Sorry, weekends, ok, let me see:
Take 14 damage
Sucess
Success
Take 11 damage
Chakos will LOH himself:
On me if no mercies needed
"You guys worry about killing it, I'll worry about keeping myself alive!
Chakos casts CLW on himself.
On me
"I'm doing fine!"
Ibuki knows the same thing that Astra does. The mass of glittering silver does not reply to Ibuki.
The grenade explodes dealing considerable damage to the swarm as handfuls of silver fall down dead.
Astra and Liz's electrical damage from their implements electrocute the mass of silver as it swirls violently around Chakos. More of the dust falls "lifelessly" to the ground like sand.
The remaining silver continues to rip through the blue half-elf, cutting his soft flesh with its metal bits like hundreds of tiny razors.
Astra uses the semi-automatic aspect of her EMP pistol to get off two shots, each at -2.
I see myself forced to mention that this thing is only semi-sentient and mechanic. Probably not a robot, since it probably consists of countless single entities that act together on their own. A swarm indeed, but not of insects, of technical plagues! Theoretically if manipulated the right way they could probably heal and be beneficial. I would love to research that! Chakos how long can you hold position there? Oh and it is highly resistant to fire. Wait a second.
Ibuki produces some vials and tries to gather parts of the mass in them, carefully stoppering them again.
"At this rate? Probably not more than a couple minutes. How are you guys doing at killing it?"
Uriah says IT's not dead enough thats for sure... and he hurls his final grenade
DC 15 reflex
Fail
Chakos is down 24 HPs.
Chakos will LOH himself.
On me if no mercies needed
Chakos will CLW himself.
On me
"You know, I fully expect to not have to buy any drinks for myself for a while after this, right?"
Chakos is all healed up again.
Have you managed to acquire any of the wands with healing in them? An excellent way to supplement your abilities and save resources.
Liz zorches again
"I... There's nothing I can do to help..." Says Syvlara, obviously frustrated and defeated.
Maintaining prepared action.
"I've never needed them in the past! Not to mention, I understand they are not quite as effective as organic healing can be."
So Liz prefers to have a wand around while Chakos thinks touching oneself without any aid is best. That might be the difference between the genders. I´m glad you both entertain a good relationship to your body and health. Perhaps if i succeed in unscrambling the mysteries of this mass of glittering silver that i believe to consist of nano particles, i can develop something that is beneficial to all tastes.
Liz rolls her eyes at Ibuki. Well under stress conditions like combat, they are inefficant, but during lulls they can be quite useful. We should see about purchasing one after we leave here and you can test for yourself.
Astra's first shot misses the swarm (all of it) but the second shot strikes a portion of it dead on. More of the machines fall to the ground. Uriah's grenade and Liz's electricity finish off the swarm, and the rest of it settles to the ground like dead sand.
Astra gasps and breathes a little heavily as the air starts to clear from the flashes of light and explosions, ozone heavy in her nostrils. "Did we get them all?" she calls out, moving closer to Chakos and examining the minuscule dead machines on the ground. "Okay, that was maybe the scariest fight for me so far...even more than Hellion. I had had an almost phobia about these things, but..." Her face scrunches up a little. "We did all right. We made it. Hey. Not bad." A little smile comes to her face. Maybe swarms aren't the end of the world. "Chakos? You all right?" She looks the oradin over, in case he's in need of any help, but doesn't expect him to need much. By now, Astra is pretty damn convinced about Chakos' healing abilities dwarfing her own.
"I'm doing ok, no complaints, everyone else?"
I was able to salvage some of the mass and preserve it for later studies. That is remarkable
Ibuki says as he softly swirls a vial and looks closely at it´s ingredients.
"That is an excellent idea, I will do the same", Astra says and gathers up some of the fallen swarm as well, filing them away in the elaborate organizing system in her backpack. That still holds some of her internal organs in preservative fluid as well. Once she's gathered up enough to satisfy her curiosity, she carefully ventures into the room that the swarm came out of, alert for anything interesting, but particularly for traps.
Got any ideas how I can help in these situations?" asks Syvlara, still frustrated
I believe investing in some alchemy items like bottled fire and ice.
Could always look for some more Boom Sticks.... Uriah says, referencing the small cylinders he hurled at the nanoswarm.
"In a similar circumstance, I suppose I should just play the same roll? Damage absorber?"
Correct me if i´m wrong Chakos, but you seem to like that...
Sylvara, i could craft the same device for you as i crafted for Astra if you like. It magically distributes the force of an impact over a wider area, so it is able to let a small impact like that from an arrow affect a larger target area and therefore damage such things here.
Syvlara's eyes widen. "Oh really? Yes, that would be very helpful, Ibuki."
This cavernous chamber is split into maze like passages by tall stacks of dark, dusty machinery. The western side of this room is a jumble of stone, as from a catastrophic collapse. Three crushed tubes protrude from under the tumbled stone, each as wide as a wagon and capped with a circular metal plate. On the north side of this room, a shattered glass terrarium surrounded by technical equipment stands empty. To the south, more silent machinery looms amid workbenches scattered with technological parts and several large machines that bear restraints and metal skullcaps
Astra..you are carrying around your liver? Liz is disturbed.
I wonder what this rooms was used for, let us examine the terrarium and the closed door to the north.
Chakos will stand near the new door, awaiting the inevitable.
"I will stand over here awaiting the inevitable."
Astra glances to Elizabeth with a blank look, and says, "Wouldn't you?"
When entering the room, Astra thinks it's a treasure trove of everything to explore and examine. "Oh, this looks fascinating! You check the terrarium, Elizabeth, I will check the workbenches and the shattered tubes!" Astra does as she says, and heads first to the south, checking that silent machinery and workbenches. "Restraints...that means someone was held here against their will. Some sort of experiments on them? Didn't Furkas Xoud experiment on how to transcend his physical body? No...he was a visitor here, from the vision we saw. This is someone else's experiments. Skullcaps...perhaps their studies focused on the mind somehow."
"Heh", Astra chuckles briefly at Chakos' words, as if some private joke occurred to her. "It's funny you should pick that word. Did you know that the inevitables are a race of living machines from the Outer Planes? They're incorruptible, single-minded, in pursuit of law and order. I should like to hope that one of them isn't about to come through that door. For all I know it would decide that we are on the premises illegally and proceed to put us to the sword."
Ibuki glances over the room, then looks ar Astra.
I would say this looks ominous Astra. Good point about inevitables though. There are indeed comparable points, since their logic and thinking is known to be merciless and flawed sometimes...Uh metal skullcaps...mh...I think something else went down here. There are not traces of blood or tissue, so we are most probably not looking at biologial beings getting probed. Perhaps machines or machine people.
"Why would an offworld lawkeeper with access to disgusting levels of technology use a simple sword?"
Because it´s a very effective method to chop you into accurately measured square peaces approved by the cosmic law enforcement.
I wonder if they are like golems
"Please tell me you're all joking..."
(A8) The southernmost of the large tube - like machines protruding from the wall of rubble has been significantly damaged, but some sort of jury-rigged cover has been affixed to the twisted end. Crusty strings of some sort of glistening residue hang from the edges of the tube’s cover.
As Liz is checking the southern machinery, she sees a pair of cold eyes staring at her from the hallway. Whatever it is darts away down the hallway out of sight in a metallic blur.
An android foundry. For creating androids. Waaa! Liz suddenly looks startled .Somethign ran down that hallway! She points.
"Do we pursue?"
"Look out for traps if you do", Astra says, putting her finger to her chin as she studies the southernmost tube with a thoughtful frown. "This one has had something done to it, *after* the group of tubes had been damaged. Only one", she looks around, to the other tubes that have not been similarly jury-rigged. "One subject." Wheels grind inside her head for a few moments. "I wonder if this could be the location and means of Furkas Xoud's planned apoincorporeosis. Doesn't make sense, though -- this location is for making androids, not for becoming incorporeal. Unless he needed to become an android *first*, as an intermediate stage to losing his body altogether..." Her finger goes from her chin to her lower lip, playing with it absently. "There's a lot we don't know about androids, and how they gain life, or for that matter, how they exit life. Sentience...how is it granted to them, or to many of the metal constructs that we have fought...if it can even be called sentience in some of their cases... I wonder if Furkas Xoud knew what he was getting himself into. Likely not."
Let us secure the location before poking any of the equipment, we don't want to be attacked while disassembling anything.
Liz nods to the corridor. Let us investigate whoever was there. Liz is ready to follow.
Syvlara takes 10d6 Int damage.
"As long as we can destroy it, that's really all that we need to know."
She keeps her spear at the ready, guarding the back in case of an ambush.
Chakos heads out in the indicated direction, ready for anything.
Life Link on: Uriah, Astra, Syvlara
Moving down the hallway, you see a several humanoids with metal parts of skin and strange glowing tattoos-androids. They seem almost feral in their postures and movements. One of them pull a lever on the tube revealing two large masses of moving flesh. The doors all open, revealing several more of the strange androids.
Farther down the passage, you see a female android with a split face. The emotions on both halves change independently. She holds a technological gun that seems to exude cold gas. She shouts to her compatriots.
1. Astra, Liz
2. Enemies
3. Chakos, Ibuki, Uriah, Syvlara
Liz shouts back. We are not this Dominion and we do not want your brains! Please do not attack!
The android woman frowns, "We don't believe you. You are lying! You're Dominion skinchangers trying to take our brains for consumption!" Blue-white light glows from her weapon.
Astra! Need your help. Chakos is having his speaking problem.
Astra sighs a little, and breaks away from the tubes she was examining, to come face-to-face with the androids. "Skinchangers?" she holds her hands out, empty, to display her peaceful intentions. "You're used to some sorts of creatures that can change shape, coming to take your people away?" She takes a step back, and nods for the others to do the same. "We won't approach you, we just want to talk a moment. Would that be all right?" She holds a little pause, and then adds, "Do the skinchangers usually take forms like this? An adventuring party armed to the teeth? I assure you, if we wanted to deceive you, we would come here bearing gifts and flowers. Maybe a nice fruit basket."
"There's actually an interesting tradition in Brevoy, just across the border, where the shape of the bow that is tied around a gifted fruit basket signifies the intentions behind the gift. There are elaborate bows for 'I want to make a business contract', 'I apologize I could not afford more', 'I wish we met more often', and of course 'Would you marry me?'. There's even a specific bow for 'I just want to have a meaningless sexual liaison with you for one night and then forget about you', which I think says something about Brevans... There's actually an interesting comparative sociological study that I read in the journals of Caliphas University, that suggests that because Brevans live in a much less challenging environment, and consequently don't have to worry as much about survival as we Numerians, they can afford to use sex purely as a recreational activity, whereas for us, it tends to be perceived more as a matter of survival..."