2023-12-14: Across the Heavens
- Log: Across the Heavens
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Eleanor Klein, Dean Stark, Gwen Whitlock, Rebecca Streisand
- Where: Deku Isles
- Date: December 14, 2023
- Summary: The rocket has landed at Marduk, but getting to the place the Ten Wise Men have breached is not as easy as that, as Avril and her allies find.
DG: A party led by Avril Vent Fleur is now entering Marduk - The Broken Seal. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - For Want of a Door *>======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The rocket from Kattelox has landed on Marduk, the second -- and quite
artificial -- moon of Filgaia. The area around you is an immense platform,
though it is composed fairly artfully, showing its Elw construction. Rather
than an industrial style, it is made of sweeping arches of white metal that
weave together to form a platform. Ahead of you is the path leading to
Marduk's interior...
...and the arrival of some of the Ten Wise Men has made a mess of it. They
did not find a door, so they made several. You'll need to pick one.
The holes they tore into it, though, are being repaired by automated
systems. Glowing green light makes barriers over them, while metal is being
organically grown and filling in the holes. You'll need to blast through the
barriers /and/ overcome the automated repair systems to enter Marduk
properly.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and |
| Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The only rough component of the entire trip from Filgaia's surface to the distant 'New Moon' that might give anyone any pause is the initial launch. The vehicle they have helped assemble for their trip to the heavens trembles and shudders as it begins its long ascent skyward, but even this does not last terribly long as these things go. Soon the place they had launched from can no longer be seen, soon they can see the edge of heaven, and soon, even the skies can hold them no longer.
This is a view of the world that none have seen since ancient Zeboim. They have achieved something once only managed by their distant ancestors.
The landing at Marduk, Filgaia's 'New Moon' is surprisingly smooth. The surface of the station bespeaks its origin as an in-part Elw project: the organic sweeps of the station's external walls can be mistaken for no other architecture yet known to those who wander the worlds. That same organic architecture tells a story of the passage of others before them, however--
For the walls are regenerating over great tears that others have torn in them; animate machinery works busily to weave together and smooth over the damage. The Ten Wise Men were not gentle in breaking their way in. However, with no obvious entrance in sight, these same openings are the only clear way to get inside-- assuming, of course, one can break through the already too-small breaks and overcome the station's self-repair protocols.
Avril scans the only clear way forward. If first they must get inside, they must do so now, before it becomes more difficult to achieve. "I am sorry," Avril tells perhaps Marduk itself. She holds in one hand a small device, of which she flips open to press the button within. ...Does she expect a Golem to come flying at Marduk, all the way from Filgaia...? Or is there something else here?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, For Want of a Door. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
It's a beautiful view, even higher than Sielje. Eleanor looks to the windows as they ascend, and stares. It's an incredible achivement...
And it's a lot more comfortable than the trip to the Heimdall Gazzo was.
The landing sees Eleanor wobble out of the ship; she's at least wearing flats, given the destination, but is otherwise apparently dressed more for the board room than the battlefield.
Her clothes are plenty enchanted, all the same.
And the walls...
"Oh," Eleanor says, "That's not... ideal," she says. Avril apologizes, and presses a button. Eleanor tilts her head. "Well, I can help," she says, and rolls up her sleeves a little, the Power Bracelet at her wrist glinting in the light. "At least we can breathe!"
She picks up a very large piece of debris and swings it for the opening.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Power Bracelet toward her party's challenge, For Want of a Door. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Traveling through space on a rocket is incredible! It's kind of like being on an airship, but there's a distinctly different vibe to it. Dean knew there were risks to it, but he had faith in everyone's ability to make it work--and it did! His faith is rewarded.
But now they're on Marduk and there's been a hole or several blasted into its face--holes that are being repaired as they look. "Wow," Dean says, raising a hand over his eyes. "Whatever blasted into those walls is something else, but the way they're fixing themselves automatically is something... even more else!"
He looks over at Avril as she takes out the Golem Button and lights up. "Woah!! Is there a Golem here on Marduk!? That's incredible!! I can't wait to see it!!"
Eleanor looks wobbly as she emerges from the rocket, which reminds Dean-- "Oh yeah! Let me help out too," he says, retrieving the Original Mountain Medium. "Yeah, breathing is great!" he says before casting a spell to make them all briefly impervious from harm--and thus, exhaustion. That'll help with anyone getting in there like Eleanor, even if she *does* have that Power Bracelet to help her out.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Mountain Medium toward his party's challenge, For Want of a Door. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen did, in fact, make at least one joke about this being a great way to expand her customer base.
However, the moment they start their flight, Gwen's cheer is exposed as merely a way to keep spirits up, as well as to disguise her own slowly growing anxiety. She thought traveling back and forth to Lunar was mind-bending in itself; but she never had a chance to think of what, exactly existed between Filgaia and Lunar, and that it was a literal 'space', rather than just the point from A to B.
".... It's beautiful." Gwen numbly says, looking out the window. Viewing it from Lunar was a sight in itself; here, she's able to appreciate how it looks the further they go out in space, until the blue color that lends it its alternate name becomes more noticable.
When they land, Gwen realizes she had gripped onto whatever she could so hard that her right hand had left some imprints. She sheepishly whips out a handkerchief and rubs at the spot, then gives up, hoping no one would notice.
"Eheh..." Gwen rejoins her group rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, we made it n' we can breathe, sooo, it's all up-hill from here, right? We already know a thing or two 'bout punchin' above our weight class."
More sobering is the sight of the 'entrances' the Ten Wise Men made.
"... Now this, this is somethin' I can handle. We probably won't even have t'try that hard in followin' them. They did all the hard work already. Shame they had to ruin such pretty architecture, tho." Avril and Eleanor call on strength through different means than Gwen; the courier takes a more direct approach, protected with Dean's magic.
There's no need to hold back; the stakes are that high.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, For Want of a Door. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca is certainly CONCERNED about this trip. She has many SAFETY concerns that may not necessarily be shared by someone who once rode in a Golem Arm, and another who thought that riding in a Golem Arm is VERY COOL.
But the trip to Marduk is in fact surprisingly smooth, and it was in fact a beautiful sight of a VERY different landscape. "Not- what I expected of our Moon after traveling to Lunar?" Rebecca says, as she hoists herself out.
There's a look of alarm as she looks from Avril to Dean, then at the sky, then down below...
... she knows better than to think one isn't coming. It's definitely coming.
"Yep - breathing is great..." She might have herself more READY to yank Avril, Dean, Gwen, and Eleanor back, the MOMENT she figures out where it's coming.
"...so is having all of our bones intact!"
Why's she saying that? I'm sure it's for no good reason.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, For Want of a Door.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
======================<* CHALLENGE - For Want of a Door *>======================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The rocket from Kattelox has landed on Marduk, the second -- and quite
artificial -- moon of Filgaia. The area around you is an immense platform,
though it is composed fairly artfully, showing its Elw construction. Rather
than an industrial style, it is made of sweeping arches of white metal that
weave together to form a platform. Ahead of you is the path leading to
Marduk's interior...
...and the arrival of some of the Ten Wise Men has made a mess of it. They
did not find a door, so they made several. You'll need to pick one.
The holes they tore into it, though, are being repaired by automated
systems. Glowing green light makes barriers over them, while metal is being
organically grown and filling in the holes. You'll need to blast through the
barriers /and/ overcome the automated repair systems to enter Marduk
properly.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Exhaust:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
====================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal - Round 1 *>==================== ========================< Results - For Want of a Door >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Mountain Medium 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Remote Golem Override 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Liabil -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 0 --(38)--> 38 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Power Bracelet 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Tire(2)|Weaken(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
NOW
At least someone's concerned. It isn't as if the rest of Rebecca's typical trio are all that good at common sense.
It's a good thing that Marduk projects an atmosphere (or at least, that's the most likely explanation for what's going on).
It isn't clear, at first, what it is that Avril is doing.
Is there a Golem on Marduk?
"...I do not know," Avril says, creasing her brow as if in thought. There is no tell-tale rumble of the approach of a Golem, but then, they aren't exactly standing on terra firma, either. "Perhaps there might be. I understand that the Elw played a role in creating Marduk, once upon a time. Yet... I wonder."
She glances the once at Rebecca, and smiles slightly in spite of the look on Rebecca's face. "Don't worry. I'm certain this will work out."
How does she know that? ...She has a feeling about it, that's all.
????
"I am sorry, but you must go forth," says the figure, their fingers moving across the hardlight panel that hangs in the air before them. "Then, I am afraid, you shall wait for a very long time. Yet, do not be afraid. I shall see you again before long."
The ground shudders with the force of the detonation that follows. Before long a glittering star rises high into the skies, then vanishes.
NOW
From within the station a pair of large hands shove outwards and grab at the outer walls, as if to tear them both open forcefully. It's a Golem! But even it strains against Marduk's defenses. Worse, some of the automata are gathering near it as if preparing an all-out assault--
CRUNCH
Or they were preparing an all-out assault, before a Dinoginos-boosted rock lands on all of them. Don't worry, Marduk's self-repair extends to them as well, though it will at least take them a little time to literally pull together. But there's still the matter of the Golem straining against the outer wall that's threatening to heal over even it.
But don't worry, helping out with this part is exactly where Gwen and her ARM come in. There's a gap!
"Hurry!" Avril calls out, reaching over to take Rebecca by the hand. Perhaps her attempt to pull them back wasn't needed...
DG: Gwen Whitlock has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Platform Traffic Control *>===================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The curving white hallway that you follow leads into a large room at the
edge of Marduk. The room is composed of a glass wall, providing a view of
orbit -- and of Filgaia, in the distance. Unfortunately, it is quite the
drop to the floor, and there are no doors down there, only a stairway
leading back to the end of the hallway. Instead, there are doorways spread
out across the walls on the edge of the room, all up high.
There is a console in front of you. It controls a number of floating
platforms. However, each movement input causes /all/ of the room's platforms
to move -- and in different directions. There are a dozen platforms, and if
you move them into the right configuration, you can make a bridge to a
doorway. But, if you move them the wrong way, they may collide or spread out
uselessly.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Wheeling around to see the Golem, Gwen takes a few selfish moments to look up in open awe at it.
Thankfully, Avril's voice draws her back to her original task. "... U-uh, thank you, Mr. Golem!" She attempts to do what the Golem is doing, but on a smaller scale, giving the remainder of the group time to slip through.
Taking a breath afterwards, Gwen looks back. ".... The Golem'll be alright, right?"
Thankfully, the next challenge looks to be relatively simple. There's even a clear view of Filgaia, as well as the floor far below them. Gwen walks to the console and experimentally presses a button, and sees one of the platforms move. "... Huh." Another button press, and it moves back, but another platform moves in. "Okay, that didn't work." Another button, another.
There is one tried and true method that has always worked for Gwen, and it is--
_*~Trial and Error!!~* __
======AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME LATER======
".... This is makin' my head hurt," Gwen grumbles as she punches random combinations, jotting in her notebook each combination that doesn't work out. ".... Anybody else want a go at it before I break somethin'?"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Courier Kit toward her party's challenge, Platform Traffic Control. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean grins at Gwen when she talks of punching above their weight class. "You know it!" To Rebecca, utterly without guile or irony, he adds, "Yeah, that's good too!"
A Golem emerges from within the station!! Dean WHOOPS and jumps and pumps a fist as he cheers. "YEAH!! Open up the way! That's the way to do it!! Oh no, watch out for those--"
CRUNCH.
Dean winces at first--but when it becomes clear that Marduk's repairs will also take care of those crushed automatons, he beams. "It *did* work out!" Dean grins at Avril. "Not that I had any doubt. You're practically always right about this kinda thing!"
But they've got to get inside, and fast. Dean follows Avril and Rebecca, looking over his shoulder to make sure Eleanor and Gwen aren't left behind. He waves enthusiastically to the Golem as they pass, asiding to Gwen, "Of course he'll be all right! Look at him!"
Ah, faith.
Once they're inside, they've got a new problem to consider, though. There's a curving hallway and a large room and a lack of connecting floor. Dean looks down from the edge, then over at the others. "Nope!" he tells Gwen, raising his ARMs. "I'm gonna check to see if there's a hidden floor instead. That's way faster than messing with a console!"
And so he fires a Detector bullet, which produces a green overlay of the area... Will it find a previously hidden path or not?
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Detector toward his party's challenge, Platform Traffic Control. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
It would be nice to say that Eleanor simply has faith that they'll get through this all right. ...The truth is that, as a wizard, she is terribly curious about what's up here, and has every intention of learning as much as she can.
It's fine, though.
"Thank you, Dean!" she says of his help. Then she smiles at Gwen. "It is beautiful. We'll have to protect it from further harm, if we can."
But their bones...? "Rebecca, are you--"
"Oh!" The hands! "That explains a bit. ...How on Filgaia did...?"
Well, it's probably fine.
Gwen asks about the Golem. "...Hopefully!" says Eleanor. Dean seems more sure, at least.
Buttons...
"Hm," Eleanor says. "I think there's a spell for clarity in here," she says, "To dispel illusions. It might work, since it's Elw technology..." She pulls the Book of Mudora and starts flipping through.
"Yes, with Dean's detector..."
Flip flip.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Book of Mudora toward her party's challenge, Platform Traffic Control. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca DOES trust Avril's feelings in general, but you know - all the same, she does get worried when things involve that Remote.
And indeed, Rebecca almost DOES topple from the shaking when those two hands LURCH OUT from inside. "From inside!?"
AN UNEXPECTED ANGLE!
But then Avril takes her by the hand, and she steadies, running along after her. "Ah! Thanks, Avril." She doesn't have to keep holding onto her hand but...
... she does, it's comforting. Even as she smiles ruefully at Dean's display of absolute faith. Eleanor's comment, "I'm good! Just a little rattled-!" She says, perhaps more honestly than usual.
It's only once they reach the console that Rebecca takes off a badge and- starts moving it about while held in her hand as if using it like some kind of radar.
"Rooms like this always have hidden treasure."
And that hidden treasure is often USEFUL for their continued survival. "Hey Dean- let's combine our efforts."
Thus, Rebecca perhaps commits them not just to creating the bridge, but attempting to find...!
THE OPTIONAL CHEST!
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Treasure Tone toward her party's challenge, Platform Traffic Control. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"It would have been unfortunate if we could not breathe," Avril remarks. Surely someone else would have mentioned it if that would have been the case! ...Surely.
A little bit of extra work on the much finer scale (comparatively, to the Golem) works wonders for keeping some of the filaments at bay, which also means that their way in stays open long enough for them all to slip inside. Will the Golem be alright?
Avril, Rebecca's hand in hers, can only look over at Gwen and say, truthfully, "I do not know." Some inkling of 'foresight' had clued her in to the Golem's presence, certainly, but what might come of it after this remains a closed book however she prods at the thought.
The wall without continues to seal itself over. As for the rest of them, they press on.
It isn't long before they can see not only Filgaia far below but another floor that could be reached, if only they could get there. Fortunately, a nearby console hints at the answer! ...
...
Allegedly.
"Hmm," Avril muses, as yet another combination bears little fruit. "Perhaps we are approaching this incorrectly. There are far too many combinations for us to simply stumble across the answer."
The surface of her mirror shines with the light of the moon. "I wonder if another way might..."
When logic fails, one can try intuition, she must mean--
Avril begins to glow, motes of light dancing off her skin. One hand extends towards the console, her gaze promising doom in the manner of a far-off thunderstorm. "I command you, show us the way forward!" she says with all seriousness, extending one hand slowly towards the console. What did Gwen say just now about not wanting to break it just yet?!
Or is Avril seriously attempting Intimidate on a computer?
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Mirror of De Soto toward her party's challenge, Platform Traffic Control. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round!
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
===================<* CHALLENGE - Platform Traffic Control *>===================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The curving white hallway that you follow leads into a large room at the
edge of Marduk. The room is composed of a glass wall, providing a view of
orbit -- and of Filgaia, in the distance. Unfortunately, it is quite the
drop to the floor, and there are no doors down there, only a stairway
leading back to the end of the hallway. Instead, there are doorways spread
out across the walls on the edge of the room, all up high.
There is a console in front of you. It controls a number of floating
platforms. However, each movement input causes /all/ of the room's platforms
to move -- and in different directions. There are a dozen platforms, and if
you move them into the right configuration, you can make a bridge to a
doorway. But, if you move them the wrong way, they may collide or spread out
uselessly.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, |
| Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, Madness:_Wits_Down!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Weaken:_Brute_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
====================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal - Round 2 *>==================== =====================< Results - Platform Traffic Control >===================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 8 --(7)--> 15 Fail Detector 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Mirror of De Soto 2 Wits Effects: Cleanse and Inefficie -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 8 --(12)--> 20 Fail Courier Kit 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 38 --(0)--> 38 Pass Treasure Tone 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Book of Mudora 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Madness|Tire(1)|Weaken(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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: Dean Stark has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Duplicator-Sealed Door *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Duplicators are a mystical key created by ancient civilizations on Filgaia
to unlock doorways. They are rare and, frankly, you just don't have one.
Which is unfortunate, as this winding white hallway is abruptly interrupted
by a massive black door. Elw runes on it lock it down, which glow a soft
green. A Duplicator would open it -- but, well, you don't have that.
Instead, you'll need to get through this sorcery-reinforced door the old
fashioned way.
By blowing it up.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Leave it to Dean to think outside the box. Gwen gives him a wide grin and a thumbs up. "Good idea, Dean!"
Eleanor takes the more magical approach, flipping through a book of spells. "... Yeah, I think Dean's got the right of it. We'll speed this all quick-like."
Dean's Detector bullet laids out a possible hidden path! .... Just not to a viable exit. However, for Rebecca's purposes, it provides a literal bridge to... THE OPTIONAL CHEST.
Opening it up will reveal something mysterious that may or may not be a surprise tool that will help them later. Only Rebecca will know.
Avril provides a direct answer to their current problem, by using her presence. This, combined with Eleanor's magic, makes the platforms shift into position, as Gwen whistles. "... Nice, Avril! Rebecca, will you be able t'make it back from there? I think there's a platform right there you can jump to now. Pretty thoughtful of it."
Is it really that?
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"There's Golems everywhere!" Dean gushes at Eleanor. ...looks like he's fine with not questioning why there's a Golem on the Black Moon. (And really, it's only natural there'd be time travel involved.)
He looks at Rebecca with some concern when she admits to having been rattled. (He doesn't think anything of how long Avril and Rebecca hold hands.) Before he can ask if she's okay, though, she offers to join forces to find ~treasure~. "Yeah! Let's do it!"
And, while they're doing that, Avril takes out the Mirror of De Soto and bosses the console around. Is that going to work? But then, Avril *is* a queen... or used to be, anyway. It'll probably work out!
And it does!! He might not find the path across, but between him and Rebecca, they absolutely find an amazing optional treasure. Dean offers Rebecca a high five. "Go us!"
To Gwen and the others, he gives a thumbs up. "Yeah, we'll be right over!"
And so, they all make it across. What awaits them on the other side?
A door! Naturally!!
Not just any door, either. It's a massive black door, locked in place by Elw runes. Dean has seen these before. They can be opened by Duplicator keys!
He does not have a Duplicator key.
"Don't suppose any of you guys have a Duplicator on you...?" he asks, looking over at his friends. When the inevitable headshakes come, he shakes his head too and pulls out his Mountain Medium again. "Oh well. We'll just have to do this the hard way!"
Right after he reinforces everyone again with invincibility magic. Too bad it only lasts for a very short while, but it'll work just fine against any upcoming explosions. Or, say, Golem punches.
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Mountain Medium toward his party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
'Rebecca, will you be able t'make-' A portal opens at Rebecca's feet, and she looks like she falls through the platform. '-it back from there?'
Gwen instantly hears Rebecca behind her, climbing out. "Yep!" Immediately High Fiving Dean out of the portal.
"Great work Dean!"
Rebecca however sees Avril COMMAND the console and blinks, several times.
Then turns a shade redder.
Who can say what she's thinking right now? She's definitely not saying.
"Wow Avril that was um, pretty..." A cough, as she scratches a cheek, "... amazing."
yes, amazing, a very safe word
It would be very convenient if the optional chest contained a duplicator! "Nope." Rebecca scratches the back of our head, "Think we used our last one when you did that puzzle box."
Look - Dean is always VERY happy pushing crates, so she's willing to spare the resources.
In the end, she just blasts the wall with her Sky Medium Magic. Several times-!
It's what she's got here.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has contributed a Brute Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor grins mercilessly at the moment between Rebecca and Avril. If Rebecca catches her eye, she winks. She's definitely going to tease her about this later.
She puts away the book in the meantime, and looks to the treasure; it's handy.
But Dean is right about Golems everywhere. It's fine. She's the last person to complain about a little time travel.
But the door...
"Hm," Eleanor considers. "I don't see anything to lift, but..."
"I wonder if I can just undo the enchantment outright?"
Eleanor starts working on dispelling the magic door. It may be somewhat... explosive.
DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a risky Brute Action toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Isn't it?" Gwen offers Rebecca, a wide, oblivious seeming grin on her face.
Or is it? Those eyes are twinkling, definitely. After all, shipping is a large part of Gwen's duties as a ~super courier~, after all.
Unfortunately, this powerful force is not enough to defeat the ancient sorcery known as a 'locked door'. ".... Sorry," Gwen says, shaking her head at Dean. "Fresh out."
She's too used to making her own exits and entrances anyhow. "... Lemme know if ya need a good punch to loosen things up," she says to Eleanor, rolling her right shoulder. "I could use the practice. I owe Zaphkiel a rematch."
She pauses, and then, quietly, "... I know it won't be that easy. I just wanna... not lose myself in the gravity of things until we get there. I only got one card I can play, but I ain't the only one puttin' all my bets on the table." She awkwardly rubs her neck. ".. Sorry for the random words, but... I wanted t'say it, while we had a moment."
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Maybe... maybe something about the machine recognizes Avril for who she is. Or maybe it's programmed to acknowledge certain emotional states and react accordingly. Or maybe, just maybe, that was the password to get it to extend the correct path forward. ...Programmers can be strange, sometimes.
Avril turns her head towards Rebecca, who has turned beet red.
"Rebecca," she asks, gesturing towards her, "are you alright? You've become quite red. Was it that exerting...?" Concern has etched itself across Avril's face, for better or for worse. There are downsides to knowing someone who is a part-time space cadet...
At least only Eleanor has Rebecca's number. Or perhaps that's not such a good thing after all.
But what is it that awaits them on the other side? Of course it's a door.
Avril regards it thoughtfully.
"...I believe we do not have a Duplicator key anymore," she tells Dean after sharing a glance with Rebecca, before glancing at the others as if to silently inquire whether Eleanor or Gwen might just happen to have one. ...They do not.
"Hm."
Avril again produces that command button and pushes it.
Good news, if anyone was wondering if that Golem was okay, that not-so-gentle tremor shaking the floors here suggests that it probably is doing just fine. That, or a Marduk battledrone is on its way (does the Marduk have battledrones? it might!).
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Remote Golem Override toward her party's challenge, Duplicator-Sealed Door. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
GS: Dean Stark gains 27 THP from Regen! GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - Duplicator-Sealed Door *>====================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 3 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Duplicators are a mystical key created by ancient civilizations on Filgaia
to unlock doorways. They are rare and, frankly, you just don't have one.
Which is unfortunate, as this winding white hallway is abruptly interrupted
by a massive black door. Elw runes on it lock it down, which glow a soft
green. A Duplicator would open it -- but, well, you don't have that.
Instead, you'll need to get through this sorcery-reinforced door the old
fashioned way.
By blowing it up.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, |
| and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
====================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal - Round 3 *>==================== ======================< Results - Duplicator-Sealed Door >====================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 15 --(0)--> 15 Pass Mountain Medium 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 8 --(0)--> 8 Pass Remote Golem Override 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Liabil -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 20 --(0)--> 20 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 38 --(20)--> 58 Fail Force 0 Brute Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 8 --(28)--> 36 Fail Force 1 Brute Effects: Risky -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2)|Collapse|Tire(2) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Dean Stark has posed.
Pushing crates is a great way to get some spare exercise in! Not that Dean really *needs* it with all the running around he does, but still.
He does not read into Rebecca's blushing, though he does give her a concerned look that silently echoes Avril's sentiments. He *certainly* doesn't catch Eleanor's wink.
He *does* catch Gwen's serious moment, though, and he rests a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. You bring a lot to the table, Gwen," he says warmly. "We're all gonna make it through and keep those Ten Creeps from having their way!"
Just as soon as they get through this door.
Fortunately, they make it through just fine. Eleanor's magic weakens the Elw runes, but isn't able to dispel them outright. Fortunately, that's not an issue with Gwen's punching, Rebecca's magic, and--yes--the comeback of the great and mighty Golem. Dean's magic keeps them all unharmed, and in the end, the door...
Is still there, technically. But the walls *around* it have been smashed to bits, so it may as well be open, honestly.
Onwards!
DG: Rebecca Streisand has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Hovering Bridges *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come to a large, cylindrical white room, and the hallway you were on
ends in a bridge that connects to a doorway on the other side of the
cylinder. Up and down the walls of the cylindrical room are other doors,
though, and these have portions of bridges connecting them. The reason
becomes clear: the bridge you're on begins to split into different
platforms.
Some begin to raise; others begin to lower. Pieces of bridge also rise and
descend from below. They move in an intricate pattern, offering access to
doorways above and below. However, the timing is now off, and they never
/quite/ form a complete bridge. You'll need to run and jump across them, to
reach one of the doorways leading out of here.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Eleanor's wink brings a muffled 'meep' out of Rebecca's lips, as she hurriedly puts a finger to them, glancing towards Gwen as if to discern whether SHE KNOWS or not-!
"Aha- yeah Avril-! Ah no- not the exertion except, kinda- just you know? I'm always on the move, so things just feel extra warm."
She flusters, awkwardly, dancing around the word for the room - for Avril.
THANKFULLY it seems only Eleanor caught it for now, though perhaps she just provided them more hints.
ONWARD! (Rebecca is especially grateful to be moving onward quickly, very quickly.)
They come to a large cylindrical room, "This one looks pretty clear-" Then she crosses the trigger point, and the walkway across the room splits, as some rise, and others descend, and others move side to side.
"Ah. Course. Shouldn't have opened my big mouth."
Sighing with a hand across her forehead, "I'll take point, I guess. If I see one with especially tricky timing I'll make us a path with the Portal Guns."
It has limitations after all, the further one fires it, and the more one does, so she doesn't want to just fire it across the room and leave them with no charge within it until tomorrow.
So instead she moves forward, leaping acrobatically from platform to platform, pausing every so often to wait for things to align before jumping across.
It's at the worst of all platform moving out of synch, the one moving at diagonals and not aligned near each other that she finally uses the portal guns, to prevent anyone else from having to make that Hell Jump.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Portal Guns toward her party's challenge, Hovering Bridges. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor laughs very quietly at Rebecca--but other than a smile she can't get rid of, she doesn't tip Avril off. It's nice, given how serious the situation is, to have such a moment.
But for Gwen she says, "It's good, to share your feelings," she tels Gwen. "We'll do our best."
Golem time...
The next room comes up, though, and Eleanor looks thoughtfully. "Hmmm..."
"I'll go over that way and see if I can guide you," Eleanor suggests. "...And Gwen..."
"It's all right."
Eleanor jumps--and mid-jump, turns into a beautiful owl, which flies across the room.
It's fine.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Rauru's Flight toward her party's challenge, Hovering Bridges. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Eleanor acknowledges that there's something in the warmth of Rebecca's hand, and Gwen, if she shares a glance with Eleanor, shares a secret grin. She's content not to say anything else, though; it's a pleasant reminder of the tapestry that they as Drifters weave.
Eleanor acknowledges Gwen's more solemn thoughts as well; and in that, Gwen's smile grows a bit more genuine in that moment, growing like a small sun peeking through the gloom.
Then Eleanor turns into an owl and skips the entire ordeal. ".... Damn it..." the courier grumbles, as she steps onto the first platform.
It's not as if Gwen is slow; it's the act of balancing that becomes an issue, as each platform shifts and rises. In at least one, Gwen's larger momentum means she nearly overshoots one of the platforms, grabbing ahold of the edge with her left hand with a pained grunt. "Hold on, got it!" she hisses, her very human arm working overtime as she raises her right to join it, and then lift herself up. "H'okay, almost the-eep!" The next part of the platform nearly clips the heel of Gwen's boot as she gets back up. "Whew... that was a close one, hehe."
There's still more to go, but if Gwen takes it slow, she may get across soon enough.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Hovering Bridges.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean walks into the new room with the others. Rebecca says it all, really.
"You *are* the most acrobatic of all of us," he tells her. "After you!"
He watches Rebecca leap from platform to platform. It's a big help, really; watching her do it gives him a better sense of the platforms' timing. With Rebecca's Portal Guns, he's confident that he'll do fine even if he *does* fall. Avril's Sea Medium is just the icing on the cake. Of the three of them, Avril's always been the most attuned to her Medium's Guardian, somehow.
"Okay, let's all head over--woah!" Dean utters as Eleanor turns into an owl. "I forgot you could do that, Eleanor!" He looks over at Gwen and Avril. "Okay, let's head across!"
He'll go ahead after Gwen. Her balance isn't seeming that great--actually, his isn't super great either; the different platforms moving at different speeds makes him a little dizzy. But if they fall, at least they'll fall together!
...avril you have that medium ready right
DG: Dean Stark has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Hovering Bridges.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Even that Golem can't knock down the door, though...
But perhaps it doesn't matter because it's managed to go through everything but the door. Its mission complete, the Golem settles down on its haunches and the lights go out of its eyes. Power down, trusty Golem: may its next stretch of sleep be all the sweeter for it.
"Hmmm..." Avril looks, perhaps, thoughtful at this declaration from Rebecca and the display that follows. "...But you have reminded me. I have been thinking," she says, turning to track where Rebecca goes, "that it should be nice to go dancing again sometime. It was quite nice at your wedding, Eleanor."
Avril had danced with Rebecca at their wedding, of course.
But fortunately for Rebecca, they do move on, and then--! The bridge splits, stranding some of them on a part that rises and others on a portion that sinks. Avril gazes down at Rebecca, then turns her gaze upwards at the parts that are descending from above them all.
Eleanor solves the problem by turning into an owl, and of course, Rebecca has the problem licked.
Her Medium shines. "Lucadia!" And she takes the matter into her own hands as her friends do likewise, and leaps to the next portion she can reach.
"Rebecca, Dean, everyone! I will see you on the other side!"
...though it might behoove her to linger back a bit for Dean or Gwen...
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has used her Tool Sea Medium toward her party's challenge, Hovering Bridges. Quicken! Party Agility boosted!
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
=======================<* CHALLENGE - Hovering Bridges *>=======================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You come to a large, cylindrical white room, and the hallway you were on
ends in a bridge that connects to a doorway on the other side of the
cylinder. Up and down the walls of the cylindrical room are other doors,
though, and these have portions of bridges connecting them. The reason
becomes clear: the bridge you're on begins to split into different
platforms.
Some begin to raise; others begin to lower. Pieces of bridge also rise and
descend from below. They move in an intricate pattern, offering access to
doorways above and below. However, the timing is now off, and they never
/quite/ form a complete bridge. You'll need to run and jump across them, to
reach one of the doorways leading out of here.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Bad_Luck:_All_Stats_Down!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, |
| Slow:_Agility_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
====================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal - Round 4 *>==================== =========================< Results - Hovering Bridges >========================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 15 --(3)--> 18 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 8 --(3)--> 11 Pass Sea Medium 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 20 --(20)--> 40 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 58 --(0)--> 58 Pass Portal Guns 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 36 --(0)--> 36 Pass Rauru's Flight 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(1)|Collapse|Injure(2)|Slow(2)|Stupify(2)|Tire(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur 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> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"I- ah! Sure- dancing! I can dance." Rebecca flusters, facts tumbling out of her mouth as she short circuits on the idea in part because they're in public, "With you. That'd be great." She's all smiles and happiness now, "To do that again."
Her brain finally caught up to her mouth there, took her a second.
She might have a skip in her step as she's leaping from platform again, and again.
Eleanor solves the problem by becoming an OWL- "I did not realize she could do that at all." Rebecca says, surprised but Rebecca waits on another platform to help catch someone at the end, mostly she's watching to see if there's any near saves she might have to do here...
And as she sees Dean move, her eyes sorta jut from Avril over to him, not that she needs a reminder-! Just- she's thinking the same thing perhaps, on getting ready- getting set-!
Avril's Sea Medium FLASHES!
At the same moment that Gwen nearly falls off the platform and below-
But even as Rebecca moves as if to act...
The glow encompasses Gwen too, and BAM-!
Teleported to the other side.
Gwen may still land on her butt, but that's much better than whatever probably was in that PIT in cylindrical death chambers!
"Alright-! Everyone caught their breath? Ready to keep going?"
She asks, before they move on-
DG: Eleanor Klein has drawn a new Challenge.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Unknown Entity *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You follow a long, curving hallway that comes out into a small, spherical
room. There is a doorway across from you, but it has been blasted away. This
leads into a larger room, which you can't quite make out from your position.
You can see a bright blue glow coming from beyond. As you enter, though,
there is a burst of golden light.
Symbols -- as in the type used by Symbology -- begin to appear in the air.
They form a trio of golden rings of light, which spin as they form and
expand. Then, in a flash of light, a monster appears. It is unlike any you
have ever seen before. A creature with slate blue skin, save for some red on
its belly and tail. This is because it flies on a huge set of feathered red
wings, which are curved in a crescent shape.
It has a vaguely draconic head, with pale yellow sclera and dark red irises
for eyes, and it /roars/ at you. It breathes out a titanic blast of flame,
scorching the floors -- and then swipes its tail and swings horrifying,
draconic claws for you. It descends from the air, fast and furious. Whatever
it is, it will not allow you to pass.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Maim:_Combat_Down!, Quicken:_Agility_Up!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Surprise! Eleanor can turn into an owl!
"It's a handy ability, isn't it?" the owl asks. You can't skip through the line. The dialogue option doesn't let it happen.
She doesn't re-up her teasing about dancing, instead smiling to herself about it--and once she's on the platform, she becomes an elf once again, dusting herself off.
"It's a trick I learned from the Sage before me," Eleanor explains, and then moves to open the next door.
After a long, curving hallway, the door has been blastd away; there is a large, spherical room... And in a flash of light, a monster appears.
"Oh, look out!"
Eleanor throws up her hands and erects a barrier to take care of the flames rushing towards them, golden light shining out from her fingertips.
"Hurry!" Eleanor says, even as the barrier goes down and the creature lunges right for her.
DG: Eleanor Klein has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unknown Entity.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Dean flashes Avril a thumbs-up. "See you there!"
And, sure enough, he *does* see Avril there on the other side, along with Gwen and everyone else. (Thankfully Rebecca came in clutch for Gwen with a portal; Dean reached to grab her but was a little too slow on the save. But that's what we have friends for, so it's not just you trying to do everything yourself.)
"Dancing is pretty fun! I don't think I danced a lot at that wedding, but it was nice to see everybody and have fun together," Dean muses of Eleanor's wedding. He looks over at Gwen. "You okay?" To Eleanor, he grins. "It *is* handy! Or... wing-y, I guess?"
Terrible jokes: the bane of draconic monsters everywhere. Maybe that's why those Symbols suddenly flash in the air, summoning a great feathered creature of blue and red, breathing fire and flashing claws. Dean's already got Twin Fenrir in hand to defend himself, but those flames pin him down until--
"Thanks, Eleanor!" he shouts. With a little room to breathe, literally, he trades his ARMs for the greatest weapon of all: a shovel.
In fairness, it is a Devil Shovel. The eye set in its pommel jerks around frantically in a disturbing approximation of life, but it is not alive. With a fierce shout, Dean swings it around to slice at the great monster and keep its attention on him. "Now! Get 'im!"
DG: Dean Stark has used his Tool Ace of Spades toward his party's challenge, Unknown Entity. Rally!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Gwen!" There is a bit of a narrow scrape, but fortunately--
Between the two of them, they have the problem well in hand. "Is everyone alright?" Avril asks, once they are on the other side of it all. Eleanor, as they approach the next door, explains to them a little bit about her little trick. "I see!" Avril remarks, raising one hand to her mouth as if to think this over. "That seems quite useful. I should not mind turning into a bird myself, if I could. Say, Rebecca... if you were a bird, what sort do you think you might be?"
This line of conversation is quite possibly ill-timed. No sooner than they cross the threshold to the room ahead than there is a flash of light. "Something is--" Avril manages, perhaps picking up on its fell intent. They are beset by what seems to be some fearsome beast of the Wisemen!
But Avril is quick to rally. "Dean, Rebecca! Together!" Ice shines at her back like wings composed of swords: as one they tear away from her like a bluster of missiles, raining upon the beast that so threatens them. "We cannot falter here! We are close!"
DG: Avril Vent Fleur has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Unknown Entity.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"Me?" Rebecca takes a moment to think about it, "A kestrel I think. Small, but graceful. And from what I remember - both parents take a turn in the nest. That always sounded right to me."
Perhaps it's because Rebecca herself always had a dream of a circus career.
"What about you?"
A monster appears- and as Avril calls out, indeed, "Right!" Quickly she starts making for the right Leyline to back her up- WHEN-
"Rebecca, use of the right ley lines is critical in battles where enemies have an elemental weakness! Try standing on the wind ley. It'll show up as a Green Hexagon!"
Eleanor tells her, and Rebecca's head just turns to just raise a single eyebrow, as Eleanor says, "Hurry Rebecca!"
"Okay I'm..." Rebecca holds up her Medium, invoking it over the Wind Ley as Hexagonal wind energy rises, "... doing it?"
"Yes! Excellent! Now your spell is twice as effective!"
As the HI-TWISTER goes out, ravaging the Dragon on the wake of Avril's ice shards, and Dean's shovel.
Rebecca considers in this moment, the challenges that might arise from friendship and adulthood-
-when one's friend is the Sage of Light.
DG: Rebecca Streisand has used her Tool Sky Medium toward her party's challenge, Unknown Entity. Embolden! Party Combat boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"--Oof!" Gwen does land on her butt, but it's preferable. Rubbing her bottom and lower backside as she stands, Gwen casts an eye around for Dean. He was, after all, just about to grab a hand for her when she was falling. Content when she sees him with them, she grins and nods. "Yep. Right as rain! Good thing your friends were keepin' an eye on us." Nodding to Rebecca and Avril, she says, "whichever one of you was responsible, uh, discount on your next delivery! Hell, both of you do. I ain't stingy." It's not as if she's had much business from her Drifter friends; who needs deliveries when you're able to go there on your own?
Also, bills. Usually, if Gwen is coming up to a Drifter, it's to delivery one of those. Or a warrant. Or... whatever sort of bad news can be delivered in paper form. "Hehe, Rebecca would be a good wren! All nimble n' jumpy. Or a swallow! Acrobatic diver." What would they all be like, if they were birds? "I could see kestral, definitely."
Turning to Eleanor, Gwen nods. "Oh right, you're a Sage. Man, to think that was the reason that asshole thief king was after you, hehe." Yet another event that was caused by Janus. Gwen's grin dims for just a moment, but it recovers. "Remember, if you ever need a protector, you can call on me. I got my own reasons to dance with that guy."
Walking forward, hands casually on her head, Gwen's eyes spy the Symbols drawn in the sky
Gwen tears off the yellow scarf from her neck and activates it, the tail end of it suddenly aflame and hopefully distracting as she follows the others to come to Eleanor's aid. "Make room," she shouts, slinging the scarf around and gripping the fingers of her right hand into a fist, "I'm chargin' in!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool One For the Road toward her party's challenge, Unknown Entity. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Sacrifice! The party will take slightly more Exhaustion this round! Liability! Failure will result in extra Exhaustion!
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
========================<* CHALLENGE - Unknown Entity *>========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Combat | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You follow a long, curving hallway that comes out into a small, spherical
room. There is a doorway across from you, but it has been blasted away. This
leads into a larger room, which you can't quite make out from your position.
You can see a bright blue glow coming from beyond. As you enter, though,
there is a burst of golden light.
Symbols -- as in the type used by Symbology -- begin to appear in the air.
They form a trio of golden rings of light, which spin as they form and
expand. Then, in a flash of light, a monster appears. It is unlike any you
have ever seen before. A creature with slate blue skin, save for some red on
its belly and tail. This is because it flies on a huge set of feathered red
wings, which are curved in a crescent shape.
It has a vaguely draconic head, with pale yellow sclera and dark red irises
for eyes, and it /roars/ at you. It breathes out a titanic blast of flame,
scorching the floors -- and then swipes its tail and swings horrifying,
draconic claws for you. It descends from the air, fast and furious. Whatever
it is, it will not allow you to pass.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, Maim:_Combat_Down!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
====================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal - Round 5 *>==================== ==========================< Results - Unknown Entity >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dean Stark 18 --(101)--> 119 Pass Ace of Spades 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avril Vent Fleur 11 --(101)--> 112 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 40 --(101)--> 141 Pass One For the Road 3 Combat Effects: Cleanse, Sacrifice, a -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Streisand 58 --(101)--> 159 Fail Sky Medium 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 36 --(101)--> 137 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Avril Vent Fleur 80 --(15)--> 95 Fail Conditions: Collapse|Injure(1)|Maim|Slow(1)|Stupify(1)|Wound(2) Effects: Cleanse|Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Dean Stark is too exhausted to continue! DG: Avril Vent Fleur is too exhausted to continue! DG: Gwen Whitlock is too exhausted to continue! DG: Rebecca Streisand is too exhausted to continue! DG: Eleanor Klein is too exhausted to continue! DG: The party has failed this challenge! All party members are now Exhausted. This attempt is over. DG: The party led by Avril Vent Fleur has been fully Exhausted by Marduk - The Broken Seal! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=========================<* Marduk - The Broken Seal *>=========================
====================<* CHALLENGE - The Broken Seal - Fear *>====================
| Type: Landmark | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You arrive at Marduk's core.
It is a massive, dome-shaped room. Once, it ended in a large wall of solid
white metal, which surrounded whatever lay beyond and sealed it away for all
time. No longer, for a massive gash has been torn into it. The gash
interrupts the letters that explain what this facility is:
CLASS 9 ENTITY CONTAINMENT FIELD
MEMORY SPACE PROJECTION
DO NOT BREACH
It has been breached.
Behind the gash is a glowing, light blue mist. It seems to expand out
endlessly -- far more than Marduk can hold -- with bridges of white metal
curving and winding throughout. That mist, though, is being drawn into a
smaller sphere, hovering near the gash: a golden orb of shifting plates of
geometry, covered in Symbols, and hovering over raw, glowing golden light.
It is the Sorcery Globe.
A single black-haired man flies away from it, hits the ground, and rag-doll
bounces across it. Rokurou Rangetsu grunts, blood running down his face. He
sounds serious, this time. "GO!" he screams, looking back at you. "They've
broken Innominat's seal! Just /go/! You're going to die he--"
A blast of light hits him, hurtling him against the wall.
And ten shadowy figures appear, all in front of the Sorcery Globe.
OOC: Because of Innominat's Domain, you begin the next fight with the Slow,
Break, Weaken, Jam, Mute, Cripple, Disrupt, and Poison flags.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Collapse:_Brute_Down!, Embolden:_Combat_Up!, |
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure!, |
| Maim:_Combat_Down!, Slow:_Agility_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, and |
| Wound:_Combat_Down! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"It is!" Eleanor enthuses to Avril. "And birds are lovely creatures, aren't they? What a fine question." She smiles, at Rebecca.
She nods to Gwen. "That's right," she says. 'That asshole thief king', Eleanor notes she puts it, but the way ELeanor hears that offer... She smiles, thoughtfully. "Thank you, Gwen. I'll remember that." Also, Eleanor is happy about people enjoying her wedding, of course. Especially the dancing! Naturally, she did a lot of it too. But that memory will buoy her in the next moment, which is--less than pleasant.
Eleanor's shield holds for only a moment, but Gwen's distraction does her good. Gwen is indeed her protector for now, shielding her from the monster. Dean makess use of his powerful weapon; Avril, her incredible ice. And Rebecca, the Medium.
Their prowess together is considerable, but it is not enough in the moment, because no sooner do they dispatch the creature than do they find--
The Sorcery Globe. And Rokurou.
"No!" Eleanor starts, but the arrival of those ten shadowy figures pre-empts any other action.
This battle is only beginning, and the exhaustion from the last will slow them too...
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril pauses on the threshold, clearly giving this some thought.
"If I were to become a bird... I think I should like to be a bluebird," she says, before turning to head into the room beyond.
The fight that follows might well put the exchange they'd just had at the back of their minds. The fight is a terrible one, one that sees them past the creature by mere inches before they realize that the reason for such a terrible beast's presence here is close at hand.
Here is the Sorcery Globe. Here is a bloodied man warning them of the broken seal and what its destruction means for them. And here are the Ten Wise Men. "..." Avril breathes, her eyes wide as she lifts her gaze slowly, regarding those shadowy figures as they appear.
It is already too late to run.