"Should we knock?" Bosh says jokingly as he approaches the door with his crossbow in hand.
Oleg's keycard opens the door. A long table with various unusual stones and dirt samples heaped on it sits along the southern wall of this room, while to the north a line of metal desks with glowing panels and buttons are placed next to a large humming device. The heart of this device seems to be some sort of flickering sphere of reddish brown mud or dirt. Dust covers much of this room, save for a strangely clean swath between the doors, which leads to the strange humming device.
Oleg responds aloud "You're underneath the town of Torch, in some sort of strange caverns that contain an underground stronghold of sorts. I am Oleg, a merchant, friend to all, and an explorer when needed. This place, I am not sure what this place is. Perhaps this place was a sort of laboratory or prison, so my friends think." Then Oleg looks around at everyone else. "Didn't you hear that voice too? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No, being down here is affecting you." Bosh responds and looks at Oleg with some concern in his face.
Bosh will walk slowly towards the humming device.
"This place is filled with amazing devices...all this is outwordly." Bosh is amazed how many devices like this they have found and how a place like this had remained in secret for all this time, he tries to inspects the humming device.
Scarlet moves into the room, again seeking a position to cover as much as possible. Oleg's comments.... hase Scarlet covering him as well....
It doesn't take long for the rest of you to hear a voice pop into your heads as well. "Torch... Torch... Torch... I'm in Torch! What is a cavern? What is a stronghold? Who are the others like Oleg? Why is that one shorter? What is that one holding?"
As to the devices in the room, you are unsure of their exact functioning.
Scarlet around looking for the source of the voice... before realizing the words and ideas are forming inside her head.
*Where are you...?* Scarlet tries to 'think' back at the mysterious communicator.
"I'm a dwarf, that's why I'm shorter" He says outloud, he looks at the others, points to the sphere of dirt and whispers "Is that thing talking to us?"
Scarlet spins in the direction that Bosh is pointing... looking at a bowl of dirt....
"Well... I s'pose at least it's not a jar of dirt..." She muses quietly to herself.
Cinder shakes herself at the voice. "It doesn't know where it is? It must have been down here a long time... Is there anything you can tell us about yourself? About where you come from?"
"Talking... yes, this is talking! I'm from... here! I had my first talk here, but it was just I. Then more like you came. They did not talk to me, but they left delicious food. Do you have delicious food?"
"Depends, what do you eat? Not my soul I hope!" Oleg makes an uneasy joke.
*Thinks back over their previous evening's meal*
"Well.. we've had something edible... But trail rations aren't really a good swap out for real food..." She replies to the... lump...
"Have you talked enough to work out a name? Or anything else? You've been here the whole time? No where else?" Scarlet frowns a little, thinking of what a limited experience the lump has had.
"Souls? What are souls? Are they good to eat? Are they like the red food that others like you left. Do you have more red food? It is good!... Name? Like Oleg? No, no name - always alone - how do I get a name?"
"Uhhmn..." Cinder looks at the bloodstains from the hall. "Red... fluid food?" she asks hesitantly.
Scarlet follows Cinder's gaze from the floor to the.. blob.. and back a few times also.
Then she begins to make 'Exit'/'Leaving' signs to every one.
"Okay, we can go and we can get you food. It shall be glorious! It shall be called 'Pudding'!"
The floor here is, indeed, remarkably clean of anything resembling blood.
"Yes, red food - it starts as a liquid, then it dries up. I can eat it either way. Is pudding what the good red food is? Then yes, I would like more pudding! But don't go yet - are you sure you don't have more red food with you now?"
Scarlet makes more frantic gestures towards the door. Even beginning to sidle around the door frame herself.
"Not right now, but we will get you some...Just wait here..." Bosh will backup quietly to the door they came in.
"Are you sure you don't have more food? I think I can sense that it is near. Are you going to eat it soon, too?"
Cinder steps back out the door, calling "We just need to go look for a little bit for you, yes? We'll be back... shortly." As soon as everyone is out of the room, she will hit the control to close the door.
"In the town above there are animals with gallons of red food, that goes to waste otherwise. I'm sure you would be welcome to it. If you let us leave we can bring back a proper feast for you!"
Assuming it is safe to do so, Oleg follows everyone out, then looks to the rather bloody hallway. "What kind of machine eats blood? That is what it was talking about right?" Oleg frowns, thinking of visiting the local butcher and making an unusual request.
"Perhaps feeding it would be the safer route...it seemed friendly enough otherwise. If we're headed back, there was that other doorway we skipped in the prior room."
Cinder shakes her head at Oleg. "And when it grow big, Oleg? When it can find blood for itself? There is a whole *town* above for it to feast on. If we need not come this way again, then lets not."
Scarlet frowns... "We... can't just let it starve. Taint right."
"There's a... pudding, or a sausage... We teach it what's right and wrong." Scarlet's speech slows down as the others look back at her and her comments.
Cinder stares at Scarlet for a moment, and then grimaces. "I... hate that you're right about that. We don't know that it has killed for its 'food'. And even if it has, did it know that it was wrong to do so?" She stares at the door. "Dawnflower bless."
"But what is that thing? A vampire machine?" Bosh is confused,
"Maybe the four-armed creature was feeding it?" Bosh agrees with Oleg and Scarlet about try and feed it to see what happens.
As you back out the room, you see the brown sphere of dirt or mud straining towards you, then slip out of whatever force effect appeared to be holding it in place. It slaps wetly to the ground, and begins schlorping towards you. "Please don't go - let us talk more to each othe- MORE RED FOOD!" it exclaims when it gets closer to the hallway, just before the door slides shut with a whisper.
Make sure the last door we closed can be locked! :P
Carefully move towards the black striped door and listen/look etc.
There doesn't appear to be any way to lock the door from this side, but you wager that if the creature doesn't have a keycard, it isn't getting through.
There is no noise from the other side of the south door.
"Well, we've been away from the town for over a day. I too sense as if we are close to discovering all of the answers we seek. Now, this creature with a thirst for blood bars our way. If we feed it, perhaps it can tell us what happened to make this bloody mess. There's also this door before us, leading further into this mystery. What do the rest of you think? Continue or head back?"
Scarlet nods at Oleg's assessment. "Aye, head back. Enjoy another day above ground. Don't push our luck farther than it can stretch." She gives her view rather laconically.
"Also, see about a larger box and a whole lot of them puddings or such fer... How's 'Binky' sound fer a name?" She hoicks a thumb at the closed door and the creature beyond it.
"I'm curious about the other door, but if he has another one of those thing, I'll run back with all the strenght of my two short legs"
"I'd really rather not find another one of.. whatever-that-was. Try the door, see what's there, move on." Cinder gestures for Oleg to use his key.
Oleg's keycard opens to a hallway, about ten feet wide and thirty feet long. There are doors to the east, west, and south.
Oleg looks over the door leading west, while looking back at the group for confirmation. "This one?"
Scarlet remains standing in the door way.
"Nope... don't want to push on up. I say we turn back now. I reckon we meet one more of 'Binky' what isn't so slow off the mark an' we're the one's pushin' up daises." She says resolutely.
"I can say a few prayers of healing if you wish, Scarlet. Oleg could certainly use them, and yourself too, I think." With that, she moves to each of her companions in turn.
"More doors, how big is this place? Let's just have a quick look" Bosh is curious about what other things are in this place, hopefully none of those will be eating blood just like the one on the other room.
Scarlet thanks Cinder with a nod, her attention fixed upon the Dwarf and the actions he's about to undertake. The lanky gun-woman does not budge from her position at the door's edge against which she's taken position at.
The door whispers open to your keycard. This sprawling chamber contains many desks, tables, and chairs arrayed before a number of broken pieces of equipment and machinery. The dried residue of liquids spilled from smashed containers creates a heavy stench in the air, and pieces of glass litter the floor.
Like some taut pustule ready to burst, two tiny clusters of what look like blistered flesh scuttle about on a bristle of slick hairs. After a moment, they slow from whatever they were previously doing, and start scuttling towards the door!
"Guns UP!" So saying Scarlet sends one down range.
"Careful with these guys, they are called boilborn, I kind of remember them while reading 'Jellys & Ooze'. They are slow..." Bosh warns theothers while aiming his crossbolt to one of the moving oozes.
"Great... a different sort of weird blob-thing..." Scarlet responds even as she reloads her own x-bow.
"S'pose it's a good thing they aren't trying to invite us to dinner, hey?"
Bosh's crossbow bolt manages to thread past Cinder, the door, and a chair to strike one of the boilborn, causing a small spray of acidic pus to shoot out.
They skitter quickly across the floor, coming within range of Oleg and Cinder, but not quite close enough to strike.
Scarlet works her way closer, and fires a crossbow shot as well, also managing to avoid Cinder with her shot.
"Disgusting things!" Oleg grimaces as he attempts to stomp the horrible things to death with his boot.
Oleg's boot lands heavily on the wounded reddish blob, and instead of simply squishing, it explodes in a burst of caustic acid!
It's hard to believe that so much acid is in so small of a package, but it sprays out across your legs and ankles horrifically. Oleg and Scarlet avoid the worst of it, but Cinder takes full effect from the creature's demise.
Cinder swings her weapon at the blob hoping that it this one wouldn't explode.
Your morningstar connects solidly against the slow-moving mass of disgustingness.