ======================< Results - Technical Difficulties >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 17 --(15)--> 32 Pass Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 17 --(15)--> 32 Pass Arm-Mounted Drill 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magilou 25 --(23)--> 48 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 25 --(23)--> 48 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 25 --(15)--> 40 Pass Berserk Hammer 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Sacrif -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Unwelcome Attention *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The arena staff give contestants some downtime between matches--after all, it's good policy to let their gladiators recover while they change the scenery. This time, though, you might not get the rest you deserve. Somehow, a member of the audience has made it past security, and they aren't happy. They have a proposition for you--throw your next match, and they'll make it worth your while. Sally and her fellow talent managers won't be happy if they find out, though, and there's no guarantee the intruder will make good on their bet. There's something terribly fishy about this. You'll need to get them off your case without resorting to violence, but you might be able to learn more about the next match if you ask them the right questions. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Secret=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Dog recognises dog. This pupper sniffs at Goldie, Goldie sniffs at that pupper. Perhaps Goldie helps escort him out safely!
Meanwhile: Zed is having a ball, which appears to work on the same fundamental layer of reality as the inventory system of half these arena-viewers. He ferociously shatters the ice in front of him, and the ice AROUND him, because the shockwaves of that blow tremble all the earth around him.
Somehow, it sends Lanval sailing away, instead of crushing him into a pancake. Wheeeeee...
"Obviously they're not the same," Magilou issues to Josephine, sharply, "ice owes as much to earth as it does to water! And oh, you might say, Magilou, Void elements don't make any sense, it's like you decided they existed after you made half your spells," Magilou, arms and legs folded, is just kind of sliding along the ground as she rants along with Lanval, "but that's just a fundamental misunderstanding of the second leyer, do I look like I can explain this concept in small enough words..."
Josie swings her mattock down, and this is precisely the moment a ranting Magilou collides with her, sending the both of them spiralling along the ice until they get to the cracked part Zed thoughtfully made from them. She sniffs, loudly. "You... sure you don't need to lie down, there?" Magilou issues to her, sceptically. No apologies for ruining her efforts to fight the ice. "The mysteries of the universe make more sense when you can stand up straight."
Magilou, you've collapsed on the ground, too!
Luckily, Layna has the same idea Zed does. Berserk Hammer revealed a particularly-shaded spot on the ground, as if it has a sprite instead of being part of the background matte painting. Her Arm-Mounted Drill makes short work of the casing, and everything gets hot --
Hot, hot--!!!
-- and then the temperature fades, because the Arm-Mounted Drill has destroyed the Symbological runes of the trigger plate. The heat is enough to melt the ice, but it doesn't erupt into floor flames. Phew! The day is saved!
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Technically speaking, the party has indeed triumphed over the sovereign might of winter personified, which means that they've beaten enough people (including the audience) to earn a small break! Really the problem is that the floor is just SO wrecked. Like, they're going to need to carve an entire new symbological rune! That takes time! And so the party is quietly ushered into a nearby waiting room.
Why is it called a waiting room though, you ask?
Because, you see, there is someone waiting there. Someone Magilou would recognize. Someone... who is very clearly that guy who she cheated just a few minutes ago. "So," the bowling ball chucker grunts, "This is how it's gonna be. I know you and your 'new friends' put on one heck of a show out there, but you cost me money." Beardy McBeardface pokes a finger at the sorceress supreme, "And that means you cost Mr. Loath money, and nobody crosses Mr. Loath and gets away with it, see? So what you're gonna do is lose the next match, and we'll all come away from it rich and happy and alive, see?"
Zed has yet to arrive in the room.
This means that the party has approximately thirty seconds to grill this fixer for all he's worth before he gets socked in the face for falling within the general category of 'ALL OF THEM.'
Meanwhile!! DOGS ARE PLAYING, please wait warmly.
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Unwelcome Attention.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna glances toward Josie with a raised eyebrow.
"Been here the whole time. You, uh, you okay?" Layna asks.
At the end of everything, the arena is completely wrecked... and they haven't even gotten into an actual fight yet! Really, this isn't quite what she had in mind.
"I'm starting to feel like they're just using us to pull off some kind of insurance scam or somethin'. Have us wreck the place, then reap in the gella later." Layna considers, back in the waiting room. She's sitting at a bench at the moment, idly performing some maintenance on her telescope. "Which, I mean, I respect that, but it'd be great if they'd let me fight somethin' in the process, you know?"
It's about this time that a certain angry, bowling ball-chucking someone with a beef with Magilou strolls into the room, making threats. Layna stares at him, clearly unimpressed, before looking Magilou's way.
"...Hey, you want me to get rid of him? I bet I could put him right through a wall. It'd be great." She asks, collapsing the telescope and sliding it back onto her belt.
DG: Layna Manydays has used her Tool Captain's Telescope toward her party's challenge, Unwelcome Attention.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval is deeply appreciative of the backing of elemental truthiness, such as it is, arguing along as he is sprawled out on the ground. "If ya turned ice inta water, then it ain't ice no more, it'sh water! Sho it can't be the shame thing!!" He may be fated to forever clash with this over an academic in spheres of knowledge that more or less do not apply to the spiritual, non-corporeal existence of the Seraphim except when they want to play ball with the corporeal world in any sort of complex manner beyond 'apply element of self until satisfied.'
* * * * * *
"Shoooo... lemme get thish shtraaaaaight," Lanval says, who is not getting anything straight. He has his Serious Ruin All Weighty Cutscenes Attachment on, which is to say, the novelty beer lens glasses, as he pace-stumbles about the waiting room. "I've known thish type fer a few... centuriesh. Yep." He scratches at his chin, then decides scratching under his nose is better. "Right down to the shame way ya shay it. Ya do... a, ya do a ta b. Doin' the shame thing ta 'a' 'n 'b' ish baaaaaad."
Lanval seems almost intimidated, despite his station as the very closest entity to the entire water of Filgaia itself, but then he lights up. "Sho if we eshtalbish 'a' and 'b' are the shaaaaaame..."
He holds up a finger and wiggles it around. "The man right here ish Mr. Loath," no he's not, "'n... well, I can't fault hish logic, ain't nothin' wrong with bein' rich, happy and alive."
Beat.
Then a dumb grin. "If he can't shee me, I'm nobody! Sho I'll crossh him and there ain't gonna be an isshue! Ha ha ha!"
He's missing a vital step in the argument chain.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Unwelcome Attention.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Look, Magilou WARNED Sally that if she fought, she wouldn't have an arena by the end of it. Magilou has not yet actually done anything which could be even charitably described as fighting, so maybe this level of destruction is just what happens when Magilou is in the vicinity of a fight.
"Oh, hey... you!" Magilou says, as if to cover up for the fact that she has totally forgotten what his name is. (It's probably Rave Riger? He looks like a Rave Riger.) "Such a tragedy, but it seems you lost our little bet. It's all above board, I assure you! I was no help at all!" That's true, but you shouldn't say it quite so cheerfully, Magilou.
She yaaaawns. Hand to her mouth, arms stretching up over her head afterwards, the works.
"I mean... yeah, getting rich is amazing. Buuut... you know what doesn't sound fun? Explaining to my new best friend why he doesn't get to actually win a fight today. See, this guy is hilarious, and you're mostly funny in the sense of making you miserable. Or did you really think I needed the money?" Magilou laughs, except she's got her hand to her mouth and is explicitly going ohohohohoho, so it's specific ideal of laughter.
"Besides," she adds, pulling out an ancient tome and flicking through it, "it says right here in my 'Plot Twists For Dummies' book that anyone named Mr. Loath is absolutely worth making a mockery of, because he either thought to name himself Mr. Loath or never thought to get a rename ticket." That isn't Plot Twists for Dummies. Magilou is deliberately twisting the entire meaning of this text.
She snaps it shut. "A hundred gella says he'll bounce off the wall instead of going through it," she issues to Layna, with a too-sharp grin.
DG: Magilou has used her Tool Mayvin's Accounts toward her party's challenge, Unwelcome Attention.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Ice ain't earth," Josie fusses back heatedly at Magilou. "Earth's dirt. You can't see through it 'r none. Ice's like water, you can see through... eh, wait," she says, stopping to try and puzzle out the drunkard logic on this one. "Can't see through the sea, neither. But the see freezes and--"
And as she rises, mattock in hand, she's summarily taken out by Magilou.
"Mmnh? Naaaaah," she utters back, slowly and painstakingly getting to her feet. "Ain't shot no one yet. Gotta, gotta, whatsit..."
She never quite seems to find her place, whatever it was. Instead she turns to regard Layna. "Ne'er been better!" she slurs. At least she doesn't sway, even when she slowly gets back to her feet.
They're summarily shuffled out into the waiting room, probably immediately related to the just-experienced technical difficulties.
"Ain't even been in one fight yet," she grouses, lighting a cigarette as she sprawls on a bench in the back room. "And, and, we said we wanted to fight... all of 'em, right? Not a single bleedin' one!" Closing her eyes, she slumps against the wall.
And that's when some bastard comes on up and says they need to lose the next match. Josie pricks up an ear.
Slowly Josie leans forward.
And flicks the still lit cigarette end right for the bearded man.
She's itching for a fight, see.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Unwelcome Attention.
======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================= ====================<* CHALLENGE - Unwelcome Attention *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- The arena staff give contestants some downtime between matches--after all, it's good policy to let their gladiators recover while they change the scenery. This time, though, you might not get the rest you deserve. Somehow, a member of the audience has made it past security, and they aren't happy. They have a proposition for you--throw your next match, and they'll make it worth your while. Sally and her fellow talent managers won't be happy if they find out, though, and there's no guarantee the intruder will make good on their bet. There's something terribly fishy about this. You'll need to get them off your case without resorting to violence, but you might be able to learn more about the next match if you ask them the right questions. =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck, Secret=========================================
=================<* The Screams of the Silenced - Round 4 *>================== ======================< Results - Unwelcome Attention >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Lanval 32 --(13)--> 45 Fail Amber Tinted Glasses 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Layna Manydays 32 --(5)--> 37 Pass Captain's Telescope 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magilou 48 --(5)--> 53 Pass Mayvin's Accounts 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 48 --(5)--> 53 Pass Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 40 --(13)--> 53 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Seraph Lanval 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Secret(2)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval 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> Zed has posed.
"You stupid mugs," the man who may or may not be named Rave Riger spits, looking increasingly agitated at this... this impertinence. This is not what normally happens when he namedrops Mr. Loath! It's too bad that he has no idea that the ONLY PERSON in this room who might even have a clue who that guy is is also drunk off her ass. He squares himself as Josephine saunters forth, and it's almost as though a fight is going to break out.
The tension is so thick, you can almost convince yourself that the droning noise dopplering ever closer isn't Zed approaching.
But who are we kidding, it's absolutely Zed.
"--LLL OF THEM!!" Zed yells, and explodes into the room, fist first, into the bearded man's beard. Said cheatyface goes flying, unable to intimidate so much as a flint of cigarette ash before being summarily knocked into next sunday. Zed sniffs the air the man once occupied like a bloodhound on a trail. "Fight? I thought I detected fight happening here. WHY IS THERE NOT A FIGHT HAPPENING YET!?!? I SIGNED UP FOR ALL OF THEEEEM!"
(He might soon get what he wishes for.)
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"You stupid mugs," the man who may or may not be named Rave Riger spits, looking increasingly agitated at this... this impertinence. This is not what normally happens when he namedrops Mr. Loath! It's too bad that he has no idea that the ONLY PERSON in this room who might even have a clue who that guy is is also drunk off her ass. He squares himself as Josephine saunters forth, puts up his dukes when Layna makes her threats and it's almost as though a fight is going to break out. "You're makin' a huge mistake! Anyone who crosses Mr. Loath ends up at least six feet under, y' hear me!?"
(Because they go to a mine, you see. Mr. Loath is loath to waste good, free labor.)
The tension is so thick, you can almost convince yourself that the droning noise dopplering ever closer isn't Zed approaching.
But who are we kidding, it's absolutely Zed.
"--LLL OF THEM!!" Zed yells, and explodes into the room, fist first, into the bearded man's beard. Said cheatyface goes flying, unable to intimidate so much as a flint of cigarette ash before being summarily knocked into next sunday. Zed sniffs the air the man once occupied like a bloodhound on a trail. "Fight? I thought I detected fight happening here. WHY IS THERE NOT A FIGHT HAPPENING YET!?!? I SIGNED UP FOR ALL OF THEEEEM!"
(He might soon get what he wishes for.)
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba! *>========== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Hector Douglas, the self-proclaimed Beastmaster, is a regular fixture at the Screams of the Silenced. The arena doesn't use normal animals in fights--there are some things that are too cruel even for Guara Bobelo--but has no problem with a man fighting alongside his dedicated and highly-trained animal companion. Douglas is a big, barrel-bodied man in trail-worn leathers; he saunters into the arena with a trident leaning against his shoulder, and a net dangling from his hand. Kimba is a bit more eye-catching. The Myrmecoleo has the head and forepaws of a lion, and the thorax, abdomen, and legs of an ant. He's a massive specimen--at least four feet tall at the shoulder, and his pale white exoskeleton is covered with the scars of dozens of dominance battles. He roars, and sprays sharp-smelling formic acid across the arena turf. "Good luck," says Douglas, once Sally is done introducing the two of them. The whistle blows. "Kimba! Sic 'em!" Can you prevail against this fearsome team of man and monster? =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Under better circumstances, Josie might well recognize this particular fellow, or at least know which operation he's working alongside. Currently, though--
She's too drunk to care.
"...Wasn't much fun," she remarks, sighing and shrugging.
They have about a moment more to reflect on this before the light flicks on. They're being summoned out into the arena once more--
And this time, an opponent stands there before them.
"Well," Josie remarks, uncapping a flask she pulls from her jacket pocket. She has -- yes! -- another good mouthful of something that the observant might note HAS FUMES COMING OUT OF IT before striding forward (swaying slightly as she goes) to greet their opponent.
"Nice dog," she tells the hunter.
"It's a Myrmecoleo," Douglas says, frowning slightly.
"Sure," says Josie.
"Now presentiiiiiing, the moment you've all been waiting for! Hector Douglas and Kimba, versus our very own worst of the worst, Filgaia's meanest, toughest, baddest Driiiifters! It's winner-take-all tonight, folks!" announces Sally, who is very much Way Too Into This.
A shot cracks through the air soon after. Josie has wasted about zero time drawing a shotgun and snapping off a shot for the chimerical beast.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba!.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
SPEAKING OF DOG.
Finally, Zed gets to fight, and it's... A DOG!? "What the heckin' pupper is this!?" Zed demands of the world, "I asked for ALL OF THEM and they send a dog at me!? I demand a refund! In addition to whatever I get for fighting this dog!"
It's a Myrmecoleo.
"I don't care if it's a Spiran Pointer, I do not fight pet dogs!!" Zed harrumphs, crossing his arms pointedly. This is a policy on which he will not budge, it seems. "UNLESS your name is BOOMERANG, but TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, Lucy likes fighting so that's something else entirely. BUT THIS IS NOT THAT SITUATION! AND SO!"
Zed... also whistles.
...It takes a minute.
It takes a minute because Goldie has been playing with a friend. A friend who is now sitting up in the stands, barking happily as the Golden Metal Beast drills out of the arena floor and bristles its auxillary scythe-arms and trifurcating steel-boring jaw/skull sheath, triple tendril tongues wiggling in the air ominously. "Goldie! Play with this new friend I found for you!!"
BARK Goldie says, and commences violence (and butt sniffing).
DG: Zed has used his Tool Goldie Whistle toward his party's challenge, Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba!.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"I'm really scared! This is a scared face, right?" It is not a scared face. "Am I doing it???"
March comes like a lion, and Zed comes like a freight train. "Welp," Magilou says, entirely unsurprised, and hands a hundred gella over to Layna without another word.
"Maybe you'll get your wish after all!" Magilou says to him, brightly, when the light flicks on. Out they go --
And find --
"Totally a dog," Magilou backs Josephine up. (Magilou is not drunk. Let's establish this right now.) She issues them a big thumbs-up, and sits herself down in the corner of the arena. "You all have fun in this dog park!"
She's... still not helping.
Instead, she pulls out a deck of tarot cards, and puts them out in a pattern in front of her. "Loath, Loath, let's see..." Magilou proceeds to pull up the Four of Pentacles, and she breaks into a grin. "Possessiveness and control, huh? What a great omen."
One of the cheering arena men shakes some jerky from his pocket. Spectator Dog immediately monches it up. Dinner and a show! This dog has it made.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval stumbles out into the arena when there is finally the first true fight among the call for ALL OF THEM. He takes in the ambience of the crowd. It's a lot of the same feeling he got while riding along in an automobile to Ida's place in Guild Galad. It's not a happy place. The one big joy available to these people is bloodsport. He remembers the desperation in the air, so very very much, back in a different place and time.
That it is much thinner here - doubtless there has been a small handful of Hellions that have come and went, but none lingering long enough to establish a fully dangerous atmosphere. Everyone takes what happiness they can get, even at the cost of others. He takes a deep whiff of the thing emitting fumes from where Josie drinks. He might have to try some.
Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba the White Myrmecoleo step forth. Half-open eyes look them over, then towards Layna. Oh, he doesn't doubt she'd get a hell of a good fight out of it. The lion-ant (...ant-lion? No, that's something else) roars, and sends formic acid all over. There's a quiet flick of Lanval's wrist to neutralize the formic acid quietly, as a rather basic flex of his power (ha).
"Mmmmph. A dog, eh?" He has an amused smile. "Yep. I could shee that~"
He stumbles along up to the aggressive, war-born beast. There's no reason to assume the creature has Resonance, but he can see it in the scars on the exoskeleton and the comfort in which his handler and partner brings such a dangerous creature. So, Lanval does the only obvious course of action.
"Bet yer thirshty," Lanval says as he kneels down and pours the contents of a Holy Bottle on the ground. Clear, clean, sparkling water.
DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba!. DG: Magilou has used her Tool Fortunetelling - Trickery toward her party's challenge, Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba!.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Magilou... declares a bet! Layna meets her grin with a grin of her own.
"Deal. I'll take that bet." Layna says, raising from her bench and cracking her knuckles as she spots the bearded man raising his fists. "You know, it's funny. Do you know how many times I've heard that line before? And yet, I'm still perfectly fine. Funny, isn't it?"
She starts to round on him... which is about the same time that Zed explodes into the room, sending the man flying. Layna blinks... and then laughs, looking toward Magilou with a shrug. She'll gladly accept the one-hundred gella.
"Please doing business with you!" Layna says.
Well, it looks like during all the commotion the arena finally got fixed up, so now it's time for their first - and apparently only - opponent. A beastmaster and his lion-chimera - a Myrmecoleo, apparently. Briefly, she meets Lanval's eyes. It's true, she absolutely would.
"Filgaia has some weird dogs." Layna observes. It's hard to tell if she actually believes that, or if she's just playing along. With that said, though, she rolls her shoulders. She could, and probably would fight Kimba, but... well, everyone else - except for Josie, that is - has decided not to, so she goes for another tactic.
"You've got a good dog there, lad. Probably a real fighter. But I gotta ask..." Layna starts, looking in Hector's direction. In an instant, she's suddenly behind him. "How good are you?"
And that's when she moves to try and suplex him right into the arena floor.
DG: Layna Manydays has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba!.
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== ==========<* CHALLENGE - Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba! *>========== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Hector Douglas, the self-proclaimed Beastmaster, is a regular fixture at the Screams of the Silenced. The arena doesn't use normal animals in fights--there are some things that are too cruel even for Guara Bobelo--but has no problem with a man fighting alongside his dedicated and highly-trained animal companion. Douglas is a big, barrel-bodied man in trail-worn leathers; he saunters into the arena with a trident leaning against his shoulder, and a net dangling from his hand. Kimba is a bit more eye-catching. The Myrmecoleo has the head and forepaws of a lion, and the thorax, abdomen, and legs of an ant. He's a massive specimen--at least four feet tall at the shoulder, and his pale white exoskeleton is covered with the scars of dozens of dominance battles. He roars, and sprays sharp-smelling formic acid across the arena turf. "Good luck," says Douglas, once Sally is done introducing the two of them. The whistle blows. "Kimba! Sic 'em!" Can you prevail against this fearsome team of man and monster? =Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright============================================
==================<* The Screams of the Silenced - Round 5 *>=================== ============< Results - Presenting: Beastmaster Douglas and Kimba! >============ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Lanval 45 --(5)--> 50 Pass Holy Bottle 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Layna Manydays 37 --(13)--> 50 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magilou 53 --(5)--> 58 Pass Fortunetelling - Trickery 2 Combat Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 53 --(5)--> 58 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 53 --(5)--> 58 Pass Goldie Whistle 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Seraph Lanval 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Secret(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Seraph Lanval has successfully explored The Screams of the Silenced!
=======================<* The Screams of the Silenced *>======================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Alter Parts *>========================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- With the last challenger defeated, you've overcome everything the Screams have thrown at you--for now. As the audience applauds, Sally makes her way down from the announcer booth, and gives both you and your foe the chance to say a few words. Then the arena staff swoop in, guiding you backstage to medical treatment and your well-earned reward. Sally and her assistant count out your Gella before you, and present you with the resulting pile of large-denomination coins. You'll have to divide it up, but there's still enough for everyone to spoil themselves, for a while. You've also earned yourself a bonus, it seems. A traveling ARMs salesman approaches you after you've left the arena, offering you a look through a briefcase full of Day of Collapse-era Alter Parts. None of the modifications are groundbreaking, but plenty of them are useful, and he's offering you a substantial discount... especially if you use them in future matches. =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
What is a dog? A miserable pile of-- wait, I'll come in again.
But it's true, Filgaia has some pretty weird-looking dogs even at the best of times (let alone when you're drunk).
What happens is probably the best possible outcome, in that no one gets (badly) hurt, their team (e.g. not Douglas and Kimba) wins, and good times are had by all (?).
Which is to say in more detail--
Kimba's exoskeleton serves him well, as the shot forces the beast back but doesn't cause serious injury. It might have charged after that, but after getting banged up -- and it's a little hot and dry in the waiting room -- that cool pool of water is just intensely inviting. It skuttles on over to drink and is soon joined by Goldie.
...They're playing now. Isn't that nice.
Suplexing Douglas doesn't go as well, largely because he's attempting to do the same to Layna and they sort of both have to stop and back up to try and start over.
And this is where Zed enters the situation.
...Douglas doesn't last too much longer on the field after that.
Kimba technically has forfeited ('Too Busy Playing with Weird Dog').
They're shuffled backstage after, which is a good thing because for one thing they get medical treatment and money and in Josie's case...
An apparent nap on one of the benches. Later there might be Cool Deals to be had for her (it'll come much sooner for anyone else leaving the arena), but perhaps the best medicine in her case is time.
And a raging hangover.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"REFUND!" Zed shouts at the heart of the arena, in spite of not having put up any money at all to begin with. He is only partly ameliorated by receiving prize money, but... BUT!!!!
"I wanted to fight all of theeeemmmm~" Zed whines. In spite of the banal, base, carnal sense of enjoyment that suffuses this place, the tiny mote of barbaric joy in many of the spectators' lives... At least there is something pure here.
Zed's desire for battle, that is.
...Also Goldie's joy at having found new friends. DOG FRIENDS ACQUIRED!!!