DUNGEON ♛ GISELA TOWERS

[boardmaster]

GISELA TOWERS
20 MAY (VALLARIA) 2016

High in the skies, the howling winds tangled around the Gisela Towers make it difficult to hear anything. The monolithic structures believed to exist only in legend or harpy memories loom over you. The thick ropes of ivy crawling up the length of each tower is the only sign of life. Every now and then, shadow seems to pass overhead. It might just be a trick of the light.

Instead of the usual suspects, another familiar face comes forward to greet our Heroes: the devil-may-care Lei, captain and commander supreme of the Airy.

Lei Nervous that your commanders ain’t here? Don’t worry, you’re in good hands. So! Here we are at this… thing. Something something tragic romantic tale about a dragon and a phoenix. Anyway, it’s stupid and you don’t gotta know. Ask one of your commanders later or bribe me with a drink. Now for something more important— [ the winds roars loudly, muting lei’s voice. but heroes can watch his hand gestures and actions as he teaches them how to use the grappling hook: aim and shoot the gun. maybe twirl it with a fancy flourish first ] —did you get that? All right, good! I don’t have enough hooks, so you’re gonna have to share. And take good care of them, I want them back! Now get in there and clear it ASAP! I ain’t got all day to fly you all back home!

Basic info on the dungeon can be found here. Dungeon mechanics can be found here. All OOC questions about the event may be directed to the thread below.

ONE ♙
One does not simply walk into the Gisela Towers. The only way in is up the long and weathered staircase that wraps around the structure. However, the thing is riddled with missing steps, weak stones and slippery condensation from the cloud cover, so you’re going to need a little help. Should you attempt to climb the stairs, they will crumble beneath your feet at best and bury you beneath their rubble at worst.

This is where Lei’s newfangled(?) contraptions will come in handy! The pockmarks and small ledges created by weathering in the first tower’s structure could prove useful. There are, of course, a limited number of grappling hooks available, so you’ll have to partner up if you want your party to get anywhere. Parties of four are given two of these guns, while the poor souls with less party members get one.

Gisela’s gale-force winds will knock you around and make it seem like the towers are close to toppling over. However, as you make your way up you’ll see that the towers are actually far from abandoned.

MONSTER ♟ Ocypete
Weak against Lightning	Strong against Wind	Immune to None
Regarded as abominations of the avian world, ocypetes are BIRDS the size of horses, which would be incredibly advantageous if they had wings. The offspring of a human and a harpy, ocypetes have HUMAN ARMS that they use to scale surfaces and strong TALONS that can crush rock. They don’t fly, but they do RIDE THE WIND with the use of their long tail feathers, which possess magical wind properties and are nearly twice as long as they are tall. They would look almost elegant if they didn’t have a tendency to flap their arms while gliding. Legend has it that when the phoenix left the towers, the ocypetes were accidentally left behind because dragons plucked their wing feathers, making them look kind of funny. Now with a few millennia’s worth of abandonment issues on their semi-feathered shoulders, they’ll seek to prevent Heroes from ascending the towers by any means necessary with an odd variation of Airy MARTIAL ARTS. Their TAILFEATHERS may be acquired as loot.

What will Heroes encounter once they finally make it inside? More broken staircases, more monsters, even stronger winds blowing in from cracks in the walls and the foot of the tower (which is open to the air), and no floor whatsoever. Gisela’s Towers are hollow! The only footing to be found is on small ledges: some similar to those outside the tower, some that look more artificial; and intact sections of the stairs winding around the walls. You’ll need magic or some ingenuity to stay on your toes—literally! If you lose your grip or footing, it’s a several thousand foot drop back to Gresser. The quickest way down… and the deadliest.


TWO ♙
The treacherous and exhausting climb brings you to a more sturdy area that looks a little less like a wrecking ball just passed through and more like some kind of hive. Blocking your way are dozens of sturdy-looking nests suspended like particularly ugly balls of twine from the walls. These are home to the insectoid Aellos. Tearing the nests apart for loot is only a good idea if you want angry swarms after you.

MONSTER ♟ Aello
Weak against Fire, Lightning	Strong against None	Immune to Wind
Aellos resemble large eagles more than the DRAGONFLIES they’re supposed to be. Mature Aellos can fly, but the flightless and fuzzier larvae are just as formidable. They can HYPNOTIZE with their dozen kaleidoscope-like eyes, rendering targets IMMOBILE but still aware of their surroundings. In order to free them, a fellow Hero must gaze deeply into their eyes for at least 15 seconds. These monsters are also able to SPIT a gelatin-like substance that will stick Heroes to any and every surface and also each other. FIRE will reduce its stickiness. The larvae use hit-and-run tactics: they hunker down in their nests, peek over the edge and launch gobs of spit. The flying aello like to drop their SPIT BOMBS from above and occasionally also release a POWDER that ruins visibility and makes you sneeze. Feeling adventurous? Why don’t you give the spit a lick? It’s actually totally EDIBLE, tastes like jello, and is filled with mana. Just be sure to heat it up so you don’t get your mouth stuck shut. Their GELATIN SPIT and INSECT PARTS may be acquired as loot.

The staircases at this altitude are in better shape than the ones you have—or haven’t—been using. That doesn’t mean they’re any less dangerous. Not only do the Aellos chase you down here; traps are hidden in the steps as well. Some may act like quicksand, trapping an unwary Hero halfway into the stone. Others are enchanted with wind spells that can toss you up in the air, the long way back down to the ground, or blow your skirt upward. There might even be some that provoke the pesky bugs even more!

This floor has flowers and trees creeping their way in from the outside and covering every inch of the place, including treacherous weaknesses in the path. Behind these overgrown plants is a mural depicting a sensual dance between a dragon and a harpy. In order to advance, at least two Heroes will have to mimic the dance painted on the walls to open the door.


THREE ♙
A barrier prevents you from progressing any further. Magic, physical attacks or sheer willpower will do nothing. To dissolve it, you must create a concoction from the random ingredients available on the table and splash it on the barrier. There is no set recipe, so trial and error and a little creativity will be your friends! Along with your trusty party Bishop, of course. (You did bring one, didn’t you?) Those not well-versed in alchemy may end up with potions that explode upon completion, splashing party members standing too close with a variety of strange side effects ranging from mild body horror to a bad case of halitosis. The unfortunate effects seem to differ from Hero to Hero, and they last for a few minutes to a couple of hours.

Once your party crosses the barrier, you will find yourselves outside. The skies are darkening, but you’re still able to discern another tower wrapped in the clouds. A bridge once connected the two structures, but most of it is missing. Use those grappling hooks!

Upon entering the second tower, a marble floor at odds with everything from the last tower will greet you. Lift your head and you’ll find that the rest of the tower is also hollow all the way up; those heights allow room for fountains and waterfalls. It’s a suitable area to replenish mana and rest. Parched throats can be quenched with the sparkling water all around you, but approach any waterfalls and they will start moving in a very unwaterlike way.

MONSTER ♟ Celaeno
Weak against Lightning	Strong against Fire, Earth	Immune to Water
Possessed by pride and cursed by the phoenix’s wrath, these dragons are nothing like the ones you encountered before. Celaeno resemble huge snakes made of water and possess ENCHANTED SCALES that float through their bodies and render them extremely RESISTANT to both magical and physical attacks. You will have to find WEAK POINTS in their protective aura. Hopefully you have a Knight or Bishop on your team to find those weaknesses as soon as possible! Each dragon’s weak points differ. Fortunately, all Celaenos go down easily once you find that soft spot. They use their long, slender tails like WATER WHIPS to knock down or douse their targets; the force of a tail may equal that of a fire hose at full blast! The only time it sheds its armor is to shapeshift into a WATER PRISON that can trap one or more enemies. Try not to attack it while a Hero is trapped inside; it will hurt your friend as well! Use STATUS EFFECTS to confuse or distract them so the prison loses shape. Their ENCHANTED SCALES, SMALL GEMS, and DRAGON WATER may be acquired as loot.

Without any stairs in sight, the way up lies in those dragons. After their defeat, their magical scales can be put together to form a boat that can ride the waterfalls upwards to the top floors.


FOUR ♙
The skies continue to change once you reach the top. Black clouds begin to close in, stray bits of land that have broken off from the main island hover nearby, and a sudden torrent of powerful mana may disorient your party. A storm is approaching.

Just as the first chunk of hail falls from the sky, a mighty roar reverberates through the darkness. Something very large lands on the walls of the tower and causes a tremor that whittles chunks from the tower and actually rolls the clouds back; is that the toll of thunder, or just more roaring?

Finally, an impressive three-headed dragon emerges from below. Once it has perched itself on the tower, one head speaks in a rumbling growl.

BOSS ♟ Tianya the Thrice-Scorned
Weak against Lightning	Strong against None	Immune to Wind, Fire
“Did that phoenix send you?! Tell her she cannot return! Not even over my dead body!” Unsurprisingly, Tianya ─the dragon once wed to the phoenix─ is more than just a legend. He lowers his heads and another loud, guttural cry fills the skies. For now, he remains STATIONARY at the top of the tower. All three heads attempt to SWALLOW a Hero whole if they get too close. Should you go on the offensive, you may be able to chop off at least one head before he’s pissed off enough to move. The fallen head writhes in agony as it moans: “It hurts… it burns…” At this point, Tianya takes flight. The strong GUSTS from those wings can launch a Hero right off the tower. Use your grappling hook(s) to play floating island hopscotch: evade devastating dive attacks and run from the MANA BEAMS shot from his mouths. “You’ll never understand! I never wanted her!” As you travel from island to island trying to get close enough to deal some real damage, Tianya hides in the CLOUDS to launch ambush attacks. Eventually, a PHOENIX descends from the heavens in a burst of fiery light. However, it’s not the phoenix of legend; it’s actually one of Tianya’s spells, and it will burn away most of your mana if any of its flames make contact. MANA EXCHANGE may be the only way to continue this battle... Once Tianya is down to one head, he will immediately rise higher into the sky. “My last words are for her and her alone.” After Tianya is defeated, the storm clears; Enprise’s twin suns shine once more. That precious DUNGEON CORE floats down, blanketed by a SINGLE LARGE FEATHER, golden and shining in the light. “It’s warm… She was always warm…” A SCORNED DRAGON HEART and a MYSTICAL PHOENIX FEATHER may be acquired as loot.

As soon as both core and feather touch the tower, an ominous rumbling and shaking begins. The Gisela Towers are falling apart and it’s now a race to escape before you’re buried under the rubble.

And don’t forget the grappling hook(s); Lei wants them back.


FIVE ♙
All that’s left of the Gisela Towers is rubble. The dungeon has been conquered, the island reclaimed, and the ruins of the old regime can now become the foundations for something new: the site of the harpies’ homecoming after hundreds of years.

LOCATION ♟ Gisela

An ancient sky island that has existed since time immemorial. What enables Gisela to RIDE THE CLOUDS may be an even greater mystery than the mechanisms powering the Airy. The island appears most frequently above Gresser, though its extraordinary altitude makes it DIFFICULT TO LOCATE. The landscape of Gisela is overgrown with JEWEL-GREEN FORESTS, crisscrossed with gorges and dotted with networks of small caverns. But its crowning glory is the THIN GLEAMING WATERFALLS that flow from its edges and into the sky beyond. The water is embraced by RAINBOWS and condenses into CLOUDS when Gisela is high enough, lending to its unusual weather patterns. Although the island initially seems largely uninhabited apart from the Gisela Towers, there is a SEALED OFF AREA that, when viewed from the air, looks suspiciously like LUSH, TILLED FIELDS. Should you ask Lei about this, he will only give you an unusually stern warning against disturbing it. Looks like you’ve solved the mystery behind the pai tiles. Now that the menacing Towers have been demolished, a variety of animal life — usually airborne — will begin to appear on the island. Some of them you’ve never seen before! The fall of the Towers also uncovered the existence of HOT SPRINGS below; newspapers speculate wildly about the source, but most agree that it must have something to do with the renewed vows between phoenix and dragon. The few structures already in place on the island have been speedily converted into BAZAARS manned by Airy harpies. Most specialize in legal alchemical gimmicks, but there’s always another side to these things. Everyone’s here to soak in the breeze, and by that we do mean everyone. In response to the tourism boom, NEW AEROPORTS have also opened in both Gisela and Gresser to provide reliable transportation between the two locations.

Comments

[praises]

I'd appreciate it. [ Knowing what Setsuna might have in mind, he turns his attention back to what's available. Dried scales, powders, vials of liquid, bits of something that appear to be metal, pressed vegetation. All old. Who put them here, he wonders. ] We'd be better off if we had a recognizable base.

[ Not that there's been much to look at besides broken rock and fathomless skies (and horrid monsters), but he trusts Setsuna to have a lock on their surroundings. Instead of lingering too long at the table, Allelujah bypasses it and instead approaches the barrier constructed right in the middle of their path. He reaches out, putting a palm to its surface. Nothing vibrates through, no water or wind or sound to indicate what might be on the other side. ]

I don't suppose we'd be lucky enough to get rid of this by attacking it.

[quaria]

[ As Allelujah mulls over the barrier, Setsuna roams around the untouched areas of the alchemy room, or what remains of its ruins. His glance wanders high and low. He eventually looks at a large gap on one of the partitions; it doesn't look like this gap was a weathered crack, it almost seems like a door was here before. He shortly decides to jump onto the old platform and take a glance outside. He makes sure to secure his grip on one of the ivies, not wanting to get blown by the winds.

How long have they been in here? Or is time warped within this dungeon? The skies are dramatically changing for the worst to come... They have to hurry. Prying his gaze away from the heavens, the youngest Meister looks at the aged plant boxes at the tower walls. Among overgrown weeds, there's several herbs that stick out. He reaches out take them before returning to Allelujah's side to show him. ]

Ginseng and star anise...

[ Both common ingredients in Chinese herbal medicine... Though they suppose, they should address it as Ma Jiang in this world. It's not too difficult to notice that Ma Jiang has an outstanding similarity to what they know as China. ]

[praises]

[ Allelujah doesn't have long to examine the barrier for any physical weaknesses. Solid stone stretches all the way up, curved into the shape of the tower. That shape is what's hindering them, but it's also what makes any changes in the winds immediately obvious. In that respect, they can stay one step ahead. Like the day the dragons descended on Gresser, the air pressure steepens, reverberating in a howl that tries to ghost right through him. Allelujah knows — they're racing a storm.

But racing is what he's always been good at. Setsuna returns to his side, and he accepts the herbs with a nod. ]

Ginseng... we could use that as a catalyst accelerant. [ It's funny, how this is magic in a base form, but there's also a science in it. He's no Bishop, but long nights in the library have proven useful. ] Boil it down, and we'll try to determine what the rest of these are.

[ Through the cracks in the stone, wind begins to whistle like a warning. ]

[quaria]

Understood.

[ After responding formally by habit of Meister protocols, Setsuna turns to walk toward the one of the cauldrons. Before proceeding, he takes out a bottle of milk to drink down for additional mana. It's then that he casts two spells right after the other; first water to fill the cauldron, then followed by fire to ignite the traditional stove.

Finally, to kindle the flames, he takes some of the surrounding overgrown plants to toss. Of course, he makes sure to choose the harmless ones... None of them would want to inhale questionable substances as they work through this. The youngest Meister works quickly as expected; not long after placing the ginseng herbs in, he's already looking back at his brother for further instructions. ]

[praises]

[ Meanwhile, Allelujah's grouped together some of the ingredients based on what they seem to mirror most closely — mixed metals with a few acrid powders sealed in vials, and a flint-charcoal like substance, a concoction that resembles propellant for gunfire. He's busy with another grouping, this time with the scales... a vibrant, white-blue stretch of them, almost reminiscent of concentrated flame. ]

Without knowing what these actually, we'll have to be careful about our timing... we don't have any benchmarks for how fast the mixing process will go.

[ And if they have to blow down this barrier, the last thing he wants is to get caught in the crossfire. They're both durable, but there are just too many unknowns to bear that risk without concern. (Are you surprised, he's always been the fussiest.) ]

Here we go.

[ First into the cauldron is the flaky charcoal-like substance, then the metals. ]

[quaria]

[ It's good that Allelujah carefully reminded him of those. Among the Ptolemaios crew, Allelujah and Setsuna are the best cooks. So although they have little to no experience with alchemy, they can consider that it may be similar to cooking. The timing of when to place certain ingredients, as well as their volumes, among others... Most of it is really quite similar, all things considered. They're simply cooking with magical ingredients in place.

Setsuna can't help but sigh regardless. It's been a good few months ever since they arrived in this world. Thinking everything over, it's silly at how they've become this accustomed to the illogical. Casting a spell to secure water for instance? If such a concept existed in their home world, maybe resources wouldn't be much of a problem. He thinks of the dry deserts of his home, thinking about the wars about fossil fuels and other oils... It's a little frustrating.

But he has to focus, so he kicks the rest of those thoughts away. He already promised not to dwell on "what could have been" scenarios. So he won't. Instead, he keeps his eyes on the mixing process and waits to see what will happen now. ]

They are melting away...

[ Allelujah seems to be guessing it right so far...? At least the metals are reacting nicely against the charcoals. They come together in the waters, beginning to glow as its colors change. ]

[praises]

[ Sometimes, just sometimes — Allelujah is privvy to the sorts of things that traverse Setsuna's mind just by having to look at him. It's not a perfect skill by any means, but it is weathered by having known him for years and years. It has heart. So when Allelujah glimpses the brief, nearly faraway expression the younger Meister has, he smiles a bit, uncorking the nearest vial. ]

Hopefully this'll prove to be the right track for us. I know how it seems...

[ Holding the vial at eye level, he approximates how much to use at this point. It already looks fairly volatile. ]

A little familiar, in the motions at least. But the circumstances surrounding it are outside of anything we could ever think of.

[quaria]

[ It really is. This is especially true in a world where earth science is no longer relevant. Gravity here for instance, can work as if they're in outer space given the right conditions. So having to brew a magical concoction like this without hints or instructions, it's too difficult to assess a guess of what could happen. Anything could.

Setsuna looks a little worried now, but he trusts Allelujah's instincts. Between the two of them, he would rather entrust this task to someone who can be meticulous as well as more creative with recipes. ]

What are you trying brew?

[ Reassessing the situation, it's obvious that they have to create an alchemical solution to destroy the barrier. But exactly what kind of magical liquid is his older brother attempting to visualize? ]

[praises]

If I look at what's been laid out here for us, it seems like an approximation of chemical explosion, using something like gunpowder. It's a little archaic. We just don't have a fuse, like dynamite, for example. So we have to rely on alchemical reaction to set it off.

[ So the timing is really everything, but Allelujah can only do exactly what he'd described — approximate. He dislikes going in so blind, but it's that or no progress at all.

Looking aside, he picks up the stretch of what looks like glimmering scales. ]

I do wonder what some of these could be for, though.

[ So far, he's stuck with what looks the most familiar. ]

[quaria]

[ (*trying to brew. — typo from previous tag, sorry!)

Ah. That makes perfect sense. If that's the case, then they would likely need a container to hold the liquids — to be able to hold and throw it safely. The youngest Meister approaches the cauldron again, but it isn't to look at its contents more carefully. He's trying to look around the long table for anything else useful. If this is really an alchemy room, then surely there's something here that they'd be able to utilize for said purposes.

However, it's a mistake to step near at that timing. While Allelujah moved and turned away to observe the scales, Setsuna meanwhile is standing too closely within the vicinity of the cauldron... Eventually as the materials within it merge altogether and finalizes its next set of effects, an unexpected explosion occurs. Or maybe it is to be expected, but not this early. Perhaps the process of alchemizing is faster than they anticipated. Either way, the youngest is successfully hit by its affected radius, letting out a muted sound, and he drops to the floor after the impact. Colored smoke fills the air for a few seconds before disappearing; the completed solution is now intact.

Setsuna begins to cough afterwards, sitting up immediately as he gathers himself. ]