Sa'rah'then'al looks at Jeji as she pokes about on the decayed remains "It would be best to go ahead and rest...do you think we could block off this room. It seems safe enough, and does anyone else hear that random...noise" he said as went back to pacing on the console.
"Rest would be good. That undead creature took a chunk out of me..."
The kobolds bet that there are no more of the undead aliens with a card to enter the chamber and rest right there amid the ghostly images and hissing screens. Sarahthenal is a bit nervous about the weird noises and activities, but Drahlneep assures him that they are no threat and takes the first watch despite the discomfort of his wounds.
The kobolds are uninterrupted in their rest and make ready to continue feeling somewhat refreshed.
Jeji scoops up the black card and slips it into her pouch. After resting she prepares a few extracts and readies her gear to continue on.
"There are too many odd things in this place. Reep is not liking the way this place is trying to kill kobolds." Reep cradles his rifle as he sleeps and makes disapproving noises in his sleep.
The hall continues thirty feet before there is another portal on the right and then it dead ends in a third portal ten feet beyond that.
Jeji slings her pack over her shoulder and picks up her spear. She proceeds down the hallway slowly, using her spear to probe the space in front of her. When she reaches the first door, she examines it closely before trying to open it. She pushes on the door first as she pulls out her card keys.
The first door on the right doesn't respond to touch, but the black card sends the doors sliding apart and reveals another chamber.
A pair of black metal pillars frame the doorway. Across the room, a large metal desk with blinking lights and strange glowing panels sits atop a raised area on the east side near a circular table. Two couches covered with black material sit to the south. Splatters of dried blood stain the floor and walls near a pair of doors to the north, while here and there patches of rust-red mold and fungus cling to the southern wall. The room itself is brightly lit by glowing panels on the ceiling.
Drahlneep throws back Jeji's extract in one quick gulp, basking in the internal warmth and actually enjoying the itchy feeling of his wounds healing in seconds. Joining the others i the new room, Jeji comments, "These ancients had a great command of magic. Can anyone tell how old that blood is? Could it be from the recent expeditions, or older?"
Reep sniffs but doesn't go near the blood. Instead he moves toward the blinking desk, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Sa'rah'then'al watched over the others for a while before feeling it was safe enough to bunk himself. Upon the morning he had to use his power to heal himself.
He winced as the magic that flowed through his wounds felt weak but he dared not waste another of Gakzara's blessings. He looked at the others and then moved to the blood and began to sniff at it with curiosity. He gave the blood a lick to get a better judgement of it.
Reep heads across the room toward the jolly gem-like lights and buttons studding the metal desk. Sarahthenal volunteers to inspect the blood by the northern doors. His tongue detects that it is dried, but just barely. Less than a week old surely and likely of one of the human exploration parties.
Reep studies the desk, trying to make sense of it.
Years underground accustomed Jeji to unusual flora so she was intrigued at seeing the mold and fungus. Some could be beneficial and some could be deadly, so it was important to know which one they were near. Maybe it was the room and their surroundings, but it was hard for her to remember either. "Should we proceed through this door, or back into the hallway?"
Drahlneep grunts and heads toward the door.
Sa'raht'then'al looked aback at the group "If we are to try and find these humans...then we best press forwards. This blood is theirs and still fresh enough to track. The blood also means they will be slower so we can catch up easier." he said before scraping his teeth a bit with a claw.
Reep finds another set of doors beyond the desk and a smaller door behind it. As for the machine itself, it blinks and pings in a seemingly random fashion. A screen shows a little picture of a four-armed alien with an elongated head. It is obviously one of the undead creatures encountered in its fleshier more alive state.
The fungus is of a type that Jeji hasn't encountered before. When she presents the question of next steps, Drahlneep joins Sarahthenal at the bloody door. It does not open automatically and must need one of the colored cards.
Jeji scurries up to join the other kobolds and begins inspecting the bloody door. She gives the door a quick once over before trying the cards on the door. Once the door begins to open, she jumps back quickly and readies her spear, expecting the worst.
Reep sighs and moves to the smaller door he's found, examining it.
Reep finds the smaller door locked. The bloody doors slide open as Jeji touches a brown card to the pad to reveal a long curving hall. Bloodstains mar the floor and walls of this hallway, while scorch marks and smears of ash on the walls evidence some sort of altercation having taken place in this area relatively recently. Four tangled mounds of metal and other materials lie further up the hall, surrounded by strangely colored stains.
Reep prods the closed door a few times, makes a disgusted noise and moves over to follow the others.
"The softskins fought gloriously. Let us hope they didn't destroy all the wonders to be found here," Drahlneep mutters as he cautiously makes his way down the hall.
Jeji presses forward into the hallway and moves up to the tangled mound of metal to investigate. As she sifts through the debris with the butt of her spear, she keeps an eye out for something she can use as a make-shift club.
Closer inspection reveals the twisted metal to be destroyed robots. Jeji manages to pull off a rod of sufficient heft and extreme toughness from one. It will work much better than a crumbly old bone.
Drahlneep leads the way down the corridor to find a pair of doors. It appears that the trail of blood continues through the door at the end of the hall rather than the door on the right
Sa'rah'then'al follows the blood along to the next door. He looks at teh blood that has been pooling over time and how badly it was dripping. He began to guess they'd most likely find at least one dead by the time they found them. He looked at Drahlneep and then to the others and nodded before stepping back from the door and readying his whip. "Forgive me, I dare not waste more of Gakzara's blessings just so that I can lead us. Drahlneep, do you feel safe taking lead? We will have your back." he said as he looked at the door grimly. He's getting antsy with all the random creatures attacking them.
Drahlneep grunts and nods sharply. He keeps his spear in a ready position and approaches the door.
The doors swoosh open to reveal a long table with various unusual stones and dirt samples heaped on it. 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.
Jeji can't help but follow her curiosity as it leads her down the clean path. She is trepidatious as she approaches the doors, but her fear is overcome by her desire to learn, at least for now. She steps gingerly, half expecting the floor to disappear right out from under her, but she continues to press forward. She has no concern for the humans, but everything she encounters here is like nothing she has ever seen before. She cannot help herself. She is driven to know what this place is, and what it is capable of.
It almost looks as if the blood has been mopped up though the rest of the floor is covered in dust. As Jeji steps into the room, she hears a small child-like voice, "Who- who are you?"
Jeji quickly turns on her heels to face the voice, spear up and defensive. "I am Jeji. Who are you?" she inquires.
"I don't know. Why are you so small? Where am I?"
Drahlneep hurries to Jeji's side, concerned about the conversation suddenly occurring.
"I am not small!" Jeji responds while trying to puff out her chest. "I am fairly tall for one of my kind" Jeji bluffed. In actuality, Jeji was of average height at best, but she did not know this creature, and she didn't want to back down in its presence. "I'm...I'm not really sure where we are. We are underground, in some kind of metal cave system. You...you don't know who you are?" she asked quizzically. Jeji was confused but was on guard in case it was a trap. "Well then, what are you?"
Reep moves up, hearing the odd conversation. "Who are you, voice?"
"I don't know. Am I 'voice'? Do you live here? What is a cave system?"
Reep's eyes narrow. "Do you have a body, voice? We are visitors here, in the metal mountain."
Drahlneep spins around, glancing in all directions. "We have seen undead, have we stumbled on some ghost?"
Reep's eyes narrow. "Do you have a body, voice? We are visitors here, in the metal mountain."
"Ghost? Yes, I have a body. I am hungry. Do you have food?" Drahlneep swivels around looking for the source of the voice before he realizes that it is in his HEAD!
Telepathy? Can you hear me...if so, what is your name? Thinks Drahlneep, increasing the 'volume' of his thought as he asks the question.
"I am Voice. Why do you keep asking? Do you have food?" asks the voice in your heads.
"What do you eat?"
"What do you eat?"
"The red food that the metal things left on the floor was delicious! Do you have some?"
"Can you show us a picture in our heads? Of what the red food looked like?" Reep asks, his mind already terrified by his suspicions of what the red food is...
The kobolds' minds replay the images of the bloody swath that led up to this room and then disappeared. "Like that- blood? Yes. I want more blood!"
Reep unslings his gun and keeps it out and ready. He hisses in draconic to his mates. "This voice is very very bad. Very bad!"
"We don't have any for you, but maybe if you told us about the others who came here, we could find some."
Drahlneep agreed that whatever was behind the voice was likely dangerous, but he tried not to think the idea 'out loud' for fear of angering an unseen foe.
"You have blood! You have blood inside. You just do not want to give me any. You want to hurt me!" The big brownish ball next to the humming machine to the north quivers. Then the top of the ball splits open revealing pointed woody teeth and a spongy tongue as tendrils erupt from the sides. Your minds are filled with wild images that distract you from reality.
Reep:
Sahrahthenal:
Drahlneep:
Voice:
Reep fires at the evil ball-thing! for damage!