melodiesofeternity | Event || Custom Fit

Event || Custom Fit

Who: All
When: September 10th to September 30th
Where: Curti Center and mines around the world
What: Characters assist Ganeshan in developing Custom Jobs.
Warnings/Notes: OOC Post

A. The Lab

As much as Ganeshan requires supplies to create Custom Jobs, he need help at home base. With the large number of potential applicants, outworlders and Curti Center employees are invited to help out in the lab, not only with testing transfer of Jobs to crystals, but in developing the abilities and running safety tests.

Easier said than done when all of these cats aren't roaming throughout the center and claiming everything to be their sitting spot. The interns are trying their best to catherd to little avail.

B. Job Development

The break room contains formal submission papers and pamphlets describing the steps required to develop a Custom Job. Senior employees are available to help characters workshop the abilities, but they mostly want to remain in the break rooms to avoid Ganeshan's constant Job mania. His booming voice is muffled through the doors, interspersed with allergic sneezing.

A room has been prepared for those to practice using their basic job abilities, primarily in making sure they're stable yet not too weak. There is a chance that an improper ability extraction can go wrong and hurt the user, so Ganeshan has group of White Mages are on standby in case things go south.

For those that would rather have all the fun without the work, there is the Ability Simulation and Modeling Room, where characters can design their abilities on the computer and see them play out on the screen before them. There's no limit here, and since Jessie is too busy to keep an eye on everyone, the outfits and visual effects have the potential to get...very, very silly.

C. Heigh-Ho

It's off to work you go. Those crystals won't mine themselves, and anyone strong enough must enter the mine in search of the necessary material. It's tedious, difficult work, and some of these are embedded so deeply in the rock that they might be more trouble than they're worth. Not to mention those gross bugs might not like their homes to be disturbed.

There's also the fact that monsters have a tendency to wander inside and attack, so they'll need some reliable body guards.

There should be more crystals deeper inside, but someone else will have to scout the area...

D. Explore the Dungeon

Which is where this team comes in. All the good stuff is deep in this mine, and reliable navigators are necessary to map out the tunnels without getting lost. There's also the fact that the previous owners of a time long ago didn't want opportunists to take their precious resources and outfitted the rooms with puzzles.

Door Locks are puzzles. Pressure plates activate traps. It's the ultimate test of critical thinking. Some of these don't make sense if you think for too long. Why did they go through all the trouble to program time-based puzzles with falling blocks and symbols? The Pupu are strange. At least the bats here are easy to fight, and the mine cart rides are fun.

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He freezes up when the doors open, but remains on the pressure plate. It’s good that they didn’t spring a trap, but now there are two levers he could conceivably pull. Perhaps even at the same time. First things first, Orcelito examines the switch and compares the two, searching for markings of wear on either, to see which one was used more.

"I agree. I think these may be the right choice, being the less obvious of the two."

With the age of the ruins, it's often difficult to tell exactly what's been 'in-use' more than something else, but luckily this isn't one of those cases. There's chips in the handle of the switch within the door alcove, while the one outside looks pristine and unmarred (if a bit dusty). The only catch, is that he's going to have to walk a few feet through the door to reach it, stepping beyond the open doorway.

"Huh.." Klonoa says, examining his part of the room. "How does it look over there? Are you seeing the same thing?" He calls out.

“There’s the lever I saw before. There’s one on your side, too?”

The switch may be beyond arm length, but not out of reach. Orcelito slips a hand into his coat pocket and pulls out the timepiece that is his secondary weapon: a heavy pocket watch with a long, thick chain. He's not yet proficient with it, but it should be long enough… provided the lever doesn't require his full physical effort to pull.

“I might be able to pull it without leaving the panel… or, do you think it’s fine to step off now?”

The lever is a bit stuck, but it seems as though with some pulling, it'll manage to break free and flip normally.

Klonoa is squinting into the distance, just looking through the door he's in.

"Hey, Orcelito! I think I figured out which one I need to press over here! ...But I'm going to have to step off this pressure plate to do it. Should I go back and try to get a block?"

Edited 2018-10-04 21:54 (UTC)

So, either way, one of them will have to step off. Orcelito studies the side room with renewed suspicion. Once he steps in, there's nothing to stop the door from closing and locking him in. Unless he can prevent that from happening… which he can!

"No, we'll try this first." He slips the pocket watch chain in a tight loop around the dusty lever on the outside. Hopefully the chain will hold even if the door tries to close. Carefully, Orcelito shifts his weight off the panel, watching intently for any changes in the environment.

Assuming all went well, he enters the small room next. There's some protesting squeaking as the lever is forced out of inertia, and a grunt from the boy who's feeling the effects of a Physical Power stats of only D. But once the handle starts to move, he calls, "I'm turning it now, try your side!"

Orcelito has no problems throwing the watch onto the lever of course, but as soon as his weight shifts off the panel, there's a loud, sudden noise from his left, blended with a surprised "Manya!"

Klonoa stumbles, but tries his best not to get off the pressure plate.

"Orcelito, what just happened? This door just shut in front of me."

He calls out. The door in front of Orcelito would remain open.

As all did not go well, Orcelito didn't get very far before a couple of unwelcome sounds made him jump and spin around. (Oh no, he didn't just get his partner trapped or – no, it’s okay, it's just the neighboring door.) He breaths a sigh of relief, but he’s still trembling a little as he checks on Klonoa and the door mechanism.

"Ah... sorry. I'm glad you didn't get caught." Once he's satisfied nothing serious occurred, his hand is back to his chin, and he's staring at the offending panel.

"If we can move a block from an earlier puzzle, your idea will work. And I can activate the lever on my side with this," he nods to the pocket watch, "so we only need one.” He takes another glance around the room. “Do you want me to stay here and keep watch, or come with you?”

Klonoa lets out a breath of relief, and then he's fine again. He looks down at the panel that he's standing on... and grimaces. "Well, you might as well bring one in. I'm still putting pressure on this thing. I'm pretty sure I know what it does now, but is there any point taking a chance? Some of these things can be unsolvable if you mess something up, you know."

He says. "There should be a block two rooms ago that isn't needed to keep the door open. I'd go for that one, it's on a pressure switch in front of a cage."

Orcelito is silent while processing this, though his eyes narrow as he glances from the doors to the panels. He knew this setup was going to be trouble, but honestly... well, there’s no helping it; the miners have a right to guard their work. Klonoa is more agile and knowledgeable than he is, so switching places is not the best option.

"I'll go get it. Please stay here and..." Don't move? He knows that. "I'll return soon." And once assured, he'll slip off swiftly.

Klonoa waits until Orcelito comes back, holding his body on the pressure plate. He's... patient, but eventually his curiosity gets the better of him. He slowly eases off of it, watching as the door farther away from him slowly starts to close--ack!

When Orcelito returns, Klonoa is standing there innocently on the pressure plate with both feet, hands folded behind his back. Nope, definitely didn't experiment with the puzzle while he was gone!

Finding the block was the easy part. Moving it with a Physical Power stats of D was not. First, he tried picking it up - bad idea. Then leveraging it using a crowbar he found - better. Finally, having freed it from its previous setting, it was a long, arduous process to push the block to the last puzzle room.

And so, the young prince arrives less polished than before, leaning over the cube to catch his breath. Still ceaselessly polite, though.

"I'm sorry for the wait." He gives the block a hefty shove up to the pressure plate. He's going to dislike these for some time to come. "I'll... slide it on and you can step off as I do so."

Klonoa nods, slowly moving to one side as Orcelito pushes that block up close to him, easing off as the heavy thing slides on. He looks a bit guilty--even without the Wind Ring, picking up blocks is kind of his forte; he should have been the one to drag it in.

The far door stays open. "Phew. Looks like that worked." He says, offering a smile. "If we just get the two switches within the doors now.." Klonoa says, glancing at the other pressure plate on the far side. "I think that'll be enough to open this big one!"

Orcelito misses that look, due to needing a moment to sit down and breathe. (Don’t worry, he’s fine, just not used to physical labor.) While recovering, he pulls out the iMog Slate and, in a ripple of light, switches class to Time Mage. No outfit change, but his grimoire is tucked back into his coat and the pocket watch in his hand instead.

After a moment, he braces to stand up and move to the pressure plate, but looking back and considering the perspective brings up an earlier concern. “I agree. But I won’t be able to see you once you’re in the alcove. Let me know if something happens. I can watch the door and gems.”

Once the watch’s chain is secured around the lever, he’ll wait on the pressure plate for Klonoa’s signal to start.

Klonoa looks to the pressure plate, and then in front of him as the door slides up one more time. He nods. "Alright. I'll head inside and I'll yell if anything happens. Oh, and I'll count down if you want to do this at the same time?" He offers.

The fuzzbucket then holds his hand out, and enters the alcove, squeezing past the block. A few moments later, he reaches back and tugs the block inwards, causing a portion of it to stick inside the doorframe.

"Three.. two.. one.. Rupurudu!" He calls out, and there's the sound of a heavy switch being thrown. One of the two diamonds ontop of the large aperture flicks to glowing dimly green.

"Yes, please do."

He watches Klonoa secure the doorway, then turns to regard the main area while awaiting the count. In the back of his mind, there’s the grounded feeling he associates with being a Time Mage; if the door opening leads to a battle, he'll be able to give an early warning.

At 'one', Orcelito braces and pulls the chain taunt. With a protesting squeak, the lever flips. He calls observations to his teammate. “There’s a light!”

And just like that, the second light flips on, only a hair behind the other one, and the large iris slowly begins to shift. There's the sound of rapid ratcheting, and Klonoa wedges past the block back into the room to look as the door very slowly begins to open. A rush of brackish water begins to pour out from the iris, spilling out onto the floor as Klonoa tilts his head.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be part of the place's original plans as it peters out, revealing a wide, apparently water-tight passageway ahead of them, sloping upwards into the rest of the dungeon.

Klonoa throws his arms up. "Wahoo! I think we did it!" He exclaims.

"... the second light is on!"

Prescience doesn't pick up anything as the door grinds open, and Orcelito is relieved to be spared monsters to fight or boulders to dodge. Keeping hold of the chain, he braces himself as the brackish water rushes past, not moving from his spot - just in case. Once the draining appears complete, he lets the chain go slack and carefully tests easing off the pressure plate.

"I'd be glad if that was all." He admits with a soft laugh.

Klonoa nods, and takes a few steps closer, looking up at the opened up passageway into a wide upwards-sloping ramp textured to look like... stairs have steadily been destroyed into a wheelchair accessible portion of the dungeon just by poor maintenance and the ravages of time.

"I don't see anything else connected to this room. There could be more farther in, but I think we've done it!" Klonoa says, pretty happy with their overall success!

With a shimmer, Orcelito switches back to Tactician, pocket watch returned to his coat. Joining Klonoa at the tunnel entrance, he can’t help a nagging thought that the ramp would be awfully accessible for rolling objects of the rocks/logs/spikey ball variety. He directs a light into the passage, hunting for scrapes or markings along the walls.

“Why was it flooded, do you think? Weren’t people supposed to pass through here?”

Klonoa shakes his head, stepping up through the damp tunnel. Looks like there's definitely more than a few markings up here, but definitely not ones that are easy to pin down as to their source. They look more like.. little holes?

"Hard to tell. To be honest, I'm not sure the water was supposed to be here at all. It seemed pretty brackish.. I mean, what if something inside this place broke?"

Small openings... arrows? He draws up short. If the passage was flooded for a long time, any wood would have rotted away, right? Orcelito considers the shape of the tunnel again. While the aqueducts in his home were built long before he was born, he's seen enough of them to make educated guesses.

“We don't know for certain that the flooding was accidental... or that there isn't more water above us.” This is precisely why the Curti Center ought to have provided maps of the mines! Another thing to put in his report. He scrutinizes the markings a moment longer under the light, then returns his attention to his teammate. “I’ll follow your lead. Let’s stay alert.”

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Event || Custom Fit

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Late tag, holidays eatted me

Re: Late tag, holidays eatted me

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