Shattered Skies: Prologue

[aturtledoesbite]

The wind rushes by as you ride on the Gespelt Brothers' Mining Company's small airship, en route to the fragment you've been hired to scout out. They said it'd be about a day's travel, which meant you'd be spending a night on the airship as it flew. It wasn't really big enough to accommodate lodgings for the ten people on-board (or at all), only really having the bridge and the storage bay, but somehow you all made do.

But that was yesterday. Today, the sun's up, you'll be making landfall in a couple of hours, and...it's still pretty crowded.
On the deck, a young woman with a clearly-marked medkit looks around nervously at the other passengers.
In the storage bay, a man who looks similar in age to most of you is organizing mining equipment.
And in the bridge, the two men who hired you are handling the wheel; the de-facto leader, Jairin, is casually weaving among the fragments with the wheel in his hands while the other, Caluf, is backseat driving.

You haven't really had a chance to get acquainted with your new coworkers; now might be your best chance, before Jairin's piloting lands you all face-first in a fragment.

[Merilan]

Standing near the bow of the deck was a strikingly beautiful woman, with flowing platinum-blonde hair framed with rather odd horn-like spikes that protrude from either side of her head, framed in a light black crown; she's dressed in light piecemeal parts of armour, the kind you'd see adventuring, filigreed with soft golden trims. The armor pieces go atop her sleeveless shirt and short skirt, laced and of fine quality, and she carries a rather peculiar weapon of evidently advanced make at her side, resembling an intricate revolver mechanism and a straight crystal blade of neutral colour.

This is all I can do at the moment... Astrace. Just where have you gone?

She turned around and glanced to the others assembled, smiling richly. "Good afternoon," she says in a pleasant tone. "My name is Lacryma, and I look forward to working with you."

[SiegeTower]

Lord Zhelez had a more difficult time in these cramped conditions than others. His lack of sight made it so he couldn't navigate the vessel. When there were hazard high and low for him to snag himself on and other bodies constantly filling in any empty space, safely walking was very difficult. This was especially true when the ship became airborne and even the ground itself couldn't hold straight. Although the young noble wouldn't admit to anyone he was helpless in this situation, he would still spend the entirety of the trip in his cot and request for others to assist him as needed.

Far from admitting these were actually pleas for help, Lord Zhelez would act as if his requests were simply other performing kind gestures in exchange for his entertaining them. He would chat with the other passengers for most of the trip and pass the time telling stories and gossip of the noble houses in Zemia. These were strangers however and Lord Zhelez knew that at least one of them would inevitably discover his blindness. Paranoia kicked in and the noble would occasionally pat down himself to confirm none of his possession had been taken from him.

This continued for some time and after getting a feel for who his coworkers were, Lord Zhelez deemed Harke the one most worth associating with. This was likely damning with faint praise as all the other passengers seemed to be of low social standing. Harke while being somewhat tactless as least had a family name that wasn't totally akin to peasantry.

"My lady Zastruga, if memory serves, your clan is famed for their military prowess. What brings you to join a mining operation? I wouldn't imagine economic ventures to be a common practice for you."

[The Walrus]

Although Lehrer had wanted to ask either Jairin or Caluf more about the specific nature of the monsters that had necessitated the hiring of the mercenaries, it seemed that both of the men were occupied in piloting the airship. Instead, he choose to stay on the deck and go through his morning routine of stretches and light calisthenics. The deck, with its limited running space and lack of exercise equipment, was not ideal for this, and neither was Lehrer's outfit (the suitcase containing all the clothes he wasn't currently wearing having been left forgotten in Vestgaard), but he made do.

After finishing a series of lunges, he took a quick break to eat the Lum Berry he had brought along with him, while looking around at the other people on deck. Maybe some light conversation would help quell the nervousness he was starting to feel about this whole 'fighting monsters' business.


Standing near the bow of the deck was a strikingly beautiful woman, with flowing platinum-blonde hair framed with rather odd horn-like spikes that protrude from either side of her head, framed in a light black crown; she's dressed in light piecemeal parts of armour, the kind you'd see adventuring, filigreed with soft golden trims. The armor pieces go atop her sleeveless shirt and short skirt, laced and of fine quality, and she carries a rather peculiar weapon of evidently advanced make at her side, resembling an intricate revolver mechanism and a straight crystal blade of neutral colour.

Was this really the fashion among youths these days? Feeling slightly out of touch, Lehrer adjusted the position of the grey wig adorning his head, and rested his left hand over the missing button on his waistcoat.


"Good afternoon," she says in a pleasant tone. "My name is Lacryma, and I look forward to working with you."

"A pleasant afternoon to you, too. Immanuel Lehrer, at your service," the philosopher said, and started to go into a slight bow, before wondering if that was really the custom among the hardened adventurer lot. He quickly reversed the motion, producing an overall effect of seeming to awkwardly straighten out a kink in his back.

"Er, call me Dr. Lehrer, if you please. Although, if I keep to my habit of eating a Lum berry every morning, it might scare the doctor right out of my name! You know what they say, a Lum berry a day- but they really are quite the salubrious fruit, you know. Good for staying awake, keeping the body limber, maintaining a clear head- I've even heard they can act as a sort of general antitoxin, if consumed sufficiently prior to the introduction of said toxins to one's system. I shouldn't like to test that one out for myself, though."

Immanuel finished eating his berry, and wiped the juice off his fingers with a handkerchief.

"You seem fairly well-equipped for this job. Have you been in the scouting and monster-fighting business for very long? I must confess that this will be my first experience in anything even remotely approaching this vocation."

[Merilan]

Lacryma bowed and did a faint curtsey, before rising back to full stature. For someone of her relative youth, she seemed to be quite impeccably mannered. "Ah, a while, yes, though I would not say I have had much monster-hunting experience myself until recently. I more frequently work with hunters, building tools of the hunt for them," she patted the weapon at her side gently, then procuring one such shard from a nearby pouch. "This may very well be my Lum Berry, doctor. I work with these shards as my day to day trade, refining them into weaponry and other useful devices... they call me a Runesmith at Mastema."

She chuckled politely, perhaps a bit sadly. "What manner of doctor are you, if I may ask? You seem quite knowledgeable about pharmaceuticals...?"

[Lokyar]

"My lady Zastruga, if memory serves, your clan is famed for their military prowess. What brings you to join a mining operation? I wouldn't imagine economic ventures to be a common practice for you."

"If you think there's a gap between the military and the money then I wouldn't imagine you're too familiar with how to grow either."

On the other side of the small room Johnny lay back relaxing in his own cot. Once most of the others had cleared out the room had become a lot more tolerable, and those that remained had been generally quiet. Keeping quiet himself seemed to have helped him avoid being 'requested' to help the gaudy nobleman, but the man's frequent 'requests' had nonetheless started to sour his initial opinion.

Having now resigned himself to engaging in a conversation Johnny sat up and took out a coin, twitching it across his knuckles to keep his hand occupied. Stupid confined places and their 'no open flames' rules. "All the best stuff is deep in beast territory, and you can't pay a civilian engineer enough to risk that without a small army surrounding them. That's why the best Ex-CO teams are small and dual or triple tasked. Soldier, miner, and specialist. Low overhead, high profit, unshakeable trust."

[Revenant9]

Harke rather liked these new-fangled airships. The feeling of having the wind rush by you as if dashing towards a target to be killed was exquisite. She had made a point of enjoying this feeling as much as possible by spending most of her time on the deck. She noticed a woman with a medkit gaze nervously at her from time to time. Harke tolerated this, however eventually she couldn't resist the temptation to give the woman a shark-like grin. The woman had since then clearly forced herself to stop looking in Harke's direction, which both disappointed and delighted the Zastruga heir to no end.

Despite standing in the refreshing wind, Harke was starting to become a little bored. She was itching to practice her magic, or spar someone. She eyed the woman with the strange weapon, but ultimately relented due to the lack of any sort of space on this airship. She was rather glad that she was spoken to, even if it was by the rather needy noble with the constant requests.

She wasn't even given time to respond before someone else spoke up. It was the rather thin and compact man with the wild hair. Did he not know the concept of brushing, she wondered.

Being blunt as usual, Harke didn't hesitate to state the reason for her being here. "What brings me here? Why, it's the same thing that could drive a noble such as you to expose himself to danger. Those Shards are vital to Zemia's plans. If I can convince the Gespelt Brothers to sell them to Zemia, preferably through a middle man like the Zastruga clan, well, we come one massive step closer to enacting those plans... And, of course there is the promise of monster blood to be shed. Who could resist the opportunity to be the one to slay the creatures that are getting in the way of the Zemian dream?" A hint of blood lust and excitement enters Harke's eyes.

[The Walrus]

Lacryma bowed and did a faint curtsey, before rising back to full stature. For someone of her relative youth, she seemed to be quite impeccably mannered. "Ah, a while, yes, though I would not say I have had much monster-hunting experience myself until recently. I more frequently work with hunters, building tools of the hunt for them," she patted the weapon at her side gently, then procuring one such shard from a nearby pouch. "This may very well be my Lum Berry, doctor. I work with these shards as my day to day trade, refining them into weaponry and other useful devices... they call me a Runesmith at Mastema."

She chuckled politely, perhaps a bit sadly. "What manner of doctor are you, if I may ask? You seem quite knowledgeable about pharmaceuticals...?"

"I'm proud to say that I'm a doctor of philosophy. Until some recent unpleasantness, I taught logic and metaphysics at the university of Rittwald, where I earned my degree. Er, I never really got around to studying medicine or pharmacology, although I have dabbled a little in nutrition and personal fitness. Sound mind in a sound body, and all that."

Lehrer paused for a moment to study the peculiar weapon Lacryma possessed, and briefly wondered from what source the gems used to make the crystal-blade originated - geological or biological. How would monsters view someone who fought them with weapons forged from the bodies of others of their kind? The same way a human might see someone wielding a club made from some poor fellow's femur, like a barbarian?

"My dabbling has also extended to the subject of shards and crystals recently, although I'm more interested in their origins than their application. Recently, I've been developing a theory as to how the shard deposits such as the ones involved in our current employment came to exist. My studies of pre-shattering history have led me to the hypothesis that the great leviathans seen among the clouds of the blastline once lived on the surface of the world, before they were sealed below it. When they died and became buried in the ground, time and pressure may have compressed their bodies down into the shard deposits we can find today."

Immanuel carefully studied the Runesmith's face as he spoke, eager to see how she received his theory.

"Of course, that theory would predict an even distribution of shards throughout the fragments, unless monsters had a tendency to die or become buried in specific areas more often than others, but I believe there are several reasons to think such tendencies existed. First, the varying climates and water distribution of the Land would have caused more flourishing of life in some areas than others, so that great numbers of monsters would live, die, and become buried in certain limited areas. Second, given the intelligence and organizational capacity that must have been involved in constructing the Tower, which must presumably have still existed even before the monsters were sealed below the land, it seems plausible that the monsters may have formed themselves into armies and fought great wars between them, producing battlefields where many could die. Third - oh, but I hope I'm not boring you with all this theoretical talk..."

[SiegeTower]

Lord Zhelez was open to admitting his oversimplification of the borders between military prowess and venture capitalism but the last line Johnny spoke made the noble dismiss the man. "Trust" was a fool's term. Especially when the trust was meant as a tool to increase the efficiency of economic gains. Lord Zhelez just ignored Johnny's statements and continued his conversation with the Lady Zastruga.

"Yes exactly! Whether it be for selfish or altruistic reasons, working towards the goals of the state should remain a priority. The expanded power of the nation benefits all those involved. Therefore the removal of the creatures which hinder the nation's development is a fundamental good." The noble was glad to have common ground. Though the tone of the woman's voice seemed to be off near the end of her statement, Lord Zhelez just attributed it to her taking notice of something he couldn't see.

[Revenant9]

Harke smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was too wide and full of teeth. "I'm glad you are so reasonable, Lord Zhelez. I would have hated to have a... disagreement with you." Her tone makes it perfectly clear that she would not, in fact, have minded such a disagreement at all.

She turns to the yet unknown man who had so rudely joined the conversation. "Where are my manners... I am Harke Zastruga. Seeing as how we are to fight together, it only makes sense that we should know each other's names at least, yes?"

[Merilan]

Lacryma's weapon was made of such worked, refined crystal that it could be either, really -- if it were geological, it was certainly a quartz of an impressive size; if a monster, it was no small beast. She didn't look like she was bored, regarding Lehrer's lecture with interest. "You really are a professor of philosophy, with how much thought you've given it. I cannot say I've done much in the way of higher education, though I suppose my knowledge mostly applies in the esoteric."

She paused and glanced towards the skies. "As far as a theory, though, it certainly does seem sound, does it not? Much like how human skeletons and other fossils are found deep within the earth, the compressed crystals may very well be leviathan from ages past. That monsters and the Tower still exist lend much credence to the stories and myths of so long ago..."

She sighed softly, shaking her head. "But I have never felt... like we have the full picture, as it were. There is something else -- whether below the Tower or the Blastline, or beyond the skies that which can reach. That is always what I have felt. It is why I have always desired the ability to have my own wings," as she gestured to the ship around them, "So that I may explore beyond the greatest and most distant horizons, where no one has ever gone before."

A pause, as she laughed softly, politely. "Ah, but that is a bit of a far-fetched dream for a humble artificer such as me. I can scarce pay the rent for my workshop back at Mastema."

[Lokyar]

Johnny smirked. He could already tell these two would be trouble. "Johnny Brockton, of the no particular note Brocktons. Officially a lieutenant in the survey corp. It's one of those fun little bureaucratic gray zones where they'll have you lead a squad like a captain, expect you to file reports and display behavior befitting a captain, and send you into hot zones to cover extractions like a captain, but no one's in any real hurry to put in the paperwork that would result in the extra pay and clout."

[Irrelephant]

Elliot perks up as he overhears the ongoing discussion between a pair of his coworkers. "Did I hear you talking about the Tower," he asks. Continuing dreamily, "I've always found the subject deeply fascinating myself, though I've certainly never studied it in any real detail. What secrets must lie within."

"Forgive me, I got all worked up and forgot to introduce myself." The young man shakes his head in self-reproval, extending his hand to greet the others. "Elliot Estre, of Sylpheed."

[The Walrus]

Immanuel shook the newcomer's hand warmly.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Estre. I'm from the Coalition myself - Vestgaard, in my case, although you wouldn't guess it from my accent - a product of living in Zemia for most of the past twenty-five years. If you didn't hear the first part of our conversation, I'm Dr. Immanuel Lehrer, and this is Ms. Lacryma. We weren't talking about the Tower in particular, but it's certainly a worthwhile subject of discussion. I happen to have a minor theory about it. It seems likely to me that the perpetual windstorm surrounding was set into place not for the purpose of preventing us humans from approaching the tower - although this may have been a beneficial side effect - but rather to allow it to stay upright in the first place. Consider the alleged calmness that is said to exist within the eye of the greatest storms. Such stillness of air would be necessary for a structure like the tower to remain upright, as else even a moderate wind, acting upon the full area of the tower, would surely produce a torque sufficient to tip it over or snap it in half."

The philosopher paused for a breath before continuing.

"Of course, I could be entirely wrong. For all I know, the winds might grow even stronger as you get closer to the tower, which might be constructed of some material unknown to our science, strong enough to resist the wind's force. I do sympathize with what Ms. Lacryma said about not feeling like we have the full picture- there's just so many basic facts yet unknown to us."

Lehrer considered Lacryma's nationality. She had said her workshop was in Mastema, which Lehrer thought was a Caelite village, although he wasn't entirely sure. At any rate, he at least knew it wasn't in Zemia.

"Not enough people appreciate how ignorant we really are, I feel - take this notion, popular among certain nationalistic types, of a Zemian fleet crossing the blastline and conquering the Underworld. Have they given any thought to what other wonders of magic or technology might be possessed by entities that created a structure like the Tower, and the wisdom of provoking those who may bear such powerful artifacts?"

[Elfbird]

In Storage (temporary passenger quarters)

The lanky intern, Thern, comes in carrying a steaming mug and holds it out toward Zhelez.
"H-here you are, milord, the c-coffee you asked for yesterday. T-took me a while to heat it up, y'see, then we swerved and I had to start again. Th-that was the third try. Boss and the old man took the f-first two while I was turning the coolant back up on the ventral core; y'know, the one w-we use for heating coffee..."

Thern abruptly clears his throat and looks askance to add Harke and Johnny to his address, though he seems unwilling to look directly at either of you, so ends up staring awkwardly into the middle distance toward the cargo door.
"Boss and Boss Too want-- wanted to see everyone on the bridge in thirty minutes. S-some kinda announcement, I guess. Need anything else? No? ...I'll just get back to work now..."

After Zhelez takes the hot coffee, Thern turns to slink away without really waiting for any responses, but is slow enough that he'll hear them whether he wants to or not. A sudden lurch of the airship causes him to crack his skull on the doorway, though it elicits nothing more than a quiet "Ghk!" and a rub of the head.



On Deck (Outside)

The medic girl, being close to Elliot at the time, is quick to return his handshake (after Immanuel).
"Sylpheed, right? My family's from Vestgaard too - we're practically neighbors! Tower buddies! My name's Sarah. I've been hired as the team medic; I'll look forward to working with you all - though I sure hope you don't need much of my help!"
Her smile is entirely too bright and sincere for this run-down airship, and she says the last line with a cute wink. Maybe the world in her head is a nicer place?

The deck suddenly lurches and Sarah stumbles, thrown off-balance by the heavy medical kit she always carries. She starts to fall, but a flare of angelic wings sets her to rights before she had to test the durability of those rusted railings.

A sharp voice crackles across a loudspeaker mounted near the cabin door; Caluf, the younger of your two employers.
"Hey, is this thing on? Good! Everyone, report to the bridge in thirty minutes for a briefing! Time t' earn yer keep!"
. . .
"Now how d'you shut it off? This swi--"
*click*

[Merilan]

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister Estre." Lacryma expresses lightly, bowing her head again to Elliot. "I am afraid I've not ventured far. Mastema is only a humble village on the frontier, but it is filled with kind, worthy people."

If she had any thoughts about the Tower, she didn't share them in particular; she always wondered why Astrace never felt the need to venture to it. She always turned her back to it; she'd remember the way she positioned her workshop, so that she could always gaze to the skies abroad, instead of behind her.

"The Zemians certainly are very eager to explore the Tower, aren't they? I cannot say I quite share the sentiment... best an open horizon ahead. Seek the new world, my mentor always said. It is words I've always held close to heart."

When Sarah made her way to greet them, she smiled with a warm expression and said, "Ah, a medic? Your skills would certainly be most welcome--" and then the ship rocked, and she gasped a little and reached over to help steady the unsteady medic, her own wings flaring up for a very brief moment to help orient herself upright. Unlike Sarah's angelic ones, her wings were pitch-black, more resembling an elegant Gothic gate in the shape of a wing, with shimmering crystals of varying colour as each of her pinions.

"Careful! Really..." she huffed softly. "I suppose that is our call, then. Will this be the team we set out in? I look forward to it."

[Revenant9]

Johnny smirked. He could already tell these two would be trouble. "Johnny Brockton, of the no particular note Brocktons. Officially a lieutenant in the survey corp. It's one of those fun little bureaucratic gray zones where they'll have you lead a squad like a captain, expect you to file reports and display behavior befitting a captain, and send you into hot zones to cover extractions like a captain, but no one's in any real hurry to put in the paperwork that would result in the extra pay and clout."

"A military man then," Harke said no longer smiling, expression more or less returned to pleasant neutrality. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Brockton." Harke was about to say more when Thern came in. Once Thern turns around to leave, Harke turns to her compatriots. "Well, it looks like we are needed." Without waiting for a response, she turned once more, this time towards the door, but mid step, the ship shook. Luckily, Harke was rather adept at balancing and wasn't about to fall. She starts heading to the bridge.

[Lokyar]

Johnny just shrugged as he got to his feet before resuming the conversation. "More of an NCO. Technically a civilian that works in a military capacity. I know enough crystal terminology to talk mission-critical with the geeks, I can pull a tusk out of your leg and patch the hole, and I'm a certified spelunker. Being able to hold my own with beasts when things go wrong is a given in the corp. It's not 'you fight or you die', it's 'you fight or everyone dies'."

[SiegeTower]

"Oh yes, thank you." The young lord had completely forgotten he had requested a coffee. Having waited over 24 hours for it, it may have simply slipped his mind after he came to the conclusion it would never arrive.

Lord Zhelez could in no way know where the coffee being offered to him was. He considered asking for it to be placed on a table near him but that table didn't exist. To hide his lack of vision, Lord Zhelez reached towards the intern and felt from his shoulders down to where the cup rested in his hands. The noble smiled and tried to obfuscate the obvious blind grasping by speaking and acting as if he was giving Thern several overly friendly thankful pats for a job well done.

Attempting to drink the coffee now would likely end in unflattering stains over the noble's garments. The heat of the coffee made it so drinking it quickly before that occurred wasn't an option either. There could be nothing to be gained from this beverage. Lord Zhelez simply had to minimise the damage from the drink so he spilled it in the most controlled way he could. He felt for a nice bare wall and spilled the coffee against it. Accidents happened, the sudden lurch of the airship was a perfect cover for the stain. The coffee was disposed of and the cup laid onto the ground.

When everyone was informed they needed to move to the bridge, Zhelez waited until he knew he was to be the last to move out. He followed the direction of the footsteps he heard moments ago and with great difficulty practically carried himself forward grasping at everything around him to steady himself.

[The Walrus]

When the ship lurched, Immanuel was able to quickly shift his weight and position to maintain balance, the result of being limbered up from the morning's exercises. Although he wanted to stick around and talk a bit more when the loudspeaker came on, he could hear some movement below-decks - was everyone heading to the bridge already? Caluf had said in half in a hour!

Sighing softly, the scholar began to move towards the bridge as well. When Lacryma stated she was looking forward to setting out, he briefly opened his mouth to agree, than closed it again upon realizing he really wasn't looking forward to it. Lehrer had been pleasantly surprised by how polite and approachable Lacryma, Elliot, and Sarah seemed to be, having been expecting that the rest of the team would be rough, intimidating veterans, but he was somewhat worried about the fact that he had no fighting experience whatsoever, Lacryma apparently had little herself, and he still didn't know much about the rest of the crew's qualifications.

[Irrelephant]

"Nice to meet you all," Elliot says with a nod. With one hand already on the railing, he manages to hold himself steady while the ship lurches to and fro. "Yeah, guess this is us. Look forward to getting to know you all better soon."

He follows close behind Immanuel, looking around to catch a glimpse of what must be the other team.

[Elfbird]

Bridge

Caluf turns to watch the seven of you file onto the bridge (Thern is already there).
"Hmph! Cotton in yer ears, but y'got punctuality!"
He glares daggers at Thern, who doesn't seem to notice.

"Awright, listen up! We're gettin' close to the fragment now, and headin' into monster-infested territory! Now's yer chance t' show us what ya got, before the real fireworks start! I want everyone lookin' lively and ready to beat off any flyin' monsters that get too close fer comfort! Any questions?!"

Sarah ended up between Zhelez and Elliot in the lineup. After the call for questions, she starts looking back and forth between their weapons with increasing alarm.
"O-oh, wait! These slots are empty! Aren't any of you using Crystals?"

Caluf looks like he might burst a vein. Jairin bursts out in jovial laughter from his pilot's chair.
"BWAHAHAHAHA! Looks like we really were scraping the bottom of the barrel after buying this airship, eh, brother? Here, here, Intern boy! Pull the Crystals from the spare suit and give them to these good mercenaries! Consider it a down payment! Wahaha!"

"What! But! Gkh! We're not--!"

Jairin's laughter, and the groaning of the airship as it swerves ever more wildly, drowns out both Caluf's protests and Thern's quiet cursing as his tools break one by one while he tries to pry the thumbnail-sized spheres out of a set of ragged leather armor. Soon, the intern stands in front of you awkwardly holding out a handful of six different colored crystals.
"I th-think I have enough tools left to slot them for you, i-into your weapons. J-just don't ask me to take them back out, p-please."

Sarah passes on taking any, showing the deep orange Crystals embedded in the crossguard of her combat knife and the shoulder of her uniform.

There are six Crystals to divide among yourselves. You aren't necessarily restricted to one each, unless it's more comfortable OOCly. When you've decided, just add them to your Inventory (the bottom of each block has unformatted cells) and a note on your equipment descriptions on the Combat sheet.
As a reminder, your current gear has 1 Crystal slot per equipment slot it occupies (that is, everything has 1, except two-handed weapons, which have 2).

HP I: Increases HP stat by 3 (orange)
Attack I: Increases Attack stat by 3 (red)
Defense I: Increases Defense stat by 3 (green)
Sp.Atk I: Increases Special Attack stat by 3 (blue)
Sp.Def I: Increases Special Defense stat by 3 (violet)
Speed I: Increases Speed stat by 3 (yellow)

[Merilan]

Lacryma chuckled softly as she looked at everyone else gathered in the bridge, then said, "You are right that I have not slotted crystals yet... though that is more of a matter of resourcing than anything else, sadly." She glanced towards Lehrer and Elliot, then the rest of the group. "I would personally prefer a defensive crystal, but I will take whatever is left."

[Revenant9]

Harke didn't conceal her curiosity about the rest of the group. She outright stared at each of them in turn. It wasn't a pleasant, or benevolent stare either, but rather the kind that would leave the hardiest of men nervous and fidgeting. Once she was satisfied, she promptly took one of the crystals, the violet one. She reached towards her back and pulled away a long white sheath. With a shhing sound, she pulled a longsword from the sheath. It was a strange blue colour and had an even stranger texture, likely to be attributed to the metal used. Without caring whoever might have issues with drawing a weapon in such a tight space, she slotted the Crystal into the longsword's hilt, returned it to its sheath and put the sheath back on her back.

[The Walrus]

Lehrer's confidence was not buoyed by the revelation that crystal-empowered equipment was expected of the mercenaries, yet only one out of seven of the group actually had any. It was shaken even further by Harke's cold stare, and the philosopher thought he could feel an actual bead of sweat forming on his forehead when the formidable looking woman casually drew her sword in the confined space with no apparent thought to the consequences of the airship making another sudden lurch. After letting out a breath of mild relief when the weapon was re-sheathed, Lehrer made up his mind about what crystal he wanted.

"You have my sincere thanks for these crystals, sirs. I think I'll be able to make good use of the blue specimen, if no one else desires it."

Rather than take out a weapon, Immanuel took off his left shoe. In the halcyon days of approximately three months ago, both of Lehrer's shoes had crystal slots, but such times were sadly in the past, and now only one of the pair was thus endowed.

"Ah, mister... Thern, was it? Would it be possible to have my crystal emplaced within my shoe, here? I reason that I'm much less likely to lose hold of my footwear than my weapon."

After receiving his shoe back from the intern, Immanuel addressed a question towards Jairin.

"I have a question for the esteemed leader of our expedition. Do you know any details about the species of monsters which brought short your initial expedition of the shard deposit?"

[Merilan]

Lacryma peered back at Harke, rather curious about the woman's intense stare, but she merely returned a pleasant smile to it. If she were deterred, she was confident enough to not show it, perhaps. "I see, then..."

She inspected each of the crystals, and then said, "Permit me to take this one," and fetched the green one to her hand. "These are of good quality, thank you."

She placed the Reiterpallasch on a nearby table and drew a little multi-tool, quickly disengaging the clutch from the harness of the device that was keeping the suspension of the neutrally-coloured crystalline blade to the rest of the mechanism, revealing where there are two slots for a Crystal there. She placed it to the left slot, and then drew an enclosure over it, twisting the tool and watching as it locks into place with a hiss. Then, the blade is replaced.

She reassured Lehrer as the intern fitted his shoe, "I've skill to divine the location of more shards, so we should be well stocked as we progress further into our journey."

She looked towards Jarin as he asked the question, curious herself.

[SiegeTower]

Of course Zhelez didn't have any fragments. He couldn't afford one for the life of him. Even if he did, he wouldn't have any idea if he could trust the merchant gave him the desired colour.

"I of course did not bring my slotted equipment. This expedition didn't seem fitting of my more extravagant tools. Perhaps once our patrons prove their competence I will be willing to let them purchase use of my full talents."

Satisfied with his cover story, Lord Zhelez finds a wall to lean against and keep himself steady. He could barely stay balanced where he was. Once the fragments were offered, the noble pulls out his rapier with a very practiced flourish. He wasn't sure where he was to hold it out but he hoped that the display would draw the attention of the Thern.

"You may place a speed enhancing fragment in the hilt. Take care not to scratch the pummel."

[Lokyar]

Picking up the orange crystal he inspected it for a moment, finding no immediately obvious defects, and then passed it over to Thern as immediately obvious defects were about as much as he was qualified to find. Along with it he passed his left armband, a defunct kinetic barrier too worn out to function but still containing an operable crystal slot. "May as well make use of this thing. Burned out the main booster in a cave-in three months ago, haven't had the money to replace it just yet."

[Irrelephant]

"Then this will be mine," Elliot says contently, as he gently picks up the remaining crystal, happy that this issue was resolved without much fuss. "Very good. Weapons are made for attacking, after all."

He proffers the red gem and a length of weighted chain to Lacryma. "Could I trouble you? Mister Thern," he trails off, inclining his head in the direction of the busy intern. "Seems to have his hands full with the others and you seem very handy with that multitool."

[Merilan]

Lacryma nodded at Elliot, looking towards the weighted chain as she inspected it for its crystal slot and got to work. "Absolutely, Mister Elliot," she nodded. "You've got quite the unique weapon here -- it must take great skill to wield."

[Irrelephant]

"Thank you," Elliot says gratefully. "And that is very kind of you to say, but I'm only a beginner. Spent more time studying wilderness skills than combat ones."

[aturtledoesbite]

Jairin looks back toward Immanuel, proooooobably a bit irresponsibly, though at least the skies ahead look clear.
"Not real sure, myself. I was just mining like usual, when my pick hit an open cavity in the fragment. I could see that telltale shard glow coming right out, but it was followed pretty fast by a loud roar, so we didn't really stick around long enough to check it out, you know? Wahaha!"

Punctuating his sentence was a loud thud! that could be felt from the ship.
"Whoops! Lemme just get right back to thi...oh. Looks like we'll be getting an early show! Wahahaha!"

Looking out through the window, some wolf-like monsters had somehow boarded the airship, with raven-like monsters flying in close behind!
"Okay you guys, get out there and clear out those monsters! I'm sure you'll handle 'em just fine without us! Intern, coffee! WAHAHAHAHA!"

Roll20 link (https://app.roll20.net/join/2036299/91T1ew)

Feel free to act (with an IC post) in any order

[Merilan]

Lacryma let out a very soft sigh, and says, "The ferryman asks a high price, I see. Though, this is all part of the job."

She slipped out of the cabin and readied the Reiterpallasch. Astrace... this is my first step. I hope I can show the fruits of my work to you, someday.

She raised the blade, and squinted with one eye. For a moment, it was if she could see the target's movements in slow motion. She snapped off a bolt of energy from the crystalline blade, throwing her hand forward. "This range... is mine!"


Swift action - Bind Trick Shot to self (using Commander's Voice)
Shift action - Using Aiming Down the Sights
Standard action - Bullseye on Wolf 1.

[roll0] - AC 3 at base to hit. Crits on a 11-20.
[roll1] damage if it hits.

[Lokyar]

Johnny clenches his fist as he turns to face the wolves, and when he opens it a small semi-transparent fireball is hovering in the open space above his palm. "If you can't take a hit then stay behind me. And if you can hit then consider the flames a target marker. I'll soften them up."

Sprinting forward into the center of the deck Johnny launched the fireball with unerring accuracy, lighting the wolf up.

Shift: Move North 2 > East 2 (I don't have control of my token yet)
Standard: Use Will-O-Wisp on Wolf 2
Attack Roll: 20
Wolf 2 is Burned, -2 Def CS and loses 1 tick of HP whenever it takes a standard action or is prevented from doing so.

[Revenant9]

Harke looked at the sudden arrival of the enemy with an ever growing smile. This was what she was born for, what she lived for; mortal combat with monsters. This was how she proved her usefulness to the clan and how she maintained her pride.

Without thinking about it, she had already moved closer to the enemy, eventually coming to stand at Johnny's side. She watched him throw a ball of flame at a wolf and was slightly disappointed to see it do such little immediate damage. Eager to kill one of the creatures already, she decided not to follow his advice and instead targeted the wolf that had been shot by the girl with the strange weapon.

With a flourish of her hand, a number of small ice shards materialized in the air and immediately plummeted in the direction of the wolf.

Shift: Move 3 meters West, 3 meters North.
Standard: Ice Shard on Wolf 1
AC2 vs [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] Ice Physical
Free: If Wolf 1 survives, spend 1 AP to lower its Attack by 1 CS.

[SiegeTower]

Trouble started brewing but Lord Zhelez already had his rapier in his hand. He was not about to show fear in the face of adversity. He could fight just as well if not better than the low class fools who acted as his crewmates. Trying his best to balance and readying his weapon against an unseen foe, the noble was ready to strike at the first sounds of an enemy.

Some mutts could be heard boarding the vessel. The noble would not be bested by some cur. He berates the eastmost feral beast.


"Impudent dog. Have you no manners? Heel boy!"


Lovely Kiss: [roll0]
Demoralize and Flustering Charisma and Powerful Motivator may take effect.

[The Walrus]

Occupied by trying to think of all the monsters he knew of whose vocalizations could be characterized as a roar, Lehrer didn't quite realize what was going on until most of the other mercenaries had exited the bridge and begun their assault.

"Um," Lehrer stammered, staring at the beasts as his expression wavered between fear and confusion.

How could those wolves have possibly gotten up here? Okay, no time to think about that now- what should he do? Noticing that one of the wolves seemed to be on its last legs after Lacryma and Harke's attacks, Immanuel started to run towards the beast to finish it off, then quickly changed his mind and ran as far from the wolves as he could while remaining within range, ending in a precarious position on the edge of the deck, next to Lacryma. Traces of blue lightning arced between the fingers of his outstretched hand, before forming into a single bolt of electricity that struck the injured wolf, causing it to collapse in a flurry of convulsing limbs.

By this point, the part of Lehrer's brain less concerned with his immediate survival had processed some of what had just happened, and Immanuel regained enough composure to speak.

"Uh, the wolves resist fire and ice, but ice'll work well against the ravens!" he blurted out, recalling something about the nature of the enemies they faced.

[Irrelephant]

"Thanks, Immanuel!" Elliot shouts, focusing on the wolves in front of him. He glances toward the right, noting that one of the hounds has fallen asleep. Twirling his length of chain rapidly, the mercenary releases at the apex of the arc, sending the weight hurtling towards the next closest wolf-creature.

Shift: Move North 1, West 1
Standard: Use Weapon Struggle Attack on Wolf 3
Attack Roll: 12 (AC 4)
Damage Roll: 20

[Elfbird]

Deck

The two active wolves, shaken by the fierce resistance their intended prey presented, desperately lunge for Elliot and Johnny but fail to do more than graze your armors.

The ravens patiently await the ship's approach, cawing with cruel laughter between themselves.

Sarah pokes her head around the cabin doorway, briefly calling out to you before retreating indoors again.
"I-I-I'll be right here if anyone gets hurt! You can do it!"

Rolls in Roll20, as usual
Wolf 3 > Elliot: Tackle! Miss!
Wolf 2 > Johnny: Tackle! Miss!
Wolf 4 > Sleep save! Failure!

Raven 1 > Shift, Nasty Plot!
Raven 2 > Shift, Nasty Plot!

Sarah > Hide from scary combat!

PCs are up!

[Merilan]

Lacryma ducked to the other side of the ship, clicking something upon her weapon as she aimed for the wolf Elliot was engaged with. "Incoming fire support, Elliot!"

Swift - Tag the Wolf 3 with Duelist's Tag.
Shift - Aiming down the Sights.
Standard - Struggle attack on wolf.

[roll0] vs. AC - 15-20 critical range.
[roll1] damage

[Lokyar]

"Tsk." Johnny hissed in annoyance as the flames went out a second later with no discernible effect. "I hate it when they do that. Alright then, hand to hand it is!"

As the wolves charged forward Johnny swung his arm back, a slight glow building as he focused more energy into his band, and then swung at the nearest wolf releasing a small shockwave of force at it.

Shift: Focus Training on Self
Standard: Use Struggle on Wolf 3 if it's still up, Wolf 2 otherwise
Attack Roll: 9
17 damage

[SiegeTower]

The yelps of the fainting monsters ring in the noble's ears.

"How pitiful. They are falling as quickly as they appeared. What of you dog? Have you learned your place?" Lord Zhelez looks at the injured wolf with his clouded eyes. The noble could see nothing to see but the stare and harsh words would enrage the beast.



Baby-Doll Eyes: [roll0]
Quick Wit to use the Manipulate Maneuver Bon Mot: [roll1]

[Revenant9]

As disappointed as Harke was to see Johnny's attack do nothing, she was even more disappointed when her own attack did little to no damage to the wolf. Even when the fancy, yet still shabby looking man explained what was going on, Harke felt dissatisfied with her performance. She should have known.

So as to not reduce her performance even more, Harke put the thoughts out of her mind for now and focused on another wolf. Harke gathered her strength, carefully moved one meter forward, took on a stance and then delivered a text book punch to the wolf in front of her. The Zastruga heir wasn't interested in wasteful movements this time. Quick and efficient was the new way to go about things.

Strength
AC2 vs 17
Damage: 34 Normal Physical

[The Walrus]

Lehrer looked out to the center of the deck, which had turned into a chaotic melee between mercenaries and wolves. Although his bolts almost always hit (the lighting kind of bolt, at least- the small amount of practice he had with the repeating crossbow his brother gave him made it clear that he missed very frequently with the wood and metal kind), he wasn't sure if he could trust himself to not electrocute one of his allies by mistake, having only ever practiced on stationary targets.

Glancing away from the wolves, Immanuel turned his eyes towards the ravens. One of the techniques Lehrer had hurriedly forced himself to learn before embarking on his new career as a mercenary was a kind of impromptu, accelerated meditation session that, through a mechanism yet unknown to the philosopher, noticeably improved his strength and electric power. When under the effects of this meditation, he found that his posture and way of movement shifted in subtle but consistent ways. And, unless the stress of battle was causing him to imagine things, it looked like the ravens flight pattern had shifted in an analogous way at around the time they started that unnerving laughter.

It seemed very unwise, then, to rush forward and zap at them when their attacking potential was thus increased. Even if he took out one of the two, the counterattack of the other could very well end his life. The only solution, then, was to hit both of them at once! But he'd need a moment to charge up...

Immanuel sprinted back towards the cabin door (to get into a more central position to strike at both the ravens - not because he was planning on slipping back inside if things got too rough, he told himself) and placed his hand on the metal point of the quarrel loaded into his crossbow. He forced an electric charge into it, ready to leap out like an uncoiling spring the instant he relaxed his concentration. Concentration that wouldn't be broken by guilty thoughts that even if he was out of the raven's range, the others weren't, because he knew that the front-liners were wearing a lot more armor than him, so it made sense that they should be the ones to soak up the attacks and he wasn't being a coward, honest!


Shift - Move one north, four east, one south.
Standard - Spend 2 AP to use Bottled Lightning to charge the tip of the bolt loaded into Lehrer's repeating crossbow with Shock Wave.

Also, I'm assuming that we have in-character knowledge of the effects of the raven's Nasty Plot.

[Irrelephant]

Elliot turtles slightly as the wake of Lacryma's attack rustles his clothing. He steps to the side, putting himself between the wolf and its sleeping compatriot. Taking a deep breath to center himself, he slams the weighted chain against the ship's hull, sending up a shockwave of dust and force.

Shift: Move East 1, North 1
Standard: Use Shockwave (Burst 1) on Wolves 3 and 4
Attack Roll: [roll0] (AC 2)
Damage Roll: [roll1]

[aturtledoesbite]

Elliot's tremor downs the two wolves near him, their bodies crystallizing after the blow! The other wolf still seems to be dazed...

The ravens, now in range to strike, do so; one with a gust of wind toward Harke, and one with a mental attack against Elliot!

Interrupt: Wolf 3 > Attack of Opportunity: Elliot! 11 damage!

----

Wolf 1 > DEAD
Wolf 2 > DEAD
Wolf 3 > DEAD
Wolf 4 > Asleep...

Raven 1 > Gust: Harke! 15 damage!
Raven 2 > Confusion: Elliot! 18 damage!

----

SiegeTower: Please specify your target by their token number in the Roll20, thank you.
Irrelephant: Please mark the Attack I crystal on your sheet's inventory somewhere, and also that it is slotted into your weapon.
Also Irrelephant: There was no positioning that allowed you to strike both Wolves 3 and 4 (remember Burst 1 is cardinal-only), and East 1 + North 1 would put you directly in Wolf 4's square, so I took a couple of liberties with your action based on Walrus's comments in the Roll20 chat; if you'd rather a different outcome...well, it'd change quite a bit for us to rewind things now so uh...try to be more careful in the future, I guess?

[The Walrus]

The damage wrought by the ravens' attacks wasn't nearly as bad as Immanuel had been expecting. Although his initial plan was to try and strike both of the creatures at the same time, the center of the deck was too crowded to allow the philosopher to get into a position to do so. Hoping that his companions would be able to handle the raven on the left side of the deck, Immanuel dashed past the wolf which that Zemian noble seemed to have, amazingly, cowed into submission with just a few words, and released two bolts of electricity at the raven that had attacked Elliot.


Shift: Move 1 east, 6 north.
Standard: Shock Wave on Raven 2, 34 special electric damage.
Swift: Release the Shock Wave stored by bottled lightning on Raven 2, 33 special electric damage.

[Merilan]

Lacryma continued the assault as the ravens descended on the group, beginning to concentrate further as her pupils started to dilate. "Focus..." she murmured, and fired another snapshot of energy towards the raven.

Shift: Aiming Down the Sights
Standard: Bullseye on Raven 1
Swift: Expend 2 Momentum

[roll0] vs. AC 3
[roll1] Damage + 39 damage (rolled in Discord)

Momentum: 3/6

[Elfbird]

Deck

After vanishing the ravens in puffs of light and feathers, you easily coup-de-grace the sleeping wolf. The airship dives under a small fragment, the rocky underside barely missing the cabin (and by a slightly wider margin, your heads), and the battle is over.

Sarah quickly patches up Harke's and Elliot's wounds as soon as you step inside to her makeshift field hospital. She fusses nervously, but her focused eyes and deft movements demonstrate a level of skill not matched by her confidence.

EXP: 3
Gems:
x4 Red
x4 Orange
x2 Blue
x2 Violet

Sarah expends 2 AP in using a First Aid Kit on Harke and Elliot, fully restoring their HP.

(Format note: EXP listed is the amount each character earned; it's still a flat 10 EXP per level.
Gems and items are what the party as a whole receives. You can keep them in a party pool if you like.)


Bridge

Jairin's avant-garde piloting lets you evade any further monsters before they come into combat range. Within the hour, Caluf once again calls everyone to the bridge.

Through the narrow windows most of you can see the large fragment approaching (which says something about your angle of approach). Coniferous forest stretches wide across the Land, occasionally penetrated by miniature mountains a little taller than the trees - like stone fangs jutting toward the Sky.

"Here it is," Caluf says with more than a hint of pride (and strong coffee), "the motherload."

"So you hope," Thern retorts under his breath.

Caluf continues his briefing. "We'll be landing in a clearing on the southern edge of the fragment, then go on foot through the forest. There be monsters all right, but nothin' the intern couldn't handle - at least that's how it was last time. We started minin' at the foot of that spire," he points to the largest outcropping, some distance directly ahead of you, "when we heard the roar and these cowards hightailed it."

"I remember who was first in the--" Jairin's burst of laughter drowns out the rest of Thern's muttered commentary, and starts turning Caluf a deeper shade of red.

"ANYWAY! That's your real job: get us and our tools safely to the dig site, investigate the area, and drive off anything that might interfere with our operations. And I don't wanna hear any complaints when a monster jumps out and gnaws yer arm off, got it?!"

The engines whirr more loudly for a few moments as you descend, then there's a soft thud to mark your landing and the ambient noises you've grown accustomed to disappear one by one.

"You've got an hour's leisure while we prepare things for transport! Report for duty at the loading bay then! Last one there pulls the cart! Any questions? DIS--!"

Caluf's dismissal is cut off by a loud clang and the cabin floor dropping about six inches underneath you.
It's just the hydraulics losing pressure from the power being cut. Jairin was hasty in turning off the main power, but it's nothing to be concerned about.
He doesn't bother finishing, just hunches a bit after he recovers and grumbles at Thern to follow him to storage. Jairin goes shortly after, humming merrily and giving a jaunty slap on the shoulder to whoever's standing nearest the door on his way out.

[Merilan]

Lacryma let out a soft sigh of relief as the last of the monsters disappeared in a puft of feathers, and retracted the Reiterpallasch and looked to the others, inspecting them. "Looks like we're all right. That was a surprise."

She listens in on the conversation quietly, and nodded as she--

CLANG

She winces and looks around, kneeling softly. "What-- was that? I'd rather not have our ride home be compromised..."

[Lokyar]

Johnny just shrugged. "If there's something wrong with it they'll fix it, or they won't. I don't know a spanner from a sprocket and hassling them for answers won't make things go faster, so I leave that junk to the professionals such as they are."

Leaving for the exit he tosses back one final remark. "I'll be scouting our drop site if anyone needs me."

Doing basic recon of the immediate area, keeping an eye out for signs of stones/fossils near/on the surface.

Perception: 13
Survival(Find Stone/Fossil Stunt): 24

[The Walrus]

Immanuel observed Sarah's first aid work as closely as he could without getting in the way. The philosopher had brought a medical kit of his own, and it would be nice to learn a little about how to use it.

While the ship was in flight, Immanuel attempted to memorize as much of the terrain of the approaching fragment as possible, and attempted to sketch a crude map of the relative positions of the mini-mountains on the inside cover of his book, having brought along no other paper to write on.

After the ship had landed...


She winces and looks around, kneeling softly. "What-- was that? I'd rather not have our ride home be compromised..."

"It's nothing to worry about, really. I believe our captain cut power to the hydraulic landing supports before they could finish lowering the ship to the ground in a more controlled fashion. These airships are built to be quite sturdy, so I don't suppose a half-foot drop would've damaged anything."

Lehrer watched Johnny leave the ship, mildly worried for the young man. Caluf had said the monsters in the immediate vicinity weren't any tougher than what Thern could handle, but was it really safe to go alone? After jogging slightly to catch up to the younger man, Lehrer offered him the red gems left behind by the wolves they faced earlier.

"Er, I don't have any doubts about your ability to deal with the local fauna, but you may want to take these along just in case. Unless any members of our team have elemental abilities they haven't revealed yet, I do believe you're the only one of us who can make immediate use of them."

Whether Johnny accepted the gems or not, Lehrer quickly returned to the ship's deck. Hmm... could anyone have elemental powers they hadn't displayed so far? Actually, maybe Zhelez had been using some type of psychic ability on that wolf. Lehrer decided to go ask him, and went to find the noble.

"I must say, I was most impressed with the way you were able to pacify that wolf with a few choice words. May I ask if you were applying any kind of psychic power to achieve the effect?"

[Merilan]

Lacryma nodded to Immanuel, saying, "That does make sense... and I am rather helpless to perform repairs, so I believe I shall go divine for extra shards myself." The ashen-blonde woman headed out to use her dowsing rod, but was unfortunately unable to identify any within the ground.

"Unfortunate... there's too much noise here," she frowned.

[SiegeTower]

Zhelez was the last to notice the fight was over as he had to wait for someone to mention that fact vocally. When it is done, he puts his rapier away with a very practiced flourish and bows to any audience that was watching him.

The noble finds a wall to run his hand against and uses his sense of touch to find a safe place to sit. He wasn't sure of what to do for the remainder of his time. He sits and listened and like Lacryma, winces at the loud clanging sound. Lord Zhelez is distraught for a moment but quickly calms himself as not to look unbefitting of a noble.

Zhelez sits for a time and eventually is spoken to by someone he did not have the pleasure of being formally introduced to before.

"Oh no, I do not need to rely on any untrained talents to achieve my goals. Those born with innate powers are the privileged and lazy. They could never achieve what a master of hard work could do. I am of a long line of lords and thus have trained in the art of rhetoric to accomplish with simple words what others devote far more costly resources to. It takes years of mastery to wield the aetherial element of a spoken word as something which has tangible effect on the physical realm."

Zhelez continues explaining his well deserved praise and high standing in a way some may find self absorbed. The noble clearly liked speaking of himself, especially when someone initiated the conversation with something that could be construed as a compliment. Depending on the audience, they could find the incredibly verbose response annoying. What they might find more annoying though is the noble never actually looked at who he was speaking to. His eyes were never transfixed on anything the entire time he spoke to Immanuel.

[Lokyar]

"Er, I don't have any doubts about your ability to deal with the local fauna, but you may want to take these along just in case. Unless any members of our team have elemental abilities they haven't revealed yet, I do believe you're the only one of us who can make immediate use of them."

Gratefully accepting the shards Johnny nodded. "Don't worry, any actual contact and I'll call it out and withdraw to the ship to handle it."

[Revenant9]

Harke grudgingly accepted the medic's help and then half listened to her current boss, as she mentally reviewed the battle in her head. It wasn't terrible really, there wasn't anything she had done explicitly wrong. As she thought, she idly played with one of the gems that the monsters had left behind.

The young noble was pulled out of her thoughts when the ship suddenly dropped a little. She immediately looked up, rather than down or around, wondering whether some enemy had perhaps landed on the roof. She was quickly assured that this wasn't the case though.

Watching Johnny depart to scout, Harke wondered if he'd encounter any monsters out there. She wanted to get in on those possible battles, but held back. As Caluf had said, the monsters nearby should be pretty weak. They probably weren't worth wasting time on just yet. She would have plenty of time to deal with any monsters once the briefing was finally done. For now, Harke decided, she would relax. When the time came to fight, she would fight. It was as simple as that.

[The Walrus]

"Oh no, I do not need to rely on any untrained talents to achieve my goals. Those born with innate powers are the privileged and lazy. They could never achieve what a master of hard work could do. I am of a long line of lords and thus have trained in the art of rhetoric to accomplish with simple words what others devote far more costly resources to. It takes years of mastery to wield the aetherial element of a spoken word as something which has tangible effect on the physical realm."

"Even those of us fortunate enough to be born with innate elemental aptitudes need to be diligent in practicing those abilities to master them. I didn't gain full control of my abilities until a least a decade after their discovery, and I imagine the other elementalists on our team would say their talents required similar expenditure of effort to develop if you asked them.

What you say about affecting the world by the use of spoken words is more intriguing. I've read it's possible to hinder certain abilities of ghosts like invisibility or intangibility via the use of symbols written upon strips of paper, so I suppose it might also be possible to bring about similar effects by employing verbal symbols."

Immanuel noticed the noble's lack of eye contact, but didn't pay much attention to it, having known certain people at the university of Rittswald who would get so swept up in their philosophical ideas when they were expounding upon them at length as to completely lose track of the outside world. Although, it seemed Zhelez was more getting swept up in his own self-image than in any intellectual matters...

[SiegeTower]

"I'm sure those written symbols have their uses. I have no interest in such things. And Yes yes I'm sure those who have special powers due to a consequence of birth work plenty hard to master them. However I do feel there are many undeserving of such gifts. If anyone could achieve such powers even with varying levels of difficulty, it wouldn't be as troublesome. There being an attribute that some are born with that others could never hope to acquire though is what bothers me. Now nobility however..." Lord Zhelez continues on about the virtues of noble blood and doesn't for a moment seem to have the self awareness to notice the hypocrisy in what he was just saying. Despite this, there was a genuine tone to his voice on how he did not like the idea of some things being unobtainable to some but others born into it.

"Moving on, were there any matters our expedition was to be taking care of at the moment? I do not recall what are duties were at this time. If you have work to go about doing I may be able to accompany you for the time being."

[Irrelephant]

"To be fair," Elliot chimes in, dropping into the conversation. "Gems go a long way in leveling the playing field. I may have a natural talent for manipulating earth and dirt, but with the right training and equipment, I'm sure many others could do the same "

"Nothing pressing, I don't think. We could help... Johnny was it? Scout the area a bit, but other than that, I think we're on standby until everyone else is ready to move out."

[Merilan]

Lacryma stepped back up onto the airship with a disappointed look on her face, though she had more time to do it later in the mines themselves. She checked on the Reiterpallasch's mechanics to ensure that it was well-maintained, but even that didn't take a lot of her time. There were a lot of other companions she didn't get to introduce herself to... perhaps scouting would be a good idea.

When Johnny came out of the ship to scout, Lacryma gestured to him. "Are you off to survey the area? Company would be nice, would it not? Lacryma," she gestures in offering. "It was... Johnny, wasn't it?"

[Lokyar]

Johnny waved back at Lacryma. "Hey there. Yeah, Johnny Brockton. Sorry, I don't think I caught your name just yet."

Taking the time to put away the gems he'd been handed he continued. "I was gonna do a basic recon, check for outgrowths that might be hiding minor deposits, generally get a feel for the land. Terrain can vary from place to place within a single island but there are certain local constants you can pick up on if you know what you're looking for. That, and I just don't do well sitting around. If you're up for stretching your legs then the more the merrier."

[SiegeTower]

With Elliot dropping into the conversation, Zhelez addresses him but again does not look at him to show he is doing as such.

"I have no qualm with any ability that anyone could obtain. Only those where circumstances of birth are a requisite." Zhelez performs a wave of the hand to dismiss that topic of conversation. He believed everything that needed to be said on the matter had already been. This of course was after he himself was done speaking, not the others.

"Reconnaissance is not my forté. I purpose we wait until a more pressing matter comes to hand. That is unless you two have been assigned as scouts for this expedition." The noble does a quick dusting off of his clothes as was habitual of him. "I am Izdyvatel of the Lord Noble House of Zhelez. My role for this venture is consul and emissary. What of you two?"

[Merilan]

"Lacryma, a runesmith," Lacryma gestured with a hand, then held it out for a handshake. "I had much the same idea, and I too like to stretch my legs. I noticed that you had power over flame in the battle; it's a very interesting power, if I may say."

[The Walrus]

"Reconnaissance is not my forté. I purpose we wait until a more pressing matter comes to hand. That is unless you two have been assigned as scouts for this expedition." The noble does a quick dusting off of his clothes as was habitual of him. "I am Izdyvatel of the Lord Noble House of Zhelez. My role for this venture is consul and emissary. What of you two?"

"I'm Immanuel Lehrer, until recently a professor at Rittwald university. Er, I don't believe I was assigned any specific role, but I've studied a wide variety of topics, those of especial interest to this mission being the taxonomy and anatomy of monsters, and the engineering of mining operations - my family used to own a salt mine, you know. "

[Lokyar]

After shaking Lacryma's hand Johnny began walking as he talked. "Logically I know it's this whole deal, the elementals stuff. But when you grow up with it it's just...a thing, y'know? And so many elementals take up with the corp in one way or another so it's a little less rare on the fronts."

[Merilan]

Lacryma proceeded forward as well. "True. I think there was one girl with affinity for rocks back in Mastema... she helped me divine ore strains once."

[aturtledoesbite]

Lacryma, Johnny

Between Johnny's training and Lacryma's honed intuition for this sort of thing, the two of you find a few errant shards embedded in the ground as you scout the nearby area. It's not much, but maybe it'll add up?

Obtained Red Shard, Orange Shard, Yellow Shard, Blue Shard x1!

Perhaps thankfully, that's all that happens during your trip, with no monsters setting upon you.

As you're out scouting, you happen to notice it's quiet. Like, quiet quiet.


Everyone

You arrive at the loading bay on time; Caluf can't seem to decide who was last, so he just makes Thern pull the cart.

"Awright, let's pull out! Remember, keep your eyes peeled for any monsters; it's your job to deal with anything that shows up!"

Caluf, Jairin, Thern, and Sarah all start heading out; you should probably go with them.


You've barely had time to step off the airship before the two brothers begin a lively discussion. Topics range from Jairin's driving to Thern's (mostly lack of) paycheck to, at the current moment, their plans for this shard deposit. If they are aware of their audience, they show no signs of it.

"I've told you before, we're not going to make nearly as much if we sold to Caelus! And it's not like we can negotiate with them because their president writes the laws! Push the price too much and she'll just invent a reason to 'appropriate' our stock!"

"Don't worry about it so much! We'll just take the first price. Gotta get our names on the map! Wahahaha! At least that way, it'll be quick; no need for ten pounds of paperwork like in Zemia! Wahaha!"

"Arghhh! Zemia will actually pay what the deposit's worth!"

"You mean what it's worth in today's coins, but we'll see it in five or ten years - after the taxmen, waha!"

"That's nonsense and you know it, Jairin! Any nation will be ready to jump on a deposit like this; we just can't let ourselves be cheated out of it!"

"Hmm... You, mercenaries! What do you think of all this? Who should we sell our find to - after we finish finding it, wahahahaha!"

Jairin seems genuinely interested in your input. Caluf also goes silent, his expression a complicated mix of exasperation and triumph. Sarah is too intimidated to respond, while Thern clearly knows better; they both curiously await your answers as well.

[Lokyar]

"Honestly I've never had to bother with the economic side of it so take this with a grain of salt, but the way you describe it makes it sound like Zemia's a better trade partner." Raising his hands to forestall any outbursts that might come out he continues. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I come from Zemia so I must be just saying that, but seriously I could care less about the politics of it. You do a job, you get paid for the job you did, simple as that. If you've got a good reason to think Caelus will pull a fast one like that in pursuit of their goals just because you're too small time to resist then it's better to just not do business with them. Make part of the Zemian contract immediate repairs, upgrades, and supplies for a new expedition. Build on success."

[Merilan]

Lacryma looked a bit surprised that this only really came up now rather than earlier, and then held her hands up gently. "Now, now. Why don't we heartily argue about who to sell this motherlode to after we've actually discovered it, gentlemen? Crystals are not wont to expire like fish or livestock."

[SiegeTower]

The noble was introduced to his two companions and found he had little interest in them. They were common folk. One was an educated man at least but he has yet to achieve a proper high social standing with his academic achievements. The two were of no use to Lord Zhelez in their current state.

When departing with everyone else, Lord Zhelez was of course the last to leave. Though a true noble's place was at the lead, he couldn't risk walking in unfamiliar territory without a guide. He did manage to settle among the others and stand proudly when discussions occurred at least.

"Of course it should be sold to Zemia! You cannot simply consider price you must also think of what those shards will be used for. Zemia will use the resources to benefit its citizens by strengthening the nation. Not only that but those very taxes you are adverse to are used for public works and civil services. The money isn't simply lost into the aether, it comes right back and benefits the very people paying those taxes. How could you even consider selling the shards to another nation? That goes against the interests of us all. It's unthinkable! To act against the empire?!"

[The Walrus]

Lacryma looked a bit surprised that this only really came up now rather than earlier, and then held her hands up gently. "Now, now. Why don't we heartily argue about who to sell this motherlode to after we've actually discovered it, gentlemen? Crystals are not wont to expire like fish or livestock."

"That may be so, but there's nothing like a good debate for keeping one's mind sharp and alert to danger," Lehrer replied.

Although initially Immanuel's full attention had been employed keeping watch against any monsters that might swoop down from the trees, overhearing Caluf and Jairin's lively debate reminded him of the long, happy hours he had spent in discourse at Rittwald university, and his mental faculties were now split between these reminiscences and pondering the Gespelt brother's business dilemma. Lost in thought, he was now more likely to trip over any monster the group came across than notice it.

After hearing Johnny and Lord Zhelez speak up, Lehrer felt like it was time to have his own say.

"Like the two gentlemen who've spoken in favor of selling to Zemia, I've had the pleasure of living in that country for many years. From that experience, I can tell you that humankind has invented no finer system for transforming one's time and funds into frustration and misery than the Zemian bureaucracy. Out of the six books I've published in that nation, not a single one of them has taken longer to write and research than it has to file the copyright forms, negotiate a contract with the Printer's Guild, re-file the copyright forms because they've changed the rules in intervening period, beg the Borders and International Commerce board for the slightest chance of being allowed to export the book to foreign markets, discover that the Printer's Guild has had to delay production due to new regulations limiting the lead content in the type used, end up submitting no less than four copies of the manuscript to the national Registry of Books due to a series of rejections for not following all the minutia of the arcane rules about the acceptable format, each more inane than the last; re-re-file the copyright forms because they've gone back to the original set of rules...

Of course, getting a book published pales in comparison to the truly monumental effort it takes to obtain even a modest and well deserved cost-of-living increase to one's professorial salary- a task which takes years despite one's department apparently having enough funds to hire two new assistant deans in the same interval- ah, but I think I'm getting off track a bit. To return to the matter at hand, I believe that selling to Caelus would be the overall wiser choice. Although it seems to me very unwise for the Caelites to concentrate so much power in the hands of a single individual, it's much easier and quicker to make deals with such an individual than with the great bureaucratic apparatus of Zemia. True, you may end up with a worse price. But, consider that profits can grow exponentially when re-invested into the business that makes them, and in any exponential function, maximizing the value of the exponent - in this case, time - is paramount.

Furthermore, consider the transition of leadership in each country. When the line of succession passes from King Mishka, the entire business of the state will grind to a halt for an interminable period, as will likely the growth of your business. But when a new president is elected in Caelus, you'll have an opportunity to gain lasting support and an improved contract, as electoral candidates need the support of merchants who can help finance their campaigns. Contrast this with monarchs, who need only the support of the military and nobility.

In the meantime, for the issue of president Remilla appropriating your stock, I believe this risk could be mitigated by selling shares primarily to investors in the Coalition, and keeping as much of the legal apparatus of the company as possible outside of Caelus. It may also be possible to form a consortium with other exporters to Caelus for increased bargaining power.

In addition, I agree with lord Zhelez that we must consider the overall purpose to which the shards will be used. If certain rumors I've heard are true, there exists a chance that Zemia will completely squander its ships and crystals on a fool's crusade below the blastline. Although I believe Caelus is every bit as likely as Zemia to prioritize using their crystals to build up their military over more worthwhile pursuits such as scientific research or investment in public works, at least their ships wouldn't be lost in a vain struggle which would probably only serve to incite the creatures below to strike out against the rest of us."

[Irrelephant]

"Very well said, Immanuel. I myself would suggest Sylpheed out of national pride, but we all know it's not nearly as strong a contender as Zemia or Caelus," Eliott adds in agreement, nodding to the other man. "Perhaps the Coalition as a whole, but you'd have better luck wading through the Zemian bureaucracy than getting everyone there to agree. So I'd throw my support behind Caelus as well. Quick payday, even if you have to take a haircut, and you can start planning the next expedition right away. Maybe store the cargo elsewhere to avoid any... misunderstandings with President Remilla."

[Merilan]

Lacryma let out a little sigh, and turned away from the conversation as she proceeded a few paces ahead and glanced around again. The quietness that she and Johnny noticed earlier was strange. She'd expect an outcropping like this to have more... natural noise. Did something scare off the wildlife? Or worse, was someone set up here... already?

[Revenant9]

Harke had been quiet. She hadn't quite been ignoring anyone, but seemed to be almost meditating as she remained calm and relaxed until it was time to head out. Then she became completely alert, all of her senses active in preparation to deal with any dangers that arrived.

As the discussion started, Harke allowed the others to explain their viewpoints first, to gain a measure of her opposition and allies in the endeavor of getting the Gespelt brothers to sell to Zemia. Finally, she opened her mouth, and what she said came out calmly and in cultured tones, hinting that this wasn't the first debate she had been a part of. And she hadn't in fact. The balls she had attended hadn't been just for show. She was used to mingling with others of clashing and matching opinions even within Zemia itself.

"I believe I already made it clear where I stand earlier, but let me repeat, I wish for you to sell to Zemia. Now, I'm clearly speaking out of a sense of nationalistic pride and belonging, however don't let that stop you from seeing my arguments as valid. Before I add anything of real substance to this discussion though I feel I should inform you of something Mr... Lehrer I believe it was? A good name, that. I don't believe the average book takes as much time to publish as it did yours. Rather, it seems to me that someone simply did not want your books published and took great measures to prevent it from going public for as long as possible. Perhaps until they brought out a book of their own? I don't know. A similar idea applies to your career analogy. Have you considered that perhaps you were simply not considered for a pay raise?" Harke pauses, expression remaining neutral.

"Either way, there are good reasons for you to sell to Zemia, beyond the simple fact that you will get your money's worth with them. Consider not only what those shards will be used for, but also the infrastructure and climate of the country you are selling to. To explain, Zemia has a highly skilled labor force, a good educational system, a strong work ethic, good standards of living and a sound protectionist strategy. It remains however, a monarchy, and a bureaucratic one at that. This leaves little space for much entrepreneurial activity within the country itself. In Caelus however, I believe local companies have much more freedom. Knowing that, consider this. You sell your shards to Caelus, and get your foot into the business. What happens if this starts another rush in the shard business and another company finds a deposit that is just as good as yours? Obviously Caelus is going to take their offer and your business will fall behind. Now, if you were to sell to Zemia however, you would compete with far fewer other companies, companies that may not ever find a deposit as large as yours due to their reduced numbers. You would be able to secure a long lasting business relationship with Zemia." Harke pauses again to give this time to sink in.

"Then, as Lord Zhelez said, think of what those shards will be used for. Yes, if Zemia has its way, they will be used for war, whereas if the rumours I heard are true, Caelus will escape to higher skies. I believe it's rather simple to see which country would make for a longer lasting relationship. Leaving aside that, war is profitable, and in this case it's even a war against monsters, the kind that everyone can get behind without much qualms. Zemia might come to depend on your company in the future to continue selling shards to them as the war efforts continue and ships are destroyed and become in need of replacement. Why, if you ever decided to expand your business, there would be so many new opportunities waiting for you. So, ultimately, while it may take a while for your money to get to you, the benefits far outweigh the detriments." Harke nods decisively.

[aturtledoesbite]

Caluf seemed to have a grin of smug satisfaction during Harke's speech; a marked difference from the scowl he had for Immanuel's. Jairin, meanwhile, looks like you all have thought about this far more than he did.

"Well...like the young lady said, we can consider that more once we actually have what we came for. Speaking of, that's the cave entrance right up ahead, wahahaha!"

Jairin points forward, where the forest clears out to a cliff, a large cave mouth at its base. A soft glow seems to be coming from inside.

The area around the cave mouth seems to suddenly become desolate, the grass appearing to stay away from it.

You all hear a low rumbling noise that seems to shake the very ground. The brothers glance at you whom they've hired, seemingly reminding themselves that things'll be fine this time. Caluf speaks to you:

"We're gonna set up camp here to prepare for a prolonged dig; finish whatever preparations you wanna make now, because once we go in, you probably won't get another chance."

[Revenant9]

Seeing Caluf's grin, Harke felt her job had been done. She didn't smile or grin herself, but there was a certain satisfaction to be seen in her eyes. She took good stock of the location they had arrived at and noted the lack of living matter around the cave. That was... disturbing, but exciting. It made her wonder what was to come, what could be hiding in the depths of that cave. That feeling was only intensified when a low rumbling noise filled the air and seemed to shake the ground.

Harke had no particular preparations to make so she stayed silent and watched the others.

[Merilan]

Lacryma was silent as she regarded the cave entrance. Everything about this was just not adding up. The lack of natural noise around the area. The lack of vegetation within. Was this a mere cavern system that they were exploring, or was there something else to it?

She readied her dowsing rod and ensured that it was in working order -- it'd help them sense out where the valuable Crystals were, if nothing else. She also wanted to make sure that they were well-equipped with any digging tools that were required -- rope and piton, torches, the works.

"We'd best determine the level of danger present, then conduct a survey of the present navigable area available to us." She took out a sheaf of paper, apparently ready to make notes and a map of the area. Someone's... done this before, clearly.

She's focused a little on her dowsing rod, before blinking with a quiet frown. "What a fascinating cavern..." she mutters to herself. "The fact that the glow casts all the way out here suggests crystals of power for certain -- and my dowsing rod is returning a lot of... ah, red herrings." She taps at her chin further. "More analysis will be necessary."

[The Walrus]

Were they there already? Just when the conversation had started to get good...

Sighing, Lehrer examined the area surrounding the cave mouth. Judging by the intensity of the glow, it seemed the Gespelt brothers hadn't been exaggerating the potential size of the find. Reminded that his own crystal was emitting light, no matter how invisible in the daylight, Lehrer bent down and rubbed some dirt and mud over the crystal in his shoe, so that its glow wouldn't give away his position in a dark part of the cave.

When the sound came, Lehrer winced slightly. Was that really the roar of a living creature? It seemed more like it might have been an explosion, perhaps of some fire-damp within the cave... although, it'd be remarkably unlikely for such an explosion to occur both times the brothers approached the camp. Perhaps it was actually thunder produced by a powerful electric attack... or maybe it was the sound of rock moving due to the actions of some massive burrowing creature...

And then there was the patch of dead vegetation around the cave. The area immediately around the cave was probably too well-ventilated for it to be caused by toxic gases escaping from underground. Could it be due to soil contaminants that had leeched out of metal ores in the cave? Maybe there was a toxin-emitting creature (or creatures) that lived within the cave- or maybe the area was just in the rain shadow of the surrounding cliff.



"We'd best determine the level of danger present, then conduct a survey of the present navigable area available to us." She took out a sheaf of paper, apparently ready to make notes and a map of the area. Someone's... done this before, clearly.

"Hmm... it sounds like you have some experience with these kinds of expeditions, as I believe Johnny does. Have either of you seen that pattern of dead vegetation near a crystal deposit before? I'm not quite sure what could have caused it, myself... It may just be from the cliff's rain shadow, but perhaps some beast living within likes to ah, perform its business just outside the mouth of the cave. Of course, usually such deposits act as a good fertilizer, but there are species with more toxic excretions..."

Immanuel bent down to sniff the patch of ground for any obvious signs of this last explanation. After getting back up, he turned to Lacryma.

"Er, I didn't bring any paper myself, aside from an old notebook of mine, the margins of which are already remarkably crowded. If you'd be willing to loan me a sheet of yours, I could fly to the clifftop and assist in the surveying."

[SiegeTower]

The noble was only learning to appreciate Lady Zastruga more and more. A fine orator, loyal to Zemia, and a family name that did have a respectable amount of nobility attached to it. Perhaps this expedition would prove of greater value to Lord Zhelez than the simple economic gains. Harke had peaked the lord's curiosity before but now she had his attention.

It seemed the rest were scouting now from what Zhelez overheard. He didn't have the capacity to help in that regard. He would attempt to listen with his well trained ears but the surrounding area was rather quite. It would be a token effort. For now he would simply try to engage the Lady Zastruga once again in leisure conversation.

"My Lady, you speak as a true noble when the time calls for it. This is not something the house of Zastruga is particularly famed for so I am very glad to see you exemplify both the family's strongest attributes and surpass it's less notable ones. The lord gives a polite bow to appease Lady Zastruga further after complimenting her.

"I can see your loyalties lie to Zemia past simple economic ties. You to understand the need to fight back against the monsters that inhabit the skies rather than fleeing like the fools of Cemia. May I ask, what plans have you following this expedition. If I may be so bold, I believe that if we perform well together on this expedition our houses may find it beneficial to continue a relationship with a future joint venture."



Perception to hear something:[roll0]
Survival to understand what's going on: [roll1]
Pokemon Monster Ed if needed; [roll2]

Charm to seduce Harke: [roll3]

[Merilan]

Lacryma looked to Immanuel and tore some pages out of her journal, handing it to him with a nod. "Thank you, that will be handy. As for your question..."

She was silent for a while. "It isn't just vegetation. Johnny and I both noticed that it was too quiet here -- the fauna doesn't seem to exist on this island. There is something uncanny going on here -- I'd best warn you all to be on your guard, more than usual."

[The Walrus]

Immanuel took the paper from Lacryma, returning her nod but appearing slightly taken aback by the casualness with which she had ripped the pages from her journal. The philosopher wasn't sure if he'd have been able to tear away even a single sheet from his own beloved notebook, were the situations reversed.

"I'll make sure to make good use of these pages, for which you have my gratitude. I'm not usually the sort to not have any spare writing materials on him, but my life has been moving at rather a quicker pace than I'm used to recently, and I've had to leave a few things behind.

...The lack of an animal presence is rather strange, now that you point it out. I wonder if it might be possible to ascertain whether it's a recent disappearance by checking if any of the local flora is from species strictly dependent upon animals for pollination or seed distribution? In the meantime, I'll try to be careful..."

Immanuel adjusted the flaps in the back of his coat and then manifested his wings. After flying to the top of the cliff, he began making a quick sketch of the terrain around the cave mouth, looking for any possible signs of the lairs of large beasts that he could see below.

[Elfbird]

Clifftop

The view from atop the cliff is much the same as the one during the airship's approach: expansive coniferous forest dotted with rocky spires.
Aside from getting a sketch of the immediate area, there's specifically no signs of animal, human, or monster habitation apparent from your broad vantage - which is unexpected, though not singularly strange, for a fragment this large and lush.


Camp

The low rumbling persists steadily, though you have to strain sometimes to catch it over the wind rustling the trees and the miners exercising various heavy metal objects. You are unable to determine the sound's origin, nor what creature or phenomenon might cause it; such things are beyond the scope of your experiences thus far.

[Revenant9]

Keeping up a neutral expression, Harke was nonplussed at Zhelez' compliments. He was starting to sound like some of the men at the balls she had attended. She had liked the discussions, because people made their points clear, but Harke wasn't good with compliments. She simply nodded politely when Zhelez finished his bow.

Perhaps he was trying to gain her favour. Harke couldn't be sure what for exactly, but that seemed to be the case. Either way, when asked what her plans were, Harke's expression grew slightly guarded. Does he intend to try and prevent me from achieving my goals? She wondered, but her budding anger vanished once he continued talking, only to be replaced by more confusion, and then understanding. He wants to fight by my side? Perhaps I can allow that.

Harke smiled, "My plan is simple. I will make myself valuable to Zemia. I wish to acquire a high position, likely within the Zemian military or any other organization that is key to Zemia's long term plans, and secure a place for myself on one of the airships that will fly into the Underworld. I hope to be able to lead the charge against the monsters." Her smile turns vicious as she imagines the blood that will be shed. She quickly calms down. "Do you wish to fight by my side?"

Intuition to discern Zhelez' meaning: [roll0]

[Merilan]

Lacryma had to quietly roll her eyes at the Zemians, and how distracted they were. But at the same time, she didn't want to raise any further undue suspicions onto herself. She was a criminal with a bounty, as far as Zemia was concerned, and laying low was a smart tactic. She stepped onto the mouth of the cave and cast the first glance in...

She pauses, and then has a low, quiet frown. Potential scenarios were starting to filter in her mind, and she's rather concerned about what it might mean. "... this rhythmic sound... it is not unlike -- breathing, I must admit." She... didn't want to entertain that possibility. "And the amount of false positives... an aetheric concentration... is it possible...?"

[SiegeTower]

Harke's words brought great elation to the noble. The warrior's ambition could rival his own and she was in a position to achieve her goals. It would be great things the two of them could achieve when conspiring together to raise their family names.

"But of course! Only the highest honours in Zemia are befitting houses such as ours. I too strive for the long prosperity of the empire and am destined for a position upon it's top rung to further entrench its dominance! Lord Zhelez couldn't contain himself and beamed a smile. It wasn't proper of a noble to be giddy but he was not prepared to find such a suitable ally for himself during this expedition.

"I will fight by your side so we can raise ourselves to the heights necessary to command true authority. We will take hold of the power of the empire and wield it such as the Zastruga family has long wielded their swords. Whether it be the power of military might or the power of the merchant's coin, we can achieve great things for ourselves and the empire, together." The lord Zhelez once again bowed to Harke and this time with a hand against his quick beating heart.

"Our houses strong apart shall be even stronger together. We will find a place for ourselves higher than the sky and be at the forefront of every effort against the monster's below."

It would have been very beneficial for Zhelez to have been able to see the bloodlust in Harke's face during the conversation. Maybe then he would have realised that the warrior was being quite literal when she said she wished to be on top of an airship leading a charge. To the noble, being of high rank would create the exact opposite situation. The higher the position the farther one would be from danger. You would have a greater number of subordinates below you who would distance you from direct conflict. The fight was a climb to the top, not an actual battle.


Intuition to realise Zhelez and Harke aren't on different pages, they're in different books. [roll0]

[Irrelephant]

She pauses, and then has a low, quiet frown. Potential scenarios were starting to filter in her mind, and she's rather concerned about what it might mean. "... this rhythmic sound... it is not unlike -- breathing, I must admit." She... didn't want to entertain that possibility. "And the amount of false positives... an aetheric concentration... is it possible...?"

"Hmm?" Elliot wonders aloud, walking up beside Lacryma at the mouth of the cave. "Do you think that this cave might already be occupied? I don't quite hear it myself, but I'll take your word for it. I do feel this slight tremor in the ground... Could just be my imagination though.".

He takes a step back, searching his memory for any tidbits that might be helpful in this situation

Survival to figure out what might be waiting inside
[roll0]

[Lokyar]

"If you're always expecting trouble then you're never fully surprised. Harke and I seem to be the best suited to a vanguard position, we should stay out front. Zhelez, if that sword's not just for show you can cover rearguard, watch for anything sneaking up on us." Grinning a bit he looked back. "Or at least make a loud enough shriek of terror to let us know something's up."

[SiegeTower]

Zhelez waves his hand dismissively in Johnny's general direction. "Yes yes, I'll follow the sound of your footsteps while you jaunt about in the lead. I'm sure the trained warrior that is Lady Zastruga will feel very comfortable knowing her escorts are an incompetent rear scout and a squeaky voiced teenager."

[aturtledoesbite]

After the brothers finish setting up camp outside of the cave mouth, they start rounding everyone up to start heading in.

"Hey! Get yer sorry behinds here now! You're burning daylight!"

Once everyone is assembled, they have you lead the charge into the cave. The luminescent glow that seems to come from the stone itself, despite not being crystalline in any form, is somewhat bewildering as you make your way down the cave.

You walk on, the cave seeming to extend endlessly. The brothers ruminate openly about the strangeness that the cave seems to have been naturally formed, considering its size (both in length and in width).

You happen to note claw marks in the rock, every now and then. Occasionally, parts of the ceiling seem to have been cut into.

The glow gets gradually brighter as you go. Eventually, you turn a corner into a large cylindrical chamber and find the source of the light: a massive deposit of shard matter that towers over all of you. The brothers, upon noticing it, seem to be frozen in their tracks, mouths agape.

"That's... B-by the Goddess!"

The rumbling sound that you had grown accustomed to hearing as you went through the cave suddenly stopped, around the time you found the deposit.

You know that, generally speaking, the miners would've counted themselves lucky to find a person-sized amount of shards. This is...a good bit larger than that.

By your estimates, this amount of shard matter could power about as many airships as there are fragments in the Sky...well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Not by much, though.

From what you recall from your time in Nahtstelle, there's more shard matter here than literally all of the shard matter that passed through that workshop during your time there put together.

[Merilan]

Lacryma doesn't appear to be out of her element as she takes charge to lead the expedition -- at least of her half -- in. She makes notes and turns to Immanuel to help note useful features as they fill in their map, stopping to tie torches where there may be insufficient illumination -- though this cave was more than extraordinary even by her standards.

Her eyes were wide as she stares towards the cache deposit -- she swallows, some instinctual fear briefly washing over her. "What a find... but..."

She hesitates. Why was she hesitating? By any standard, this ought to have been a motherlode...

Occult Lore to see how the crystal deposit might differ, now that she's got a moment to inspect it? [roll0]

[SiegeTower]

The spelunking began and the noble was less than excited. He wished to talk more with Lady Zastruga but the marching order was prohibitive of that amusement. Lord Zhelez had to remain in the rear with a hand tracing along the cool cave wall. Luckily he was able to keep up with the group and didn't trip on the uneven ground. The whole party needed to move at a slow pace in potentially dangerous territory so Zhelez didn't noticeably fall behind.

Zhelez heard the footsteps ahead of him come to a halt. Some words were exchanged between the crew. Between that and the audible gasps of awe, the noble assumed that they had found what they were looking for.

"I'm sure we have stumbled upon something great. Now what are we to do about it?"

[The Walrus]

Lehrer had been so occupied with making the map atop the cliffside that he almost didn't hear the call to form up around the cave mouth below him. As the rest of the party began to file into the cave, Lehrer hesitated on the threshold, the barren patch around the entrance reminding him of the unknown dangers ahead. Was this really safe? The party as a whole seemed fairly capable at fighting, but no amount of fighting skill could save you from a cave-in, which that rumbling sound might portend...

Well, the Gespelt brothers had some prior mining experience, right? They wouldn't enter into the eerily-lit tunnel themselves if they thought there was any risk of it collapsing, right? Steeling his nerves, Lehrer entered the cavern, and tried to focus on making a map with Lacryma to take his mind off his fears, but he couldn't help but notice certain details on the cavern walls and roofs that had quite the opposite effect...

Just before the group had reached the main deposit, Lehrer was about to speak up about his worries, but the sight of the tremendous find left him temporarily speechless. The philosopher didn't know that much about the applications of gems and crystals, but he at least knew enough to appreciate the significance of the find. Maybe this was worth risking the dangers of whatever was causing that rumbling noise for... actually, come to think of it, Lehrer hadn't been able to hear that noise since the group came across the deposit. That meant-



"I'm sure we have stumbled upon something great. Now what are we to do about it?"

"Er, I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I suggest we run for the entrance. I've noticed claw-marks on the walls and roof of this cave, of such breadth and depth that they could only have been made by a creature of dimensions approaching the size of these tunnels themselves. The larynx and chest cavity of such a beast would be large enough to produce the rumbling sounds we've been hearing, the sudden cessation of which leads me to believe that said creature has suddenly become aware of us.

I don't think we could fight anything that large directly, but if we lured it outside, perhaps Lord Zhelez could apply his soporific voice to make the creature hold still long enough for the rest of us to shove a heavy object off the cliff above us on it."

[Revenant9]

Harke quickly lined up to take a position near the lead in the group upon call by the Gespelt brothers. The group began to head in, and Harke began to feel excited, wondering at what they might find, other than the deposit the brothers were here for. The sheer length of the cave caused that excitement to slowly fade into nothingness until only boredom remained. Still, she held out hope that something exciting would be waiting for them. The sight of a massive natural tower of shard matter was not what she had expected to see, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. "Amazing," she said softly.

The warrior lady couldn't help but feel a little disappointed though. Where was the presence of monsters that had been promised? Where was the bloodshed? She was happy, for if things went correctly, these shards would be sold to Zemia, but she was annoyed at the lack of action. At least, she was, until Lehrer spoke up. "Yes!" Harke exclaimed, not too loudly but still fairly emphatically. If anyone gave her strange looks at this, she wouldn't even bother to correct herself. "I approve of your plan, Dr. Lehrer. Well, then, let's get to it." She began backtracking immediately, though fairly calmly and slowly, so as to stay within hearing range of the others.

[SiegeTower]

"Well I could accomplish much more than that with my voice but I must admit the simple plan does have some charm to it." Lord Zhelez playfully flicks his hair back and smiles. "Now even if the creature was to come at us now, I'm sure there would be no issue dealing with it as we have a member of the House of Zastruga with us. Whether the beast meets us here or it is disposed of outside shouldn't make much of a difference. If we are to be mining this dwelling then we will inevitably need to exterminate the creatures within before continuing the operation. It is a routine procedure and shouldn't be cause for alarm."

[Merilan]

Lacryma frowns very softly as she lifts her head up to redouble her glance. While Lehrer's concerns were indeed very valid, she had to wonder why, exactly, the beast clawed away at the walls and roof of the cavern itself. Was there a reason for its agitation? She nods towards the Doctor and floats up towards the mouth of the passage that they'd come to, her spiky-black wings shimmering into sight as she did so.

"Agreed. We've gathered sufficient enough information to start charting out results from our survey. We'll need to plan an excavation and extraction of the shards from the mine."

[Lokyar]

" 'Drop something heavy on it' isn't a bad plan in theory but it's not such an easy one to put into practice. Anything heavy enough to deal with what might be in here is beyond our ability to move, assuming we could even find something that fit the bill and move it into position before it followed us out. No, this is clearly a seek and destroy kind of day."

[The Walrus]

Lehrer began to head back towards the cave entrance, maintaining steady but cautious pace.

"Even if we can't find a suitable object for bombardment, confronting the beast outside would be far more favorable. Outside, it would be easier to surround the creature, and there's a good chance we'd be able to stay out of the range of its attacks with our wings. And if the monster possesses some form of fire-breath, or has the capacity to emit toxic vapors, or some similar means of attack, as these monsters often do, it could easily strike down multiple members of our group at once in these tight corridors. Furthermore, battling in here runs the risk of a cave-in, either from the titanic beast's death throes or from some sort of ground-shaking attack of the same elemental type Elliot uses."

[Irrelephant]

"We could always try to collapse the roof of the cave itself. I can't say much about the rock, but the ground here is oddly... porous. Could make it easier to pull off some minor demolition, if we can't find a suitable boulder to drop on the creature." He wiggles the toe of his boot, as if testing the stability of the earth below.

"Would be a pain to re-excavate though."

[Elfbird]

Your strategy discussion is cut short by a high-pitched scream, followed by an intern-shaped blur crashing into and stumbling past Lehrer in his haste to be Anywhere But Here.

Caluf barks an order at you as he, too, picks up a couple tools and sprints for the tunnel right behind Jairin.
"T-Time to do what you're paid for, mercs! Clear out the monsters so we can mine this thing!"

You hear a strange rumbling, grinding sound from the far side of the cavern, accompanied by a small quake. A rockslide is dislodged from the ceiling, burying the tunnel entrance behind the miners.

Sarah panics a little.
"AAAH! We're trapped! What do we do?! There could be--KYAAAAAH!"

It lumbers around the corner of the deposit, yawning wide.

Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD8zUBEgfM0)
Roll20 (https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/2036299/shattered-skies)

[Merilan]

Lacryma has a rather... deep frown set on her face as she glances. "Calm down! Non-combatants, take cover, and look after each other!"

Her eyes narrow as she focuses upon the monster. "A hard rock exterior... it may be quite resistant to weapons, but..." she locked on with her weapon and raised it. Her pupil dilates as she concentrates on her shot, firing a thin, lancing bolt of neutral energy towards it.


Swift: Tag the Dragon.
Shift: Aim down the Sights
Standard: Bullseye.

Attack: [roll0]+2 vs AC 3, crit on 14-20
Damage: [roll1] damage
Crit Damage: [roll2] + [roll3] extra damage on a crit.

[SiegeTower]

The noble takes one step towards the beast. Given its prodigious size, he had no trouble hearing it's lumbering steps and equally loud breathing. Zhelez takes one hand to draw his sword and the other to place against the wall of shards. The weapon in his hand was just for show of course, he knew he could do nothing with it. The shards however gave him the confidence that nothing could approach him from the side as well as giving him an object to steady himself against if the monster's charge shook the ground.

"You wretched beast! You may try and strike me down but I know even with your simple mind you realise it is a fool's errand! Submit!" Lord Zhelez punctuates his points by brandishing his rapier. One would never assume his complete inability to use weapon given the confidence and pride he was now wielding it with.



Lovely Kiss:
Maneuver: Bon Mot [roll1] (Additional +2 is from Expert Manipulator)

Trickster Feature: Spend 1 AP to use another Manipulate Maneuver if Lovely Kiss Hits

Maneuver: Flirt [roll]466+4



Demoralize, Powerful Motivator, and Flustering Charisma may take affect.

[Revenant9]

As soon as the beast lumbers around the deposit, Harke breaks out into a huge vicious grin. "Now this, is what I've been waiting for," she says. She can hardly contain her excitement, but she does in the end, her expression becoming more impassive. After all, she is a professional warrior, no reason to let her emotions cloud her mind, or risk missing important details. Her eyes remain slightly widened and full of obvious blood lust though.

With graceful steps she neared the massive beast, not getting too close just yet, and feeling in a good mood, added a little flourish to her actions. It might be a little wasteful, but it helped her focus on her elemental powers. An elegant movement of her right hand had shards of ice materialize in the air. Within the same movement of her hand, the ice shards began shooting forward and pelting the creature with great force.

Standard: Ice Shard
AC2 vs 9 (Priority)
Damage: 35 Ice Physical

Swift: On hit, spending 1 AP to reduce Defense by 1 CS via Roughneck.

[The Walrus]

Had Lehrer not been stunned by Thern colliding with him, he would've likely ran at the sight of the towering dragon along with the Gespelt brothers, but by the time he had recovered, the rockslide had blocked off the closest escape route.

Maybe there was another tunnel on the opposite side of the shard deposit, though. Electric current flowed into the philosopher's leg muscles, and he zoomed towards the far side of the cavern from the beast, just barely slowing down in time to avoid slamming into the wall. Looking towards where the dragon had come from, Immanuel was dismayed to see only a solid wall. Uh-oh...

Lehrer knew that electricity usually wasn't effective against creatures which appeared to be made out of rock like the monster he was facing, but he had to at least try. As he began storing a charge within the steel head of the currently loaded quarrel in his crossbow, he pondered how the monster could've predicted that the quake it caused would only drop stones to block the entrance, and not on its own head, and came to a realization.

"Those marks on the ceiling- it had planned on setting off that rock slide to trap us in here! This is no mere dumb beast!" he blurted out.


Standard: Use bottled lightning to charge the tip of the bolt loaded into my crossbow.
Swift: Activate Electrodash to be able to sprint as a free action.
Shift: Move 1 East, 1 North, 6 East, 3 North, 1 East. (12m total, can move up to 16m due to Training Regime causing sprint to double overland instead of adding 50%).

[Irrelephant]

"Damn, that's a lot bigger than I'd have guessed. How did something this big even manage to hide?" Elliot asks incredulously. Moving quickly, he steps out from his position behind Harke and the others, locking eyes with the rock dragon. His face grimaces in concentration as he focuses, causing the ground around the monster to shift again, releasing a pocket of swamp gas in its face.


Swift: Tag the Dragon.
Shift: Move 2 West
Standard: Confuse Ray

Attack: 5 (AC 2)

[Lokyar]

As the first sound of panic Johnny began elevating his temperature, so by the time the giant rocky beast had appeared his skin was slightly orange and giving off waves of steam. "Rule out nothing until we get a solid lock on it's abilities. Probe for weakness and share anything you notice. Harke, I'll hold it's attention for as long as I can, then we can rotate out. I can keep up pressure at a distance while Sarah patches me up. Sarah, have medical supplies ready when it comes to that point."

As he spoke the heat gathered into his hands and he extended them towards the beast, releasing the pent up energy in a shockwave of superheated air to flash-fry the creature's hide. "A universal rule: Everything burns. You're no exception, big guy."

Shift: Focus Training (+1 Acc, +2 Skill)
Standard: Will-O-Wisp (AC5; Rolled 10) : Rock Dragon is Burned (-2 Def CS and 1 tick of hp when using/denied a standard action)

Readied: Will use Intercept to take first attack directed at anyone else.

[aturtledoesbite]

The creature slowly walks forward, barely seeming to acknowledge the pests bothering it, though it takes a snap at Harke! As it does, the top of its body scrapes against the ceiling, causing rocks to fall on Elliot!

Sarah: Shift -> 5 Up
Sarah: Agility!

Rock Dragon: Shift -> 3 Down
Rock Dragon: Bite -> Harke (Intercepted by Johnny): 9 damage!
Rock Dragon: Rock Throw -> Elliot: 18 damage!

While Johnny's flames hold, they seem to have no effect on its hard body! The same holds true for the careless self-inflicted bumps that Elliot's gas induced!

[Merilan]

Lacryma backs up and moves closer to Immanuel to back away from the brunt of the combat, locking the Reiterpallasch's targeting system into place. It whirred with a soft chime as the runes upon it glow softly. "I'll pierce its defenses, just give me a moment."

Standard: Bind Marksman Orders
Shift: Move there.

[SiegeTower]

The monster did not bend to the noble's will. He could hear it thrashing about and his allies being harmed as collateral damage.

"You insolent creature! You dare strike the companions of a noble? I will see to it that your whole species is exterminated for this insubordination!"

Despite his harsh words, Lord Zhelez still takes a step back to distance himself from the monster. He could only move so far given he needed his hand against the wall of shards to guide him and he couldn't fully take cover and yell at a wall rather than the monster itself.

"Look into my eyes beast! You are nothing! You are the one who is to be afraid!"


Torment:[roll0]
Maneuver: Terrorize [roll1] [roll2]

Quick Wit to use a second Social Move as a Swift Action

Baby-Doll Eyes: [roll3]


Push Buttons, Powerful Motivator, and Flustering Charisma may take affect.

[Revenant9]

Harke didn't show much of a reaction when she saw that her attack had barely fazed the giant creature, other than to frown minutely. A death by a thousand cuts was still a death, and one that was perhaps even more exciting than a quick one. The only question was whether she would last long enough in battle in order to kill the beast. That issue seemed to be solved in the most infuriating way possible, when Johnny pushed her out of the way of the beast's retaliatory attack. Not having time to respond as she was pushed, Harke regained her balance quickly and glared frostily at Johnny though the icy coldness in her gaze lessened quickly and shifted to a grudging acceptance of his actions.

"I am not so weak that I need protecting, Johnny," she said, then was silent for a moment and continued "As for your tactics... They are sound, however, I am loathe to admit it, but I am not as quick and adept at shielding allies as you seem to be. My focus is almost entirely on destroying the enemy. If I am to rotate out, it will be on the beasts terms, though I will of course try my best to draw its attention away from you." While Harke spoke, she was already readying another attack, ice shards floating in the air and then shooting towards the beast once again.

Standard: Ice Shard
AC2 vs 6, Damage: 30

Shift: Focused Training

Swift: Spending 1 AP on Roughneck, -1 Defense CS

[The Walrus]

The monster did not bend to the noble's will. He could hear it thrashing about and his allies being harmed as collateral damage.

"You insolent creature! You dare strike the companions of a noble? I will see to it that your whole species is exterminated for this insubordination!"

Despite his harsh words, Lord Zhelez still takes a step back to distance himself from the monster. He could only move so far given he needed his hand against the wall of shards to guide him and he couldn't fully take cover and yell at a wall rather than the monster itself.

"Look into my eyes beast! You are nothing! You are the one who is to be afraid!"

Lehrer decided to attack while the creature was distracted by Zhelez's words. Taking careful aim, he fired his crossbow at the part of the dragon he could see sticking out from behind the central pillar. Although the quarrel seemed to bounce off with no effect, the electricity that was unleashed from it seemed to leave a small mark.

Hmm... so the creature wasn't totally immune to electricity like the philosopher would've guessed from its appearance, although it still didn't appear to be hurt by it much. The ice shards released by Harke and Johnny's flames didn't seem to be doing much, either. Just what was this monster? Did it have any weaknesses? It seemed like the only thing it had seriously reacted to so far was Zhelez's rhetoric. Hmm... maybe the noble knew something the rest of the group didn't? His words seemed to imply that he knew the monster wasn't the only member of its species...

"Are you familiar with this beast's species, Zhelez? To my knowledge, it's completely sui generis," Immanuel said, shouting to be heard over the din of combat.


Shift: Focused training.
Standard: Fire crossbow. Hit with 11+1 vs 5 AC, did 20 normal damage before defense and resistance.
Swift: Release stored Shock Wave from bottled lightning. Auto-hit, did 35 electric damage before special defense and resistance.

[Lokyar]

"I am not so weak that I need protecting, Johnny," she said, then was silent for a moment and continued "As for your tactics... They are sound, however, I am loathe to admit it, but I am not as quick and adept at shielding allies as you seem to be. My focus is almost entirely on destroying the enemy. If I am to rotate out, it will be on the beasts terms, though I will of course try my best to draw its attention away from you."

"If I thought you were weak I wouldn't be including you in this plan. It's a rotation defense, I'll take as much as I can before falling back. Your job at that point is just staying alive until I can come back to the front lines to relieve you. Until then, destroy."

Johnny swore under his breath as the beast used his momentary distraction to scatter rock fragments at someone in the rear. Rather than try to pierce the creature's insanely thick shell he focused on keeping it off balance, launching probing strikes at it's legs whenever it tried to adjust it's stance to attack.

Shift: Expended by Intercept
Standard: Trip maneuver
Status, AC 6 ; Rolled 9
Opposed Acrobatics (18) versus Rock Dragon's Acrobatics or Combat
If successful Rock Dragon is knocked over and Tripped.

Readied: Intercept. If it's first attack is Harke I'll let it through and intercept the second attack whoever it is.

[Irrelephant]

Elliot raises his arms as if to ward off the falling rocks, but they beat down on him all the same. Wincing in pain, he shifts, collecting himself and regaining his balance. The young mercenary swings his weighted chain down, in a sweeping arc, kicking up a cloud of earth and dust.

Shift: Focused Training
Standard: Sand Attack

Attack: [roll0] (AC 2)
Effect: Target is Blinded until the end of their next turn

[aturtledoesbite]

Ignoring Johnny's attempt to entangle its feet, the creature marches inexorably forward, pushing against those who are in its way! However, it's unable to land a clean hit thanks to the sand in its eyes!

Sarah calls out, "Elliot, watch out for the wall! Don't let it squish you!"

Sarah -> Does absolutely nothing of importance

Boss:
Shift: Down 1, Right 1, Down 1. Johnny and Harke are Pushed Right 1, Elliot is Pushed Down 1.
Standard: Dragon Tail -> Harke: MISS
Standard: Bulldoze -> Johnny, Harke, Elliot: MISS

[Merilan]

Lacryma grimaces as she takes a moment to centre herself, shuddering. "Focus... just focus..." Her hands were beginning to tremble, but she knew she had to pull this off. She raised the Reiterpallasch once more, closing her eyes. Astrace... guide me...

Her eyes narrowed once she opened them. "Taking fire!" she announced, firing.

Shift: Aim down the Sights
Standard: Bullseye

[roll0] vs AC 3, crit on a 11-20
[roll1] damage
[roll2] + [roll3] extra crit damage, if it crits

Swift: Expend Momentum on self - spend 2 momentum (automatically roll 11 on next turn)

Momentum: 0/6

[SiegeTower]

"Are you familiar with this beast's species, Zhelez? To my knowledge, it's completely sui generis," Immanuel said, shouting to be heard over the din of combat.

The noble tries to shout back to his companion before the monster made its next move. "It is simply the art of the taunt my friend. I know nothing of this beast." The ground shook yet again with the beast's action. Lord Zhelez was pleased with what he heard. The monster was failing to make contact.

The beast was too clumsy to ever have hopes of making an elegant combatant. It would falter, it would fail. Prodigious size alone does not dissuade the sharpened blade.

"Hope is lost monster! This is your final chance to submit to my will!"



Lovely Kiss:[roll0]

Push Buttons, Powerful Motivator, and Flustering Charisma may take affect.

[The Walrus]

It was a shame that Zhelez didn't know anything about the creature's species - if it could even said to belong to a species, and wasn't just some entirely unique aberration. Or perhaps the reason the noble's taunt had stung so badly was because it reminded the beast that all other members of its species were already extinct, and it was the last of its kind? It seemed rather silly to assume such a creature could understand human speech at all, but after seeing what Zhelez could do Immanuel wasn't so sure anymore.

Observing the creature's attacks, Immanuel noticed another unusual thing about the rock dragon. It seemed to be striking with less force than a creature of that magnitude should have been capable of, and maybe moving a little slowly even considering its size. Furthermore, although Harke's ice and Lacryma's rifle shot didn't seem to have done a severe amount of harm, it was surprising those attacks had been as damaging as they were given how thick the beast's hide should have been. Clearly, the creature wasn't fighting at its full potential. But why? There was something the philosopher was missing here...

As he was thinking these thoughts, Lehrer pulled back the lever of his repeating crossbow, letting a fresh bolt fall into place. Once more, Immanuel touched the tip of the bolt and charged it with electricity, but of a different type than before, which was less reliable but capable of inducing lasting muscle weakness.


Stand in place, charge head of crossbow bolt with Spark for 2 AP.

[Irrelephant]

"Hey! Let's see how you like it," Elliot shouts, shoving against the rock dragon with all his might. That done, he takes Sarah's advice to heart and quickly scurries out of the way, before the monster tries its best to flatten him like a pancake.

Standard: Bulldoze
Attack: [roll0] (AC 2, Burst 1)
Damage: [roll1]
Effect: Speed lowered 1 combat stage for all legal targets

Shift: Move
Momentum: 4/6

[Revenant9]

Harke watched slightly stunned as Lord Zhelez' words elicited a greater reaction from the beast than her own icy attacks. She blinked and gathered herself, thinking that having Lord Zhelez fighting by her side might be more of a boon than she had originally thought. She nodded towards Johnny, now understanding him properly. Eager to damage the beast further, Harke sent another series of ice shards flying at it.

Shift: Focused Training

Standard: Ice Shard
AC2 vs 4 (Priority)
Damage: 32 Ice Physical

[Lokyar]

Despite the creature's bulk Johnny had a hard time landing a solid strike on the creature while trying to avoid being crushed under that same bulk. In the end he was driven back inexorably while managing nothing more than a few light scorches on it's side.

Shift: Focus Training
Standard: Flame Wheel
Physical, AC2 ; Roll a 1 (+1)

[Elfbird]

The monster continues to lumber forward, forcing your front line back lest you be reduced to its breakfast pancakes. It opens its maw in a prodigious yawn, the echoing howl of it raising your hackles and numbing your senses. Zhelez's sensitive hearing would be most affected by the unearthly sound...
It then shakes and stretches itself, clods of mud and rock falling harmlessly away only to reveal more of the same.

A new gleam in its eyes shows that it's finally acknowledged your presence.

Rock Dragon is awakened by Elliot's Bulldoze!

Shift: 1 east, 1 south, 1 east
Johnny, Harke, Elliot are pushed 2 east!
Zhelez is pushed 1 east by Johnny!

Rock Dragon uses Yawn on Zhelez! It can't miss!
Zhelez will fall Asleep at the end of his next turn!

Swift: Rock Dragon exerts its Pressure!
Johnny, Harke, Elliot, and Zhelez are Suppressed for 1 full round!
They can only use Moves with an At-Will Frequency.

Rock Dragon uses Shell Smash!
Atk/Sp.Atk/Spd +2 CS
Sp.Def -1 CS
Its Defense can't go any lower!

Rock Dragon is cured of its Confusion!
Slow Start ended!

All players are up!
Senpai noticed you.

[Merilan]

Lacryma was breaking a sweat at this point, feeling the pressure of combat building up in her arms. She wasn't deeply used to it... and not against a monster of this size. But she was confident that she could pierce through its armor. "The Reiterpallasch will pierce through its weak points!"

The black-winged woman twists her rifle and squints, launching a piercing shot that lances through the Dragon.

Swift: Expend Momentum - Use 1 momentum to replenish Bullseye.
Shift: Aiming Down the Sights.
Standard: Bullseye - natural 11 due to use of Expend Momentum (2 momentum) last round, crit range 11-20.
[roll0] normal damage + [roll1] + [roll2] crit damage

[The Walrus]

Broken out of his thoughts by the creature's massive yawn, Lehrer fired his crossbow with a sudden start, aiming for one of the dragon's knees. Noticing how close the creature was getting, Lehrer then dashed for cover behind the central shard deposit before even taking time to evaluate his shot's effect.


Standard: Fire crossbow. Rolled 15 to hit, 18 normal physical damage before defense and resistance.
Swift: Unleash Spark from bottled lightning. Rolled 15 to hit, triggering paralysis, 15 electric physical damage before defense and resistance.
Shift: Moved 4m up, 4m left.

[SiegeTower]

Things were starting to take a turn towards the monster's favour. Despite the efforts of the party, the creature achieved a noticeable second wind, attacking the humans on mass and even striking the noble with a curse of restfulness.

"I see you're starting to take after me beast. Do not take my soon to be helplessness as a signal of your superiority. If you are fool enough to imitate me fully, you won't live long in the world of darkness that I am trapped in."

With trembling knees and a sword arm growing weak, the noble traces his hand against the wall of shards and moves as far away from the field of battle as he can muster. By the time he makes it to Sarah, he is tripping over himself not only in blindness but with lack of strength. He collapses near her with eyes open and mind drifting into nothingness.

Confide:[/roll[1d20[/roll]
Maneuver: Flirt [roll0] [roll1]

Push Buttons, Powerful Motivator, and Flustering Charisma may take affect.

EDIT: messed up the roll here so rerolled on the discord. Got a 19. More damage from Push Buttons!

[Lokyar]

"Okay, first thing I'm doing when we get back? Fixing this bloody barrier unit!"

Abandoning his defensive stance Johnny's feet flared up as he launched a kick at the beast, creating a sudden explosion on contact that blew him back a few feet before regaining his footing.

Though breathing heavily Johnny was grinning. "Did that get your attention?"

Shift: Focus Training (+1 Acc, +2 Skill)
Standard: Flame Wheel
Physical, AC2 ; Rolled a 20 (+1)
Crit! 38 fire damage and burned

Readied: Intercept

[Irrelephant]

Elliot trembles slightly under the monster's gaze, clutching his weapon with a white-knuckled grip as he does his beast to stare it down. Glancing backwards, he wonders if he should retreat, before coming to his senses and steadying himself. His arm jerks in a reflexive movement, whipping the steel weight towards the rock dragon.

Standard: Weapon Struggle Attack
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Revenant9]

Harke narrowed her eyes at the beast. "I've had enough of being pushed around." Memories of being toyed with during her first real combat against a monster came unbidden to her mind. She could recall the freezing cold of winter at first sapping her strength and then invigorating her. She turns to Johhny beside her. "I have an idea, it is likely incredibly stupid, but it might just work out for the best."

She didn't wait for a response and straightened, her posture regal. A pair of crystalline blue bird-like wings appeared on her back with a small flash of light. Harke glared coldly at the massive creature in her way, scanning it for any weak points. There! Looking around the monster's head, Harke spotted something green. "Let's see how you like being messed with, beast!" With a mighty beat of her wings, the winter warrior shot up into the air, dodging around the beast's thrashing and shaking and moving. Stopping above the beast, Harke drew her sword, Frysta, curled her wings around herself and dropped from near the ceiling of the cavern right on to the monster itself. She landed in a crouch, a fierce grin on her face, Frysta stabbing deep where she had spotted some weakness in the beast's armour due to the overgrowth that had pierced its way through the rocky plates.

Shadow of the Colossus-style Attack
Perception: 10
Acrobatics: 8
Damage: 44 Normal Physical

[aturtledoesbite]

Most of your attacks seem to be deflected by the creature's shell, who seems to be taking a more active approach to defense now! Even Lacryma's piercing bullet is all but entirely deflected. Sarah shakes Izdyvatel awake as the monster intends to crush all who are near it!

The creature's Shell Armor nullifies the critical hit!
The creature's Shell Armor nullifies the critical hit!
The creature's Shell Armor nullifies the critical hit!
The creature's Shell Ar--wait no it was only three failed crits, never mind

Harke's attack strikes a devastating blow! The creature is impaired!

Sarah: Wake up -> Zhelez!

----

Boss: Shift -> Paralyzed!
Boss: Standard -> Earthquake! Elliot takes 42 damage! Harke takes 40 damage! Johnny takes 36 damage!
Boss: Standard -> The boss is impaired! It cannot act!

[Revenant9]

Feeling that the beast was about to retaliate, Harke braced herself with the strength of a glacier, exuding immense cold as she did so, hopefully causing the monster to become sluggish. The bone shaking rumble of the monster didn't harm Harke too much as a result. Eager to continue laying hurt on the beast, Harke materialized two ice shards and stabbed them into the monster, feeling the icy cold of the shards grant her more vitality.

Ice Shard
AC2 vs 15 (Priority)
Damage: 37 Ice Physical

Swift Action: Roughneck. Target loses -1 Speed CS.

[SiegeTower]

Lord Zhelez was brought back to his senses by an ally he never paid any mind to until now. He brought himself back to his feet and with the little time there was to spare, bowed and thanked his companion as a true gentleman would.

The noble didn't know where he stood (literally) but he had Sarah to his right to act as a frame of reference for the wall. He would be using her to help him again even if she didn't know it this time.

The scuffle continued while Lord Zhelez was disoriented and there were some sounds of battle he was unfamilair with. He thought he heard someone reveal their wings and take to the sky but he couldn't tell who or for what end. The noble himself would never risk flying here as he could in no way tell where the ceiling began.

When focus started to return, it was also time to continue to berate the monster.

'You're alone here beast. Even if you can temporarily set one of us back, the others will still bring you to your demise. You are only delaying the inevitable."

Sweet Kiss:[/roll]1d20[/roll]

Push Buttons, Powerful Motivator, and Flustering Charisma may take affect.

EDIT: Messed up the roll again. Got a 12 on the discord.

[Lokyar]

Yanking a potion from his belt Johnny quickly applied it to the various lacerations across his arm from blocking the earthen spray. "Harke, that did something! Keep it up! Everyone else, back away!"

Shift: Focus Training
Standard: Use Potion on self (+20HP)

Readied: Intercept

[Merilan]

Lacryma takes another shot at the creature, frowning. I don't have a lot of options here...

Swift: Focused Training
Shift: Aiming Down the Sights
Standard: Struggle attack

[roll0] vs AC 5
[roll1] damage

[The Walrus]

Even on the other side of the central column, Lehrer was almost knocked off his feet by the earthquake the dragon had produced. Fearing the effects the attack might have had on his companions, he dashed back around the crystals and surveyed the scene. Elliot looked like he was on the verge of collapse, and both Harke and Johnny looked a little worn down. There wasn't much Lehrer could do to help them besides try to draw the beast's attention. Hmm... how would Zhelez phrase it?

"Er, you may have a robust physique and impressive tremor inducing abilities, beast, but we... uh... haven't died yet!"

That was pretty good, right? Immanuel punctuated his words with a quick jolt of electricity that carefully arced around Johnny to strike at the creature.


Shift: Move 3 right, 5 down.
Standard: Attack with Shock Wave. Auto-hits, didn't bother checking for a critical hit. Rolled 35 special electric damage in Roll20.

[aturtledoesbite]

The beast's eyes glowed red, completely discarding the dullness they'd had before. As it glares at you all, you notice the crystalline deposit begin to pulse faintly, as Harke's wings dissipate into nothing. The creature raises one foot high, before slamming it down against the floor!

A crack forms...then another crack...and then you see the floor begin to crumble away, the afternoon sun shining through from below. The fragment doesn't stop shaking, as the ground below your own feet begins to fall apart as well! Some of you instinctively try to form wings, but for whatever reason, they seem to fade away mere moments after appearing!

Besides, the increasingly-large amount of debris falling from the ceiling ensures your loss of consciousness, falling through the Skies...

Congratulations for finishing the Prologue! There'll be a short break before we pick back up again, but for now, let's tally up your rewards.

Milestone: Completed the Prologue!
Milestone: Gave the Rock Dragon a good fight!

Crystal: ???? (this will be identified at the start of your new thread)

Gems: The full total of what the party had from the first fight, plus 5 of each color.

That's all, and see you soon!