2023-10-07: Among Glittering Stone
- Log: Among Glittering Stone
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lan Lilac
- Where: Gemstone Cavern
- Date: October 07, 2023
- Summary: Lan and Loren ditch a tour group to go exploring further into the Gemstone Cavern.
DG: A party led by Loren Voss is now entering Gemstone Cavern. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Ducking the Tour Guide *>====================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
"The Gemstone Cavern is a natural wonder of Sylvaland. For almost a century,
our people have come here for commerce... for solace... and to find rare
pieces of crystal that are critical to power the technology of the
now-extinct Elw species. These caverns have a myriad of vibrant colors..."
So it goes.
The first part of the Gemstone Cavern is completely safe. It is completely
without danger. It is, in fact, a tourist destination. It is the deeper
places that you wish to travel to... but it can only be entered via a tour,
which costs 50 gella a person.
Somehow, you need to shake off the young Sylvaland College undergraduate
working part-time as a tour guide, and slip deeper into the cavern.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
NOT LONG AGO
There had been work to do, in the wake of the decoy operation. The excavation had gone off without a hitch on the Commander's end of things, and meanwhile, they had pulled off their end of the plot with aplomb. They had gotten sufficient attention from the Drifter population that might have otherwise interfered with the excavation and held it during those last few critical days and hours. The Anima relic was now back safely in Solaris' hands.
So had said the official reports. And it's true, it was the sort of battle they weren't supposed to win -- but also one which they weren't supposed to lose. He'd overheard what engineering had said. To have sustained that much damage to external and internal systems... van Houten had done a number of Schiehallion. It would still be undergoing repairs and replacements for weeks.
Perhaps it was the sound of Loren's teeth grinding that had prompted Leah Sadalbari to grant him some additional days off -- for 'a service well-conducted' had been the official rationale.
AND THEN
"...That cave? What about it?" Loren says to Lan, glancing over her way as he tosses a handful of bread crumbs to ducks in Sylvaland's lake (NOBODY TELL HIM).
AND SO!
"In particular, note the quality of the crystal as it catches the light here... this incoming shaft illuminates the caverns far better than any synthetic or magical light might..." drones the guide. He's been trying to ditch the guide for at least the last five minutes, but she's got an eye like a hawk. It sort of reminds him of his old superior back in Aveh. It also means that this probably isn't the first time someone's attempted to slip away, Loren figures. He furrows his brow as if in thought.
Plastic crinkles faintly as he unwraps a bar and breaks off a piece of the tasteless energy supplement well-preserved within. He stoops for a moment, scooping up a handful of rocks and gravel. "...Okay. When I go, that's your signal to run for it," he hisses to Lan, jerking his head towards a side tunnel that's been roped off with a 'do not enter' sign pinned to it. And which one of them is the worse runner of the two, again? But he is the one with the distraction, namely, the good-sized ball of rocks and gravel kept adhered together by a wad of sticky energy bar. "Okay..."
He tosses it as the guide turns her back on the group, pointing to a particular formation. --Not at her, no. He throws it at a low-hanging section of rock nearby whereupon the makeshift projectile explodes into a rain of rock and sticky bits above the rest of the tour group. "MONSTERS!" Loren yells, doing his best impression of someone terrified. If he's lucky, this won't backfire on him horrendously.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan has no idea that you aren't supposed to give bread to ducks. She knows that they can be fed lots of things, like fruit and vegetable scraps and insects, so why wouldn't that list include bread? Bread was a plant once!
"I dunno why I suddenly thought about it," she shrugs, chin resting in her hands as she watches the ducks (and by extension, Loren). "I remember thinking it was pretty, but it wasn't a good time to go exploring." Because Loren had lost his memories, even down to his ability to use Ether or a weapon. She had no idea what was in there, and more pressing things on her mind! "Let's go back there sometime and see it." Because not everything needs to be necessary to be done.
So they went on vacation! Back to Sylvaland! Well, Loren did. Lan goes where she pleases all the time anyway.
The tour isn't UNinteresting, it's just that Lan really doesn't feel like they should be bound to it, since the last time she and Loren were here it wasn't very guided or guarded. Shouldn't they get some kind of 'first one the scene' exemption? Or at least the Experienced Drifter tour, where someone points them at the most interesting bits and leaves them to it?? Instead, they're having to wing it.
"Right," she whispers back, doing her best to look completely unsuspicious and touristy. Doot de doo~ o/' Loren winds up for the throw, and Lan's strong legs tense--
--and he's yelling and there's rocks falling everywhere and if she gets Soylent in her hair Lan is going to be so upset. But more importantly she's running, ignoring everything to leap the rope like a deer. Good luck, Loren!! Don't get put in Geology Jail!
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Ducking the Tour Guide. DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Soylent Nutribar toward his party's challenge, Ducking the Tour Guide. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Ducking the Tour Guide *>====================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
"The Gemstone Cavern is a natural wonder of Sylvaland. For almost a century,
our people have come here for commerce... for solace... and to find rare
pieces of crystal that are critical to power the technology of the
now-extinct Elw species. These caverns have a myriad of vibrant colors..."
So it goes.
The first part of the Gemstone Cavern is completely safe. It is completely
without danger. It is, in fact, a tourist destination. It is the deeper
places that you wish to travel to... but it can only be entered via a tour,
which costs 50 gella a person.
Somehow, you need to shake off the young Sylvaland College undergraduate
working part-time as a tour guide, and slip deeper into the cavern.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 1 *>========================= ======================< Results - Ducking the Tour Guide >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Soylent Nutribar 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Tire(2) Effects: Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Rockslides of the Past *>==================== | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- You enter a room that slopes downward. Even the light of the crystals in the walls can't fully light this, as a rock slide has collapsed part of the old tunnel and made a new one. This leads to a new, lower level... but it also means carefully navigating treacherous footing, with loose rocks and pebbles, that could send you toppling down below. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The makeshift bomb of rock bits and soylent explodes! The crowd of tourists screams!
Lan vanishes into the sidetunnel as quick as she can, and Loren is hot on her heels, vanishing into the darkness (well, semi-darkness) after as chaos erupts in the publicly-traveled path. All in all, this seems to have worked better than he had anticipated. Perhaps it'll be a while until the guide realizes she's short two (and then the real panic might start, assuming they haven't cottoned to the whole thing being a con) by which time they'll have long-since vanished into the depths of the caverns.
"Whew..." Loren gasps, coming to a stop after his sprint to catch his breath. "I think we'll... be in the clear."
Sure, he's a soldier, but he usually doesn't run like that, even while conducting an operation.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Hup!! She's over the rope, and Lan keeps going. Down the side tunnel, trusting her eyes to be enough in the darkness. They run until it looks certain that they haven't been followed, Lan hoping that there's nothing hiding in wait on the path to trip them. It'd be really dumb if they managed to pull off such a flawless plan only to twist an ankle and lose precious enthusiasm during the healing process.
Loren huffs and puffs, and Lan... is kind of breathing a little faster. It's super unfair to him, somehow...! "Hey, are you getting enough exercise?" Lan asks him sincerely, which doubtless does nothing to make it seem less like a jab aimed for his ribs. But she's honestly concerned.
What if he gets chased by something big and hungry and can't get away?!
Luckily for Loren, she's distracted from asking more embarrassing questions by the sudden slope of the path. "Hey, the tunnel's blocked," she frowns, glancing from the caved-in path to a less reliable-looking side shaft that leads down even more steeply - and worse, has a treacherous drop on one side, and a path where all the waiting debris has been, er, waiting.
If they want to see anything worthwhile, they're going to have to keep going.
"...Let's be careful," Lan suggests a bit uselessly, and starts to pick her way down with a perhaps not-entirely warranted amount of caution for someone whose grasp of antigravity magic is so good.
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Rockslides of the Past.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Is he getting enough exercise?!
"What-- what's that supposed to mean!" Loren squawks in response, managing an impressive about-face from the panting he was doing just moments prior. "I get plenty! I am a soldier!" Granted, a soldier with a job that mostly has him at a desk or delgating fieldwork, these days. And it's not as if someone needs to be in shape to pilot a Gear...
Though, it should be said that many of his superiors -- perhaps not directly admittedly -- manage to be in fine shape despite being subject to many more responsibilities/capability for delegation.
Still, fortunately perhaps, this line of discussion is waylaid by the obstacle in their path. "...Huh, guess that's why they don't want the average person down here," Loren remarks, squinting down into the dark. That's a long drop, and from a trail that looks pretty unsteady. "Well," he says, glancing over his shoulder, "we're not going back," not unless they want to potentially get asked a lot of awkward questions, "so..."
Downward and forward it is. He'll have to be careful not to stumble.
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Rockslides of the Past.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================== ====================<* CHALLENGE - Rockslides of the Past *>==================== | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- You enter a room that slopes downward. Even the light of the crystals in the walls can't fully light this, as a rock slide has collapsed part of the old tunnel and made a new one. This leads to a new, lower level... but it also means carefully navigating treacherous footing, with loose rocks and pebbles, that could send you toppling down below. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Slow:_Agility_Down! and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 2 *>========================= ======================< Results - Rockslides of the Past >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 8 --(13)--> 21 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 8 --(5)--> 13 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Conditions: Slow(2)|Tire(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has failed this challenge! The party gained 15 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - The Maze of Gems *>======================= | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- You come to a room that hasn't been mined before. Here, countless gemstones grow up from the ground -- and the glowing, multi-colored gems have many sharp edges. Even brushing one will cut you. There are precarious, narrow paths through the crystals -- forming a maze. At times, you have to squeeze; with a few wrong movements, you can injure yourself badly. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! and Slow:_Agility_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Oh good, if he still has the breath to protest like that he should be fine.
"Yeah, a regular tourist would probably fall right off, huh," Lan remarks. Clearly not Seasoned Adventurers like themselves, though! They're totally capable and prepared for stuff like treacherous paths and sheer drops!
Which is why it's just plain tragic that the path, which was so rock-solid and steady underneath Lan's sandals, makes an ominous shuffling noise under Loren's foot.
Nobody falls, exactly, but his heel does sink into a sudden loose spot, throwing off Loren's balance and throwing him into an awkward run for the last few feet as he tries very hard not to fall on his face.
Lan, of course, leaps into action by running right after him. "LOREN!" At least the path levels out ahead...?
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The average person probably would just fall off. They'd get too close to the edge and then, that's that! That's it! Down they go!
Loren, at this point in his life, is pretty well experienced. He knows what to expect when traversing the deep and dark caverns of many a place far more dangerous than this one (ought to be).
Unfortunately for Loren, the universe also has it out for him. Lan passes carefully over the rubble with nary a stumble, but Loren...
"Shit--"
He steps on just the wrong bit of stone, which slips under his boot, which sends him stumbling forward in a near-tumble down the rest of the path. His only saving grace is that he never actually falls and that the slope levels out, permitting him to slow to a stop. But his pride? His pride will never recover from this.
He says not a word as Lan joins him in the cavern below. It's absolutely stunning in here: he hadn't been aware that crystals could come in so many different colors in one place. What sort of processes had taken place here to cause all of these?
...For that matter, what are they going to do about getting through this chamber? There are so many sprays of crystal so close to one another, and they look quite sharp indeed. "Be careful," he cautions Lan.
But really, after that latest debacle, isn't he the one who ought to be careful?
DG: Loren Voss has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, The Maze of Gems.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
But did he die?
"Whew," Lan sighs, not reading the room at all. "I thought you were gonna fall..." But he didn't!
Falling might be the least of their worries, though. "They look like swords," she wonders out loud, and Lan has to fight the very human urge to immediately stick her hand out and touch one of the nearest formations to see if it's every bit as razor sharp as it looks.
(Yes. Yes it is.)
"You too," she simply nods, because. Well.
Once or twice she tries to get a better idea of the widest paths by leaping straight up into the air and floating back down, then guiding them as safely as possible.
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Butterfly Ribbon toward her party's challenge, The Maze of Gems. Quicken! Party Agility boosted! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================== =======================<* CHALLENGE - The Maze of Gems *>======================= | Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- You come to a room that hasn't been mined before. Here, countless gemstones grow up from the ground -- and the glowing, multi-colored gems have many sharp edges. Even brushing one will cut you. There are precarious, narrow paths through the crystals -- forming a maze. At times, you have to squeeze; with a few wrong movements, you can injure yourself badly. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and | | Slow:_Agility_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 3 *>========================= =========================< Results - The Maze of Gems >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 21 --(28)--> 49 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 13 --(5)--> 18 Pass Butterfly Ribbon 2 Agility Effects: Quicken, Efficient, a -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 35 --(20)--> 55 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Slow(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw. DG: Lan Lilac has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Down the Right Hole *>==================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The cave room that you enter next has glowing crystals all around, many
quite large. This gives you an excellent view of the room. Unfortunately, it
also gives you an excellent view of the enormous chasm cutting right through
the middle -- and it's much too wide for everyone to be able to leap, fly,
or otherwise cross over. However, a small spiralling path on this side leads
to another area.
This room is above the room with the chasm. There are numerous holes on the
floor. There aren't crystals in here and seeing through the holes is harder
than it sounds. If you leap through the right hole, though, you should be on
the other side of the chasm.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, and |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"I didn't fall," Loren says, perhaps a touch more harshly than he means. He's just... annoyed, really -- at the fickleness of chance and fate and all that stuff, as well as the fact that this is hardly the first time. Still, this isn't over yet, and they're far from done.
It should be said that he's being careful. He's being very careful, as he slips through the crystals. But there's careful and then there's managing to slip one's body through a narrow gap lined with sharp sharp crystals. One of these things is easier to achieve than the other, and one of these things Loren actually succeeds in.
...It's not the latter. He's gotten poked, stabbed at, and sliced by a number of crystals by the time he reaches the other side. None of the wounds are all that deep and are indeed easily mended, but... it's the principle of the thing. He wears his displeasure with this turn of events baldly on his face.
Lan, by contrast, doesn't so much as achieve a scratch on her way through the crystal maze.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Even if Lan will never be as good at healing as Loren, her rucksack always has plenty of room for important things like bandages. And her sewing kit. She'd just rather not need them to begin with!
But even Lan breathes a sigh of relief once they're out of the room crammed full of sharp pointy objects that would love to carve them up.
She has just enough time to be relieved for a few moments before her brain parses just what the huge gap ahead them is - how wide it is. She looks out across it, fingers rubbing the soft surface of her ribbon contemplatively. Yeah, if she triple jumps from there, and times it right to get the maximum amount of air, then maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe...!
She briefly considers it. But she doesn't have a way to take Loren with her, not unless she gets real creative real fast with her crystal Gear.
"Let's... try another way," she sighs, looking around until they find the spiraling path.
Once upstairs, the sight of all the holes is at least a welcome bit of hope. She peers through a couple of them, trying all sorts of different angles before giving up. "I can't see anything!" she complains. "One of them's got to land on the other side though, doesn't it?" She's digging that oracle paper out again, folding it between her fingers as they walk between the holes. "Please tell me you brought your scanny computer thing...!"
DG: Lan Lilac has used her Tool Paku-Paku toward her party's challenge, Jumping Down the Right Hole. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He might need to avail himself of the sewing kit later, if only for his clothes in a few spots. Ugh.
Still, it's not much more than a nuisance when all is said and done. He's through and whole, and the same can be said for Lan, who he can tell as he looks her over, weathered that far better than he did. But there's not much time to be grumpy about that for long.
Not with the size of the gap that stands before them. "Huh," Loren says, after a good long look at the abyss before them. There's no apparent way across. "Huh," he muses again, all irritation gone as he considers this latest problem. What if they can't find a way forward? Will they have to turn back at some point, empty-handed? Still, there's a path leading upwards and that might be as good an approach as any.
"...I wonder why I came here," he says at last as they venture upwards, and he doesn't mean why he came here today. He means why a version of himself without his memories had come here. Had it really just been chance that had drawn him in? He might remember what that version of himself was thinking, but it also doesn't mean that he can step back into that moment perfectly and re-evaluate it.
They must be above the chasm, and of course, there's no path leading to the other side. But there are a series of holes. Wait--
"The place we were standing was about... here," he says, pacing back a ways to a particular point in the room. "And..." There are a lot of holes to chose from on the other side, though. Are all -- or any of them -- likely to see them drop safely to the other side of the gap? "Hm. --Oh, good idea," Loren says, pulling his medical computer from his bag. "Let's see... if I set it to pace counter mode..." Then it's just a matter of some mental math gymnastics to figure out how long this chamber is -- and thus compare that to how wide the gap below might be, and then try to triangulate where each of the drop points might be comparative to the floor below.
This will take him a little while to do, measurements and all. But ultimately--
"This one." He thinks.
He's pretty sure.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool MediScan v7 toward his party's challenge, Jumping Down the Right Hole. Rally!
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
=================<* CHALLENGE - Jumping Down the Right Hole *>==================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The cave room that you enter next has glowing crystals all around, many
quite large. This gives you an excellent view of the room. Unfortunately, it
also gives you an excellent view of the enormous chasm cutting right through
the middle -- and it's much too wide for everyone to be able to leap, fly,
or otherwise cross over. However, a small spiralling path on this side leads
to another area.
This room is above the room with the chasm. There are numerous holes on the
floor. There aren't crystals in here and seeing through the holes is harder
than it sounds. If you leap through the right hole, though, you should be on
the other side of the chasm.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, and |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 4 *>========================= ===================< Results - Jumping Down the Right Hole >==================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 49 --(5)--> 54 Pass MediScan v7 3 Wits Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 18 --(5)--> 23 Pass Paku-Paku 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 55 --(20)--> 75 Pass Conditions: Injure(2)|Reckless(2) Effects: Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Loren Voss has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Because you had vacation time and nothing better to do, Lan doesn't say.
She realizes he isn't talking about today, after a moment to feel out his tone of voice. "...You got bored. Everything was new," Lan recalls, unable to help a wriggling thread of wistfulness from winding its way around her heart. "You didn't know it was dangerous." You were able to so easily be happy, she doesn't say.
She had worried so much when she woke to find him missing. Thank goodness he didn't know to cover his trail. Outwardly, Lan just looks a little distant. It's for the best that Loren is their dedicated mathlete.
"I mean, it's as good a leap as any, right?" she says, once he's finished calculating. Because if she thinks about falling forever into the abyss, she won't want to keep going! Lan gives him a bright smile, a thumbs up, and jumps in.
On the other side, Lan is waiting for him once he jumps too. "We didn't die!" she cheers, enthused. "Go us!"
DG: Loren Voss has drawn a new Challenge.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Gemstone Eater *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come down to the lowest layer of the Gemstone Cavern. Countless
gemstones are here, reaching up from nearly floor to ceiling, with many
colors. Some sparkle; some are valuable gems and rare stones, sure to sell
for a great deal of money.
But, you aren't alone.
From the midst of those gemstones, piled up on each other, there is a rumble
-- and then an eye opens. A large, toad-like creature stirs. Its massive,
bulbous body is taller than a person's, and twice as long. And its hide is
covered in gems, to better hide it. When it opens its mouth, it reveals
huge, flat teeth for grinding gems...
...and then a sticky tongue strikes out, ready to pull one of your number in
towards it!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The silence clues him in that he's not being very specific. "I mean -- not now! Back... yes." Mollified, he glances away as she proposes her own reasons why he might have come here. "...Maybe," Loren allows, frowning faintly. It's not the most satisfying of answers it would seem -- why here, and why not another place in the area they had landed themselves in? Perhaps some things in life really did come down to the luck of the draw... He sighs weightily, the complicated expression unfolding on his face now a far cry from the more innocent soul he had been then. Would it have been better to have remained so?
Even he wonders that, sometimes. Maybe he would have become someone better for it. Maybe, it would have seen him ultimately worse off -- comparatively -- than he is even now. He still can't say what route is better.
But at least he can calculate which of these holes is likely the one that will see them safely to the other side. "Wait--" he starts to say, having stooped for a moment to pick up a stray stone. But she's already jumped in the hole. ...He'd just wanted to test it first...
But there's nothing for it but to follow her down. Fortunately, his calculations were correct. "Whew," he sighs instead upon landing. "Good thing there was a hole right over this ledge here." Fortunate and improbable, yes, but hardly unwelcome! "Come on, it looks like the path leads this way."
'This way' turns out to be a somewhat winding sloping tunnel that eventually leads them down to some chamber, deep within the cavern. It could just as well be a sea of stars: everywhere they turn, there are lights reflecting off of glittering gems and crystals. It's a marvel to behold. But they're not alone.
Rather less a marvel: the toad-like creature that rouses from its slumber here in the chamber and blinking blearily at the two of them, decides that meat is back on the menu. It opens its mouth to eject a sticky tongue!
Immediately, it snags Loren, dragging him with startling speed into its maw. Loren doesn't get out much more than a startled grunt, but fortunately for him -- and perhaps unfortunately for the gemstone eater -- he is well-equipped with an array of nastiness of his own. Protective Ether coats his body, protecting him from an immediate crushing, while Loren himself digs into the closest thing he can bring to bear in the situation, which turns out to be his medical kit. He has scalpels in there, yes, but more immediately: he has several bottles of caustic nastiness, meant for cleaning wounds. They're rather less pleasant when applied all at once to even a creature's mucosal membranes.
Or at least, he hopes that's the case. He would rather be spat out than have to put a spike of rock through its brain while he's still in its mouth.
DG: Loren Voss has used his Tool Solarian Medical Kit toward his party's challenge, Gemstone Eater. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Did she jump because she trusts him just that much? Or because she's that much of a ditz?
Listen...!!
The crystals and gemstones are everywhere in the new cavern. They shine like, well... jewels? Very shiny, very beautiful jewels, yes. Lan's gaze is drawn from one formation, to the next, to the next, to--
"Did that just move?" Lan asks, frowning at the vision of ...something, shifting among the shine. And then it eats Loren, which is honestly just par for the course today. "LOREN!!"
Her reaction is immediate. Lan dashes forward, ducking underneath its grotesque mouth towards its soft belly. She doesn't have much room, but if she can just... punch it in the gut or something, maybe it'll throw Loren up!
Otherwise her go-to option is going to be dropping an asteroid on it and that would probably hurt Loren too.
DG: Lan Lilac has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Gemstone Eater.
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>==============================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Gemstone Eater *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come down to the lowest layer of the Gemstone Cavern. Countless
gemstones are here, reaching up from nearly floor to ceiling, with many
colors. Some sparkle; some are valuable gems and rare stones, sure to sell
for a great deal of money.
But, you aren't alone.
From the midst of those gemstones, piled up on each other, there is a rumble
-- and then an eye opens. A large, toad-like creature stirs. Its massive,
bulbous body is taller than a person's, and twice as long. And its hide is
covered in gems, to better hide it. When it opens its mouth, it reveals
huge, flat teeth for grinding gems...
...and then a sticky tongue strikes out, ready to pull one of your number in
towards it!
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
========================<* Gemstone Cavern - Round 5 *>========================= ==========================< Results - Gemstone Eater >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loren Voss 54 --(23)--> 77 Fail Solarian Medical Kit 2 Combat Effects: Cleanse and Liability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lan Lilac 23 --(5)--> 28 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Loren Voss 75 --(35)--> 110 Pass Conditions: Fright(2)|Injure(1)|Reckless(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Loren Voss has successfully explored Gemstone Cavern!
=============================<* Gemstone Cavern *>============================== ======================<* CHALLENGE - Elw Power Crystal *>======================= | Type: Discovery | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information >---------------------------- One of the large crystals among so many in the cavern stands out. It has a faint blue hew -- and it is large, glowing, and uncut. But, you recognize it as an Elw crystal (unless you do not). Though uncut, it could be shaved down and prepared to power Elw technology... or human technology, modified to use it as a power source. Whether you use it or sell it, it could prove very valuable. ============================= Dungeon Conditions: ============================= | Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Fright:_Combat_Down!_Agility_Up!, | | Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, | | Treasure:_Exploration_Up!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! | = Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It did just move!
It did more than just move, as a matter of fact, much to Loren's current state of discomfort. It reacts to him attempting to make himself incredibly unpalatable by attempting to chew on him, which would have ended very badly for him if he hadn't already taken measures to protect himself against such a turn of events. Shit, it probably feeds on gems Loren thinks, staring up at the flat plates which pass for its teeth as he fights against the pressure of its jaw. He's going to have to do this the ugly way, isn't he--
Which makes it all the more a surprise when he finds himself sprawled on the cavern floor in a pool of slime, courtesy of Lan driving a kick to the thing's unprotected stomach.
"Eugh," he approximates, rising up onto his haunches. "Okay. Lan! Get clear!"
Because now is the moment when he's going to spike it. She might want to add in a little oomph of her own, all considering.
When the dust settles, it's just them, the creature, and a whole chamber full of glittering gems. Rising to his feet, Loren takes another look around, forgetting his general state in the moment of it. "...Wow," he says, regarding the crystals. It almost -- almost -- makes nearly getting eaten worth it. "...Hey, there's something funny about this one." And when he reaches out to touch it, it comes free from the wall at his touch, falling to the floor with a clink. It's... glowing, softly.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She really wasn't sure what she was going to do if she couldn't get him out. Probably 'continue to panic, possibly forever'. That sounds reasonable. But she did, and she doesn't have to panic, because Loren is okay and not digested by a giant gross frog.
When the call comes for her to get clear, she moves. And when stone spikes up from below to pierce the monster's belly, Lan calls the sky down on the thing to hammer the point home.