2022-05-21: Frozen in Memory
- Log: Frozen in Memory
- Cast: Ruth Pauling, Eleanor Klein, Josephine Lovelace, Jacqueline Barber, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Zulan Massif
- Date: May 21, 2022
- Summary: All trials start with a single step. But the past is sometimes capable of taking two at a time.
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Chill Out *>=========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The cold stillness of Kahedin's halls is in stark contrast to the howling winds of blinding snow you endured to get here. But an even more inviting sight awaits further in: plush rugs and cushioned seats, mismatched in color and texture and stitched lovingly by amateur hands. The area is lit comfortably by the hum of glowing wisps lazily weaving through the area -- potent ice magic that, if touched, will burst harmlessly into glittering flakes. A Seraph conjures once such wisp, and turns toward your party with a flinch that suggests the surprise that should be written on his face were it not hidden by a dragon-styled mask. His hair turns from white to pale blue from root to end, reaching to the floor and draped around him as much as his own fur hemmed robes and quilt he wears as a shawl. "Oh! Hello. Welcome!" He motions to the comfortable area presented to everyone. "Please. Rest a while. It /is/ a Trial that awaits you. And it would so happen that I have been perfecting a hot chocolate recipe over these past few millennia for such an occasion." Whether you sit or not, the Seraph serves everyone mugs of hot chocolate with fat marshmallows. "How are you all fairing? Do any of you require healing? I would love to hear the story behind this visit." Eventually, you will need to be one your way, and the Seraph will let you go with an embarrassed apology... But if you don't take care to avoid getting lost in company and conversation, that could end up being longer than you intend. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The Shrine of the Ice Trial - Kahedin - has become a little easier to visit after a handful of other teams have made the journey. A little easier. It's in Zulan, Zulan is a cold place and not the cool kind of cold with arctic creatures drinking a specific brand of soft drink and culturally appropriated figures of generosity.
Its halls bear all the marks of the handiwork of ancient Seraphic Artes for this purpose, freezing and brisk to traverse until one opens the doors... to a comfortable living room. Plush rugs and cushioned seats, hand-made lovingly if not completely skilfully. Glowing wisps provide illumination that will burst into glittering flakes (they are not explody or stabby, they're neat and pretty).
A Seraph wearing a dragon mask bearing long hair and adorning a quilt repurposed into a makeshift shawl. "Hello. Welcome, welcome! I am Seraph Brunor, caretaker of Kahedin. Please, rest a while. You've come far to partake the Trial that awaits you."
There's no nasty trick here with the furniture, or with the hot chocolate the host provides. How does an Ice Seraph produce hot chocolate? Uh. Anyway. "I have been perfecting a hot chocolate recipe over these past few millennia for such an occasion!"
Ruth has managed to keep herself contained along the way. She lacks temperature sensitivity and is least in the need for warmth - although a part of her remembers her brief reintroduction to it in the wake of the Trial administered by Yvain, but takes her seat as she's served one with fat marshmallows. (Everyone gets some!)
"I would love to hear the story behind this visit," he asks of the collected, as Ruth stares into her drink and chances a few slurping sips.
DG: Ruth Pauling has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chill Out.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor doesn't mind the cold. She does dress for the cold, of course. A fur-lined coat over a thick dress and warm tights, sturdy boots against the snow and ice. Her hair hangs long, but she is wearing a hat to protect her ears. It's all in pale golds and browns, a very lovely outfit actually. She has gloves, and they do not interfere with her Crest casting at all. And as she looks to this place...
"It's beautiful," the elf comments as she regards the Shrine, even before and after they reach the comfortable living room. The clear care that went into the presentation of this place is far more important than theoretical skill; it is more than adequate. She does not pop the wisps, though she is curious. Instead she looks to the Seraph, and politely bows towards him.
"Thank you for your welcome," she says warmly. "...It's a rather different experience than most of the others!" A beat, "I should love to try your recipe."
Eleanor happily drinks some cocoa, though she is not the one who will tell the story of the visit. Not immediately, anyway. She encourages the others to speak, though!!
DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chill Out.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
And lo, Josephine Lovelace, itinerant archaeologist and all-around-bad-person-at-large, had found herself tasked with a quest.
...Well, that may be overstating it a little bit. It would be more accurate to say that Yvain had made a particular suggestion when she herself had raised the topic of the shrines, and thus...
"Fengalon's balls, it's cold," Josie hisses, wrapping her arms about her midsection once she escapes the chill of the Zulan Massif (and surroundings) for the relative warmth of...
...relative warmth...
okay, so it's cold in here too
"...Damn!" Josie utters, as soon as this realization dawns upon her. "Can't catch a beggar's chance! Right, so--"
She's met by a Seraph. "And hot cocoa? Well ain't you a sight for sore eyes, Bruno," she remarks pleasantly enough, slipping right into casual honorifics. "Don't quite mind if I do. Now, let's see..."
Turning her head from Brunor, she soon realizes that she's not along here, either. For one, there's Pauling, and...
"I ain't here on business, right," she says to Eleanor before plopping down in a seat opposite, then retrieving a cigarette and lighting it with a snap of her fingers (and a wiff of ozone).
"I figured I'd do a buddy of mine a solid," she says, gesturing with her cigarette. "You heard of Yvvie any? Besides... way I figure, if'n I head from fire to ice, maybe I'll even out the difference. Right?" She grins, brightly.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Chill Out.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline has her own reasons for visiting the Ice Shrine. Namely... for research, discovery, and satisfying her own curiosity. Strengthening her spirit through the Trial is important too, of course, but she can't deny what her heart's telling her.
And so it is that Jacqueline Barber finds herself making the trek to the Ice Shrine. As it is on the frozen heights of Mount Zulan, she has made sure to provide warming potions to help fight back a bit of the chill - vibrantly-red potions that taste of cinnamon.
Now, they all find themselves at the entrance to the shrine and open the doors to an...
...incredibly comfy living room?? The Carakin's living room is built for comfort, but it might have met its match today.
"Ah..." Jacqueline starts, a bit taken back. Before long, though, she regains her composure and offers a polite bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Seraph Brunor. Thank you for your hospitality."
Before long she finds herself seated with a mug of delicious hot chocolate. ...It's very good. A lovingly-prepared mug of hot chocolate is just as good as a warming potion...
The matter then turns to the reason for their visit. She looks toward Josie as she speaks. Yvain... hm.
"As for myself... I consider myself a scholar, of sorts, so I'm very interested in the Shrine itself. I am interested in strengthening myself through the trial, but knowledge is my primary interest." Jacqueline explains.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chill Out.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel has been helping out with the Shrines when she has time because, well, she has a plan you see.
She collects her mug of hot chocolate, sticks her fangs into the side of the mug, and drains the hot chocolate through the mug that way. She smacks her lips once and then sets the newly vampirized mug back down.
"Delicious. You are one of the best Seraphs around now according to the secret ruler of Filgaia. Thank you."
She glances to Josephine. Is she about to draw iron???
Nope. Marivel may have forgotten that Josie is actually an Odessa agent (more likely she doesn't want to press the issue during a sensitive trial and junk).
"I'm already overpowered," Marivel adds. "So I'm mostly here to make sure the kids don't get suckered."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Chill Out.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ==========================<* CHALLENGE - Chill Out *>=========================== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The cold stillness of Kahedin's halls is in stark contrast to the howling winds of blinding snow you endured to get here. But an even more inviting sight awaits further in: plush rugs and cushioned seats, mismatched in color and texture and stitched lovingly by amateur hands. The area is lit comfortably by the hum of glowing wisps lazily weaving through the area -- potent ice magic that, if touched, will burst harmlessly into glittering flakes. A Seraph conjures once such wisp, and turns toward your party with a flinch that suggests the surprise that should be written on his face were it not hidden by a dragon-styled mask. His hair turns from white to pale blue from root to end, reaching to the floor and draped around him as much as his own fur hemmed robes and quilt he wears as a shawl. "Oh! Hello. Welcome!" He motions to the comfortable area presented to everyone. "Please. Rest a while. It /is/ a Trial that awaits you. And it would so happen that I have been perfecting a hot chocolate recipe over these past few millennia for such an occasion." Whether you sit or not, the Seraph serves everyone mugs of hot chocolate with fat marshmallows. "How are you all fairing? Do any of you require healing? I would love to hear the story behind this visit." Eventually, you will need to be one your way, and the Seraph will let you go with an embarrassed apology... But if you don't take care to avoid getting lost in company and conversation, that could end up being longer than you intend. =Dungeon Conditions: Reckless=================================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 1 *>================ ============================< Results - Chill Out >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(13)--> 13 Fail Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 0 --(13)--> 13 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Never Let Go *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your party remembers the embrace of someone who loved them. Whether you were in pain, or in a time of celebration, they brought comfort - and you relive this moment. It is as comforting as you recall, down to the very detail. They may be someone you dearly miss, or someone you can't wait to get back to. Your present pains and stresses melt away in that instant... but that instant drags on. They aren't letting go. A part of you doesn't want to either, but you have to. The longer you're in their embrace, the harder it will be to feel and fight the freezing cold setting in. You may need to be drastic in getting the message across, but even so, these 'someones' do not break character. (These 'someones' are really Hellions who also can't let go of wanting to relive similar moments, but at least are acting in earnest - even if they are being selfish about it.) =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Seraph Brunor returns niceties as they are given. "It would hearten the one who taught me how to make them to hear such praise!"
He gives a look over to Eleanor. "Every Trial is different, of course. As its keeper, it is my right - and desire - to show you hospitality and warmth. Your journey here must have been harsh indeed. It would not do to have a journey bereft of a moment of joy."
Josie is allowed to smoke. It's fine, maybe not so much in a few decades but for now it's fine. "Yvie... fire? Ah. I see. You have been on a pilgrimage across the various Trials intended for the Shepherd, I see... but I do not sense the presence of the Prime Lord among you. Most curious... but I will not bar the path of those who journey here."
Brunor turns to Jay next. "You seek knowledge, is it. Hm. I will have some for you in time..."
Mairvel vamps the mug. It's fine. "Suckered? My!" Scandalous, but Brunor takes it in good stride. "Perhaps I should give them your share of the marshmallows on the next round...!"
Brunor, at last, looks to Ruth who has been silent and nursing her drink. She doesn't look cold. She doesn't look warm.
"There's suffering I can't look away from," she says succinctly. "So I'm... here, too."
Brunor considers for a moment before stepping over to another corner of the room. "For those who wish to partake in the Trial... you will find what brings you happiness within, in whatever form it shall take. You are free to stay as long as you wish. Even if you would rather stay and enjoy the hot chocolate, nonetheless," a look to Jay, who speaks of knowledge.
"Remember what it is you hold most dear." Brunor says this as something opens with a prolonged creek. Doors! Pre-opened Doors, not a Brute challenge (...yet). Cold air starts to rush in, sound and all, but is only felt if one approaches.
...
The embrace of someone who loved. The context itself is not so important. Pain, loss, celebration... they brought a comfort, and this moment is relived. It is recreated down to the most exacting of details. Someone you dearly miss, or someone you can't wait to get back to. A someone who will not let go, and a part of oneself won't want to either.
As time passes, so, too, comes an encroaching chill that grows stronger - threatening to cement the embrace in ice.
For Ruth...
It is raining - drenching, even, alongside the coastal areas of Ignas. Irritation gives way to a growing, gnawing fatigue. She had to stay out here... alone. She volunteered to, after what happened. The mists rising from this rain challenged even the sharpness of her eyes, even as the pounding rain threatend to drown out what hearing she had left. She held her rifle out of sheer grit, and she should've seen it as a bad sign when she couldn't feel her left shoulder scream any more.
A silhouette rose behind her... but she didn't flinch, or move, as a large figure wrapped themselves around her.
"What are you d-doing?" She stammered, the touch having reminded her body of the chill that was starting to set. "Go back... go back to sleep." Increasingly insistent, on her end. "I'm on lookout... you can... sl-sleep."
They were both cold. Either of them may have been consigned to freeze to death, but in the moment... there was warmth. She was too tired to ask why, as her consciousness started to swim towards a sharp gnawing in her mind.
In her gloved hands, a Crest Graph. Moments later, a large splashing of water from above on who holds her. She didn't... do that, then. But now.
She doesn't deserve it. That thought's all it takes for her to (try to) break it, as she catches the whiff of Malevolence in the air - of selfishness.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Splashcrest toward her party's challenge, Never Let Go. Magikazam! Seraph Boudicca says, "i've been a greens-then-labor voter my entire life because i have hopes and dreams"
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Why is Eleanor here? Well, she didn't share. But she could easily have given a similar answer to Jay's. But she didn't! So it will remain a mystery for the moment whether Eleanor is here for knowledge, to support her friends, or for some other mysterious purpose.
"Hmm," she says. "Well, I appreciate the thought. It is... nice, to have a trial administered by someone with that ideal." But it suggests to Eleanor that the trial will be difficult, if he is so inclined to grant something kinder to start it off. "Thanks," she says to Marivel with a small laugh next. "We're glad to have you with us... But don't think we can't handle it, either!"
There is a part of her that admittedly would like to just stay for the cocoa, sensing the chill ahead. But... no.
Josie... Well. Josephine Lovelace is perhaps the only agent of Odessa that Eleanor both knows and doesn't personally detest. So when she says that she's not here on business, Eleanor lifts an eyebrow, but hears her out. "Hmm. A favor to a Seraph..." She has heard of Yvvie, though she just has to assume that that's the Seraph Yvain. Since she recalls him from the trial. "...All right." She remembers most about Josephine that she doesn't at all understand her. Maybe she will come to understand her better, in this. ...If not...
Well, a Lunarian holy trial is probably outside her jurisdiction as a leader of ARMS.
"We have no Shepherd, though we do have friends who are Seraphim. No.. 'Prime Lord', to my knowledge, however. No."
She reaches out to give Ruth an encouraging smile before they go, and then... they go. Remember what it is she holds most dear...
Eleanor is sixteen again. She's at a hotel in Guild Galad, in bed after a party. Everything seems so bright, and wonderful, in the moment; she glances down to her hand, at the engagement ring there, as a broad arm moves across her shoulders. "Mmm..."
Eleanor sighs, closing her eyes. "If it's going to be like this, then..." Maybe she can be happy after all.
Except... Except that it's cold. Eleanor frowns, and her eyes flicker open, and she feels not the warmth of her fiance, but the chill of snow. And she remembers. This is the past. She chose other than this. She chose..
"Xiu...?"
"...Stay," Monty's voice encourages. "For a while. We can worry about the others in the morning."
"..Yes, but--"
"You weren't very hesitant earlier."
"...But I--No. This is all wrong. This isn't what I chose." The ice begins to freeze over, and Eleanor finds her bare shoulders replaced by the warm fur she came in, as she pulls a Crest from her bag.
"Everyone! This is an illusion!"
She murmurs her spell, and pushes away, combining opposing elements into a spell that will empower all of them, may serve to draw some out who need it.
"This isn't what I chose... and it's not what he chose, either!"
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Knightscrest toward her party's challenge, Never Let Go.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel notices that she's being embraced from behind. She smells a familiar perfume. She feels the woman's sweat against the back of her neck, the faint ticklish touch of blue hair sliding against her shoulders. Marivel's shoulders tense and the woman behind her whispers into her ear, an electric sensation dangerously lingering on the back of her neck.
"You're always so tense..." Anastasia(?) murmurs, nibbling lightly against an ear as she works her hands up and works her hands into her shoulders.
"NGh..." Marivel grunts. "It's just how my body's made." It's a lie of course. Her existence is one bound to encounter a lot of stress even if she wasn't adventuring. Just working on any given ARM or gear requires a focus of unbreakable steel and maintaining that level of focus has a cost. And the mission--
--It's a timeless moment as the Memory Maze is without time. She knows that she will leave, is leaving, and has left every second she is present. But she doesn't want to. Neither does Ana kisses her hard enough on the neck to leave a hickey in the great ironic twist of the scenario. Ana's hands dig into the shoulder blades. It feels cold to the touch but of course Marivel doesn't exactly emit that much body heat to begin with.
Ana's hands start trailing donwward. "I wish we could be here together forever..."
"Me too," Marivel says. "I sometimes wonder if she knew and that's why..." She trails off without finishing the thought. "I don't want to go. But I know that I do."
Ana pulls her lips back and whispers directly into her pointy ear.
"Maybe you don't have to."
Marivel is quiet for a long moment. Ice starts flitting across her body, crawling down her sides, up her neck. down to her clothes.
"Maybe...we can do our own thing this time...?" Ana pulls back just enough, the trail of saliva dangling.
"..." Marivel laughs. Then she laughs and laughs and laughs.
"Oh you poor fascimilie..." She chuckles even as the hellion holds her ever tighter.
"Mari...?" The Hellion asks, confused. The pretender is oblivious to how her own shadow is starting to develop chains that lash out and wrap around her arms and legs as Marivel slowly stands up, rematerializing her dress in a pulse of Dark energy.
She turns aroun and stares at the Hellion. The illusion is still active around the fake but MArivel's eyes glow crimson, her fangs bared as Marivel stares and stares and stares.
"What do you mean...?" The hellion gasps as the chains pull tight, binding her.
"Perhaps you thought Ana was different... But I'm afraid to inform you that you miscalculated... There is nobody I love that hasn't left me behind... Or pushed me away."
"I didn't... I didn't want to be alone..." The hellion struggles then pleads, "We can be together forever...! I won't leave you...!"
Marivel's lips twitch upward and she grins monstrously.
"As you wish," Marivel says before the shadows swirl around the hellion, fangs forming out of shadows, biting and tearing into flesh and sinew, ripping the Hellion apart the way a pack of wolves might--
--and nothing is left. Not even bone.
"Rest well within me," Marivel murmurs. "I'll be sure we are together for a very long time."
And then she turns and continues walking to rejoin the others, readying her goofy playful persona for when she returns ot the group, seemingly unharmed outside of a faint bit of ichor on her cheek.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Never Let Go.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Something like that," she says to Brunor, waving her hand (and thus wafting smoke into the air). "I ain't no Shepherd, though, right. Let's get that much straight!" She flashes another grin his way. "Don't think Lunar's that desperate or none just yet, eh?" She settles back in her seat.
"Call it, hmm..."
She doesn't finish her sentence, shrugging shallowly instead.
She glances sidelong towards Marivel and tenses, as if readying herself for the confrontation that never quite connects as both her and Eleanor appear willing to permit the matter rest... for now. Shrugging smally, Josie settles back again to take a drag on her cigarette. Apparently if they're not going to start anything, she's not willing to, either.
It'll take her a hot minute to get up out of her chair (it's a nice chair) and then, snuffing out her cigarette (not on the furniture, fortunately!) rise to head towards the innermost part of the shrine. "What I hope most dear, huh..."
The smile that graces her now is a most bittersweet one. "Don't I always," she remarks, before stepping into the area beyond.
The cold is what she feels first.
"You've been working too hard," says a voice that Josie hasn't heard in a long, long time, as arms embrace her from behind. "Of course... the same could be said for me."
Their relationship is as clear as day, to look upon them: they couldn't be anything other than sisters. Embracing Josie in that loose, familiar way, her sister bumps her head up against Josie's own.
"...You died," Josie utters, her voice barely more than a whisper. Her gaze remains fixed on a spot somewhere directly ahead of her, her eyes unfocused.
"You're overthinking this, sis," her sister murmurs, those looped arms growing tighter and colder about her. "Weren't you the one always telling me that when we were kids? Remember that time when you dared me to climb that tree? I was worried that we were going to fall, but..."
"...but you got up to the top ahead of me," Josie answers, her gaze still focused on that singular point. "Yeah. Auntie just about had a fit when she found out."
Her sister dips her head in a nod, an ever-so-slight movement. "...So what do you think? Auntie's still around, right? Marze is still standing. We could go back home, make a better go of it. Just you and me all over again. Now we're free." Her sister might as well be a pillar of stone, for all that Josie could hope to move against her now. She's grown cold, colder--
"...You're free," Josie tells her sister. "Sure. I'll give you that. But I ain't."
Her good hand dips low, going for the flask in her pocket; the cork bounces away somewhere on the floor. With one swift motion she splashes nearly half the contents over herself, over her sister. It's followed by a spark.
The rotgut Josie so favors catches quickly.
"Sorry, sis. But you're dead. And I've things to do before I can call it quits!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Never Let Go.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I can appreciate that approach." Jacqueline replies with a nod of agreement toward Eleanor, as Brunor explains that it's his right to show those undertaking his trial hospitality and warmth. "Even for adventurers like us, Mount Zulan is always a difficult climb. It's nice to get a chance to relax first before getting back to it."
He says she'll have some knowledge for her in time, and Jaqueline nods.
"I would appreciate that." She replies. She looks briefly, then, toward Ruth as she explains why she's here. Suffering she can't look away from... Jacqueline considers this, then looks toward Brunor.
"It is very good hot chocolate. But I don't think it'd be good to delay." Jacqueline replies, standing up. She'll find what brings her happiness. And, he says to remember what it is she holds must dear. She follows then others, then, into the trial itself.
...And she remembers. Remembers the embrace of the one she loves - the person most important to her.
It's Lunata, of course.
A satisfied smile crosses her face and she shuts her eyes, head lowering a little as she raises her hand, as if to grasp the hand she remembers being there. But this moment, it continues on - lingers and endures, beyond how it happened in reality.
But...
"This chill... I'm already familiar with it. But it's okay. I have enough warmth for both of us." Jacqueline says.
The embrace of the one she loves doesn't carry with it any physical warmth, after all, only the metaphorical warmth of emotions. In that way, she's uniquely suited to pinpointing what's happening here.
"I'm sorry. I can't stay here for long. I promised I'd take her back home someday. She tries to stay strong, but I know how much she misses it." Jacqueline explains to the spirit. "I know how much it must hurt... but I have to move on. For her sake, I have to keep going. ...And so should you. It's time to let go, and move forward."
In the distance, she can hear Eleanor shouting, followed soon after by sound from the others. It seems they've caught on, too.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Never Let Go.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =========================<* CHALLENGE - Never Let Go *>========================= |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Your party remembers the embrace of someone who loved them. Whether you were in pain, or in a time of celebration, they brought comfort - and you relive this moment. It is as comforting as you recall, down to the very detail. They may be someone you dearly miss, or someone you can't wait to get back to. Your present pains and stresses melt away in that instant... but that instant drags on. They aren't letting go. A part of you doesn't want to either, but you have to. The longer you're in their embrace, the harder it will be to feel and fight the freezing cold setting in. You may need to be drastic in getting the message across, but even so, these 'someones' do not break character. (These 'someones' are really Hellions who also can't let go of wanting to relive similar moments, but at least are acting in earnest - even if they are being selfish about it.) =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 2 *>================ ===========================< Results - Never Let Go >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 13 --(5)--> 18 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Knightscrest 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 13 --(5)--> 18 Pass Splashcrest 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Save Point(1) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace 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: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Treasures Frozen In Time *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Beautiful ice sculptures decorate the halls of the Ice Trial, and light occasionally shines through the structures, casting ribbons of refracted color. The sight is as enchanting as it is ephemeral. In one of these halls, perfect ice replicas of items once lost by members of your party are among the decor. Old childhood toys, lost mementos, or even that old tool they don't make like they used to are on display. Unfortunately, you would never be able to return with such a souvenir. They would melt without the frigid temperatures of the Ice Trial. They also stand in your way, along with other lovely statues. They are only ice, after all. But sometimes it's nice to have had a brief reminder... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure, Overzealous====================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Each one leaves the embrace of the other that awaits them. (In one stand-out case, one is taken into an entirely different kind of embrace.) The five of them come together before a hallway filled with beautiful ice sculptures. Light shines through, casting ribbons of refracted color - it's fine work for ice sculpting, as can be expected of those elemental spirits who are the very cold given life and reason. (and a hot chocolate recipe, somehow)
Among the statues ahead... are those of items of importance. Items long since lost by the ravages of time and fell circumstance, things cherished and truly missed. They cannot be taken away, for they would melt into nothing outside of this carefully prepared environment.
They are also in the way. They cannot be moved 'gently.' They must be removed - destroyed, left to the dust of one's history, lest the ice creep up anew.
Ruth's head is bowed going into the hallway. She's shaking her head a few times, as if it were a trial unto itself just to not let out the feelings all that brought. She's among the first to make it to the end of the hallway with hurried steps, where she sees it.
An old book that, as a feat of icy engineering, has a functional spine and separate pages. The markings are just clear enough in the light with the fine, delicate engraving work done to reveal what it is to those who look over her shoulder.
It's sheet music - for Granasian hymns, with lyrics.
The words reach her throat but never quite escape as she brings her gloved hands to her chest, and fiddles with another Crest Graph that she sets down to emit a mist that's warm enough it may help start melting some of this, and she individually calls little attention to it.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Mistcrest toward her party's challenge, Treasures Frozen In Time.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Oh!" Eleanor, once freed of the Hellion's grip, sees the others freeing themselves--but above all, beyond the horrorshow Marivel provides she sees a woman in pain; Josephine, burning. "Here, let me--" She pulls a Crest from her bag and immediately begins to apply its curative magic to Josie, like it or not. The healing power of Geo and Muse restore her condition to what it was a few moments ago. "...Are you all right?" she asks after a moment, because anything that would make her set herself ablaze...
Well, even if they're enemies, Eleanor does not like to see suffering. She watches after Ruth after a moment, too. And soon, they are forward in the next place...
Eleanor is seventeen again. She is regarding a 'stone' tablet, written in ancient language. She looks past the beautiful book that Ruth has, though she cannot help but notice what it is--sheet music. And the way Ruth reacts to it... She bites her lip, and looks to the tablet.
"You... But they were all sealed away. How...?"
For those familiar, the language on the tablets bears some resemblance to the Elw language, but is older than even that. She reaches out, her hand covering another symbol--
Eleanor looks stricken to see it. "It all started with you," she says. "So much pain..."
"...How is this here?" She shakes her head. "..."
She could review it again. Figure out what went wrong. But at the same time...
Eleanor lifts her hand, and the Power Bracelet at her wrist glints red in the light. She picks up the heavy stone tablet in both hands and lifts it up, throwing it down to the ground to shatter it.
"...But the risk that this could fall into the wrong hands is too great."
In the shards there are pieces of acute angles visible, before Eleanor crunches the remnant with her boot.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel flicks the bit of goop on her cheek onto her finger and shoves it in her mouth after she returns to the group. She looks at Ruth for a long moment and smiles but she doesn't say anything immediately. "Seems the theme of this trial is indeed the past. We probably shouldn't let ourselves get too invested in our memories today?"
She glances towards the Granasian hymns but doesn't dwell on them. If she had feelings about Granas she'd be feeling things all the time. That won't do.
Instead she immediately undercuts her own words with a, "Is that a biplane??? Oh my gosh! It even has a little ice propeller..." She taps it with a fingertip. "And the replica of the engine is just how I remember it. It even has a landing skid!"
"It's been so long since Jack showed it to me." She mulls aloud. "Ah he's probably gone by now but he made it happen, however briefly, his dream."
SHe exhales once. "Well, that's enough memory lane for me. I certainly don't have any use for an ice plane."
DG: Marivel Armitage has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Treasures Frozen In Time.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Josie is, once the shade (Hellion) has been again purged, quite possibly a little bit on fire. She barely seems to notice, instead patting at the worst of the flames with her good hand (once the flask is pocketed anyway) and going so far, after a moment's consideration, to light a cigarette on one of the still flickering flames before, at long last, snuffing the last of them.
"Don't mind if you do," she says, taking a long drag on her cigarette while Eleanor does the necessaries. Far be it from her to deny a little bit of much-needed healing.
Come to think of it, if there'd been a real healer in town back then, she'd still have the use of her...
"Been better, right enough," she tells Eleanor with a sickly grin. "But I've been worse, too! At least this time I won't be up shit creek for six months and then some," she says, turning to head towards the other end of the hall they're in. "I tell you, though, nothing like a good fire to make you appreciate the cold..."
Black as pitch, this one's sense of humor.
"I've never been anything but invested in my memories. But fair enough warning, all the same," Josie says, before a particular blockage causes a wee bit of a problem. "Ice pillars, huh--"
She pauses up just as she has her mattock raised, sighting a particular thing locked in ice.
"Is that... Lizzie?"
She speaks, apparently, of the plush doll within this pillar. It's made of cloth and rags, featuring a pair of yarn pigtails tied with red ribbons. "But that old bastard threw her into the--" Josie's teeth just about clack together as she clams up, and she glares with sudden fury at the object in the ice.
"So this is another fake."
She doesn't hesitate, but slams the mattock into the pillar.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Treasures Frozen In Time.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"...That's a good question. How's everyone doing?" Jacqueline echoes, after Eleanor asks Josie if she's alright. Jacqueline nods to Marivel, then.
"...Yeah. That might make this the most dangerous one yet, in fact..." She murmurs. Once everyone is seen to, they continue on, into what can almost be called a museum of ice. Statues of lost, important items... Jacqueline looks to the others in turn as they find the ones that correspond to them. A book of hymns, a mysterious tablet, the symbol of a dream, and old, lost friend...
...Jacqueline is curious as to what's on that tablet, but if it's so important to Eleanor that it be destroyed, she won't pry. Instead, she scans the pile of memories that bar her way, until eventually something familiar catches her eye.
"Oh, this is..." Jacqueline says, approaching a pedestal. Sitting atop it is... "...This was my very first alchemy kit. I was so excited to finally have one of my own."
She inspects it carefully, reaching up to the alchemy kit. She reaches up to the knob on the burner and turns it carefully, almost expecting it to emit fire. ...It doesn't, of course. It's only a replica.
"...There's even that dent from when I knocked it over." She says with a sad, fond smile. "...It was lost with my home when Adlehyde was attacked. It... it's nice seeing it again, but..."
But, they have to move on. Jacqueline takes a step back from it, drawing out a bottle of red liquid. With a Mystic touch it spreads across the party in a glittering cloud, infusing them with extra strength with which to push aside the memories that bar their way.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Brewte Force toward her party's challenge, Treasures Frozen In Time. DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Power Bracelet toward her party's challenge, Treasures Frozen In Time.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ===================<* CHALLENGE - Treasures Frozen In Time *>=================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Brute |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Beautiful ice sculptures decorate the halls of the Ice Trial, and light occasionally shines through the structures, casting ribbons of refracted color. The sight is as enchanting as it is ephemeral. In one of these halls, perfect ice replicas of items once lost by members of your party are among the decor. Old childhood toys, lost mementos, or even that old tool they don't make like they used to are on display. Unfortunately, you would never be able to return with such a souvenir. They would melt without the frigid temperatures of the Ice Trial. They also stand in your way, along with other lovely statues. They are only ice, after all. But sometimes it's nice to have had a brief reminder... =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure, Overzealous====================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 3 *>================ =====================< Results - Treasures Frozen In Time >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 18 --(20)--> 38 Fail Well-Used Mattock 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Brewte Force 1 Brute Effects: Fanfare and Strengthe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 10 --(12)--> 22 Pass Power Bracelet 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 18 --(12)--> 30 Pass Mistcrest 1 Brute Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 10 --(20)--> 30 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 40 --(15)--> 55 Fail Conditions: Overzealous(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Come Play With Us! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Hellions roam the halls of the Ice Trial, and you've encountered a playful lot of them. Fairies have assumed the forms of childhood friends in an environment reminiscent of a sunny, clear day or other comforting, nostalgic environment. The childish games you might have played are on display, just as you remember them, and they're as fun and captivating as they were then! It feels like the day could never end, nor would you have wanted it to... back then. The longer you indulge, the stronger the grip of the growing cold around you. The day has to end, and it did - and you need to accept that, lest your party risk freezing to a premature end. You need to go back 'inside,' racing to the nearest door. The Fairies do not try to stop you beyond appealing to how much fun this is. (It really is!) =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
The attachment is there, and there is a fervent attempt on all fronts to destroy it or shun it - but that attachment, they aren't fully free of it. Shattered shapes to powerful blows seem to reform into things that can trick the eye as being something else - something else lost and broken, broken again in front of them. It's fleeting, and the sense of loss is not escaped in its entirety. The chill continues to grasp at them... but there's enough of a pile of shattered ice that one may eventually cross and get the others to do the same even as licks of refrated right tug at other similar keepsakes in one's eyes.
There's a tiny curl in Ruth's smile. "Don't deserve any of it," she murmurs cryptically as she looks to the rest, catching a glance towards Josie who took a more extreme measure to extract herself not long ago - but she never meets the eyes.
Marivel doesn't have enough memory lane yet, according to the Trial, as everyone steps... outside? It's bright, and there's a brisk breeze. The Malevolence of selfishness pervades the air, in the form of Fairies that have taken the faces and shapes of childhood friends wanting to play games together! Just as one remembered, just as fun as ever.
For Ruth... it's three other children.
Two boys, both older (one a bonafide teenager at this point), one other girl, younger. Cans and bottles are lined up on a distant fence on a farm that has seen better days.
"You can't shoot from that far away!" Taunts the older of the two boys.
On closer inspection... they have similar features to one another. The quieter boy has the same hair color as Ruth. The older has the same color of eyes. They have rounded, human ears compared to her.
Ruth remembers holding that gunsmoke ARM and firing off a shot. Dead of center.
"We should put the ARM back," whines the younger girl.
"Y-You were so slow aiming it!" The teenager stammers. "Some rustler'd run you right throu--"
Ruth fires off two more shots to distant targets, back to back, with little downtime. Dead of center, a can flies, a bottle shatters.
Ruth's childish smile fades. "No. No, they... didn't. The monster was too... fast." She muses over the sound of the younger of the two boys finally having a say about going to go find more cans and bottles to the protests of the younger.
Another Crest Graph. She doesn't want to see any of this. She tries to wash it away in a stream of water that may help others towards... somewhere else. She can't bear to look towards the boys, now.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Rivercrest toward her party's challenge, Come Play With Us!.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"...Well, that's fair," Eleanor says of 'been better' from Josie. "...That's terrible," she says of a good fire making you appreciate the cold, but with the dark feelings floating all around she almost laughs. It shows in her voice.
"Probably," Eleanor agrees with Marivel about memories, though she smiles to see her reaction to it. Jay's, too. But Josie, well... "Fakes or not, I'm more curious how the trial knew what to show us. Is it drawing from our minds, or...?"
They do move on. Some ways easier than others. Eleanor notices Jay's curious look and Eleanor shakes her head for the moment--she is not prepared to talk about it.
But soon, they are outside...
What Eleanor sees is a girl who looks almost just like her--but with gold-blonde hair and brown eyes, and rounded ears. They are both young children, and Eleanor is happily playing with her sister as she thinks about it. But then she realizes she is much older, while her sister, her darling sister, is still so young and wants to play.
"Come on, Eleanor! Let's go!"
"..." Eleanor smiles, wistfully. "...Sorry, Danielle," she says. "But I can't play today."
She reaches into her bag and pulls... a gun!!! But she doesn't move to fire it; she just looks at the golden revolver, putting it away after a moment, and reaches out to ruffle 'Danielle's' hair. "I'll go see her soon."
Then she stands up, gathers her breath--and with a shake of her boot, she rushes, letting her anklet's magic take her smoothly away from here. "Come on!" she says, and can't help but add, "Last one out's a rotten egg!"
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Blue Anklet toward her party's challenge, Come Play With Us!.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel glances over to the plush doll. She considers it. This isn't the sort of thing she expected Josephine to care about but she isn't gonna press the matter. Everybody has their little knickknacks they put meaning into.
More illusory hellions. They seem to have learned better than using Ana but the ones that linger here aren't any that you recognize, though some have a familiar hint of fang, others--look like Elw. She pushes the invasive feelings out of her head by taking in a few measured breaths.
Her eyes settle on a young man with dusty blonde hair.
"C'mon! We have to get to the concert on time...!" Jack singsongs before running off. Marivel watches after him for a moment and just--
---poufs into bat form and flies along.
"Not ready for another sunburn." She grumbles. These trials--she wonders how they worked without hellions.
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Come Play With Us!.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Eleanor is on the receiving end of the sauciest wink she may have ever seen. "Don't I know it," Josie remarks, her smile crooked.
She might have made up her mind about the doll, but even so... the sense of loss is almost palpable for her once she reduces the icy pillar to pieces, with no trace left of her childhood toy visible in the remains. "Figures," she mutters, going so far as to frown at the remains.
And even so, her response is to sholder the mattock and soldier on. What's done is done, and what's gone is never coming back. Funny, she hadn't thought about that old toy in decades...
It's almost a little fitting that what had been an old toy come back to haunt her is followed on its heels by another childhood memory. In this instant, she's hardly surprised to see a pair of children squatting by a small box out behind a stone wall; a third fidgets nervously at hand as a forth comes running up with something clutched in their hands.
"Borrowed it from da," the newcomer pants, dropping their prize -- a screwdriver -- next to the two girls manhandling the box. "You think it can be fixed?"
"Is this okay...?" hazards the nervous boy.
"Sure it is," one of the two girls affirms. "C'mon, Kat-- you're better at this than me!" She offers the screwdriver over to the other girl. "I bet you can fix Auntie's music box!"
Josie cracks a smile, of all things, watching the tableau play out. "Didn't quite get it right, as it happens. Thing played out of tune after that... after we all got in trouble for breaking it in the first place." Shrugging widely, she turns herself around and walks off, heading towards a nearby door. The urge to go back and try to fix it for real is a strong one, but...
"Learned a few things that day. Like the importance of not getting caught!" And unlike the last two shots of memory, she bears an insouciant smile this time.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Come Play With Us!.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Eleanor shakes her head, and Jacqueline nods. If she doesn't want to talk about it, she won't push it.
Unfortunately, however, it's difficult to simply shove the past aside. Try as they might it continues to obstruct them, at least until just enough as been cleared that they finally cross, though not without effort. Jacqueline exhales sharply.
The pathway, seemingly, leads outside to where it is warm and sunny, with a faint breeze. This is the surest sign that this is another memory being pulled up from the depths. But, perhaps even the greater indication is where it has brought them - at least, for Jacqueline. In her case, she finds herself on the streets of a cozy castle town...
Adlehyde. But an older Adlehyde, from before the attack. From even before she left for the first time. It looks exactly like she remembers it, back in those days. And if she's here, then...
She finds herself confronted by a group of children. She recognizes them. ...Some of them are painful to look at.
"Jackieee, you've been so boring lately! You're always stuck inside reading those dumb books all day." One of them whines. Another soon follows this up - "Yeah! What's so exciting about 'em?"
"Is it 'cause you've got glasses now? Is that why you need to read books?" One of them wonders. Jacqueline chuckles a little, at that, shaking her head a little.
Knowing what she does now, would she have resolved to spend a little more time with them...? But, it's too late for that now. She can't help thinking it, though. That's just the sort of thought this place brings out of people.
"Sorry. There are... a lot of people who need my help. Though, I didn't realise just how many back then..." Jacqueline apologises. "I wish I could see you all again. I really do. But... I can't stay here."
She carefully tries to extract herself from the group, and in the distance, she can hear Eleanor calling out.
"Wha - hey!" Jacqueline complains with a huff, hurrying after her and the others. ...It's a little nostalgiac, though. She never was the fastest. She usually ended up as the metaphorical 'rotten egg'. It's not the proudest memory, but it's a little bit of nostalgia that she can, at least, indulge herself in without letting the chill creep in.
As she moves, she draws out a pale green potion, spreading it across the party with a Mystic touch like the red one. It promotes freedom of movement, to help them leave these memories behind.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Come Play With Us!.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Come Play With Us! *>====================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Hellions roam the halls of the Ice Trial, and you've encountered a playful lot of them. Fairies have assumed the forms of childhood friends in an environment reminiscent of a sunny, clear day or other comforting, nostalgic environment. The childish games you might have played are on display, just as you remember them, and they're as fun and captivating as they were then! It feels like the day could never end, nor would you have wanted it to... back then. The longer you indulge, the stronger the grip of the growing cold around you. The day has to end, and it did - and you need to accept that, lest your party risk freezing to a premature end. You need to go back 'inside,' racing to the nearest door. The Fairies do not try to stop you beyond appealing to how much fun this is. (It really is!) =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Hesitate===========================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 4 *>================ ========================< Results - Come Play With Us! >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 38 --(15)--> 53 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 30 --(15)--> 45 Fail Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 22 --(15)--> 37 Fail Blue Anklet 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 30 --(15)--> 45 Fail Rivercrest 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 30 --(15)--> 45 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 55 --(15)--> 70 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Overzealous(1)|Slow(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Dinner's Ready! *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Everyone is invited to sit down and join each other for a meal, in an odd amalgamation of good memories of sitting down and eating a hearty, fresh meal with friends and family alike. Foods that each of you strongly associate with a fond memory are all freshly prepared for you. There is no abject danger involving the food itself - it is exactly as filling and tasty as it was before. It is, however, devoid of warmth beyond the initial expectations of how it all tastes and feels. It is freezing cold, and it gets worse the longer you stay - as if the trial itself were trying to create a frozen snapshot of you enjoying your meal. In some fashion or another, you'll need to pry yourself away from pleasant memories of food, drink, and company alike lest you intend to stay for the evening... and the next... and the next... forevermore. =Dungeon Conditions: Wonder, Stupify==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
It gets colder, with every passing moment. With every thought about those attached to such fond memories. With every feat of marksmanship that showed up a loudmouthed older boy. With every ruffle of another friend's hair. With every thought about a missed concert. With every act of childish mischief. With every time passed up in pursuit of another interest. (There are five rotten eggs.)
An unlikely savior seems to come in the call of dinner, supper, or whatever term or time of day seems relevant in a hodge-podge of memories involving a table. The meal smells wonderful, like... that time, with friends and loved ones. The food tastes and feels as it should, when/if one indulges... but it's devoid of warmth. Once more, the cold nips at one's back, growing stronger the longer one stays. Unless one wants to stay for seconds, for all the seconds there ever will be after. (That's a lot of seconds. Marivel would know.)
Ruth remembers... when they could eat much nicer food. The younger girl from before sits not far off from her as she prods at a meal made of some exotic creature people seldom get to eat, in Guara Bobelo.
"The life we deserve is just ahead of us," says an older man ahead of them sharing much of the same features seen in some of the kids.
Father. Rounded ears, same with mother. Ruth was the one born as 'a blessing,' with her longer ears, as she picked at this exotic new foodstuff. It's new, it's weird, it smells funny.
"Oh, Ruth. Don't you remember how you used to beg to go to a better school?" The mother asks, and does not wait for her daughter's response. "There's one in Verklarung waiting for you."
The other girl's eyes widen. Verklarung?
There's a smile on Ruth's face as she repeats that name. Verklarung. Verklarung. That far-off big city full of rich people, she'd...
Ruth's smile starts to fade, staring at her food as the words trail on into indistinct echo - she wants to leave, but a part of her can't muster it.
DG: Ruth Pauling has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dinner's Ready!.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor has to actually suppress the laugh in the face of that wink and smile combination. "Apparently." The memories though... it's hard for Eleanor to let it go, too; there's an attachment there, even if it's not something she's fond of.
"Then let's not let you get sunburned," Eleanor replies cheerfully to Marivel. She even laughs a little at Jay. The truth is that Eleanor is not very fast herself. ...Less so in these circumstances, when it seems that the very ground conspires to stretch out beneath their feet.
But the memories come, and it's a mix of memories, but the strongest is absolutely... cake. Cake, at a nice little cafe in Sielje, with a friend. Eleanor remembers pretty well, more and more as she continues, and takes a bite, smiling at someone unseen. Just what she actually sees is hard to say; another student, it seems, one a little older than her, talking animatedly over books that are set to the side to be away from the food...
But it's... cold.
It's cold, and Eleanor notices this after a while, looking down, an then looking around. There are things here that were not hers. This is not that cafe; the yawning abyss of dimensions is not visible out the window, comforting in its eternity and scary in its starkness.
"...Oh," she says, and starts to rise, but... the difficulty is not rising herself--it's that she stops by Ruth, and reaches out a hand towards her. "Ruth? ...Come on. Let's go."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Jacqueline." Marivel says, glancing over. "You were from Adlehyde then?"
She focuses on Jay for a moment and adds, "It's a pity."
She doesn't explain any further, but the reminder of Adlehyde seems to bother the Crimson Noble. Pacts that couldn't hold strong at the critical moment...
"Well, hopefully it won't become an issue again."
She glances to Josie after and adds, "You got a knack for tinkering huh? They're delicate devices."
A woman and a wolf sit in the distance by a campfire. Marivel's hand flexes out then tightens as Kamui and another woman--"
She dispels the vision of that last woman before anyone can get a good look at her with a wave of her hand.
"Memory dungeons. Dangerous things." Marivel murmurs. "I wonder where they get off thinking they get to try and peek at my secrets."
Her attention is drawn to Ruth by Eleanor. Again, she doesn't say much.
But she looks at that smile. She watches it fade.
"There's a certain kind of tyranny in a blessing you haven't asked for, isn't there?"
She glances to Eleanor for a moment and then back to Ruth as if suggesting Eleanor take notice of the subtleties in Ruth's vision.
But she does smile and adds, "Thank you Eleanor. I don't intend to burn for quite some time yet."
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Sure are. Though... that's one I never put back together right. Auntie never threw it way, though. Heh... sometimes she wound it up even so," Josie remarks to Marivel, even as she moves to turn her back on this old scene.
Even if she says that, though--
It's still hard to turn away from that moment, that time. Things were hard, sure enough. Things were terribly hard sometimes. But things weren't always hard. There were moments like this, when they all had thought they were getting away with something. That they were setting things right, even. That they had all the time and all the opportunity in the world. Instead...
Someone calls for dinner, and the thing that is the most startling is, it's not anyone from Marze who tears her from her reverie.
It's Elhaym van Houten, summoning everyone around for the latest assemblage courtesy of her well-honed fisher skills.
Josie hesitates. She really does.
But it matters not -- in the next moment, the next eyeblink, she's seated at the table with the rest of the Black Wolves, taking a bite of the well-cooked fish.
...It should be well-cooked, but instead, it crunches like ice in her mouth. Setting down her fork, her gaze glides across the table at the lot of them, eating, chatting happily. Her gaze lingers on each of them in turn before coming to rest on Lily.
"...Mind if I smoke," she says, already lighting up and exhaling a cloud. Some of them at the table protest, waving their hands in front of their faces.
"Sorry. But this all ain't real," she says, and she tries to rise to her feet.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Dinner's Ready!.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Ah, you recognized it?" Jacqueline asks, glancing to Marivel. ...Well, of all people, she supposes she shouldn't be surprised that Marivel did. "...Yes, I am."
'Am'. She still thinks of it as her home, no matter how much time she's spent away from it, no matter what state it's in. ...How has the rebuilding come along, she wonders...?
...Maybe it's that thought that makes it difficult to pull herself in the way, in the end. Or maybe, it's just hard to look away from faces you know you'll never see again, except in memory. But soon she finds herself a reprieve as she - and the others, by extension, are called to dinner.
It's... a bizarre mishmash of memories. The scene goes from her home with her family, with her father's cooking, to the Starfall Saloon, to sharing meals with the rest of the Caravan Kinship...
The meal changes from one memory to the next, but the taste of each one is like ice in her mouth.
...It isn't real. As much as she'd like to indulge herself in this, like Josie says, it isn't real. With a nod, Jacqueline moves to rise as well.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dinner's Ready!. DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Dinner's Ready!. DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage toward her party's challenge, Dinner's Ready!.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Dinner's Ready! *>======================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Everyone is invited to sit down and join each other for a meal, in an odd amalgamation of good memories of sitting down and eating a hearty, fresh meal with friends and family alike. Foods that each of you strongly associate with a fond memory are all freshly prepared for you. There is no abject danger involving the food itself - it is exactly as filling and tasty as it was before. It is, however, devoid of warmth beyond the initial expectations of how it all tastes and feels. It is freezing cold, and it gets worse the longer you stay - as if the trial itself were trying to create a frozen snapshot of you enjoying your meal. In some fashion or another, you'll need to pry yourself away from pleasant memories of food, drink, and company alike lest you intend to stay for the evening... and the next... and the next... forevermore. =Dungeon Conditions: Wonder, Stupify==========================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 5 *>================ =========================< Results - Dinner's Ready! >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 53 --(12)--> 65 Fail Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 45 --(4)--> 49 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 37 --(12)--> 49 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 45 --(12)--> 57 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 45 --(4)--> 49 Pass Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. 3 Wits Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 70 --(15)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(1)|Stupify(2)|Wonder Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Perpetual Prism *>======================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The world grows colder as mist seeps into the chamber. The chill sinks into your being, threatening you with sleep or an equivalent peaceful stupor. A lullaby of memories assaults your senses: happier times and precious moments, slowly becoming more vivid and tangible, as real as the day you lived them. In the whirling flakes of frost, you see the silhouette of a small child briefly, chased by another will too-long hair and too-big robes before they vanish like ghosts made of snow. "Pray forgive the interruption. This is your Trial, not mine," a familiar voice says -- the masked Seraph from the entrance of the shrine, obscured somewhere in the mists. "I myself would have failed this test a dozen times. I have days where I would fail it still." Light shines from below the ice, scattering through the chamber like a prism and projecting memories against the mist. What you remember may become manifest in open illusions for your party to witness. You must keep moving. You must keep yourselves warm. You must press onward, complicated by the way the slippery, ice ground below you rumbles. It will be harder to stay awake if you collapse against the ground. If you can't resist this, you will be consumed by your own memories. "There is no shame in the indulgence of what was lost. Rest if you require. Your journeys must have been harsh." ...Unless you'd prefer to let it happen, and remain here forever with what once was? =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Time is given by all, in some form or another, to reflect upon the meals and the gatherings. More time than allowed to avoid the cold that seeps further into their beings. They could stay within this singular happy moment forever, as has always been the temptation. They all talk a good game, make their declarations - but it's a fight to get up out of that chair.
Except for Marivel, who waves the whole thing away on her end and gets to watch others struggle. Ruth meets her profound observation with... silence, and a downcast gaze.
Eleanor is the first one to reach a hand out to the one who doesn't, but she can see that Ruth is now looking at her trio of common traveling Crest Graphs as she murmurs about Verklarung. (Verklarung met a truly grisly fate in the final year of the Celesti Civil War - but is it really about that?) It threatens to drag Eleanor into her share of the frosty picture as she leaves behind the wonderful memories of cake and companionship of the day, as the once soldier doesn't have it in her to reach out back to Eleanor.
Josie deals with that tease of times with other people before she revealed her true colors, remembering that shared meal. She's not able to rise to her feet under her own power, but she can at lest get back a little sense of warmth with that cigarette. To look away and see what else she's burned, other than that cigarette.
Jay may have had the benefit of a world-shattering revelation to question how real some of her relationships with the Caravan Kinship are, in helping bolster her ability to look past that when it's the 'turn' of the Caravan Kinship - for better or for worse. Following a chain reaction of Josie's smoke for grounding, Jay is able to get up and help get the others out as needed. (Or if Marivel feels like doing so, that's fine too. She does what she wants.)
...
It's so cold, now, as mists overtake the chamber. Enough to invite torpor - but it feels more like a gentle invitation, rather than (...or on top of?) hypothermia. Lullabies of memories assault the senses. Happier times, precious moments, more vivid and tangible - real as the day one lived them.
A small child can be seen running alongside another, with long hair and too large robes before they vanish. "Ah, pray forgive my interruption. This is your Trial, not mine." Brunor says, his form present but obscured. "I myself would have failed this test a dozen times. I have days where I would fail it still."
Light shines from below the ice, scattering like a prism and projecting those memories. What you remember may become manifest in open illusions - but you can't stay still. One has to keep moving, to keep warm. To press onward, even as the ground itself threatens to take one's feet out from underneath (it's ice, that's what it does... but it's not angry about it, there's no friction here).
For the former elf among them, her body language is not of one freezing to death - but one who doesn't want to look. Her memories of what made her happy seem innocuous-ish. A time she got to spend an entire afternoon with a herd of squeak-baas visiting from St. Heim. A time she shared drinks with a number of privateers with the ocean's breeze behind her. A time she was bequeathed the (later in)famous Gae Buidhe/Daerg DC4 sniper rifle, overcoming the initial thought she was too small of frame and strength to bear it.
That last one earns a snarl, brandishing a Crest Graph and creating a rushing wave of water to try and carve a path through all this.
"There is no shame in the indulgence of what was lost. Rest if you require. Your journeys must have been harsh." Intones the keeper of Kahedin.
"Only a monster... only a monster would've been proud to have had the power to kill," says a woman who is still carrying that 'power to kill' on her back - that same rifle - to this very day. There's a smile with teeth there, even facing down as she tries to trudge along.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Rivercrest toward her party's challenge, Perpetual Prism.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor sees what Marivel tries to show her. She looks at Ruth, and if she can get her hand, she'll squeeze it once. "...Mm," she answers Marivel, because for all that it has been good in her life... She does understand that much. Just like she sees Josie with the people she can now identify, thanks to Fei's presence, as the people who were her friends. She sees so much here. But it's... hard.
It's hard to leave, especially with Ruth not moving to leave with her, and the nice memory returning. The cold isn't even so bad; Eleanor doesn't mind the cold. But...
Eleanor accepts the help when it comes. She'll get out, one way or another.
But it's even colder. Memories come...
"Oh. ...So was that you?" she wonders of Burnor. "It's fine, but..."
Light shines. Eleanor walks, and walks, and tries to stay upright and on-balance. She relies a little on magic to do it, as she remembers more.
Happier times, precious moments; from youth, from later, from all sorts Eleanor sees them. She sees a vision of herself as a child with a younger Xiumei; she sees a vision of herself and her sister, again, much more recently, chatting over preparations for a wedding that wouldn't quite go. She sees herself and ARMS; classrooms in Sielje...
"No,"Eleanor says, shaking her head at Brunor. "...There's no shame in memory, but we can't rest here. We can't stop here. Being caught up in memory... means we can't pursue the future."
"...Ruth," she says. "That power can be the power to protect people, too. Like you protected Xiumei."
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Blue Anklet toward her party's challenge, Perpetual Prism.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Ultimately, she's not able to rise to her feat -- try as she might, still, a part of herself is an absolute traitor to the cause. But there is at least some warmth yet to be found, if in the form of the solitary cigarette that Josie fiendishly smokes at this afterimage of a shared meal. Eyes hooded, it's only when Jay finds her that she's able to at last rise and leave the cold reflection behind. It fades away into so much chill haze. She doesn't look back.
The cigarette is cast aside as the temperature grows colder, as mists rise and billow within this point of the shine. Josie turns her head, her gaze tracking the movement of a pair of children before they fade away into the mists, sunk back for a time into the depths of memory. "Whose is..."
Brunor's.
"...Heya, Bruno," she says, waving her good hand cheerfully enough, though her expression tells a different story. "Won't complain iff'n you wanted to trade, now," she drawls, turning her head as the mists roil about them.
Even now, she has her temptations. An elderly woman sweeps the porch of a house in a small village before pausing a moment, as if expecting to see someone coming around the bend.
An old man settles back in a chair by a fire and glancing up a moment at the ARMs mounted by the fireplace, just shakes his head and sighs.
And there's a whole group of them, though they appear one at a time as Josie forges through the mist. The serious young captain, a spunky girl with green hair, a young lady with a ferocious appetite, a can-do fisherwoman, a troubled martial artist, a troublesome Hyadean, a hopeful near-dragon, a happy-go-lucky reporter...
...Lily...
But whatever else, she's still quick on her feat.
And she hasn't yet encountered a situation she hasn't been able to run away from.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Perpetual Prism.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
One by one, they rise and leave the dinner table behind. As they do, the chamber begins to fill with mist... and they see a vision, as Seraph Brunor returns - though obscured.
"It's quite alright." Jacqueline replies with a shake of her head, pushing forward. Unbidden, memories come rising to the surface of her mind... and from there, are reflected out onto the prism beyond.
On the streets of Meria City, Lunata finally works up the courage to ask her out on a date... which soon fades in to an image of a much later date, of just the two of them spending a quiet moment on a small boat on Sylvaland City's lake, discussing plans for the future together...
...Jacqueline's face goes a little red at having that memory displayed, and she chuckles sheepishly. That might add a little extra warmth to the room, at least!
That image soon vanishes, replaced with a memory of Jacqueline leaving Adlehyde for the first time, setting out alone on her journey to make her own name for herself in a gaudily painted wagon, pulled by a nameless horse. This, too, transforms into a scene from a later time - the second time she left Adlehyde on a journey, this time in the Carakin surrounded by friends old and new(as tenuous as Certain Connections may have become in the interrim).
And then, finally, Jacqueline sitting behind a counter, talking with a shy girl with large, round glasses. Heather Éclair - Jacqueline's first proper employee, helping her out around Jay's Curatives and Curios back when it still had a physical location in Adlehyde. And then later, speaking to her again - but this time, the timid girl displays a bit more confidence as Jacqueline entrusts her with the rebuilding of the store.
...It's a nice trip down memory lane. Jacqueline smiles quietly to herself... but she keeps moving, and as she does, she draws out set of those bright red, cinnamon-tasting potions. Warming potions.
"Right. It's what you do with that power that matters." Jacqueline says, with a nod toward Eleanor and Ruth. As for memory... she dwells on that a bit longer.
"Our memories... they could hold us in place, but they can push us forward, too. It's just a matter of not letting them keep us in place." Jacqueline concludes.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Rapid Remedy toward her party's challenge, Perpetual Prism.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel has had a harsh journey but...
She quaffs some blood from one of her 'juicepacks'. "Mm."
She is frankly impatient to get moving. "There's like, I don't know, a million more of these trials to do? Thanks but I've waited long enough." It's true!
It seems that we do talk about Bruno. Nevertheless, Marivel will wait for the others but she doesn't intend to linger long. Someone should have offered rest when...
She pushes the fallout years out of her mind. No. Thank you.
"Jay's right about that," She adds. "But what an adorable kid, mm? Hope they were raised well."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool Tomato Juice For Grownups toward her party's challenge, Perpetual Prism.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - Perpetual Prism *>======================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The world grows colder as mist seeps into the chamber. The chill sinks into your being, threatening you with sleep or an equivalent peaceful stupor. A lullaby of memories assaults your senses: happier times and precious moments, slowly becoming more vivid and tangible, as real as the day you lived them. In the whirling flakes of frost, you see the silhouette of a small child briefly, chased by another will too-long hair and too-big robes before they vanish like ghosts made of snow. "Pray forgive the interruption. This is your Trial, not mine," a familiar voice says -- the masked Seraph from the entrance of the shrine, obscured somewhere in the mists. "I myself would have failed this test a dozen times. I have days where I would fail it still." Light shines from below the ice, scattering through the chamber like a prism and projecting memories against the mist. What you remember may become manifest in open illusions for your party to witness. You must keep moving. You must keep yourselves warm. You must press onward, complicated by the way the slippery, ice ground below you rumbles. It will be harder to stay awake if you collapse against the ground. If you can't resist this, you will be consumed by your own memories. "There is no shame in the indulgence of what was lost. Rest if you require. Your journeys must have been harsh." ...Unless you'd prefer to let it happen, and remain here forever with what once was? =Dungeon Conditions: Slow, Tire===============================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 6 *>================ =========================< Results - Perpetual Prism >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 65 --(7)--> 72 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 49 --(7)--> 56 Fail Rapid Remedy 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 49 --(7)--> 56 Fail Blue Anklet 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 57 --(7)--> 64 Fail Rivercrest 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 49 --(7)--> 56 Fail Tomato Juice For Grownups 1 Agility Effects: Cleanse -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(0)--> 80 Fail Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(2)|Wonder Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has failed this challenge! The party gained 0 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: Ruth Pauling has drawn a new Challenge.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Engraved in Memory *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The light moving under the ice breaks through the surface with such shattering force that the delicate ice sculptures of the chamber crumble into jagged rubble. Cold mist clears to reveal an almost humanoid structure if not for its bestial, hunched posture. Ice fills in cracks and missing pieces, including a blade at the end of its segmented tail and elongated claws. Mist becomes steam as powerful ice magic mitigates the dangerous levels of heat this construct is outputting. Those who have done battle against a particular Solaris asset may find the construct's silhouette worryingly familiar, but this is not something capable of understanding or responding to any effort to communicate. With a warped, digital song, it secretes more cold fog into the chamber. This is the source of the voices and visions of the past that are tempting your thoughts. If you succumb, the guardian will do nothing. If you resist... the Trial's guardian drops to all fours to launch forward in a feral assault of brutal claws and sweeping tail strikes to anyone who dares push back against the siren call of the past. All the while, the crystalline core hums at its chest. If you can steel your will against the memories that call to you, focus on the present, and smash the magic fueled core, you might end its assault and overcome the Trial once and for all. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
When Eleanor squeezes Ruth's hand back at the table, there's a flinch - but she settles and allows for her forearm to be held. For some reason, touching the hands is... not a thing. She doesn't seem keen to reach out with her hands in turn. (Now, back to the present...)
...
'Being caught up in memory... means we can't pursue the future.' Eleanor retorts against the invitation to rest, as she channels the power within the Blue Anklet to keep moving, keep blood pumping, keep going towards some uncertain future. It might be bright! It is bright in here right now.
'Won't complain iff'n you wanted to trade, now,' as Josie finds her resolve tested with things she once cherished and enjoyed. Brunor's silhouette shakes his head at the assertion as he pulls the quilt around himself a bit tighter - and watches intently as Josie tries to run from it all.
Jay keeps prepared, surrounding herself (and others) with medicinal warmth for the present while wading through long-cooled warmth of happy memories from before. Can they push everyone forward? Can they not be kept in place?
Brunor watches Marivel trudge on as she does, as she has - but how much distance in emotion, compared to the passage of time? (Whether he will live to judge her at the end of all this is another thing entirely.)
Ruth, for her part, can't look any of them in the eyes as they try to encourage. To be used to protect, like she did Xiumei. What you do with that power that matters. What an adorable kid. She laughs, bitterly, as she comes to her knees.
"For those that would see to the future beyond what once brought them joy," Brunor's voice speaks as he conspicuously steps aside, "what will you draw from when faced with a grim possibility?"
The light moving under the surface takes this cue, breaking through to the surface and tossing everyone aside, scattering them across the chamber. The cold mists clear enough to reveal a strange automaton, nearly humanoid aside from the bestial, hunched posture. Damages, cracks, and missing components are held together by ice, bearing a blade at the end of a segmented tail and elongated claws. Mist becomes steam as this powerful ice magic mitigates this construct's... poor ability to manage its own emitted heat.
Some may see the worrisome similarity to a particular Solaris asset, but it does not communicate nor show any signs of understnading - nor conflict about what it will be doing. A warped, digital song sees more cold fog into the chamber. The source of those voices and visions of the past.
For those who relent and let themselves be coddled to comfort, it will do nothing. For those who resist... it is the embodiment of a sudden, cruel, relentless fatal twist of fate to see one's final moments be that of agony and pain, claws and tail sweeping out. The crystalline core at its chest is, at the least, exposed - if one is strong enough to see it through. Even if there's no guarantee that there will be survival.
For Ruth's part, a fell mist rises from her own position, and two glowing purple lights announce a phenomena that the gathered have become familiar with: Malevolence of despair, contrasting that of the selfishness that the Hellions of this place carry.
In her transformed state - a larger-bodied single-winged gargoyle whose unbound oversized clothing makes her seem proportionally smaller than she really is - thrusts the length of her rifle against those claws, trying to hold the construct there.
"Some things don't stay happy... some things... never were." Ruth's got tears going down her face, as if the whole thing is about to drown her into a darker place.
DG: Ruth Pauling has used her Tool Gae Buidhe/Dearg DC4 toward her party's challenge, Engraved in Memory.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
To trade... Eleanor finds herself looking t the other memories, too. Some friends of Josie's; a city unfamiliar to her, from Jay, and then a city very familiar to her indeed, Meria Boule. But what Jay says.... Hmmm....
"...That's true. The past can impel as well as hinder. So long as we don't let ourselves be lost in it..."
She will worry about Marivel a little, too. But Marivel seems to agree, so there's that. But the question?
"...It wouldn't be the first time I've seen grim possibilities," Eleanor answers Brunor--well, she answers that in her heart. Out loud it comes out as, "It wouldn't be the--AAH!"
The surprise knocks her down, tosses her aside to the edge of the chamber. She looks at the strange creature. ...But she won't let herself be comforted by this. That warped, digital song, the voices of the past coming--
"Everyone! I'm with you!"
Eleanor holds up her Crest, the conflicting powers of two elements rising and empowering the weapons that they can all bring to bear. Even Ruth's, as she cries, as she nearly drowns.
"We will see the future... together! Right, Marivel!?"
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Knightscrest toward her party's challenge, Engraved in Memory.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
How long can you really run, though?
And can you truly run from everything? Some things will find you wherever you turn. And still others will still be waiting for you, once you arrive at your destination. Ultimately--
Ultimately Josie slows to a stop, if without turning to see what she'd left behind her or looking ahead to see what lies in wait. Her gaze remains lowered, fixed towards the floor. "...Heh. How grim d'ya mean?" she asks at Brunor's words. "'Cause there's only one thing waiting, ain't there--"
Her words are answered by a discordant screech. All at once she lifts her gaze and looks upon what is awaiting them.
Death can't be outrun, she's often heard. And certain other elements of life are similarly inescapable.
It's funny, in a way. It looks so very like that construct she'd battled amidst the snow and ice, not far from where this very shrine lies. She'd wondered about it before, but now it seems as clear as day what might have happened with it, and everything else...
"Time for one last dance, huh?" she remarks, reaching into her pocket for her flask. "Might as well go while the going's good! Cheers!"
She salutes the ghost of the construct the once before downing the contents of her flask, tucking it back away.
Then, without further ado, she pulls her ARM free and takes careful aim, watching where Ruth lunges so as to try to avoid her. Though, perhaps it's possible that it might not inflict too much damage if she did miss, given Ruth's form's nature...
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Engraved in Memory.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Grim possibility... Jacqueline considers that for a moment.
"I've been prepared for that for a while." Jacqueline replies, with a shake of her head. "I still have my hopes, my dreams, and my determination to protect those I care about... with those, I'll ensure that none of my memories were made in vain."
Soon, however, this determination finds itself put to the test as a construct smashes through the ice and opposes them.
Mist threatens to draw them into the comforting abyss of memory... but Jacqueline shuts her eyes and shakes it away.
"Yes, we're all here - right here, in the here and now!" Jacqueline calls back to Eleanor. "We'll see this through together!"
She backpedals, reaching into her bags and drawing out the Lifeweaver's Codex, flipping through the pages.
"I don't have any information recorded on this yet! But I can make some assumptions... that tail and those claws seem to be its primary weapons, and it has a frightful combination of reach, power, and agility. Be on your guard!" Jacqueline warns. "It's emitting a terrible amount of heat... Putting more in so that it overheats might be an option! Alternatively, there's that core... that might be a weak point!"
She takes a few quick notes and stows the book away, before gesturing with her left hand. Tendrils of earth rise up around her and shoot out for the construct, looking to grapple onto its limbs and restrict them so that the others will have an easier time striking it.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool The Lifeweaver's Codex toward her party's challenge, Engraved in Memory.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel raises an eyebrow when Ruth becomes a gargoyle.
Nevertheless, she seems more annoyed than frightened when a Solarian battle golem appears, pitting itself against our heroes. "Cripes..." She mutters as she raises her microphone. "Hob! Nob! Emulator Program Asgard please!!"
Out from Marivel's pouch fly out Hob and Nob--before transforming with a flash of light into a copy of Asgard! Marivel's Asgard unit. It lingers for a moment before stomping forward and attempting to tackle right into the guardian while Marivel backpedals quickly!
"Was hoping to SAVE THAT Bruno!" She shouts. "SO THANKS for the GIANT ROBOT FIGHT."
DG: Marivel Armitage has used her Tool My Mike toward her party's challenge, Engraved in Memory.
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Engraved in Memory *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- The light moving under the ice breaks through the surface with such shattering force that the delicate ice sculptures of the chamber crumble into jagged rubble. Cold mist clears to reveal an almost humanoid structure if not for its bestial, hunched posture. Ice fills in cracks and missing pieces, including a blade at the end of its segmented tail and elongated claws. Mist becomes steam as powerful ice magic mitigates the dangerous levels of heat this construct is outputting. Those who have done battle against a particular Solaris asset may find the construct's silhouette worryingly familiar, but this is not something capable of understanding or responding to any effort to communicate. With a warped, digital song, it secretes more cold fog into the chamber. This is the source of the voices and visions of the past that are tempting your thoughts. If you succumb, the guardian will do nothing. If you resist... the Trial's guardian drops to all fours to launch forward in a feral assault of brutal claws and sweeping tail strikes to anyone who dares push back against the siren call of the past. All the while, the crystalline core hums at its chest. If you can steel your will against the memories that call to you, focus on the present, and smash the magic fueled core, you might end its assault and overcome the Trial once and for all. =Dungeon Conditions: Wound====================================================
===============<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial - Round 7 *>================ ========================< Results - Engraved in Memory >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 72 --(0)--> 72 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 56 --(0)--> 56 Pass The Lifeweaver's Codex 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 56 --(0)--> 56 Pass Knightscrest 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruth Pauling 64 --(0)--> 64 Pass Gae Buidhe/Dearg DC4 4 Combat Effects: None -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marivel Armitage 56 --(0)--> 56 Pass My Mike 4 Combat Effects: Efficient and Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Wonder|Wound(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial!
====================<* Kahedin - Shrine of the Ice Trial *>===================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Onward to the Future *>===================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Without concentrated magic to power it, the construct goes inert and slumps slack to the ground, its icy pieces rapidly melting away and causing the rest of it to crumble. The lights along its form flicker and dim, and the construct powers down, leaving a lingering heat to chase away frostbite, but also causes the beautiful sculptures of the Trial to begin to melt. The hazy mist clears, and the voices and visions tempt no longer. Powerful ice resonance settles, and those applicable will feel their spirits heightened with their triumph. The masked Seraph becomes visible as the vapor fades, lifting a palm to catch a droplet of water dripping from the melting ceiling. "Would that I could have frozen those moments in time for all of us." He turns to the party. "But if we never moved from one moment to the next, we would not discover new joys. That is the greater tragedy." He approaches your party, offering forward a gem as cold as the chamber used to be. "May you always find the strength to make memories you cherish." As your party processes your time here, the Seraph looks down at the fallen construct and the ice melting around it, mumbling to himself. "Even this shrine is meant to be ephemeral. Fading away each time it is completed to be rebuilt anew..." He sighs, and for a moment, you would not be blamed for suspecting he may feel pangs of regret for this level of dedication. "...Best I get started." =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
None of them fall back to happier times, to let their lives flash before their eyes.
Elenoar brings forth the Knightscrest to empower all across two conflicting elements, determined not to fall back but to look ahead.
Josie makes the most of the moment she has right now, combining two great tastes: alcohol and firearms. Stressed and sauced as Josie might be getting... that shot she makes squeezes through a precarious gap where a friendly fire incident almost happens. Were Ruth of the mind and focus, she might have something to say about that... incredible aim.
Jay doesn't have the directly written information in the Lifeweaver's Codex, but she has the ideas to point out the creature's strengths and weaknesses as observed as she joins the effort in restraining the creature while Josie gets her shot in (and even more, if Josie's of the mind).
Marivel vents her annoyance with all these deadly fantastical life lessons by summoning an Asgard copy out of her handy drones, stomping forward, and just going toe to toe with it in a straight fight. Altogether...
The construct goes inert as the combined might of Cameo Asgard and Josie's markswomanship shatter the ice holding it together, as the whole thing slumps and powers down. The emitted heat helps ease everyone off of the threat of frostbite... and melts away the beautiful ice sculptures and structures. The hazy mist leaves them, as does the temptations.
Icy resonance surrounds and settles within everyone, as the masked Seraph steps forth to catch a droplet of water from above. Ruth's Domain is a light drizzle, which Brunor counteracts with freezing them.
"Hm." He can sense another elemental resonance there... and leaves his safeguards at quietly expressing his influence in this seat of power. His is greater than hers, and ice is one of the elements that is more resistant to corruption. "Would that I could have frozen those moments in time for all of us... but as you have surmised, if we never moved from one moment to the next, we would not discover new joys. That is the greater tragedy."
He takes a look to Josie. "But one should never forget what it was that made one happy... from where else would the foundation of a cause rise?"
Over to Eleanor. "It is my hope you will continue to seek out and share these moments to build with so many others... this future you see." Not 'will see.' Her sight seems clear there.
Over to Jay, next. "We can prepare for the idea of what comes next... but not always whether it will be good or bad, though I'm sure you will have prepared as much as one can."
Then to Marivel, with a deep, quiet bow as if acknowledging on some level that there has been humoring on either side and that there isn't much more to say to her.
Ruth, for a moment, feels a chill she hasn't in some years. The sense of vulnerability, of yearning for warmth before it sinks away, keeping her head bowed as she quietly bleeds out her feelings with that light Malevolence-powered rain.
"The acceptance that even some memories turned bitter... may still yet be sweet." Brunor offers, getting Ruth to raise her gaze so that one can see the scary glowing purple color of her eyes as she remains knelt over.
"You all have rembered what it is that you hold most dear, and I will gainsay that no further," he says to the rest. "I will be content to give you more hot chocolate before you go, however! Until then..."
An aside to the fallen construct and melting ice. "...Even this shrine is meant to be ephemeral. Fading away each time it is completed to be rebuild anew... best I get started before long."