2023-12-27: Timecrime! A Tamasqus Tale
- Log: Timecrime! A Tamasqus Tale
- Cast: Ratatoskr, Gwen Whitlock, Eleanor Klein, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: Thunder Plains
- Date: December 27, 2023
- Summary: In a backlogged scene, a group of Drifters explore the twisted depths of Tamasqus... and know true terror.
DG: A party led by Ratatoskr is now entering Shattered Cells of Tamasqus. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Descent *>============================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Entering Tamasqus is no mean feat. In short, the only accessible point is
through a rent torn in the earth, after which follows a long, long descent.
The vertical distance is just long enough, and the slowly shimmering,
cell-like structure of the ruins visible below is just dizzyingly uniform
enough that the eye waters to track them. This makes even finding a safe or
reasonably high enough place to descend /to/ difficult, adding to the
already present primary issue.
Namely: how will you descend?
BGM: TPR - Lunatic Pandora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phrRWtNGMeM
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up! and Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
SOME TIME BEFORE THE WHOLE THING ABOUT THE SORCERY GLOBE IN KATTELOX (time crimes!)
The restaurant that Ratatoskr worked for shut down not long ago. It's been steady work he's enjoyed, having found a useful outlet for his secondary function as a battlefield messenger. That former Odessa guy who said that the kitchen was his battlefield now wasn't lying. The food service industry is... its own war.
So blah blah blah, old tricks, series of circumstances, Ratatoskr's the first one of the group to peer into the great descent in which the strange labyrinth of Tamasqus awaits underneath the Thunder Plains.
The solid glow of his yellow eyes does not shine so far as to see the bottom of it, as... usual. It's quite the drop, into that prison-like compound where the most dangerous of Fiends still lurks.
"...I'm going on ahead...!" He says, as he holds onto that busted crystalline handheld teleportation device on the level of Oh (relevant deity) Why Has He Not Thrown That Out Yet, One Day He's Going To Go Inside A Wall And Be Sad, but too late, there's a flash of light and he just disappears... somewhere.
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Teleporter Fragment toward his party's challenge, Descent. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Man, it's been a while since I've been in Spira..." Rata would not be the first person who tried to turn over a new leaf and go into the restaurant business, only to have reality smash it down.
Damn it, even here, she's thinking about Janus.
Gwen makes a face, like she's just tasted something bitter, then resets her expression into something cheerier, more befitting a casual jaunt to another side of the world to fight a dangerous Fiend like it was nothing.
She's already regretting it, looking down that vertical drop. She whistles, looking down. "Man... that's quite a, uh, step. How're we gonna handle this on--?" And Rata's now gone. She looks to the rest of the party. "Sooo... anyone got a rope long enough? 'Cause I don't. Scalin' down might be the theme of the night fer me."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor is still pretty concerned by this place and its powerful Fiends. She remembers the trip down being difficult, but she has something she didn't have, when last she was here. That's Ratatoskr! And, well, also...
A new trick!
"Oh, be careful--"
There he goes. Eleanor frowns thoughtfully, and then, "I can help guide you once I'm there, but I don't have rope for it. I suppose I'll just have to press ahead, too."
Eleanor smiles. "Don't give up."
Then she turns into an owl and flies her way down. "Remember to watch your step, even if I can help!"
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Rauru's Flight toward her party's challenge, Descent. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round! DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Descent.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
For a variety of reasons, it's generally better that Josie not show her face in public too much out and about in Filgaia (places that are a little more relaxed about such things like the Thames, Damzen City, and to some extent Kattelox need not apply). The downside is that a lot of what's been occupying her thoughts of late orients itself around Filgaia, or perhaps more accurately, around something only Filgaia can provide.
...Probably.
But work, as it were, is sometimes easier to get on Lunar for someone like her. Of course, even this has its upsides.
"Well, well... so the rumors were true," Josie muses. She holds an end of rope in one hand. It's tied to an outcropping of rock. She glances over at Gwen and grins at her, wiggling the rope's end.
"Nora! Rata! Guess I'll be counting on you guys if this don't hold, yeah?"
It's an odd partnership, the four of them. But then, they're used to this particular odd partnership.
Penelope abruptly takes flight as, without further ado, Josie steps off the edge into the void. "See you at the bottoooooooom!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a risky Agility Action toward her party's challenge, Descent.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Descent *>============================
| Type: Entry | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
Entering Tamasqus is no mean feat. In short, the only accessible point is
through a rent torn in the earth, after which follows a long, long descent.
The vertical distance is just long enough, and the slowly shimmering,
cell-like structure of the ruins visible below is just dizzyingly uniform
enough that the eye waters to track them. This makes even finding a safe or
reasonably high enough place to descend /to/ difficult, adding to the
already present primary issue.
Namely: how will you descend?
BGM: TPR - Lunatic Pandora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phrRWtNGMeM
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up! and Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus - Round 1 *>=================== =============================< Results - Descent >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Teleporter Fragment 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(17)--> 17 Pass Rush 1 Agility Effects: Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 0 --(38)--> 38 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 0 --(12)--> 12 Pass Rauru's Flight 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ratatoskr 0 --(15)--> 15 Fail Conditions: Hesitate(2)|Injure(2) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ratatoskr 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: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Interminable *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The halls of this ruin are strange: only repeated shimmering lines on the
walls serve as steady illumination. The rest is -- briefly -- provided by
your forward movement, as the glassy floor illuminates under every footfall.
Thus, you might not immediately notice that the floor has begun to shift
underfoot, slowly sliding you away from your destination. Eventually,
though, this change becomes all-too-obvious: the floor is moving!
It's threatening to bear you back into the depths of the ruin, far from
where you were attempting to reach -- and perhaps back past where you were.
Unless, perhaps, you could outpace it somehow?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, and |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr does not embed himself in a wall. He does take a small fall further down, but as he's a young and very healthy Hyadean - one of the very last of a generation of Mother's genetic engineering crimes and thus the beneficiary of many years of iteration - he doesn't seem too much worse for the wear. The glow of his eyes is easy for the owl that is Eleanor to find him, and Josie... will be happy that she overestimates how much rope she needs because it's exactly enough to get to the bottom.
Gwen's the last one down, but before we comment on that--
Ratatoskr stares at the owl. He has some questions and he may force an infinite feedback loop by constantly asking to have the explanation repeat from not understanding.
Gwen saves us from this terrible fate of a softlock! When she touches down, however, she scrapes something with her ARM arm, and the shimmering lines around the halls of this ruin start to pulse oddly.
Ratatoskr's tail stands up in alert. But, there's no horrifying, harrowing calls of an approaching Fiend (there are a few in the distance, but they stay distant).
"...Is something moving?" When Ratatoskr asks-- "Is something moving!"
It is. The floor is moving underneath them, threatening to sweep them who knows where. This, technically, might advance the expedition if they let it happen. However, with all the cells and bars and other disconcerting prison iconography that tends to lend an identity to this place, maybe where it'd take them is somewhere no one should go.
Ratatoskr clutches the teleportation device again. Is it a good idea to come close to him? ...Are there any other ideas?
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Teleporter Fragment toward his party's challenge, Interminable. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen is beginning to regret many, many things.
.... And she refuses to comment on any of it, concentrating more on making sure she's not the one making the rope snap.
But really, the four of them are a motley mix of people, aren't they? Surely this means things might go well--
Ah.
As Gwen scrapes something with her ARM arm, she shakes it out, pain receptors eagerly letting her know the full joy of what it's like to scrape metal against.... whatever this is. "Uh, guys. Big problem? Maybe?"
Something is moving indeed. "Shit, we need t'move!" Picking a random direction that isn't 'up', Gwen hauls it, not trusting any force that might be moving her someplace she may not want to be.
DG: Gwen Whitlock has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interminable.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
As it happens, Eleanor would rather Josie not show her face much in Aquvy, in particular. She has come to like her, especially after their experience in the Memory Maze, but... it would lead to very awkward questions.
"I've got you!" the owl says back to Josie, and peers at Penelope flying with her.
Ratatoskr's questions will have to wait. A while. It's fine.
Eleanor is an elf again shortly, until... the floor is--
"Oh, that's not ideal," Eleanor says. "Here--"
She turns abrubtly back into her owl form, but this time, she flies a circle around the group, dropping golden dust on them from her wings to try to help them along. "Hurry!"
She tries to guide Gwen on a path forward, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The rope cuts out exactly at the bottom. Its end doesn't even touch the floor.
"Hmm," Josie muses, letting go of the rope and surreptitiously shaking out her hand as if she was stung. Of course she didn't do that barehanded but it still smarts.
Penelope, notably, has not made her reappearance.
"Everyone still in one piece?" she asks aloud, turning about as--
--as the floor has started to move!!
"Shit--" Josie barks, because some things can happen immediately enough to knock the wind out of even her sails. "Run for it!"
She's started to try to race against the tide herself. Experienced explorers know: where the path wants to take you is probably not where you want to be.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Interminable. DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Rauru's Flight toward her party's challenge, Interminable. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
=========================<* CHALLENGE - Interminable *>=========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Agility | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The halls of this ruin are strange: only repeated shimmering lines on the
walls serve as steady illumination. The rest is -- briefly -- provided by
your forward movement, as the glassy floor illuminates under every footfall.
Thus, you might not immediately notice that the floor has begun to shift
underfoot, slowly sliding you away from your destination. Eventually,
though, this change becomes all-too-obvious: the floor is moving!
It's threatening to bear you back into the depths of the ruin, far from
where you were attempting to reach -- and perhaps back past where you were.
Unless, perhaps, you could outpace it somehow?
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Hesitate:_Agility_Down!_Wits_Up!, and |
| Injure:_Exhaustion_Up_On_Failure! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus - Round 2 *>=================== ===========================< Results - Interminable >=========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 12 --(33)--> 45 Fail Teleporter Fragment 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 17 --(38)--> 55 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 38 --(38)--> 76 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 12 --(12)--> 24 Pass Rauru's Flight 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ratatoskr 15 --(15)--> 30 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Hesitate(1)|Injure(1) Effects: ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ratatoskr 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: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Enfold *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The floor beneath you begins to shift. All too suddenly, you might realize
it: the cell in which you now stand is rotating.
No, it is doing more than simply rotating. It is folding, walls and floors
and ceiling coming together to trap you in a prison which has no exits. Or
perhaps it is meant to do more than trap. Perhaps this is meant to outright
kill.
You must break free before it is too late.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down! and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Eleanor puts down golden dust, as she takes to owl form to not be swept away. What she is showing, in addition to this magical blessing, is a tutorialized way to show how to not be swept off by the floor.
No one succeeds, and Eleanor will have to chase after the lot of them--
"You caught up!" Ratatoskr stands there, crossing his arms proudly inside a hallway where Gwen and Josie end up not far behind him, unaware that he teleported exactly in the direction he would've been thrown anyway. It is not a success. "...But you know... it's empty here..."
The floor's moving underfoot again, but more subtly
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Eleanor puts down golden dust, as she takes to owl form to not be swept away. What she is showing, in addition to this magical blessing, is a tutorialized way to show how to not be swept off by the floor.
No one succeeds, and Eleanor will have to chase after the lot of them--
"You caught up!" Ratatoskr stands there, crossing his arms proudly inside a hallway where Gwen and Josie end up not far behind him, unaware that he teleported exactly in the direction he would've been thrown anyway. It is not a success. "...But you know... it's empty here..."
The floor's moving underfoot again, but more subtly. It stays subtle until the walls get involved.... turning, noisily, grinding an ancient mechanism that is coming close to the end of its effective lifespan as a mechanism. The ceiling turns and twists with it, folding along together in complex ways that are nothing short of an engineering marvel.
The space rapidly compresses, as apparent exits close and twist ever closer. There's also the occasional grinding noise too, with the faintest hope that maybe something might lock up and make it stop. Maybe.
But one can't take that for granted, as Ratatoskr gets out his favorite prize from Odessa's old bone pile of loot - a former top-of-the-top-shelf laser cutting unit of the Zeboim era that age has not treated too well. He springs to a wall, then up a wall as he dodges folding architecture. He doesn't like outright damaging old pieces of history like this, but he thinks he sees a 'vein' where there isn't pulsing energy going through, and with that, the sputtering laser cutter flickers to life...
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Antique Laser Cutter toward his party's challenge, Enfold. Fanfare!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen is really regretting coming here.
.... Buuuuuttt she's still smiling! That is what a Gwen do, after all: grin and bear it. Also, pant, and wipe her forehead with a handkerchief as Ratatoskr reveals what she had already suspected. Stuffing the handkerchief away, Gwen gives Rata a thumbs up. "Thanks for checkin'!"
Gwen looks around as she feels the floor beginning to move again through the vibrations traveling through the soles of her boots. ".... So. This whole deal isn't the Fiend itself, right? 'Cause that would be a unique take. Though, I mean, it ain't like these places are set up with novelty in mind like some kinda mirror maze, sooo."
Sharp eyes notice the exits beginning to close and twist; shoving past Josie and Eleanor as Rata bounces away, she thrusts her ARM into a space, trying to slow down the mechanisms that try to trap them. "... Grrkk... Can't hold this fer long, but I can buy some time! Keep an eye out for somethin' that can jam this thing that ain't me!"
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool ARM-ored Fist toward her party's challenge, Enfold. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor doesn't regret it! Yet. She does eventually catch up with the group with a little 'huff'. "Or we can go this way. THat's also fine."
Empty... Ah. The floor is moving again.
"I don't think the dungeon is itself a very large Fiend," Eleanor says, "But I can't rule it out, either."
Gwen makes to help. So does Ratatoskr. But Eleanor ahs a different approach...
Eleanor picks up a giant stone, her Power Bracelet gleaming in the dark. "Gwen!" she says. "I'll put this there, on three!"
She is worried about Gwen. "Josie, do you have any ideas!?"
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Power Bracelet toward her party's challenge, Enfold.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
They don't escape it.
"Shit," Josie hisses, again, as they're inexorably dragged along. "Don't think so, right," she asides to Gwen, on the defensive already. "But it ain't like I can rule it out of none!" It doesn't help that the walls are so smooth she can't even get a grip on them as the floor pulls them along. They've no choice but to go where the floor takes them, which is into a...
...room. Something's up about this, Josie clocks immediately, glancing this way and that as if to try to find where the trick starts. It starts with the walls -- or at least, that's where she's able to see what's happening properly. "Wall," she says, in much the same moment as Gwen pushes past her. "Don't let it close! Hit it with everything you--"
Does she have any ideas?
"Just this one! O, thou--"
She lunges at the closing gap with her mattock. It's alive with sparks. "LIGHTNING!" Josie roars, forcing as much of the spell as she can through her digging tool.
DG: You risk with your Tool Well-Used Mattock against your party's Challenge, Enfold! DG: Josephine Lovelace has risked with her Tool Well-Used Mattock toward her party's challenge, Enfold. Strengthen! Party Brute boosted!
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
============================<* CHALLENGE - Enfold *>============================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Brute | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
The floor beneath you begins to shift. All too suddenly, you might realize
it: the cell in which you now stand is rotating.
No, it is doing more than simply rotating. It is folding, walls and floors
and ceiling coming together to trap you in a prison which has no exits. Or
perhaps it is meant to do more than trap. Perhaps this is meant to outright
kill.
You must break free before it is too late.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus - Round 3 *>=================== ==============================< Results - Enfold >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 45 --(13)--> 58 Pass Antique Laser Cutter 3 Brute Effects: Fanfare -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 55 --(13)--> 68 Pass Well-Used Mattock 3 Brute Effects: Strengthen and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 76 --(13)--> 89 Pass ARM-ored Fist 2 Brute Effects: Strengthen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 24 --(13)--> 37 Pass Power Bracelet 3 Brute Effects: Efficient -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ratatoskr 30 --(20)--> 50 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Suffer(1) Effects: Strengthen(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ratatoskr 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: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Instruct *>===========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You think this particular room was not a cell. It differs in construction
from any you might have encountered already -- though the clean, glossy,
dark walls seem to almost be ubiquitous -- in that it lacks the double-ended
doors or the subtle signs of joints in the walls.
What's more, there's actual equipment in here: what might have been tables,
chairs... and of course, Machina. Large screens dominate one part of the
room, and a sphere is still slotted into the main console. Once approached,
it lights up.
Perhaps you can't read the old Spiran script (Unless you can also read
Zanarkand script, or the Ancient Tongue, and of course, Zeboim -- as it is
identical to all of these things), but fortunately, the system provides
pictorial guides. If what you surmise is correct, this is Machina for
telling other Machina what to do. In this case, it's a small rolling
construct currently tethered to the console. It seems as if it might be able
to open doors ahead in the complex...
...But you'll have to key up the proper (thankfully, with pictograms
included) instructions with the console for it to carry out.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, |
| Strengthen:_Brute_Up!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
For all the antics involved in being swept around, it's clear to even a novice Drifter that's what's going on here is... career-ending. No one here is a novice.
"...I don't think anyone was meant to leave from here..." Ratatoskr muses to Gwen, cut off by more horrible screeching before he can go on any theories about what kinds of warriors might have gotten anyone down here in the first place.
Gwen ends up taking the brunt of the direction that three out of four of the team prioritize, and it's a great educated guess... as Eleanor moves to assist a straining, exhausted Gwen with the use of a Power Bracelet to give her the strength to join hands in holding a space open.
Josie invokes lightning, and makes the strike.
Lightning shoots through and something makes the thrumming lines of energy have itself a bit of a flickery hiccup. (A fliccup? ...that sounds awful please do not repeat this word)
Ratatoskr ends up laser cutting a gap in such a way that his part of the mess ends up folding in ways to help push them up through the gap when it makes one last attempt to slant upwards to be unclimbable.
This attempt does not stick, because all four of them are out...!
Into a room that might not have been meant to be accessed by anyone from that direction? It's clean, glossy, and dark like any other chamber, though there's no double-ended doors or joints in the walls, or cells, or...
Well, there's machina, in a way arranged somewhat like a place of operations. While it bears no direct resemblance to the Photosphere, there are elements that Ratatoskr finds himself taking a shine to as he walks ahead of the three of them again.
"...This sort of reminds me of the Photosphere..." Ratatoskr starts to reminisce, not even stopping to gasp for breath or consider how close they all were to... whatever fate was about to befall them! He grins a bit more widely, because his available range of expression is not great for letting him address and convey sadness. "Like one of the communications stations... you'd have at least six different operators born into the role..."
He's not wrong, there's large screens in one corner of the room, and a sphere's still doing its thing in one of the main consoles. It lights up when he approaches, and there's a lot of things in Zeboim script. Also, pictures.
The pictures are pretty and, presumably, meant to be informative but the aesthetic detail is a bit too distracting. Oh well.
"...Do you think it might control the walls?" Ratatoskr asks, and... "do you think it might control the walls!" He withdraws a worn Hyadean datapad and starts eagerly scrolling for his incomplete Zeboim cheat-sheet.
A small rolling construct tethered to the console glows faintly, as if to hint the true purpose of the machine they are about to attempt to operate.
DG: Ratatoskr has used his Tool Corrupted Records toward his party's challenge, Instruct. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
With teamwork, they all managed to get out alive! Yes, Gwen knew this was a good idea all along! (no she didn't regret this at all before, shut up)
Still, the courier is glad the next room isn't something that involves running or pushing against anything.
Taking her cue from Rata, Gwen reaches into her new satchel (RIP old satchel, you are missed) and takes out the most universal of all courier tools: a notepad. ".... Can't say I know a lick of anything Spiran, but it ain't new t'me either at this point. This might be useful to jot down in general as long as we got time." Blue grey scanning the screen, Gwen begins joting things down.
It's a good cover for how exhausted she feels, anyway; that last room took a lot out of her. "You guys don't mind if I take a few seconds t'just rest?" She looks at the group, itching the side of her curly head with the end of her pen. "I hate t'admit it, but I'm bushed already, hehe." Well, forget a cover; Gwen's just going to flat out admit it.
Still, it doesn't feel like they're close to the end yet. Surely the group consensus wouldn't be to leave her in a pit somewhere!
....
..... Surely Eleanor wouldn't leave her in a pit somewhere!
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Courier Kit toward her party's challenge, Instruct. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
As it happens, lightning is sometimes a very good idea. Eleanor can appreciate that. "...Probably not," Eleanor admits to Ratatoskr. "This is a little rough..."
She sighs, shaking her head. Once in the next room, she looks around. Ratatoskr of course has seen the Photosphere--Eleanor never did, not with her own eyes. "Born to the role," she comments. "Hm..."
But the pictures are--a little informative, at least. "I think it might," Eleanor says. "But I can trace the electrical flows," she says, pulling the Book of Mudora and incanting a different forgotten language.
"...Show me the way," she says, and extends a hand, her eyes beginning to glow.
"...Take your time," she says to Gwen, even as her voice does a weird echo thing because of her spell. "It's... this way..."
Eleanor will not leave Gwen in a pit somewhere!! But she will rely on her to write things down with her nice notebook.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Book of Mudora toward her party's challenge, Instruct. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
There's a moment where even Josie wonders if this might not be enough. But the moment doesn't last.
A moment more and they've emerged into another place, the glossy walls of a particularly different quality than anything else they've seen of Tamasqus to date. "Well, don't this beat all," Josie remarks, dropping her mattock to one side as she pulls over a seat and drops into it heavily. Patting down her pockets, it's a fair bet that she's in search of a smoke, or a drink, or perhaps both.
"...Yeah?" Josie has paused, turing her head towards Ratatoskr. "What about you, kid? What were you born into?"
She's curious about something here, after all.
The consoles still work. Intrigued, Josie rises to her feet to peer over Ratatoskr's shoulder. "--Yeah? Oh, sure, take five," Josie remarks, waving her right hand stiffly in Gwen's direction. "I figure we all could take a breather after that one, like. ...So what's this do, you reckon?" she asks, of the console. Wrinkling her brow, she stares at the pictogram. "...Huh. Sort of looks like this thing tells another thing what to--"
SUDDENLY, PENELOPE
Penelope hadn't been with them upon their arrival in the maze of Tamasqus. Neither had she come along for the ride that was the moving pathway, or the near deathtrap of that crushing room.
But she is here now. How, you might ask? Why?
There are no answers to be had. There is only Penelope, landing on the panel and hitting the pictogram icons at seemingly random.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Penelope toward her party's challenge, Instruct.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Instruct *>===========================
| Type: Exploration | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You think this particular room was not a cell. It differs in construction
from any you might have encountered already -- though the clean, glossy,
dark walls seem to almost be ubiquitous -- in that it lacks the double-ended
doors or the subtle signs of joints in the walls.
What's more, there's actual equipment in here: what might have been tables,
chairs... and of course, Machina. Large screens dominate one part of the
room, and a sphere is still slotted into the main console. Once approached,
it lights up.
Perhaps you can't read the old Spiran script (Unless you can also read
Zanarkand script, or the Ancient Tongue, and of course, Zeboim -- as it is
identical to all of these things), but fortunately, the system provides
pictorial guides. If what you surmise is correct, this is Machina for
telling other Machina what to do. In this case, it's a small rolling
construct currently tethered to the console. It seems as if it might be able
to open doors ahead in the complex...
...But you'll have to key up the proper (thankfully, with pictograms
included) instructions with the console for it to carry out.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, and |
| Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus - Round 4 *>=================== =============================< Results - Instruct >============================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 58 --(14)--> 72 Fail Corrupted Records 2 Wits Effects: Stalwart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 68 --(3)--> 71 Pass Penelope 3 Wits Effects: Efficient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 89 --(3)--> 92 Pass Courier Kit 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 37 --(3)--> 40 Pass Book of Mudora 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ratatoskr 50 --(20)--> 70 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Reckless(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Ratatoskr 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: Ratatoskr has drawn a new Challenge.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Illuminate *>==========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've reached a terminus, of a sort. No further avenues of cells await you.
Before you is a closed door, yes, but before you more importantly is an
array of slotted spheres, each a different color.
The fact that the door remains closed and that no line of light flows in the
channels leading from the slotted sphere to the door suggests that the
spheres slotted correctly must control whether the door opens or closes.
More importantly, it suggests that they're not slotted correctly at the
moment.
Removing one sphere is an easy matter and is simply done -- right up to the
moment when you hear something softly click behind you and something (an
ARM?) slowly extrudes from the wall. It's joined by still others with the
next, and so on and so forth.
This presents a complication: clearly there's one solution, and clearly, if
you don't get it right on the first go, there will be problems. But perhaps
there are alternative ways to go about solving this particular roadblock
than one good first guess.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Stupify:_Wits_Down!, Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr is still busy going through the datapad, which is a good thing, and a great time... for more adultier adults (he's twenty-to-twenty-six by now, which is All Adult, but sometimes you have to wonder). This allows Gwen to catch her breath and not pass out from strain.
"I was born as a skirmisher! Designation... Rapid Attacker." Ratatoskr's not speaking quite as enthusiastically as he would any number of Filgaia's native war heroes, but it's not of shame either. "...I was also to serve as a battlefield messenger if anything happened with communications..."
Eleanor may have seen some of this around Klein, when he worked at that restaurant. He'd haul ass all over town grabbing orders, even at risk of drawing ire from the local constables because being born a biological weapon of Mother capable of traversing the ground, walls, and air at a speed of yes while occasionally violating noise ordinance by talking too enthusiastically is... yes.
Eleanor takes the lead, while Ratatoskr is helping by being too absorbed into what's on the datapad while she asks to be shown the way by the electrical flows. This, alone, is enough. Beyond words. Beyond pictures. Energy, in all its forms, can be seen as life itself, and in doing so--
Penelope flies in, ruins it, and the small rolling construct rams head-first into a wall so hard it crumbles that wall and also breaks down. Which... works.
(Is this the first time in recent memory that Penelope was helpful? Hm.)
Ratatoskr looks up from his datapad browsing, perhaps distracted by something else, when he sees they've entered a terminus with a closed door ahead.
There are many spheres, each of a different color. There's about eight of them, total. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and pink. (Green and blue being treated as fully separate colors might be a bit of a culture shock for aboveground modern Spira.)
They're all linked into a light that flows into channels related to the closed door. So, they must be keys. Misplaced, because the door is closed.
Ratatoskr picks up the red one, because (human) blood red has always been used as an enticing reward color for his kind, gingerly pondering the sphere but lacking the innate wizardry to ponder correctly.
Something clicks, faintly, and another thing slowly extrudes from the wall. Ratatoskr looks up, looks around... but there's no further input. Until someone draws another.
He decides to look at his datapad again because he's part of that generation.
DG: Ratatoskr has risked with his Tool Corrupted Records toward his party's challenge, Illuminate. Stalwart! Party shielded from some Exhaustion this round!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Rapid attacker... Eleanor does indeed see how it suits Ratatoskr. "You do well at carrying messages," she says. "Maybe even when you shouldn't," she says, with a small smile. Then, though--
"Penelope!?" Eleanor says suddenly, watching her just--hit all of the pictogram icons. She knows, in an instant, that this pigeon is in some way her opposite number. That she is a chaos element.
Eleanor knows. But on the bright side they do... manage... to...
"Well, whatever works?"
She approaches to the spheres, as well. Hmmm.
Light flows...
"I definitely have a spell for this one. I can see what each would light if it did, and then we can choose to--"
Click. "Or we can just start trying things out. That would also be an option."
Eleanor looks at her book. And sighs.
DG: Eleanor Klein has used her Tool Book of Mudora toward her party's challenge, Illuminate. Enlighten! Party Wits boosted!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
How much does Josie count as an adult? By age alone she's more than qualified, certainly, but...
Then again, perhaps when set next to Ratatoskr, who manages to still exude teenager energy at his age, she'd come out ahead by default, even if her responsibility level is likely comparable.
"Me, I was 'born' to be a wizard," Josie remarks, thumbing at herself with her left hand. "But it ain't like the circumstances of your birth've gotta define you, yeah?" She may well think that she and Ratatoskr are two of a kind in this regard.
Of course, further discussion may be interrupted when PENELOPE suddenly APPEARS!
"So that's where you-- why were you in here," Josie asks of her willful companion, attempting to corral in the bird as Penelope hops across the panel, hitting buttons at random. She's too late to stop what's already been done, but does manage to eventually grab the wayward bird.
Penelope wiggles, indignantly.
But there's a hole in the wall now and Josie's not about to let that go to waste. Ushering Penelope up onto her shoulder, she steps out into the hallway to regard the doorway that stands before them.
"Well," she muses, gazing up at the spheres.
Penelope, from Josie's shoulder, regards the spheres with apparent interest but does not -- yet -- make any terrible sudden moves.
Josie, for her part, has finally fished out one of her cigarettes and lit it with a spark. She takes a good long drag as Ratatoskr picks up that particular sphere. Something clicks nearby. Josie turns her head.
"...Hope you've got a real good guess," she drawls, giving one of the ARMs jutting out of the wall the side eye. "Can't say I love our options if we mess this one up. But, eh, no pressure, yeah?"
She keeps on smoking. Maybe if things go haywire, it'll help...?
(Probably not.)
"So... what're you all thinkin'? Rainbows, maybe?"
It's the best guess she's got, without anything else to go on.
"Let's see that spell of yours, maybe, Nora."
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Illuminate. Cleanse! All negative effects will be cleared at the end of the round! Shortsighted! The party will suffer a penalty next round... but not this round!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen sees the mysterious something extrude from the wall, and squints. "Is that somethin' that's supposed t'happen or no?"
She sighs, throwing up her hands. "I hate puzzles like this. Can't it just be trial n' error?"
To that end, Gwen takes out a piece of chalk from the same satchel as before, writing a number on the blood red sphere. "So if y'put it back, y'think that thing'll go back too?"
Gwen becomes the next one to choose, choosing one that's a nice orange color, following Josie's idea. "Hee. Maybe we can keep the spheres if this all fails? They *are* pretty!" Pause. "I kid, I kid, of course. Ain't great t'be comin' in n' stealing someone's past 'cause it looks all pretty, right?"
Gwen will be no help here, but at least she's taking note of which ones are not working, even if it may be in vain. ".... I can maybe bash those things if they start lookin' dangerous." Wait, didn't Gwen just say--
hush
DG: Gwen Whitlock has used her Tool Courier Kit toward her party's challenge, Illuminate. Resilient! Party shielded from some exhaustion next round!
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
==========================<* CHALLENGE - Illuminate *>==========================
| Type: Final | Dungeon Ability: Wits | Challenge Rating: 4 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You've reached a terminus, of a sort. No further avenues of cells await you.
Before you is a closed door, yes, but before you more importantly is an
array of slotted spheres, each a different color.
The fact that the door remains closed and that no line of light flows in the
channels leading from the slotted sphere to the door suggests that the
spheres slotted correctly must control whether the door opens or closes.
More importantly, it suggests that they're not slotted correctly at the
moment.
Removing one sphere is an easy matter and is simply done -- right up to the
moment when you hear something softly click behind you and something (an
ARM?) slowly extrudes from the wall. It's joined by still others with the
next, and so on and so forth.
This presents a complication: clearly there's one solution, and clearly, if
you don't get it right on the first go, there will be problems. But perhaps
there are alternative ways to go about solving this particular roadblock
than one good first guess.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up!, |
| and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
==================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus - Round 5 *>=================== ============================< Results - Illuminate >============================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ratatoskr 72 --(101)--> 173 Fail Corrupted Records 3 Wits Effects: Stalwart and Risky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 71 --(101)--> 172 Fail Pack of Cigarettes 2 Wits Effects: Cleanse and Shortsigh -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gwen Whitlock 92 --(101)--> 193 Pass Courier Kit 2 Wits Effects: Resilient -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleanor Klein 40 --(101)--> 141 Pass Book of Mudora 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Ratatoskr 70 --(15)--> 85 Fail Conditions: Cripple|Reckless(1)|Stupify(2)|Suffer(1)|Tire(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1)|Resilient(1)|Shortsighted(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: Ratatoskr is too exhausted to continue! DG: Josephine Lovelace is too exhausted to continue! DG: Gwen Whitlock 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 Ratatoskr has been fully Exhausted by Shattered Cells of Tamasqus! DG: The party will now draw a conclusion.
=======================<* Shattered Cells of Tamasqus *>========================
===========================<* CHALLENGE - Closure *>============================
| Type: Landmark | Dungeon Ability: Conclusion | Challenge Rating: 1 |
---------------------------< Challenge Information >----------------------------
You are, despite repeated attempts, unable to breach the vault you've found
within these ruins. Your attempts have potentially left you exhausted and --
possibly -- rather injured, so a slight retreat is in order.
The only problem is, when it comes to leaving, you /had/ come in from above.
Unless you might care to repeat your trip straight up, somehow, you're going
to have to find another way out. Or at least, try to find some higher spot
where it won't be quite so terrible.
While the exact mechanics of your extraction from the site will be something
you'll have to discover for yourself, you do discover something else while
you wander the ruins.
Specifically, it's a small sideroom with an assortment of spheres in
storage. They're recording spheres, which you are able to easily access and
replay. But there is some damage to the audio so much of the original
context is lost...
...But you can still get the gist of it from the images. This place was used
by a particular people to lock away (for later use? to protect themselves?
it is unclear) powerful Fiends, long before the appearance of Sin.
Perhaps that may help explain some of what you have witnessed and seen
yourself in here.
============================= Dungeon Conditions: =============================
| Cleanse:_All_Effects_Removed!, Cripple:_Agility_Down!, Enlighten:_Wits_Up!, |
| Reckless:_Wits_Down!_Brute_Up!, Resilient:_Exhaustion_Down!, |
| Secret:_Exploration_Up!, Shortsighted:_All_Stats_Down!, Stupify:_Wits_Down!, |
| Suffer:_Exhaustion_Up!, and Tire:_Exhaustion_Up! |
= Digger 2.0 ===================================================================
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"Guess? Guess!" Ratatoskr says, holding a sphere as he continues to go through is datapad. "It's red!"
...well.
Gwen commits a willful act of VANDALISM (which, many years removed, might be vital for saving their and other lives to follow that might come here), as she draws out the orange one and coaxes more ominous sounds, dangerous protrusions. They're much clearer in this light, as Josie can see through the corner of her eye something else moving. Is it a part of the system? It's not making any sound, but...
Eleanor picks her sphere, and there's another click as she goes through the book. Between the three spheres held, that's a very good sample set to start trying to work backwards... but as it turns out, Josie might not be the only one who could have seen something.
Then, a mighty, terrible shadow descends, wreathed in a great number of pyreflies. A terrible shadow belonging to a demonic figure, mostly gray with great leathery wings whose membranes are a blood red, orange claws, an orange belly, and--
A Thundaga-like burst of sorcery, going by potency and electrical phenomena. It dislodges three more spheres, as protrusions extend further and come shy of stabbing through Ratatoskr and Josie just from where they're standing. Energy starts to gather at the ends of these protrusions, all while the Fiend seems ready to bear down upon them.
"Hyaaaa----!!" Ratatoskr yells, flinching as he leaps back. There's another room that has seen occasional access by other parties through here, and in short notice, that chamber is the one to retreat to. The one with spheres detailing what this place might have been meant for (dealing with Fiends from a time before Sin, perhaps before the Sending was developed - meaning Unsent that wanted to stay here damn well could as long as they wanted... so they'd have to lock them away somewhere, right?).
"They struck at those spheres... they struck at those spheres!" Ratatoskr seems more furious than sad, as he moves to try and grasp as many of these spheres in this sideroom as he can before that Fiend catches up and makes a bigger mess, but no matter what.
There's a fight ahead of them.