"I suggest we simply follow these invaders, exploration can wait until we have no rivals to steal from us."
He says simple, clearly ready to leap over another bridge gap.
"I agree with Nigrum. There will be time for exploration later." Mihara nods, motioning for the party to move on.
Backtracking to the previous level and crossing the bridge easily enough. The South East Tower, covered in plants and vines, resemebled a jungle and lacks only trees. It is in fact very easy to follow the path your prey has made, as they have literally had to hack there way through the plants and vines to reach there goal of the main stairs. Apparently they failed to get through, the vines and plants simply being too thick despite axes and apparently fire. The trail leads off to the less clogged rear stairwell. There, they had more luck.
You can follow them up, or spend some time exploring the level.
Azri looked at the plants with some degree of interest, but made her way towards the rear stairwell. The others had made their opinions fairly clear - for now, they wanted to pursue as best they could, and explore the place at leisure later.
"This place must have been really nice, once." Selena comments as they make their way to the rear staircase to pursue the intruders "I wouldn't mind a garden floor or something like that..."
As you go up to the next floor, the situation is even more difficult. It's only Aibek and Mihara's sense of smell that allows you to follow the intruders, as the vines and plants seem have regrown in the few short hours since they were cut, almost seamlessly.
Hacking through takes time, and before you follow the path completely you enter a large chamber at the centre of the tower. Reaching on level below and one level up, but apparently sealed off completely on those floors, a huge crystal column stands. It's smooth surface is covered in arcane litanies and runes. Heavy bronze machinery sits at the top and bottom of the pillar.
The path leads off down another corridor, if you wish to follow. Or perhaps you could bypass the overgrown floor somehow. Or maybe there's another way...
Aibek agreed with Selena, a small smile on the witchwolf's face while looking at the plants. Following through the regrown plants was confusing and frustrating though not as bizarre to Aibek as the massive crystal they found. Aibek paused, looking around, wary to touch anything else in the room just yet...
Having closed the gap Nigrum looks for more signs of where their prey had gone. Taking a moment to glance at the crystal he speaks offhandedly.
"Is that crystal a teleporter or some sort of key to a door? I have heard of such things but know little of them."
Azri slowly walked around the crystal, trying to divine its workings. It was definitely here for a reason, and she wanted to know what it was. (She also took a few moments to try and read the magic script covering it, and see what it said. That was probably a better way of understanding what it was meant to be used for...)
"Any insights? This is quite the contraption."
The massive crystal pillar is part of an arcane system, likely linked to Nexus itself. From it's design Ayreth and Azri realize that you will likely find more of the devices in the other towers, but the hub of the network will be somewhere in the central tower.
Aibek and Nigrum find the tracks that the others left, but Aibek's goggles also spot a second path, deeper into the plant covered tower.
"Follow the tracks, I suppose?" Azri mused, heading in that direction. They REALLY had to explore this place in earnest sometime in the future...
"Yup, but let's remember to have to check the other path later." Selena nods as she scratches her head a last time at the weird crystal contraption, before following the others.
"Say, now that I think about it, do you think that Azerna could do anything about all these overgrown plants around here?"
"Possibly, Azerna will probably want to hear about this at the least..." the witchwolf said awkwardly while looking around.
"I'm seeming two tracks, these ones which are likely the more recent people and another one these are picking up heading deeper within. Really need to start drawing a map soon or it's going to get hard to remember all this stuff" Aibek commented, appearing to be continuing to make mental lists and pictures in the air while following the others when not distracted by plants or random thoughts...
Following the tracks once again, you hack your way through the plants. It's disconcerting to look back, and realize that the path behind has already sealed shut. Leaving in a hurry will not be possible in this direction.
When you reach the base of the stairs, 30 or so minutes later, you find that they are reasonably clear of plants...as water seems to be pouring from the level above. At least part of why such verdant plant life grows here is revealed, then. However, it doesn't explain the three dead bodies at the base of the stairs...
Nigrum places a hand on Tsui, ready to draw as he looks around for signs of an enemy.
"What happened here?"
He directs at no one in particular.
"Yeah, I don't like this one bit..." Selena says, drawing her Dan Bong and looking around for clues, glancing at the three bodies to see what kind of wounds killed them.
Azri moved closer to the bodies, keeping a careful eye on them and the surrounding area in case they decided to be a problem. She was quite proud of her talents at observation, actually - it seemed to be a lich thing. Goodness knew nothing else could explain it.
She also took a few moments to try and determine the cause of death. Perhaps that would tell them what might be lying in wait above...
Two of the victims have been seared by acid strong enough to melt flesh, while the others seemed to have been pierced by a long, lance-like weapon. Strange trails of reflective slime coat the bodies and the surrounding area.
It would appear they have only been dead a few hours. There blood has dried but is still a dark crimson and rigor mortis is only now starting to set in.
"Good, their numbers are falling and we are getting closer. If their is nothing else we should move on."
Nigrum goes over to see if anything can be salvaged off the bodies. Perhaps if they are lucky their is some kind of clue to their purpose or origin.
Azri nodded slightly, waiting until Nigrum was done searching the bodies before continuing on ahead, keeping an eye on the path ahead of them. One way or another, they needed to get to the bottom of this... and the sooner they did, the better.
Mihara, who was about to approach the bodies as well, nods to Ayreth. While Nigrum begins investigating the bodies, she turns her attention to the surrounding area, looking for a potential source for the acid.
Mihara spots the likely cause of the attack squeezing itself out of the vines nearby...a slug. Although given that this slug was nearly 16 feet long, it was hard to say it justified the term. It was 40 feet from you, but moving surprisingly quickly for, well, a slug.
Azri looked curiously at the slug, not terribly afraid of it. (But then, she wasn't afraid of most things - emotions weren't easy, given her current state.) "I wonder what that thing usually eats." she mused. "Let's see..." she stepped five feet forward, looking to see how close the slug was willing to come.
"Well, there's a lot of salad here." Selena comments, looking at the icky slug. "Gods, I liked this dress." the half-fiend groans, flying toward the slug and using her dan bong to help herself climb the creature, grabbing onto its antennae?/eyes?/??? .
"Heads up, Selena!" Mihara calls out, as she draws her bow and aims for what she assumes is the slug's head.
Nigrum closes in on the slug while drawing Tsui, in a flash he brings the blade down. Avoiding Selena of course.
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"I really hope that thing doesn't explode," Ayreth grimly mutters before casting the spell to summon her spiritual longbow.
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Aibek looked around carefully for the safest and quickest ways to exit the area - and any signs that this large creature was not alone. The witchwolf would rather spend as little time fighting giant slugs as possible. While looking, Aibek took the shadows from the claws and swiftly reformed them into a light repeating crossbow after discounting the use of a large shadow net. The witchwolf also would rather not get too close. Stepping into a nearby shadow, Aibek refrained from firing just yet while trying to find the best position - and/or the best way out...
Selena just manages to grab onto the massive, slimy creature. Mihara and Nigrum both manage to land a blow, although the surprisingly flexible creature nearly avoided both, and Ayreth's spiritual weapon pummels it from the opposite side.
Aibek realizes the creature can be wounded by salt, and is resistant to bludgeoning weapons - something none of you are using, currently.
The huge creatre, sensing dinner, attempted to take control of the grapple from Selena.
A combination of strength, size and body fluid's even Selena wasn't used to allowed the huge creature to begin crushing her in return.
Azri focused for a moment, then stepped to within 30 feet and sent a hex of Misfortune at the creature before cackling, hoping the effect would take and she could sharply reduce its overall effectiveness. Curses were her thing, after all, and she was more than willing to put them to good use.
Between blows Nigrum studies the slug, bring down Tsui again to finish the creature quickly. He did not know how Selena would fair with such a monster for long.
Dodging to make sure to not get in the way of her allies' attacks, Selena slips off the slug's back onto the ground. Before she can get back on her feet, the sticky creature blocks her.
"" the half-succubus shouts, not really sure if she wanted to know what was ending up on her, if was slime, saliva, or whatever; still, tapping on her powers, the Calistrian symbol on the back of her hand starts buzzing, and Selena tries to punt the insect?/invertebrate?/mollusc?/icky thing off her.
However, her attack completely bounces off the slug, and she isn't sure if that was enough to give her an opening to get back onto the thingie.
"What a vermin!" Mihara snarls. She draws a sword in her free hand and slashes at the slug, positioning herself opposite Selena.
(With flank)
"If only we had a ton of salt" Aibek quietly commented with a chuckle as random thoughts on the damage salt would do to slug spun around the shadow assassin's mind while moving towards the exit steps. Creating and loading a piercing bolt, Aibek fired once in a position while still in the shadows before checking the area and the exit for any signs of issues.
The flurry of destruction brings the monster down in a gooey heap. Slumping, it collapses without any further struggles, leaving the floor up open.
Crawling out from under the collapsed creature, Selena gets back up and slowly spins in place, not very amused at the state she was in after fighting the slug.
"Ugh, gods..." the half-succubus says as she shakes her hands and flaps her wings, sending slug...goo? at everything around her "This is so gross! I'm all sticky and gooey and the fun kind of sticky and gooey! Ahh, it's even in my hair, godsd**mit!".
Cursing, she keeps shaking off the mollusc juices like a dog that just got out of the water, trying to wipe off the slime with a towel without much success.
Azri gently pat Selena's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure you can handle being covered in any kind of fluid." she said, sounding completely serious and very supportive. With that, she headed up towards the next floor, once more keeping an eye out for any potential trouble.
"...There's some water flowing down this stairwell that may be of use to you..." Aibek commented to Selena after a moment to step out of the shadows, feeling her reaction was enough of an indicator of her well-being without needing to ask Selena outright. The witchwolf looked around the room once more before cautiously heading up the wet staircase into the next room while still holding the shadowblade crossbow in clawed hand.
Selena groans at Azri, then smiles at her and Aibek "I would've said the same thing if I wasn't this pissed. And I'd like to get a wash, but I think we don't have the time now: best try to pursue whoever is here first."
Following after the others, the half-succubus ascends the stairs, keeping an eye out for any other enemy...hoping that they were less slimy than the last.