2022-04-20: Have a Knife Time

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  • Log: Have a Knife Time
  • Cast: Loren Voss, Seraph Lanval, Rixia, Jacqueline Barber, Catenna
  • Where: North Calm Lands
  • Date: April 20, 2022
  • Summary: Loren, in search of a friend, finds himself in a rather perilous place. Worse, he's not alone. Worse yet-- well. Let us say there are kitchen knives involved.

DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest.
DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps *>==================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The story that had circulated about this particular cavern is that a
 once-missing Fayth had been rediscovered within its stony walls. An
 astonishing development, to be certain -- many things, once lost, stay lost.
 And now, another Aeon is returned to the Summoners of Spira.

 All was well, for... a few weeks. But then the rumors began to circulate
 that all was not well.

 And looking at the site now, you can /see/ that this is so! The traps that
 someone has set up on the path leading to the cavern are not particularly
 subtle. You run little risk of accidentally falling into that pit or
 tripping that wire.

 But whoever set them was mean. Some traps are layered: evading one means
 walking into another. And still others have cruel trickery built into the
 very aspects that one would use to disarm them -- for example, inspecting
 that tripwire shows that it's ready to release an incendiary the moment the
 wire is snipped.

 This is mean. And rude. And you're going to have to get past these somehow
 if you're going to get into the cavern.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren Voss is not here on orders. That much is clear by his manner of dress -- practically normal, by most people's standards.

    He's not even here by his own volition, which would be an entire thing as the importance of this place (such that it is) has fallen rather under the radar of Solaris' operations in Spira. It would have meant their few field agents operating undercover in Spira would need to first of all pay attention to all the idle gossip hither and thither, and then they would need to care about the mysterious disturbances taking place at a particular cave.

    Though perhaps, as long as we're talking hypotheticals, the potential mention of a stolen Aeon might have provoked a more thorough investigation of the site. But they didn't hear about it, so that didn't happen.

    No, Loren is here for more immediate concerns.

    "...I saw it go over this way," he mumbles aloud, approaching the path leading to the outside of the cavern. His face is a very mask of concern as he looks this way and that, seeking out for... something. But there's no sign of it, whatever it is.

    He moves to take another step forward at that moment and then, quite simple, freezes. Out of the corner of his eye he's seen the sunlight glinting off of something that, to a frequent experiencer of dungeon traps, immediately sets his hackles up.

    Slow he turns about and realizes that he's just to the left of a pit trap (barely covered by leaves) and that to his rear is another trip wire, one that he'd narrowly evaded before by sheer luck. "Oh... kay," Loren says, taking another look around. And over there, a bushel of arrows is ready to fire if another wire is tripped and-- wait, that wire's... also rigged to what looks like an explosive.

    And that bit of cord near the pit trap is leading up to a pile of rubble.

    And what had looked like a simple line of explosives in the path ahead suggests that isn't all that there rests.

    "Why," Loren asks to the world at large, before slowly stepping over that first wire and then inspecting the array of buried explosions. Maybe the better thing would be to set them off... remotely.

    He's pulled a bar out of his bag and breaks off a chunk. Crumbling it into largish pieces, he tosses it before him.

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    And then there's Lanval, on the ground, wearing a pair of those garish novelty beer-lens glasses that no one has snatched off his face yet, who may not top the list of Loren's People You Want To Hear Your Muttering. He at least has the grace not to be a talking, rolling, cannibalistic bottle. Grace well-spent, for he has none left-over in which to <s>become Elden Lord</s> do anything other than lie down on the ground... near traps?

     "Mmmm. Well, lemme tell ya." Lanval will tell regardless as to whether Loren will want to be told or not, "at leasht it ain't fulla Symbol shtuff on the wallsh."

     Beat.

     "I checked."

     Beat.

     "With my tongue." Beat.

     Suddenly shooting his hand up. "Dibsh!!! On the wallsh." The hand flops back down on the ground.

     "They shock ya though. Sho ya can't jusht... move 'bout the gap in front neither."

     If Loren - or anyone else - is of the mind, the beer lens glasses may reflect some interesting/useful things on the ceiling.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Amber Tinted Glasses toward his party's challenge, Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Just as the group step into the cavern, the telltale flash of light of someone teleporting in is both seen and heard -- that's not just any flash of light, that's the light coming from an Elw teleporter!

    What comes out is... a fox beastgirl with white-pink hair done up in twintails, wearing a very basic (but cute! Rixia accessorised) Guard's uniform, blinking a few times as the undue residue of teleportation washes away from her and leaves her gurgling.

    ... she appears to have teleported ontop of--

    WHOOMF

    --a pit trap. "Waaaaaaah! What is this?!" The telltale blinking lights of explosives. "W-why is this beeping-- wah wah wah!"

    She scampers out a moment later as the pit trap explodes behind her, fortunately doing little more than covering her backside full of soot. "Where'd I end up this tii~me--"

    She trips on a tripwire and falls flat on the dirt, face-first.

    "Ueeeh.... no moooooore... Aaaashe, Avril, where are you??"

DG: Rixia has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

A lost, stolen Fayth is a big deal. So, too, are rumors that have been found again, hidden away within in a cavern in the Calm Lands. Worrying, however, are tales of terrible things happening to those who go to investigate. Curious Summoners could wind up hurt, or worse - and that's something Jacqueline would prefer to avoid, so she's decided to take up this investigation as well.

Jacqueline approaches the mouth of the cave carefully. She's heard rumors of buried traps... and indeed, it turns out that this is the case.

"Be careful, Lanval - there's no telling whether or not any of these traps will react you." Jacqueline warns. The moisture, if anything. Some of these seem... particularly finicky. Fortunately, she's at least prepared for searching out traps. Jacqueline shuts her eyes tight and takes a deep breath before drawing a Crest Graph from her deck and holding it aloft. The spell she casts is a subtle one - like a faint sonar pulse through the earth, providing her information on what's above and below.

...And just as the spell finishes its work, there is a surge in the Ley. The activation of an Elw teleporter, followed by the sounds of someone who is... very clearly not having a very good day.

"Who's there? Hold on! Help is on the way!" Jacqueline calls out, hurrying forward and stepping carefully around the traps she spotted with her spell. She will, very briefly, glance into the reflection of Lanval's glasses to see if she can spot anything she might have missed.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

It's always traps, isn't it?

There is, all of a sudden, a blur of something white and soft. It goes tumbling adeptly past Jay and through the cavern.

A tripwire is in the way. The figure boosts over it without so much as breaking momentum. White silk spins dramatically over the trap, arcing up to touch the cave ceiling before springing down over another trap. A second ghostly white shape whispers by.

A suspiciously avian one. Smaller than the first, which is now tumbling over the cave floor, to a wall, springing off of it in a whirl of pearly colour before finally touching down with a flourish.

A flourish of feather fans, white and fringed with white and black and pale blue.

Catenna crosses both dancing fans in front of herself. Wherever she got a new dancing outfit, it's more elaborate and eyecatching than her old one. There's a butterfly motif to it, the skirts fanning out around her legs like a pair of wings. She gives her head a toss and looks over her shoulder with a faint smile.

"Hello, Jay. Fancy meeting you here."

The drama is slightly offset by Saarda-Shanta landing on a tripwire and hooting with surprise as an entire barrel full of tar plummets down and just misses her. <Oh my me, this place is the worst already and I hate it!>

Catenna closes her eyes and exhales. "Saarda-Shanta, please do not trigger *all* the traps."

<Look, there are many of them, alright?!>

DG: Catenna has used her Tool Saarda-Shanta toward her party's challenge, Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps *>==================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The story that had circulated about this particular cavern is that a
 once-missing Fayth had been rediscovered within its stony walls. An
 astonishing development, to be certain -- many things, once lost, stay lost.
 And now, another Aeon is returned to the Summoners of Spira.

 All was well, for... a few weeks. But then the rumors began to circulate
 that all was not well.

 And looking at the site now, you can /see/ that this is so! The traps that
 someone has set up on the path leading to the cavern are not particularly
 subtle. You run little risk of accidentally falling into that pit or
 tripping that wire.

 But whoever set them was mean. Some traps are layered: evading one means
 walking into another. And still others have cruel trickery built into the
 very aspects that one would use to disarm them -- for example, inspecting
 that tripwire shows that it's ready to release an incendiary the moment the
 wire is snipped.

 This is mean. And rude. And you're going to have to get past these somehow
 if you're going to get into the cavern.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps *>==================
|Type: Entry       |Dungeon Ability: Wits      |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 The story that had circulated about this particular cavern is that a
 once-missing Fayth had been rediscovered within its stony walls. An
 astonishing development, to be certain -- many things, once lost, stay lost.
 And now, another Aeon is returned to the Summoners of Spira.

 All was well, for... a few weeks. But then the rumors began to circulate
 that all was not well.

 And looking at the site now, you can /see/ that this is so! The traps that
 someone has set up on the path leading to the cavern are not particularly
 subtle. You run little risk of accidentally falling into that pit or
 tripping that wire.

 But whoever set them was mean. Some traps are layered: evading one means
 walking into another. And still others have cruel trickery built into the
 very aspects that one would use to disarm them -- for example, inspecting
 that tripwire shows that it's ready to release an incendiary the moment the
 wire is snipped.

 This is mean. And rude. And you're going to have to get past these somehow
 if you're going to get into the cavern.
=Dungeon Conditions: Reckless, Tire===========================================
==============<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest - Round 1 *>===============
===================< Results - Foul Tricks and Nasty Traps >====================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          0 --(17)--> 17                 Fail
Soylent Nutribar                    2   Wits    Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       0 --(17)--> 17                 Fail
Amber Tinted Glasses                3   Wits    Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             0 --(5)--> 5                   Pass
Saarda-Shanta                       1   Wits    Effects: Cleanse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rixia                               0 --(17)--> 17                 Fail
Investigate                         0   Wits    Effects: BASIC
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  0 --(20)--> 20                 Pass
Conditions: Reckless(2)|Tire(2)
Effects: Cleanse|Resilient(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Oh great, Loren thinks distantly, he's not alone here.
    Worse, it's him.

    "That's... nice," he says at length. On the subject of the walls. At least it's a warning.

    Oh, there was something else about that set of explosives in the path ahead, alright. Turns out, they were also full of shrapnel!

    Loren hits the deck. It means that he only bleeds a little bit, as a consequence. It also means that for Rixia, the situation doesn't get any worse than it already is (to wit: face down, in the dirt).

    Something white and sort of puffy appears a moment later, wriggling out from under a piece of tarp. It's a small white bear of some extraction. Bounding over to Loren it starts to lick his hand. ...the one that's bleeding, that is.
    Do bears usually appear to be partially made out of cloud-stuff, though? When it moved its body twisted in rather disconcerting ways.

    Jacqueline has a slightly better time of it. She catches in the reflection of Laval's glasses -- and her Geo magic -- the impression of several dangerous traps. It is possible to avoid most of them! ...With a little effort and grace.

    Which Catenna has in spades.

DG: Seraph Lanval has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - No Need for Support *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You've got a problem, and that problem is one extra-large Tonberry that's
 spotted you and is en route to your location. Tonberries have excellent
 eyesight, as it happens! The lamps help.

 Make that two problems: there's no good escape route, and taking the fight
 to this big fella is going to earn you a world of hurt. But all is not lost
 -- once, someone had shored up this cave, perhaps even the very person who
 had once hidden the Fayth among its stones.

 If you were to break the supports, you could block the Tonberry from
 catching up to you, or even bring (part of) the house down on its head. But
 it doesn't seem as if it will be especially easy to do this!
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Aside from all the traps just waiting to go off in a chain, or as a 'gotcha!!' it's all a reasonably peaceful moment. There's the matter of a reunion of a dear, good friend and also the sudden appearance of a complete greenhorn at this sort of thing. As Lanval continues to lie about uselessly, he asides to the others.

     "She can't hear me, or shee me," Lanval points to Rixia. "'n... ta be honesht, 'm not shure she'd be able ta tell 'bout any Fiends or pyrefly shtuff." He sits up. "Juuuuuusht 'bout everyone in Spira can."

     SEE EXHIBIT: Lanval's futile quest to lay down on a specific part of Luca's busy streets.

     The density of traps never fully goes to 'zero' but it gets more manageable, as though whoever set them up either frontloaded them and ran out, or may have... had issues preventing them from setting up new ones (possibly ever again).

     "Sho, uh, I don't think she'sh a bad one," Lanval asides about Rixia as he gets up and wanders ahead and it's maddeningly unclear as to whether he's taking Jay's warning to heart. Do Seraphim have hearts? They don't have brains. (also exhibit: Lanval)

     "Fer real though... reashon I came by wash ta make shure a guy who made trouble in Guadosalam washn't up ta no good here again. Doooon't... think it'sh him, here." He nods and has a drink from the gourd. "That'sh why I licked the wallsh. Made shure he washn't shcribblin' on 'em again, but--"

     He freezes, as a seemingly disembodied lantern corrects this 'seemingly disembodied' assertion moments later. Two beady yellow eyes set upon deepest, darkest green step out. In the other hand, a very large culinary knife. They approach unrelentingly with the same zeal for death and hatred as any other Fiend, and their footsteps are both heavy and squeaky.

     "I don't wanna fight that." Lanval looks to the rest, staggering back upright, looking over to Rixia. "Ya think... we might be able ta ushe the trap shtuff we jusht got pasht?"

     That's an idea, but the more architecture-oriented may see an alternate solution: there are shoddy supports that could be knocked out to create a cave-in, either to block them out or to give them a nice comfy new tomb in which to continue to fester with anger and envy towards the living until a capable Summoner can politely get the constituent pyreflies to eff off.

     They may not have much time or margin of error to decide.

DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, No Need for Support.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Rixia starts to paw dirt out of her face, taking out a little handkerchief as she spits dust and debris out of her mouth. "Peh, peh, pweh--"

    The young beastfolk whines as she slumps to one side and says, "My tummy hurts... I can't get used to these teleporters at all... I want to go home." Ah, there's a sentiment Loren can get behind, at least.

    She peers towards the three Drifters (and one Seraph she can't see), scratching her cheek as she looks towards the little owl. "Uh, I landed in a dangerous place again, huh? Ahahaha..."

    Sadly, this also means she can't hear Lanval vouching for her, which would warm her heart. "Is this... Spira, at least? I wanted to go to Spira. I didn't want to go to a place full of traps!"

    Before long, though, everyone pauses as they see... a cute little Big thing that looks like it's made out of rubber, with two beady yellow eyes and a cute robe and a biiig lantern and... oh, knife.

    "Wah, it's cute... I don't want it to poke me with that knife, though," is Rixia's assessment of it. She bobs her head left and right, and looks towards the supports. "Leave it to me!"

    A bright flash accompanies her Ronso-styled Gunblade, primarily silver, coming into sight; theeeen she pulls out the holographic menus again since she forgot about Ashe's warnings about maybe not flaunting that stuff everywhere. Look, this is a dangerous situation, all right. "Okay, this should work..."

    >> junction --hit-j haste
    >> junction --elem-atk-j firaga

    The entire length of the gunblade flashes crimson-red for a moment, and she taps the sides of the support to set the flimsy wood on fire!

DG: Rixia has used her Tool UP3 Violating Executable toward her party's challenge, No Need for Support.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Suddenly, there's a blur...! Jacqueline keeps moving, following after it. It's a little too dangerous to stop here, especially with the smaller blur setting off traps. Only when they're past the initial volley does she allow herself to slow down.

"Catenna, it's good to see you again. How's your journey been?" Jacqueline asks politely, before turning her attention back to the situation at hand - namely, Loren and Rixia.

"Loren. It's been a while. Are you here on business?" Jacqueline greets. Polite, though not nearly as cheery as the greeting she gave Catenna.

And then, there's the matter of Rixia. Jacqueline looks toward Lanval as he offers his assessment of her character and (in)ability to perceive Seraphim. She appears to be with the Guard... though, her personalized uniform is pretty cute...

"I'm afraid so." Jacqueline says, as Rixia asks if she's ended up in a dangerous place.

"Spira? Yes, actually. If you'd like, I can escort you out-" She starts to offer... at least until Lanval warns them of an approaching Fiend. Not just any Fiend, a Tonberry... and not just any Tonberry, but a rather large one.

"...That... is not a fight we can win directly." She points out. She can elaborate if necessary... but fortunately, it seems like everyone is pretty much on the same wavelength. With that said, Jacqueline draws a Crest Graph from her deck, and sets it into the left gauntlet.

"Once the supports give way, I'm going to bury it. I don't know if that will keep it for long, but it may at least give us time to escape." Jacqueline says, getting ready to cast. Once the time comes and the Tonberry is sufficently distracted, she will cast her spell - to command the earth to open up beneath the Tonberry, consume it completely, and then close up once more.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Landscaper Crest toward her party's challenge, No Need for Support.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"This place does seem like a less-than-ideal landing spot," Catenna concedes, flashing Rixia a faint smile. "In any case, hello. I'm Catenna."

She steals a look at Jay, cupping a hand to her own cheek. "It went well. I learned much. I'm sorry it took so long." It hadn't been goodbye when she'd stepped away for a little while - only a see-you-soon.

Then she blinks at the sight of a little bear tending to Loren. It is not something she'd expect from one of the Sky People. "That is different for you," she asides with a curve of eyebrows.

The Moon Shaman tosses her hair back with a quick snap of her head and unshoulders her bow, an arrow twirled in her opposite hand. She eases forward, moving with an almost catlike silence. It should not be possible for someone dressed for dancing to be inconspicuous. She's pulling it off by virtue of her footfalls being exceptionally soft, as if she's gliding across the cave floor.

Until a lantern bobs ahead. A lantern and two beady yellow eyes. Catenna freezes and half-raises her arrow.

<Seraph Lanval is correct. We are not fighting it,> Saarda-Shanta expresses firmly as she takes up a position on Catenna's left shoulder.

"Agreed." Catenna promptly backpedals and scoots away back down the corridor, ceding ground to the shambling Tonberry. The knife looks like nothing she wants a part of, but --

"--The supports?" A quick glance lets her size up one of them. Shooing Saarda-Shanta from her shoulder again, the Moon Shaman leaps backwards, flips and lands on her hands, then tumbles back the rest of the way to boost herself into an arcing back leap. Her leg slashes out at the height of her jump.

She's not particularly strong, but she *is* trying to kick through a support in midair.

DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, No Need for Support.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Gosh, does Loren know that general mood, Rixia.

    Loren gets up again once he's pretty certain it's safe to do so, having also noticed that a certain someone has made themselves present once more. "There you are," he scolds the little bear, moving to scoop up the creature--

    But here it immediately darts away, a white blur vanishing deeper into the cavern.

    Loren groans, shoulders sagging.

    "No," he snaps at Jacqueline, which is in and of itself completely uncalled for. "I'm not here on business. I'm after--" He turns, gesturing towards the darkness of the cave into where the bear had vanished. He gesticulates, silently, for a moment more, then gives up. "Look, I don't know what you're all here for, but I don't care. I'm headed in--"

    This, as it happens, turns out to be a bad idea. There in the distance glow two eyes.
    Two large eyes.

    The knife also rather clinches things for them all. It advances, inexorably.

    "I think that's bad. Okay. Right, how about we--"

    No easy escape presents itself. But as others note and act up, there are the supports.

    "This is the dumbest idea," Loren mutters, palming a particularly smooth stone from his pocket and squeezing his hand around it until it hurts. It helps him focus--

    Which is in rather short order as that thing continues its advance!!

    Still, he's able to thread his will into the surrounding rock and tries his best to encourage it to come on down into the corridor, a feat that is rather complicated by the weapon Rixia summons. Wait, what in the Emperor's name is that?

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, No Need for Support.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
=====================<* CHALLENGE - No Need for Support *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 2          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 You've got a problem, and that problem is one extra-large Tonberry that's
 spotted you and is en route to your location. Tonberries have excellent
 eyesight, as it happens! The lamps help.

 Make that two problems: there's no good escape route, and taking the fight
 to this big fella is going to earn you a world of hurt. But all is not lost
 -- once, someone had shored up this cave, perhaps even the very person who
 had once hidden the Fayth among its stones.

 If you were to break the supports, you could block the Tonberry from
 catching up to you, or even bring (part of) the house down on its head. But
 it doesn't seem as if it will be especially easy to do this!
=Dungeon Conditions: Collapse=================================================
==============<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest - Round 2 *>===============
=======================< Results - No Need for Support >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          17 --(4)--> 21                 Fail
Worry Stone                         2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Landscaper Crest                    3   Brute   Effects: Fanfare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       17 --(4)--> 21                 Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             5 --(0)--> 5                   Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rixia                               17 --(0)--> 17                 Pass
UP3 Violating Executable            2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  20 --(20)--> 40                Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Reckless(1)
Effects:
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    The gunblade is brandished, glowing with the flash of crimson-red, and Rixia sets the wooden support on fire. It burns up and collapses almost instantaneously, though that's not the only support just barely keeping this cavern from collapsing. She's setting a few things in motion already, even just having freshly appeared in a dangerous and scary situation.

     The Crest Graph by Jay opens the ground underneath, allowing it to fall in. It does not seem equipped to understand the concept of changes in elevation, as it waves its knife and lantern in mounting frustration and anger before... trying to wade through the ground itself. Jay buys them time.

     Catenna helps finish the job of firing the supports from their comfortable... resting place, kicking out the other. There is a cacophonous, dangerous collapse ahead but none of the kicked-up dust and grime dares settle upon Celesdue's chosen.

     Loren helps exacerbate the collapse as he focuses on the stone, utilizing Eartn-aligned Ether to just keep piling it on and on and on - but it's never enough. It's enough to bury the Tonberry outright and prevent them from moving further, but there's just one thing that comes up short.

     Its gaze continues to bear down, upon Loren and Lanval specifically. It is unnerving but physically and spiritually harmless. (Emotionally... jury's out.)

     Seraph Lanval, who did very little to help do anything, is covered in most of the dust that comes from the collapse. He blinks a few times, looking over to Rixia's neat gunblade of uncertain origin, and the quiet acknowledgement Rixia did see the Fiend.

     "Mmmm. We're gonna hafta take a new detour... but I don't think they're gonna get outta there any time... shoon."

     Even as they leave to progress onward, the gaze never leaves them.

     . .

DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
==================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>===================
======================<* CHALLENGE - What Hides Above *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The cavern's passages are twisty, and coil in on one another. Distinguishing
 marks are at times few and far between. Finding your way may be difficult.

 It's all the more reason why the rope ladder you come across leading up the
 side of a rock face stands out. There's a gap above, and within it,
 darkness! Where could a path like that lead?

 The ladder, though, is fraying. You'll need to ascend it quickly -- or have
 some other means to assist yourself should it begin to fail.
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret, Hesitate=========================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"It's alright. I'm glad it proved fruitful." Jacqueline replies to Catenna with a smile. The last thing Jacqueline wants is to keep her friends from doing what they need to to grow.

Her attention turns toward Loren. She relaxes a little bit, when he says he's not on business... and then, her attention turns toward his direction his little friend bounded into the darkness. That is unexpected. She offers a smile, then.

"Looks like we're going the same way, then." She says.

And then, the Tonberry! With teamwork, they're able to make sure that it won't be chasing after them anytime soon. ...Even if that unnerving gaze keeps following them.

"I'm Jacqueline Barber, by the way. A pleasure!" Jacqueline asides to Rixia before continuing on.

The path forward is a long and winding one, twisting and coiling about. It's hard to tell sometimes if they've gone the wrong way, or accidentally doubled back on where they've been before... At least until they reach something new - a rope ladder, leading up into the darkness.

Jacqueline frowns, studying it intently. She doesn't trust the rope ladder... but, there's no telling how far up it goes or what's up there, so trying to create steps out of the side of the wall might end up just being a waste of energy.

"This is... new, at least. Let's climb up, but carefully." Jacqueline advises. "Catenna, can you be ready to save us if someone starts to fall?"

For Jacqueline's part, she draws out a bottle of pale green liquid and, with a Mystic touch, spreads its effects across the party to promote freedom of movement. With that done she dusts her hands off for a moment before starting to climb upward.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, What Hides Above.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    "YES!" Rixia psyches herself up and pumps both her arms in the air, as Jacqueline confirms that she's in Spira. "Okay, I need to get to Mt. Gagazet next... wait, no, first I need to meet up with Ashiya and Avril again... ooh, I wonder where they've gone this time. I kinda hate these teleporters, they make my tummy churn."

    Catenna introduces herself. "I'm Rixia! I'm with the Guard as of... last week!" she puffs up proudly. A pause. "Wait, I should probably get some clothes that don't look like the Guard's, huh... aww, and I just modified it to look cuter too... weeh..."

    Suddenly, though, the reason Loren's here becomes clear. "Awwwwwww!! Are you trying to get the little bear away from danger?? I'll help! It's so cute!!! You're so nice!"

    ... she's about to rescind her offer to help when they come across a rather flimsy rope ladder that looks like it's about to give out at any moment. Rixia sags, but then rubs her chin and says, "Um... I guess I have some spare rope if we can get up there, but..."

    Jacqueline Mystics a bottle of liquid, and Rixia kinda sticks her tongue out and tries to get more of it out of the air. "Aah, that's such a waste! I'm thirsty, you know!"

DG: Rixia has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, What Hides Above.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

If nothing else, Catenna got new dancing gear while she was off. The butterfly theme's distinctive. It's even patterned through her fans.

Giving Loren a pensive look, Catenna rests a hand on the arch of one hip before continuing along at Jay's side. It's a good feeling. As much as she's accustomed to traveling alone, Jay is as close to a sister as she has, and traveling with her lifts her spirits. The smile she wears is small, but genuine and reflecting in her eyes, bright despite the winding darkness of the path and the weight of the situation.

A ladder waits for them, and the Moon Shaman frowns as she gives it a closer look. "I can," she agrees. "Actually, do me a favour and let me go up quickly?"

She doesn't wait around for permission. Shouldering her bow, she flourishes both of her fans, braces herself at the base of the ladder, and then jumps. She doesn't even get a running start, just crouching, coiling like a spring and then bounding up.

It is a much, much higher jump than it has any right to be. Catenna flips and catches her heels on the edge of the ladder hole, sweeping her fans out to brace herself on the far edge before flipping her legs back up. From below, it looks for all the world like she's somehow spider-walking her way up the shaft without actually touching the ladder.

There is the sound of fans rustling on rock before she vanishes beyond the range of the group's light sources. Silence reigns for a few moments.

It is broken as Catenna drops neatly down and lands in a crouch with little more than a click of heels, fans out for balance. She closes her eyes, then opens them and rises with a whipping toss of her hair.

"...It is nice to meet you, Rixia. Oh, and- there are some outcrops in the rock you can grab on to if the ladder starts to go. They may help."

DG: Catenna has used her Tool Feather Fans toward her party's challenge, What Hides Above.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    "'d offer her a drink, but," Lanval asides as Rixia complains about not being able to have her thirst satiated, jabbing a thumb towards her. The various labors are divided as regards looking up a suspiciously convenient but also fraying rope ladder that looks about ready to pull itself apart at a moment's notice. As always, Lanval falls back (literally) on the one thing he can always be counted on doing in moments like this.

     Sitting down, on the ground, and not doing a whole lot more than taking a 'smoke' break with a kiseru-style pipe.

     "Mmmm." He closes his eyes, and takes a long, nice, deep drag as Catenna takes her ascent and scouts out good handholds in case the ladder is all 'later!' From his hobby of 'breathing' comes bubbles in great number, helping to provide comfortable(-ish) landing ground in case someone falls... and maybe even a slow ascent up, because magical bubbles.

     Unless they pop, of course.

     He's got the whole 'save if people fall' thing covered.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Bubble Pipe toward his party's challenge, What Hides Above.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "Look, it's not what you think," Loren yet protests to Jay and Rixia. "I'm just..." Alas, his true nature may not be so easily hidden now!

    On the one hand, it works: the roof comes down and prevents that knife-wielding monstrosity from getting any closer to them.

    On the other hand, oh no he can still feel its eyes upon him. Will he have to bear the weight of the sin he has committed until his dying day?

    No one has to tell Loren twice to get a move on; he's more than willing.

    "What was that?" he asks aloud. It's almost like he's seen them somewhere before, somehow. But, surely...

    They round the tunnels down another path for a distance, until a pathway above makes itself visible. There's a rope ladder leading upwards. Loren cranes his neck to see if he can spot anything about that space, and is just in time to see a little white face peeking down over the edge at him.

    He's up the ladder -- if it holds that is -- in an eyeblink.

    "Now hold it right there--"

    The little bear face is gone before he's even halfway up.

DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, What Hides Above.
==================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>===================
======================<* CHALLENGE - What Hides Above *>======================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility   |Challenge Rating: 3          |
--------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------
 The cavern's passages are twisty, and coil in on one another. Distinguishing
 marks are at times few and far between. Finding your way may be difficult.

 It's all the more reason why the rope ladder you come across leading up the
 side of a rock face stands out. There's a gap above, and within it,
 darkness! Where could a path like that lead?

 The ladder, though, is fraying. You'll need to ascend it quickly -- or have
 some other means to assist yourself should it begin to fail.
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret, Hesitate=========================================
=============<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest - Round 3 *>==============
========================< Results - What Hides Above >========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          21 --(17)--> 38                Fail
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   5 --(17)--> 22                 Fail
Rapid Remedy                        1   Agility Effects: Cleanse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       21 --(5)--> 26                 Pass
Bubble Pipe                         3   Agility Effects: Rally
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             5 --(5)--> 10                  Pass
Feather Fans                        3   Agility Effects: Fanfare
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rixia                               17 --(5)--> 22                 Pass
Rush                                0   Agility Effects: BASIC
----------------------------------< Party >-----------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  40 --(20)--> 60                Pass
Conditions: Collapse|Hesitate(2)|Secret(2)
Effects: Cleanse
==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party
management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
DG: Catenna has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Wall of Blades *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Someone didn't want other people to make their way through this cavern. You
 may have seen other hints of this sentiment before, but this becomes ever
 truer with presence of the obstacle before you:

 A wall of blades. They glitter with promised menace. They do not move. They
 are not animated by anything but an ancient enchantment to hold them as a
 horrible bramble-bush of swords, but to press through them unshielded would
 be hideously ill-advised.

 You'll need to figure out some way to force your way through without hurting
 yourself.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline chuckles good-naturedly at Loren's protests. Frankly, it's nice to see another side of him.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul." Jacqueline replies.

At the ladder, there's another laugh as Rixia complains about being thirsty - this one a bit more sheepish.

"Hahah... Sorry, I've got some water I can share once we're at the top." She apologises. She nods knowingly toward Lanval, then, as he points out that he'd offer a drink, if it weren't for the circumstances.

"Right, good idea." Jacqueline says, as Catenna requests to go ahead. She'll scale her way up the rope no problem, with Rixia right behind. It takes Jacqueline and Loren the longest - there's a bit of a scare where it looks like the rope will be about to snap, but between Catenna and Lanval they'll be able to follow everyone up safely.

And as for Lanval, well... he can just ride one of his bubbles on up.

"Whew, alright... Just a second." Jacqueline says with a sigh, taking a moment to catch her breath. This sort of athletics has never been her specialty.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna waits at the bottom of the ladder to catch the others. She's the last to ascend, doing so adeptly and without actually touching the fraying ropes. There's no need - she's agile enough to just jump.

And catch. When Jay seems about to fall, delicate hands catch her shoulders. Catenna's angled herself across the shaft, heels braced on one side, her back on the other. She smiles up at Jay with a little blush.

They survive; they continue. The Moon Shaman swaps her fans for her bow, arrow ready in her free hand as she moves forward at a stealthy creep. She bites down to her lower lip as she looks around one corner, then the next one, gaining ground gradually but in a way that allows her to spot problems coming. As the group approaches another corner, she holds a hand up, then peeks around it.

Into about a bazillion blades. She opens her mouth and flinches back instinctively.

It takes her a couple of heartbeats to realize that:

    a) The swords are not actively stabbing her, and
b) There is a hall beyond what is in fact a giant sword tangle.

"Oh, this is going to be extremely painful," Catenna sighs, straightening and setting her bow aside again. She takes a sidestep and gestures. "Take a look."

Saarda-Shanta hops down and perches on the floor. <There is a sustained spell holding them here. An old one, but still potent. I am not sure they physically can be moved.>

Catenna wets her lips and holds out both hands. "I think I can help with that."

<Appropriate.> The white owl wiggles to one side to make room.

Inhaling slowly, the Moon Shaman focuses and taps a current of energy. She releases it in a subtle shimmer. The blue-white glow is faint, like a reflection on a rippling pond that trickles outward and weaves itself amongst the sword wall. A couple of them shudder, then a few more, before something within the mess ripples. The entire sword-wall jingles and shivers in a thousand rasps of steel on steel as the enchantment holding the blades there begins to weaken under the dispellation spell.

"I don't... think I can loosen them much more," Catenna apologizes, voice a bit strained as she sustains the spell. "Please hurry."

DG: Catenna has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Wall of Blades.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    "Wait up, Mister Bear...!" Rixia whines ever-so-gently, as she scampers her way up to the top -- it's dicey going for a moment, with the rope ladder being so rickety, but Catenna suggests that she use some of the footholds. Whew.

    She nods at Jacqueline, though, invigorated at the promise of water at the top. She could use a glug! But she also spots the bubbles...

    "... hey, those bubbles were there too during the block puzzle trial. Does this mean..." Rixia thinks for a moment. "I'm bubble-blessed?? It must be! That makes it so much easier for me! Thanks, Bubble Faerie!"

    ... well, she's not... that far off, right, Lanval?

    Loren says it's not what it thinks, and Rixia grins even wider. "Oh, come on, there's no use hiding it. Little bears are cute and you don't want to see it get hurt, I getcha."

    Before long, though, they come across -- a whole pile of blades!! Rixia yelps in tandem with Catenna, before realising it's not flying towards her. She stops for a moment, and comes to... an incredibly different conclusion:

    "Wow, look at all those swords! Think about how much money we can get selling them! I could eat meat and not-stale bread and even cakes for a week! Let's disassemble them!" Rixia exclaims loudly.

    ...

    ...

    Well, her priorities are pretty straight-forward, huh?

    The gunblade appears again, and Rixia spends time shuffling through her menu again. "Hmm, let's see, let's see... ah!"

    >> junction --status-atk-j dispel

    Following up on Catenna's spell, her own gunblade is sheathed in a gray-black energy that positively ripples with anti-magic. "Let's go!" Swing!

DG: Rixia has used her Tool UP3 Violating Executable toward her party's challenge, Wall of Blades.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    "Bubble Faerie...?" Lanval hears the nickname, and just has another laugh. He stops laughing for a bit when Catenna returns from her scouting ahead and the revelation of this strange barrier-barricade of blades. He tries to think about it. The Sword Guardian doesn't have much of a presence nor sway up here, by his reckoning, but that aspect of the Guardians isn't really part of his sphere of knowledge, such as it is.

     "Mmm." Catenna's already taking point on the attempts to apply her potent grasp of gravitational forces to try and loosen this massive mass of masterfal blades. While there's all this going on, the Water Seraph leans over to poor, bear-watching Loren with a little smile on his face.

     "Did ya find shomethin' that brightensh yer day at lasht?" He says, to a young man incredibly flustered and caught off-guard to having a bunch of surface dwellers and associates happen upon him on this. Still, there's the call to help disassemble them, as one eye opens to that odd weapon Rixia holds. Lanval staggers along over to see a giant mass of pointy things he can't move, that bubbles can't safely ferry across nor through, and considers what it is he's going to do.

     "I bet if we wait long enough they'll all jusht rusht away 'n we can... go through..." In how many years?

     ...

     He instead reaches out with his free hand towards anything that looks like an exposed hilt to try and give a tug, in case it's one of those silly 'pull one thing and it all comes apart' deals.

DG: Seraph Lanval has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Wall of Blades.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Thanks..." Jacqueline says with a grateful sigh, as Catenna gives her a hand up.

Up ahead, beyond the ladder... are swords! Lots and lots of swords, very insistent on not letting anything through. A slow frown crosses Jacqueline's face.

"...Ah." She remarks, studying them carefully. Indeed, it's a potent spell. And the nature of the spell means that any earth sorcery she might use to try to hinder them would cause them all just as much trouble in trying to proceed.

Well, it might not be the water she promised but it is a drink, so...

"Here, take this." Jacqueline says, producing some bottles of bright red liquid. It's a strength-boosting potion that should hopefully give them the edge they need to overcome the ones in front of them.

"That might work for you, but the rest of us really don't have that kind of time..." She asides to Lanval. She does chuckle a little, though, at Rixia's comment.

"You've got the mindset of a merchant. If your business with the Guard falls through, that might be a line of work to consider." She comments. It's... it's also a little sad, though.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Wall of Blades.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren grimaces, if only because he doesn't believe her. "Right," is what he actually says, before they move along. His little buddy (??) isn't about to find itself, now is it?

    But that was then, and this is now. Climbing a crumbling rope ladder is trickier than it might seem, particularly with the various points where it feels like it's just about to snap and send him down to the tunnel floor below. But in the end, he's up and over the edge.

    "Right," he says, taking a moment to get his bearings.

    They can't just stick around here. There might be more of those... things.
    And not only does he have a bear to find, but that weapon that girl used was...
    He's pretty sure it's not something she should just have.

    Said girl then, of course, remarks on the bear being pretty cute and that he's not the type to want to see it get hurt. "H-hey, that's not... you're making a lot of assumptions!" he protests, waving his hands in the air as if he could thereby deflect the whole line of conversation. But Lanval joins in.

    "Hey! Quit it! It's not-- I said it's not what it looks like!"

    He's not exactly providing any sort of counterargument for what it actually is, though. (And to Rixia's view he is arguing to... thin air?)

    There's no trace of that bear here, but the path leads in only one direction. So there's probably only way in which it could have gone.
    Said path is, as it happens, entirely blocked by a floating wall of blades. Something can just be seen through the maze of sharp-edged steel. Is that--

    Yes! It's the bear!

    Behind the wall of blades, perfectly unharmed.

    "How did you even get back there," Loren complains to the world at large, clutching the stone tightly in his left hand as he focuses, drawing upon his control of earth to bash the swords out of the way.

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Worry Stone toward his party's challenge, Wall of Blades.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Wall of Blades *>========================
|Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute     |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 Someone didn't want other people to make their way through this cavern. You
 may have seen other hints of this sentiment before, but this becomes ever
 truer with presence of the obstacle before you:

 A wall of blades. They glitter with promised menace. They do not move. They
 are not animated by anything but an ancient enchantment to hold them as a
 horrible bramble-bush of swords, but to press through them unshielded would
 be hideously ill-advised.

 You'll need to figure out some way to force your way through without hurting
 yourself.
=Dungeon Conditions: Overzealous, Injure======================================
==============<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest - Round 4 *>===============
==========================< Results - Wall of Blades >==========================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          38 --(12)--> 50                Pass
Worry Stone                         2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   22 --(29)--> 51                Fail
Brewte Force                        1   Brute   Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       26 --(12)--> 38                Pass
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             10 --(29)--> 39                Fail
Force                               0   Brute   Effects: BASIC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rixia                               22 --(12)--> 34                Pass
UP3 Violating Executable            2   Brute   Effects: Stalwart
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  60 --(15)--> 75                Fail
Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Injure(2)|Overzealous(2)|Secret(1)
Effects: Strengthen(1)
===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss 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> Catenna has posed.

Catenna cracks a little smile at 'Bubble Faerie,' sword wall or not.

Even as she holds the spell, she gives Rixia a look of interest at the power wreathing her gunblade. She can't question right away, though. Holding the spell is taking enough of her focus that in-depth conversation wouldn't be easy. This is even more true because swords are pointy.

"They have been here for long enough," she advises Lanval, understandably tense. Dispellation spells are supposed to be shorter-term things. The enchantment is defying her efforts to just bring it down - it's old, it's complex and it's been there for so long that it's woven itself into the local ley background tightly. She bites her lower lip and concentrates.

The swords shudder against one another. "Give me a second," she breathes before refocusing. The ripple in the air comes again.

Jay's potion helps - but the issue isn't strength. It's care. Individually, the swords are not hard to dislodge. But they're oriented with the pointy ends outwards, and the hilts are so tightly interlinked that there is simply no option but to handle the blades. Rixia manages by simply cutting them out of the magical backdrop in small clusters, Lanval by swiping a few on the flats.

Loren has to figure out an adorable bear. He manages with rocks. Swords clatter to the ground.

They do so in small groups. It's a time-consuming process. Rixia can take out small chunks of the spell and Catenna can soften it up, but it still requires manual removal of nearly a hundred swords before the spell finally gives and the rest of the blades begin to clatter to the ground.

Catenna wilts a little. "Phew...."

DG: Rixia has drawn a new Challenge.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - King of the Tonberries *>====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 At last, the cavern tunnels open up into a larger chamber. This must be the
 center! Which means that the cause of the disturbance here...

 ...Is standing right before you. He's huge, at least eight, nine feet tall
 -- towering over most of his fellow Tonberries. Clad in red, red robes and
 with a shining golden crown on his head, this must be the fabled 'Tonberry
 King'.

 He regards you with glowing golden eyes. His knife -- of course he has a
 knife! -- glints in his grasp.

 And slowly, he advances on you, pure rancor advertised in those eyes.
 However you might have behaved yourself getting in here, he cares little.
 There can be no reasoning with him.

 Only battle.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright, Suffer====================================
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    Rixia genuinely squints at Jacqueline's comment about being a merchant as she glugs her Brewte Force. "Really? I mean, I just joined the Guard to chase after my dad... and because they gave me nice new clothes that're warm... and shoes that don't have holes in them... and some money so I can buy some not-stale bread."

    She beams brightly. "My conditions in life have levelled up thanks to that!"

    Still, Loren's little bear keeps fleeing from them. "This is starting to get unbearable... what a little troublemaker!" Still, it's super cute, and she has a high tolerance for mischief from cute things...

    "Hmmph, assumptions? I think what's happening is pretty clear," Rixia does grin. "C'mon, let's make sure the rascal doesn't get into serious trouble--"

    Which, uh, uh oh, just past the wall of swords, there's...

    Another Tonberry. This one's clad in red robes, with a cute golden crown hovering over his head. The Tonberry... King!

    "M-m-maybe we can negotiate with it...? It feels like the kind of Tonberry that looks menacing but maybe really just wants to run a Junk Shop! You know, be a remote merchant kinda person!" Rixia looks a bit panicked.

    Alas, Rixia, that's another Tonberry King, from another Tonberry World.

    The Tonberry gets the first move as it waves its lantern -- and for a moment Rixia's swarmed with ominous, violent dark energy that threatens to consume her! "W-wait, wait, wait, why meeeeeee---"

    Everyone's Grudge: ... ... ... 0 damage!

    Rixia pauses. "Huh? Eh?" She pats herself. "I'm fine!" She frantically draws out a small astrolabe and clings to it. "Come on, come on, there's no time-- I'll just have to make time! Haste!"

    Spinning ephemeral clocks spin around each member of the party, accelerating their movements and making their own reactions faster!

DG: Rixia has used her Tool Rui's Old Astrolabe toward her party's challenge, King of the Tonberries.
<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

It takes Catenna a minute or so to recharge after the effort of holding the spell for so long. She shakes herself back into action soon enough and flashes a reassuring smile. Saarda-Shanta flutters after her, circling Loren once for posterity.

Even the owl is charmed by Loren's little bear friend. Saarda-Shanta does not say anything, but there is a definite air of mirth that comes through more as a presence than anything else.

Ahead they creep, Catenna taking up a flank. She flashes Loren a faint smile, though. "When did you meet that bear? It is very cute. --Ah, actually, how should I gender the bear?"

Before she can ask further, another Tonberry arises. This one has a crown. This is where you know it's bad news. The lantern is waved at Rexia...

...who is fine. Catenna blinks at her a couple of times.

"...Is it possible that being a cinnamon roll is true power," she whispers in awe.

Then she holds her hands out and focuses again. Power musters in the air, roiling around the tallest and meanest of Tonberries. Gravity closes in, attempting to crush and compress the big grudge-holder under its own mass. Even if she can't just compact the Tonberry King outright, Catenna's attempting to anchor it and prevent it from inevitably shuffling towards them.

There is only so far they can walk backwards. The battlefield is only as big as your TV screen, player.

DG: Catenna has used her Tool Celesdue Medium toward her party's challenge, King of the Tonberries.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    When Rixia describes the sheer joy of having things like better clothes, and better food, Lanval just quietly projects his natural Domain of enhancing those small joys. It's easy to lose sight of stuff like that, and it also helps carry him through the arduous task of trying to move aside far, far, far too many swords placed together in a protective ward.

     They come across something utterly terrifying, even when taken at an abstract it's too ridiculous as a visual to convey the gravity of threat and power their presence holds.

     His eyes start to open as the lantern waves, summoning forth waves of rancor that converge upon Rixia. Sudden, senseless death is a given in life...

     But as the wave of it fades, Rixia doesn't seem... hurt, at all, even though the force looked and felt injurious looking from the outside in. A Resonance thing? No, she can see them just fine, Lanval contemplates the metaphysics of it all as ephemeral clocks move to help give everyone a bit of an extra boost in movement.

     "All right." Lanval stops stroking his chin. He takes an entire bottle's worth of Holy Bottle, drinks it(!), and smashes the bottle against the wall. He starts to approach the King Tonberry, slowly, holding the drinking gourd with all its heft by the rope, dangling like their lantern. In his other hand...

     A broken bottle. He approaches, because he can't hit them unless he comes closer. Palpable tension and power fills the air - a powerful Fiend over there, a direct servant of the water of an entire world over here. As they come within striking range...

     Lanval expels sanctified Holy Bottle waters from his mouth in an almost playful waterspout spray in their face.

DG: Seraph Lanval has used his Tool Holy Bottle toward his party's challenge, King of the Tonberries.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    He moves in quickly as the swords fall to the ground in a clatter, stepping over them not even seconds after they hit the stone. Swooping down, he collects the bear before it can make another escape. It wriggles in his hands momentarily, then rolls around and bites his thumb.

    Loren doesn't so much as blink. Maybe it doesn't have adult teeth in yet? "Cut it out," he tells the bear, which has grown more quiescent after delivering that bite. "You don't want to stay here, do you?"

    He's still holding the bear aloft when Catenna asks him a rather important question: what pronoun is correct for the bear?

    "Uh," Loren says, looking over at her blankly. "I don't know." How do you sex a bear, anyway?

    "It's a long story," he says after contemplating the white bear for a few moments more as if it could answer this mystery itself. As others might notice, parts of its torso have no real 'presence' -- Loren's fingers go right through it, and small tufts of itself occasionally break free to float off and dissipate into nothing.

    But untimately, Loren opens his bag and slips the bear into it (it wriggles about a little bit but doesn't seem to be unused to this mode of transport). Probably, here is where he should get going, but...

    There's something up with this place, for one thing. And then there's the girl with the illegal weapon. He's just got to hope that he won't regret pushing on ahead--

    Actually, he considers, not even seconds later, he regrets this deeply.

    "Is this their... king?" he wonders aloud, gaze firmly fixed on that all-too-big knife. "But they're fiends! ...Right?"

    Whether or not it's a fiend, it's coming right for them. Step. Step. Step.

    Step.

    "--That's close enough!" Loren barks, thinking back of the tonberry they squished (or at least trapped ~forever~) in the tunnels of the cave. Does the king know what they did?!

    Threading Ether through the wires looped at his wrist, Loren shuffles his back over to the shoulder opposite the tonberry king, as if he could also thereby protect the bear with the pane-of-light shields he conjures before himself and all the others.

    After all, that knife looks really sharp.
    And he's not sure it's going to be stopped so easily--!

DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Ether Tuner toward his party's challenge, King of the Tonberries.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"It's alright, it's just a little joke." Jacqueline replies. "But, I'm glad they've been working out for you."

They proceed - carefully, with no small amount of effort - through the wall of blades...and come face to face with another Tonberry. This one, though is clad in red, and bears a shining crown.

"...I am beginning to wonder if those swords were meant for this. I certainly hope they aren't angry about the other one..." Jacqueline comments, immediately backpedaling. Unfortunately, the Tonberry sees them and immediately begins to move aggressively toward them. A fight is inevitable, and so Jacqueline draws out the Lifeweaver's Codex.

"This is... a Tonberry King! They're the biggest and most powerful of the bunch. They've got dark powers that aren't very well understood - they affect some people even more than others..." Case in point - the way the Tonberry's spell seems to just... plink off Rixia? Jacqueline breathes a sigh of relief at that, at least. "They can shrug off ridiculous amounts of punishment and sorcerous attempts at hindering them, and that knife is deadly. So keep your distance - just do whatever you can to try and stop it!"

Jacqueline shuts the book, then, and brandishes her right hand with a gesture. A bolt of lightning crashes down from the heavens toward the Tonberry King - and she'll repeat this as many times as it takes.

DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, King of the Tonberries.
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
====================<* CHALLENGE - King of the Tonberries *>====================
|Type: Final       |Dungeon Ability: Combat    |Challenge Rating: 3          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 At last, the cavern tunnels open up into a larger chamber. This must be the
 center! Which means that the cause of the disturbance here...

 ...Is standing right before you. He's huge, at least eight, nine feet tall
 -- towering over most of his fellow Tonberries. Clad in red, red robes and
 with a shining golden crown on his head, this must be the fabled 'Tonberry
 King'.

 He regards you with glowing golden eyes. His knife -- of course he has a
 knife! -- glints in his grasp.

 And slowly, he advances on you, pure rancor advertised in those eyes.
 However you might have behaved yourself getting in here, he cares little.
 There can be no reasoning with him.

 Only battle.
=Dungeon Conditions: Wound, Fright, Suffer====================================
==============<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest - Round 5 *>===============
======================< Results - King of the Tonberries >======================
Player                               Exhaustion                      Pass/Fail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loren Voss                          50 --(13)--> 63                Pass
Ether Tuner                         3   Combat  Effects: Rally
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jacqueline Barber                   51 --(13)--> 64                Pass
The Lifeweaver's Codex              2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seraph Lanval                       38 --(30)--> 68                Fail
Holy Bottle                         2   Combat  Effects: Resilient
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catenna                             39 --(13)--> 52                Pass
Celesdue Medium                     2   Combat  Effects: Embolden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rixia                               34 --(13)--> 47                Pass
Rui's Old Astrolabe                 3   Combat  Effects: Fanfare
-----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------
Leader: Loren Voss                  75 --(35)--> 110               Pass
Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(1)|Overzealous(1)|Suffer(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 Loren Voss has successfully explored Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest!
===================<* Cavern of the Stolen Fayth - Unrest *>====================
======================<* CHALLENGE - Bring You the Edge *>======================
|Type: Discovery   |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1          |
---------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------
 With one final push, the king falls!

 For all their nature, the Tonberries that meet you soon after the death of
 their king are without rancor as they approach the fallen ruler. Something
 like calm has fallen upon the cavern; perhaps now -- at least /for/ now --
 peace will return to this place.

 They bear away their fallen ruler in silence. The king is dead, long live
 the...

 Questions about the lines of succession for Tonberries aside, you are able
 to press on into the inner chambers of the cavern. Before you lies the
 entrance to the space in which the stolen Fayth now rests, but before you
 also lingers a mural most ancient.

 Preserved against the ravages of time is painted on the wall in a series of
 illustrations as a means of instruction: they demonstrate step by step the
 movements required to unleash a blade in a singular cutting blow. It speaks
 to creating a negative space with the blade: an empty moment, if one would.

 While the illustration demonstrates a blade, this could be modified to
 encompass other weapons.

 The entrance to the Fayth awaits, but only a Summoner may pass further, even
 in this place. (if you are a Summoner and are interested in Yojimbo as an
 Aeon, submit a +request!).
=Dungeon Conditions: Secret===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.

    A harrowing battle ensues! The power of Celesdue presses down on the Tonberry, who briefly becomes very cubical -- but its mighty wrath can't be held down forever, not even by a Guardian, and the Guardian of the Moon at that!!

    It does, however, get sprayed still in place by a whole goutful of Holy Bottle, and it reacts as if a vampire reacting to its vulnerability, flailing a little. That buys Loren time to put up shields before it can really hammer that knife home on someone, which also gives Jacqueline time to finish the battle with a powerful bolt of lightning from the heavens.

    The little bear pops up from behind the fallen Tonberry King (who has a teardrop emote and a cross-shaped bandage on its head now), and ambles up to Loren as if it hasn't just caused immense trouble for everyone.

    "Huaa......" Rixia collapses onto her back. "I'm beat... I just want a hot cup of cocoa now... and a banana milkshake... what about a strawberry parfait..."

    Now that they've cleared the path, they proceed into the inner chambers of the cavern... where the Fayth now rests. But also, a mural most ancient, rumoured to belong to an ancient Crusader, who dedicated every waking moment studying the blade while his compatriots partied... ... maybe.

    Regardless, it suggests a demonstration with a blade, and Rixia's gunblade starts to beep. "Eh? What's it doing?"

    >> [debug] synthesising information
    >> [debug] calibrating technique to user's current parameters
    >> [debug] easy-automatic mode on
    >> [debug] ... ... ... 100% synthesis complete
    >> [info] technique 'rough divide' is now available. please select topic for tutorial (recommended based on user preferences)

    "Ummm... cool! It did something!" Rixia muses helplessly. "Oh well! We got the cute little bear back!" Rixia's face is positively :3. "I get first dibs on petting!"

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Even the fact that Catenna is channeling the Moon Guardian while on the Moon cannot cause a Tonberry to remain a Toncube. Especially not the King Toncube.

But it helps. They all do. Catenna contributes a few arrows towards the end before sinking to one knee with a rush of breath. As Rixia pines for sweet fruits, the Moon Shaman casts a faint, charmed smile her way.

"When we are done," she offers gently, "I will fix you some hot cocoa. White chocolate. With passion fruit."

Catenna picked up some Spira-style treat recipes while traveling. (It'll be delicious. Trust her.)

The mural is met with a curious interest. Catenna rests her hands on the arches of her hips, pressing her lips together and giving the mural a keen scan. She cocks her head to one side before drawing her bow and stretching the string experimentally.

"The theory seems sound," she murmurs. "I'll have to try this."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

The smoke clears, and the Tonberry King has fallen. Jacqueline breathes a sigh of relief.

"I wonder... do you think the Tonberries set up the traps, or did whoever came here first set them up to keep the Tonberries inside...?" Jacqueline considers. Well, they can move forward, at any rate - and so they do.

Ahead is the entrance to the Chamber of the Fayth... but it isn't for them to enter. There is, however, a mural.

"Hm, fascinating..." Jacqueline remarks. She draws out her notebook and begins to take down notes. This will be useful, should anyway wish to consult the mural again later.

She doesn't have much use for the technique herself - she doesn't use her knife that much these days, instead opting for books as her weapon of choice. Still, much like the Aura Bolt technique she learned before, it's a useful novelty that may come in handy at some point.