"Thank you for your aid." Kharamell tells Alexis as she heals him. He then proceeds to investigate the room and its contents.
Take 10 on Knowledge: Engineering for 19 total.
Nyssa watches the sparks to gain a sense of the timing, then jumps through the doorway.
Jumping through the room the doors remain open. Nyssa and party sees:
This wide room has a rounded desk in the center inset with banks of technological equipment. A large set of doors to the northeast are badly mangled and jammed with rocky debris. A single glass panel with a thin metal frame extends from a desk to the south; this panel slowly flashes with a softly pulsating white light. A few inches of standing water cover the southern portion of the room's floor.
An image appears on the glass screen-an image of the same room, as viewed from above the southern door. A man leans in over the screen on the desk in the image, then straightens up and nods his head eagerly before speaking to the apparently empty room. "As I thought. While this terminal accepted my spell's magical charge, it's unlinked to any sort of central archive. We'll not be able to extract any significant information from here."
A second, much deeper voice from an unknown source replies,
"But what you seek still lies within the ruins of this ship, does it not, Master Xoud?"
T
he man nods again. "I believe so. We will need to explore further. There may be additional defenses though. This is why I called upon you, Sahasho-you will lead the way."
At this point, the man walks away, a swirling of dust and wind following him before both are eclipsed by the screen's edge. The screen flickers and goes dark.
"Master Xoud... Sahasho. Those names sound familiar to any of you?" Nyssa asks the others. She tries to remember if she has heard of either person.
"the portal is supposed to decontaminate those who enter"
Nyssa frowns, displeased with herself. 'Right! Furkas Xoud. That battle robot we met before we made Iadenveigh. It spoke of the Smoke Wizard Furkas Xoud.'
So that this is what the League is looking for, an entrance to the strange place where Furkas is, avoiding confrontation with the menacing battle robot?
We did not found the spy, but if that is what they are searching for, the spy will find us.
I wonder how long ago this was Alexis muses.
"This Furkas Xoud is probably wrapped up in this as one of the leaders. Sahasho...I think this is bigger than we realized at first. Should I follow the wizard?" She asks.
"I think we should finish exploring these ruins.
Nyssa tries to understand the picture screen and it's attached apparatus. It might still be functional, and Nyssa wants to turn it off, so others can't hear and look at what she and her friends have said and done while in the room.
"Yes. Let us continue to investigate these ruins."
Nyssa turns off the screen by pressing a series of buttons. The recorded video remains in the system, however.
Nyssa opens the pair of doors to the west. On the other side, a mass of reflective gray sand rises from the ground and swirls about like a small tornado. It starts to move as a group towards the party.
1. Alexis
2. Sand
3. Everyone
Alexis starts singing, a song of defence against the unknown.
+2 attack/damage to the party
It seems to be a swarm of several hundreds of tiny robots-nanites. You may ask one quesiton.
Swirling around faster, the mass of glittering sand engulfs Nyssa. It cuts into her flesh and she can feel her limbs reacting slower than before almost as though they were heavier.
Nyssa draws her sword and charges it with electricity.
She flails the crackling blade through the swarm. Perhaps the lightning can fuse the sand into glass.
Nyssa's electrically charged blade cuts through the swarm, errant arcs of light striking the tiny pieces.
Kharamell casts Ball Lightning in the space occupied by the swirling sand.
Ref 20
Ref 20
Also, I forgot to roll to identify the sand creature. I'll use the method Valt used.
Arcane +9
Engineering 16
Planes +9
As Valt hesitates about what to do with the strange living sand, Iophiel goes ahead and slashes it with surprising agressivity.
Uh? what happened to her so suddenly?
Tess drops to a knee and slowly knocks an arrow, taking her time to release a single, powerful shot.
Kharamell's ball lightning attracts the millions of motes of silvery sand together, causing some of the swarm to fall to the ground. Iophiel's greatsword cleaves through the mass of flying particles, causing more to fall to the ground. Tessara's arrow flies through cutting a swath through the metal creatures. There still seems to be quite a lot of them still.
The nanite swarm moves into the space with the most living creatures, surrounding Kharamell, Alexis and Tessara. The tiny metal robots begin to slice through clothing and armor.
Tessara and Kharamell feel the swarm cutting into their flesh, and their bodies becoming sluggish, as a shrill buzzing echoes in their ears. Alexis dodges, moving wildly about to avoid the insect-like creatures around her, and manages to remain unscathed.
Nyssa steps up, her sword still crackling with electricity. She slashes the blade at the swarming cloud.
Kharamell retreats from the swarm and commands his spell to stay in the area occupied by the swarm though not damage his comrades.
Ref 20
Ref 20
Tess shakes her head and steps back, firing twice more into the swarm!
Valt tries to get out of danger, while Iophiel continues slashing at the cloud of robots.
Bron moves gracefully as he gets near the cloud, while his circuit lines glow with pale blue light as he concentrates his energies to punish the miniaturized robots.
Alexis darts in to strike, filling her balde with power as she sings.
Nyssa slashes into the metal cloud, surges of electrical energy course through the dust. Larger blasts of electricity explode from Kharamell's orbs of lightning. Arrows cut through the silvery sands from Tessara's bow. Finally, Iophiel and Bron move in swinging their blades in very different movements, hacking away at the swarm.
When the majority of the glittering sand is down on the floor, the rest of it dissipates, moving through cracks in the ceiling.
"That was some wicked sand..." Nyssa looks around at the others. "Is everyone OK?" She lets her elemental electricity fade away. At least now her control over it is precise enough to allow her to call it again if needed.
"Onward then." Nyssa opens the next set of double doors, after giving them a brief look for traps or such.
Nyssa doesn't see any traps as she opens the door.
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, a s 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.
Nyssa moves to the closest door, checks it, then opens it and has a look inside.
Nyssa opens the door revealing what appears to be a storage room. Several old cabinets line the northern wall.
Kharamell takes some time to try and figure out what the machinery was meant to do or make.
Take 10 on
Knowledge: Engineering 26 total
Heal 14 total
Staying in the larger room, Kharamell inspects the large machines.
Nyssa checks the cabinets.
Valt, still concerned about the strange behavior of Iophiel, just follows her as she moves to inspect the southern door and tries firmly to open the double doors.
Why is suddenly actin by herself? Perhaps the machinery in this room is affecting her?
Alexis remains on overwatch, looking for trouble
Kharamell seems a bit surprised by the machinery.
Nyssa searches through the cabinets inside the small room.
-a timeworn tech pistol (4 charges)
-a timeworn white gadget (handheld with a long barrel) with a symbol of a gearsman on the console
-a timeworn white nanite hypogun (3 charges)
-40 silverdisks
Re-emerging from the storage space, Nyssa shows the items to her companions before stowing them away. 'Found this stuff, we can probably pawn it."
ware, there is someone near the southern doors
Alexis readirs her rapier in one hand, a wand in the other
they have gone into the next room. Seems that the locals are aware of us.
Alexis' warning gets through to Kharamell. He takes a moment to gather himself. "Then we should proceed with caution."
Nyssa draws her sword. "We better find out who they are and what they want." The suli moves toward the southern doors, watching for signs of the person that Alexis saw.
Nyssa can make out some non-humanoid shape hiding within the large metal tube. The debris and darkness that covers it, hides it somewhat, but it seems to be a large blob. She hears scuffling noises coming from the rooms to the south.
Alexis calls out
Come out! We know you are there. Perhaps we can talk.
"Yes, let's talk. We could have much in common." Nyssa lowers her sword so it's point is near the floor and relaxes from her fighter's stance. She doesn't really relax her guard, however. Blob types tend to attack mindlessly, the suli doesn't have high hopes for parlay.