.:August Runs:.

[ganymed]

Who ⬤ Ganymede and Co.
What ⬤ Dungeon-crawlin' with four people pt. redux. What can go wrong?
When ⬤ Following this, and other times at misc. moments (accounting for the future.)
Where ⬤ Concealed Mourning Bulwark, Closed Failing Pilgrim, & Pulsating Black Old World
Content Warnings ⬤ None and not anticipating any!




[ Ganymede has spoken to at least...two of these people, once.

That's what probably makes it reasonable for him to come along on the party raid.

Following conversation on the network and elsewhere, all three responsible receive new emails bidding them to come to the Chaos Gate. Ganymede is already awaiting their appearances.

Fortunately, so is information regarding their keywords, which are "Concealed Mourning Bulwark".

Once the Chaos Gate warps them over, they'll find...

...That they are all in an area that's more or less a stormstruck plain stretching from end to end. Right in the middle of this field is a flesh wall dungeon, the beginning point of the actual dungeon itself. ]

RESULTS #1: For Concealed Mourning Bulwark!

RESULTS #2: For Pulsating Black Old World!

RESULTS #3: For Closed Failing Pilgrim!

Comments

2/2

[ganymed]

Oh, just great.

[ ...And then, just like that, his eyes begin to tear up due to certain effects; he barely notices, though.

Their reward is an empty chest, with the mentioned tear trap...RIP. ]

[threatmewted]

[How dare!!! She's tearing up too.]

Ugh, seriously?!

[insinning]

[Nooooo. He's tearing up too]

Ah. Another trap...

[cccorp]

[ A few days after their adventure, the three of them will receive a mysterious email from an anonymous sender inviting them to explore the Arche Koeln Waterfall at Δ Hidden Forbidden Radiation.

Once they gate in to the Area, they will find that they are the only players present. They've warped in on a bridge, giving them the perfect view of what stands before them: a waterfall, sheets of crystalline water pouring over a rockface that has a temple built into the side. The bridge leading up to the waterfall, however, has partially collapsed, leaving a big open space between the two portions. But maybe... if they brave it, they can make it to the temple.

If not, there are other things they can look at too, such as the bridge itself or the water down below. ]

[ganymed]

[ Well...after they received that email, there could only be one thing to do next, can't there? Try to keep going forward. Ganymede makes some estimations in his head and he thinks just running and leaping without considering their options might be a bit too hasty. ]

...It looks like a new, strange area. But, making the crossing might not be all that easy. Let's look at all of our options, and then figure out how we want to go about this?

[ He thinks he'll head towards the bridge first regardless. Is there something here that can help them cross over that big gap? ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair looks around the bridge too and then over at the waterfall.]

Mm. Maybe we can find something to climb or make a platform with?

[Are there any secret climbing pathways here? Come on videogame logic]

[threatmewted]

[She'll hop on too, of course.]

If all that fails, we can always swim across.

[cccorp]

[ The wide bridge is a stone one, where they have warped onto the end of it. The view of the waterfall is majestic--maybe you can feel some droplets on your face. Realism! Niagara Falls tour hours here. However, despite how it's made of stone, it's also very old. Some parts feel more loose than the others. Better be careful when walking! Who knows? With how high the bridge is from the water, you might want to avoid fall damage, lest you run out of HP in a single moment. It's like looking down from the rooftop of a very tall building. Have fun with the ever spiking ✨ anxiety ✨!

Luckily(?), for the adventurers, the parts of the bridge that collapsed are on the bottom as rubble, crooked and just generally not well-placed. However, they're big and it's not like the river current is strong anyway, so it's not like they'll be swept away. The bigger problem is getting there in the first place.

At least the rocks from the bridge columns that support the bridge are capable of being climbed in whichever direction they please. ]

[ganymed]

[ Figures that this place still has an element of danger, but as far as Ganymede is concerned, it's only if they are careless in moving about. ]

The bridge itself is a bit unstable, and I think depending on how much weight we place on certain spots we could easily plunge down below.

So, obviously chancing it only on that isn't a great idea.

[ That's what he happened to get on his end. He wasn't the one getting down near where the rocks were, though. Therefore if the others found stuff about that, they'll have to let him know. ]

[insinning]

I think we can climb down the columns.

[Peering down nervously. Ugh. That's...unsettling. The rubble does look more stable at least]

[threatmewted]

Sooo climb down the column, cross the river, and then climb back up is what I'm hearing?

[cccorp]

[ Ruins lay in the water where the bridge once stood in full, adding an air of wistfulness to the area as the temple remains a remnant of a time long gone, long since dilapidated and falling to ruin due to the lack of visitors brave enough to run through the watery barrier.

As Swallow mentions, once someone climbs down the column, they could make it to the rubble, hop across, and climb back up another column to get to the other side of the bridge. Mystery! Solved!

...

Would it really be that easy? Time to see for yourselves. ]

[ganymed]

That's right.

So, we might as well get going. If it turns out that it isn't tenable, we can try something else.

[ Time to try to head on down! At least that's more up to game mechanics and the avatar rather than picking a god and praying if they were going to attempt to walk across such a bridge in shoddy condition. So, here he goes, beginning to climb down the column first.

Slowly, and also keeping a look down for any, you know...further difficulties. ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair waits for Ganymede to find his footing first before he joins him going down. Slow and steady??

A winged blessing would be nice right about now]

[threatmewted]

[Watching them head down...]

Hmmm...

Keep going, will ya? I'll start down once you get a little further along.

[cccorp]

[ Their little adventure in scaling down the rocky column is a success! However, your fingers ache as if you've been rock climbing for real.

But that's not the bad part.

The column, well, ends inside the river. It has to in order to support the bridge. So when anyone makes their way down fully to the water's surface, they'll feel that it's extremely cold to the touch. In fact, you might feel the extreme chill for a full day. That's just how cold it is, and how it lingers.

But the closest rubble isn't too far from the column, so perhaps they could swim to it despite how cold the water feels. ]

[ganymed]

Right. Well. don't wait too long or we'll leave you behind.

[ Cold? Damn, he's already dressed very lightly in this avatar state (and not the one from the TV show.) Anyway, he will just have to suck it up, teeth chattering and all.

...So! Is it possible to swim across or...? Because he will try his best. ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair frowns at the water, but there's no choice is there? He doesn't trust his own ability to leap over the water the way a more flexible class could do so. So he wades through the water, swimming to the other side in his fur lined armor and hopes for the best.]

[threatmewted]

[She does in fact start climbing down after giving them a bit of distance, just to make sure the idea didn't lead to them all plummeting to their deaths or anything. And when she sees them shivering when they hit the water, she'll pause on the column to see if switching her sensor to a lower setting will save her any grief before hopping in to begin the swim across, herself.]

[cccorp]

[ Unfortunately, turning the pain sensors off will not help with the biting cold that everyone feels once they get in the water. It's absolutely freezing. My condolences if you have received this bonus effect in a dungeon before. The swimming task itself should be easy, but it's very difficult to move your limbs the way you want them to because it's so cold. Your muscles are tense as if to retain some body heat.

Luckily for the three, the closest rubble has enough room for all of them to take a break, even though the coldness doesn't disappear. There is no reprieve.

There's one more rubble they can take a break on before making the final swim to the other column of the stone bridge that they can climb. The river's currents may not be so strong, but if you're a frozen statue, you might as well be swept away if you aren't careful! ]

[ganymed]

Ugh...I swear, this game is trying to really be too realistic for comfort at times!

[ Ganymede is full within his rights to complain, thank you very much!

Anyways, suffering aside, the rubble is big enough for them to take a break, right? But, after that rest, he's just going to keep moving, as in, once he's atop the rubble that is very close to the freezing water, he will do as big a leap off of it as he can so he doesn't have to swim too far along. Landing with a splash a bit aways from the others, he will continue swimming along.

It's too bad turning off pain sensors doesn't work because he definitely did give it a go after clinging to the rubble. ]

[insinning]

T-That's not wrong...

[His teeth are already chattering and he wonders if he can use his lance to help himself leap across. Is the water deep enough for him to try? He sticks it in to test it's long enough and deep enough to leap and make it to the other pile of rubble. If he can, it's successful (20). If he can't, he'll do what Ganymede did and do a leap across because he can. Maybe they can huddle like penguins after]

[threatmewted]

Wh-what's even the point of the sensor settings if we still have to feel this?!

[UGH!!

She'll do a running leap into the water if it means she can get any kind of distance not having to swim it :/]

[cccorp]

[ They can swim, they can wade... the water isn't too deep. But even with the vaulting pole that is Vogel's lance, he'll still fall into the water since the distance can't be covered with that alone, but hey, at least he gets to spend less time in the water! Running leaps help too. ]

[ganymed]

My question exactly.

[ Well, not really, but it's fine. Ganymede is moving like he's in the middle of the Olympics.

After making the swim, he will get right to climbing, because it's still hustle time, bby. Once he breaches onto the top of the bridge, he will take a moment to take a breath, moving a bit more to make room fort the others who will surely follow... ]