"Oh hey, I thought the stories about tentacle monsters were just stories!" exclaims Viv.
Coen aims and fires his crossbow after making sure that he is sufficiently distant.
Kaska nocks an arrow and aims it where the tentacles converge.
Viv fires a blast at the tentacled monster, but her allies are in the way and so the attack isn't quite accurate enough to hit.
Fireday grants Kaska a blessing of battle, and the ranger puts it to good use, cracking the beast's carapace with an arrow.
Coen's bolt goes wide of his target.
Gylwinth struggles free of the sticky stuff and back away from the monstrosity.
It slithers forward on its tentacles and lashes out at Kaska, landing a powerful hit that cripples the ranger! At the same time, the sand beneath her and Gylwinth starts to become sticky as the fluid seeps from the thing and threatens to entrap the two Kellids!
Recognizing that the situation is serious, Viv concentrates and tries again to strike the monster with her telekinetic powers.
...to no avail.
While Viv's blast goes wide again, Gylwinth decides to stand his ground. Waiting for just the right moment, he drives his spear right through a gap in the monster's carapace, stabbing deep into the squishy body inside! The tentacles thrash around before suddenly falling limp. Ichor oozes from the holes in the shell as whatever this thing is expires.
Kaska comes to with a start. The last thing she remembers is a hammer blow to the side of her head from a tentacle.
"That thing can move!" she hollers as she tries to jump to her feet.
"I think it's dead," says Viv. "Or it's playing dead." She telekinetically pelts the corpse with a few small cave rocks to make sure it doesn't try anything funny.
"Kaska, are you going to be all right? That thing really smacked you upside the head. Gylwinth, you really came through there. Thanks."
"Are any in need of further healing? I can grant the Inheritor's grace to do so," says Fireday. He nods at Viv's assessment of Gylwinth's martial prowess.
"You do your ancestors proud, Gylwinth."
"You certainly don't see those under the open sky... If others came this way, we're very unlucky to keep running into things that they didn't kill."
"Maybe they had invisibility magic or something."
When you decide to move forward out of the tunnel, it emerges into an enormous cavern. At first glance, this cold cavern presents a strange and disconcerting vista—that of a desert valley under a starless, night sky. A stretch of sand covers the ground, a vista broken here and there by bits of strange, spiky shells or contorted, dead fronds that look like branches.
Fireday and Viv can see the ceiling is a featureless sheet of glaucite arching above. The lowest point is 50 feet high, and the peak disappears beyond what their darkvision can see.
A trail leads ahead through the desert, the bootprints of numerous creatures.
Viv whispers, "I guess we're crossing the desert now. Should we try to find a wall to follow, or just set out across the way from where we came in? And should we leave some kind of trail marker?"
After Kaska shakes off the blow she took to her head, she begins to look around the area where the tunnel exits into the large cavern. She checks the tracks on the ground, and takes a look at the walls.
"I think this cavern is not natural. It is made. It should not be so large that we must worry about getting lost. If we follow the tracks on the path it would be best."
The walls appear to be some sort of natural rock, though the ceiling is definitely metallic.
The tracks seem to belong to two different groups of booted humanoids. They wind through the desert, and Kaska takes point as she follows the trail. She hasn't gotten far, though, when a creature suddenly bursts from the sand twenty feet away! It clambers to its feet, revealing itself to be a skeletal humanoid with four arms that end in claws and an elongated skull!
With his darkvision, Fireday can see a second skeleton emerging from a niche in the cliff to the northeast!
The skeletons rush Kaska. The first moves in and claws at her, while the second one charges at the ranger!
Viv sidesteps to get an unobstructed shot and launches a telekinetic strike against the northernmost skeletal creature.
Coen readies himself to cast Magic Missile on the first skeleton damaged, hoping to focus fire and eliminate one quickly.
Kaska strikes back against the charging skeletal whatsit with her falx.
Fireday gazes up in awe at the vast chamber they've entered.
"It is almost as if we have stepped into another world. Who knew the Torch hid such wonders?" he says as they start off. "Worry not for my sight, Gylwinth. The photoreceptors of androids are made to see in darkness...wait, how do I know to call them that? The name just...entered my head, unbidden."
His pondering is interrupted by the sudden emergence of danger, and he draws his sword, calling the green flames to it once more.
"I see another one emerging from over there! Be careful!" he barks.
Fireday draws his blade and calls on Iomedae to bless it with holy fire.
Gylwinth stabs at a skeleton, but fails to hit. He holds his spear at the ready to defend his allies.
Kaska swings her falx at the skeleton that charged her, but it narrowly dodges her blade.
Viv steps up and blasts it, shattering it into fragments!
The remaining skeleton's eye sockets begin to glow with an eerie green lgiht. It attacks Kaska with all four of its claws, and even with Gylwinth distracting it, it lands one good hit.
The sounds of bony feet skittering on sand presage the appearance of several more four-armed skeletons! The brandish their claws as they converge on you from multiple directions!
Viv switches targets and launches another telekinetically-sheathed bead at the skeleton that now has the glowing green eyes.
Fireday takes a swing at the skeleton attacking Kaska, his sword glowing bright green in the darkness.
;
Before Kaska can react again to the skeleton she's engaged with, Fireday is on it too. She guesses it will not withstand the blow he delivers to it, so she backs away and turns on the one to her rear.
She knows her blade isn't the best weapon to use against bone, but there's no time to switch. Instead she swings heavily toward it's center, trying the thread the blade through the arms and sever the spine.
Magic Missile towards the first wounded but undestroyed skeleton again.
Fireday swings at the skeleton, his holy blade tearing through the undead and causing it to fall to pieces in the sand!
Gylwinth stabs into the northern skeleton, and though he hits, his spear doesn't seem to harm the creature much.
Coen blasts that skeleton with a magic missile, blowing chunks of bone out of its body, but it still barely stands.
Kaska finishes it off with a powerful swing of her falx.
Viv gathers power and hurls a blast at the next nearest skeleton, blowing it away!
The remaining skeleton's eye sockets start glowing green as it charges at Fireday! Its claws rake across the android's chest.
Another pair of skeletons comes rushing across the sand, converging on your location!
Viv turns and launches a blast at the two skeletons charging toward the group, hoping to destroy one before they are upon the team and into melee.
Kaska steps up to meet the skeleton approaching her. As she does she drops her falx and pulls the club she keeps stuffed into her belt. She aims for the head this time.
Fireday smiles confidently as the skeleton is immolated in holy fire, and turns to defend himself from the next one. He fails to parry its claws in time, as he's used to fighting foes with only two arms, crying out in pain as one connects.
Immediately he closes his eyes and his hand begins to shine with green light, this one a gentle glow as opposed to the harsh flame of his sword. He touches his wound, still dripping the clear fluid androids bled instead of red blood.
"Faith. Purity. Iomedae," he chants as the light energizes his nanites to heal him.
Thus reinvigorated, he glares at the skeleton that wounded him, and takes a retaliatory swing at it!
;
Fireday calls on Iomedae to heal himself before retaliating, cutting the skeleton down with his holy blade!
Gylwinth moves to strike the other skeleton near Kaska, knocking off its skull with a powerful thrust of his spear! The remaining bones fall to the sand.
Viv tries to blast the last skeleton, but it dodges her attack. Kaska draws her club and readies for when the last undead draws near.
Eyes glowing green, the final skeleton charges in. But Kaska smashes it with her weapon, crushing it before it can attack!
The strange desert falls silent again. It seems there are no more skeletons. At least for the moment.
"Maybe whatever animated these skeletons wasn't here until after someone else came through," suggests Viv. "Everyone intact? We can keep going, see if we can find another exit from this artificial desert."
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After she catches her breath Kaska agrees with Gylwinth. "It seems we can't move 25 feet without something pouncing on us. It is hard to believe anyone else has come through here recently."
Kaska says nothing about it, but she's not looking great. Scratches and wounds from three previous fights can be seen on her, and they are taking their toll.
"Calm yourself, Gylwinth. You are not the only healer among us."
He turns to Kaska.
"Do you require healing, Kaska? Whether through the love of the ancestors or the grace of Iomedae, we want to make sure you are well."
You've been down in these strange caves for about two hours now. There's still three hours or so left on your water breathing spells.
You trek across the desert for a few minutes, following the trail in the sand. After a little while, you notice a bright light glowing in the distance. You follow it to what appears to be a dead-end cavern. A crisp glow of light shines from the northern wall, although no obvious source of the light is apparent.
Gylwinth's spear passes right through the wall with no resistance. It seems some sort of illusory effect is cloaking the entrance here.
Beyond the false wall is a short hallway that ends at a door. The door is not closed completely, causing bright light from beyond to spill out into the hall.
There's a gray panel on the wall near the door, and at a touch, the door slides up into the ceiling. The metal room on the other side is brightly lit by glowing panels in the ceiling above. Another door is set in the wall just ten feet ahead. To the left and right, complex machines consisting of spiral tubes and nozzles twitch and hum.
Every so often, the machines discharge blasts of electricity into the room. Your hair stands on end as the lightning crackles and fades away.
"Is this supposed to do that? Or is it broken?" muses Viv about the crackling electrical discharges.
Coen looks uncomfortable and makes sure to give the machines wide berth.
"We shouldn't linger here. Tools are built to use energy efficiently and nothing is intentionally built to be this wasteful with energy. If these aren't broken and this is a side effect... then the energy they're using is immense."