Seri continues to work with Vaughn, dancing and stabbing
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Ray looks at his hands with admiration at their larger size.
"Fascinating. I wonder what else has grown larger..."
for
for
for
"Teamwork! We need a name after this!"
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Doctor N punches another hole in the robot. Unfortunately, this does not stop it from retaliating against Vaughn.
As the claw grasps Vaughn, a small needle-like device emerges from its palm, piercing the skin before quickly withdrawing.
Taking advantage of the robot being relatively static, Ray manages another powerful hit, and the robot tumbles to the floor, inactive.
Once you have a moment to experiment, you are able to open the pod by inserting the black card into a slot on the control panel. Doors slide open to reveal Khonnir Baine. He raises a hand weakly towards you and mumbles incoherently.
"Guh. Buh hurk loo..."
Numerous sutured wounds dot his skin, along with blossoming bruises around injection sites. Most troubling is the area of shaved hair on his head, where a circular, thumb-sized wound seems to indicate that these machines accessed his brain somehow. These wounds are clearly only barely treated.
Examining the room reveals a number of technological devices, as well as some items that are decidedly not.
78 gp, 6 sp, 4 cp
Masterwork dagger, two vials of acid, one vial of antitoxin, an everburning torch, and assorted survival gear (bed roll, waterskin, etc.).
Scrolls of: detect radiation, technomancy, unseen servant
Spellbook (see OOC for details)
Selkania tries to understand what happend to Khonnir but is unable to understand it. She still uses Brigh's reconstructing power to heal Khonnir and her comrades.
Then she tries to understand each strange object they found in the room.
Ray gestures an awkward greeting.
"Khonnir Baine, wizard and scholar."
Ray begins gesturing to each member of their band in turn, making introductions before finally ending on Seri.
"This one is known as Serithial, although he recently professed a desire for a new identity for himself after our most recent battle along with a preference to use a plural pronoun in self-identification..."
"I believe this is a hypogun. And these are nanite cannisters. I am unsure of the name or function of the wandlike device."
Voice: Hypogun? What's that?
"I have this knowledge, but I am not prepared to explain at this time."
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A hypogun is injection based healing. This variety (brown) can spend 1 charge to heal 1d8+1 as a standard action, requiring a touch attack on unwilling targets. Alternatively, 5 charges can be used to produce the same effect as remove sickness at CL1. This is nonmagical healing, but has an effective caster level for purposes of determining duration and other purposes (caster level checks to remove disease, for example).
More powerful versions provide more healing and more dramatic alternate effects. This one currently has nine charges.
These are recharged using nanite canisters, not batteries. Because this one is timeworn, it can't be recharged, and there's a chance of things not going right the first time you try to use it.
It doesn't specify how this works with undead and such, but I'm going to say that it has no effect on them. It might also fail to heal creatures that can be healed magically, but are radically different from common organic life (like elementals, oozes, and the weirder aberrations).
Seri stands wide eyed at the treasure, "Ask and ye shall receive!" He lets the others deal with identification for the moment and checks on the man. "Can we use some of that healing on him?"
As the babbling, hurt Baine spills out of the chamber, Vivilaas lets out a gasp. Khonnir! she yells as she rushes towards him.
She examines his strange marks, and the machine behind him. What happened to you...
Vivilaas turn to Selkania and lightly shakes her head. "That's a start, but there's more damage under the surface. His agility looks gone, along with his intellect. We need to get him out of here, and back to Torch."
Seri has no clue on the red liquid.
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This unlit circular room is empty save for a panel of controls on the wall to the northwest. A coil of tubes dangling from the left side of the panel periodically flashes with sparks, while a single square window on the panel blinks with several lines of Androffan writing:
Deck 4: Engineering
Deck 3: Science
Deck 2: Crew
Deck 1: Docking
WARNING! Elevator off-line. Please contact maintenance.
The “warning” line flashes red. “Deck 3” glows bright blue, with the other decks in fainter blue. Touching any of the labels leads to a voice calling out in Androffan.
”The deck you have selected is offline. Please make another selection”
An examination of the sparking tube reveals that a glaucite coupling link that once attached the device to the panel has torn free—even a cursory examination of the sparking tip of the broken cord reveals that such a repair could easily be made at a forge.
The walls of this room are lined with boxes and lockers. Most have been ransacked, though a thorough examination yields one flashlight, seemingly in better shape than the one found earlier, three batteries, and 39 silverdisks.
One locker remains sealed. Even the black card you found fails to open it. Seri is able to open it with patience. Inside is a pistol, a suit of armor, and a number of devices that resemble high tech versions of the bombs used by Khonnir and many alchemists. There are four in total, two blue, one yellow, and one pink.
The stench of mold and decay fills this open, dark chamber, no doubt created by the thick blanket of fungal matter coating the floor. Several chairs sit before work tables containing unusual tools and equipment, while a row of doors line the curved southern wall.
The lights seem to have been destroyed by the overgrowth of fungus and plant life. In four alcoves, dead bodies sit cross-legged, with hands folded on their laps. Three have light hammers laid across their laps. The corpses were clearly positioned with great care.
Seven creatures await on the other side of this door, brandishing longspears. About the size of Doctor N, they seem to be made of green moss. They do not immediately attack, seeming more wary than outright hostile.
Almost immediately, though, one lowers its spear and points at Selkania. It lets out a high pitched whistle, followed by excited chittering, and the others follow suit. From one of the other open doors, yet another of their kind walks forward. Appearing more heavily muscled (or the botanical equivalent), it carries a hammer almost as large as its body. The mask symbol of Brigh is emblazoned on both sides.
Looking all of you over carefully, it turns to Selkania, and warbles something, looking to the cleric expectantly. The rest coo softly.
The serene position of the four bodies contrasts with the rest of their appearance. The bodies are riddled with mold and show signs of rapid decay. More alarmingly, each bears a large rent in their chest or belly.
Gleaming silver holy symbols of Brigh sit around their necks, untarnished by the maladies ravaging their bodies.
Selkania is able to determine that the strange elevator could go only up and share her discovery with her friends.
Selkania unable to understand the creature put his hand in a peaceful manners and while touching her holy symbol call Brigh's power to be able to understand them. Casting a spell.
May Brigh give me the power to understand all languages
"Doctor... you may wish to examine this armor. It may compliment or amplify your natural abilities to blend in with your surroundings..."
~**~
As the group encounters the strange spear-armed creatures, Ray raises a hand up in a form of greeting.
"Greetings, little ones. I am Ray."
Roguish voice: Keep an eye on your pockets, I bet these little buggers are thieves. Just sayin', like knows like.
Seri makes some notes while exploring:
1. Get that part forged to reconnect the whirlygig to the thingamajigger.
Seri looks at the little guys, and speaks in Androffan, "do you speak? Who are you and what happened here?"
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Vivilaas takes in the room with wide eys, eyes that narrow as the plant-like creatures react to Selkania. She whispers in Andoffran to the cleric. "Selkania, these things are Vegepygmies. They hatch 'out' of people. And if they all came out of those poor Brigh-ands there they may be considering you as their next one. Be careful, and whatever you do, don't get too close to that mold!"
"Oh, and don't try to shock or pierce them either. In case things go south."
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Most of your words are met with blank stares, though one mimics Ray's hand-raise. Several gasp when Selkania casts a spell.
This time, when the hammer-wielding one repeats itself, the words make sense to Selkania.
"Have the sacred-birth-gods sent you to lead us from this place? The earth in this place is not real earth. Not healthy."
Seri looks on in fascination. "What are they saying?!"
"How do we tell them we're explorers and not their rescuers? Viv's warning doesn't really make me keen on taking them out of here."
Are they evil ? asks Selkania to Vivilaas
I'm not sure what to do...
an hollow voice whispers in Selkania's mind - ! Burn them all !
She shakes her head and says What do you think ? Do we try to find some location where they could live without endangering someone or do we make sure they will not get out of here ?
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Viv's Nature is high enough to know that Vegepygmies are most frequently neutral, like most plants, though as they are intelligent creatures, it's possible for them to fall anywhere on the alignment spectrum.
She'd also recognize that there doesn't seem to be any russet mold here, except for the inert spores on the Brigh worshippers. Khonnir and the bodies of his teammates showed no sign of infestation (except for Gerrol, who's infestation you treated). It's possible that the original mold samples were destroyed. As a survival mechanism, vegepygmy chieftains carry a less virulent strain. In the most extreme cases, russet mold can prove fatal less than a minute after exposure. The version carried by chieftains can take a week or more, providing much more time to seek treatment. While spores are not killed by sunlight, they are rendered dormant, and will not infect others. An ongoing infestation will not progress while in sunlight.
Vivilaas chooses her words carefully. "Not evil per se. No more than all samsarans are good or evil. Their reproduction method is a biological imperative, not malicious. That said, it's not exactly harmless if near a heavily populated area."
"That that said, vegepygmies are hardly the first species to require some others to die in order to live." She thinks. "There was that drop down to the Darklands near the cave mouth. Maybe they could head below. It would avoid bringing them to Torch. We should try to get them to avoid Sef in that case though."
im for that, if it doesn't detract too much from our mission!
In this case I will try to convince them I their "guide" and how to go to this place you talk about Vivilaas.
Says Selkania trying to not listen to the voices in her head.
She turns to the plant creatures.
First she points at her and her comrades and draws an X in the dirt. Second she points at the creatures and draws a T.
Then she draws a big circle including both X and T.
After a look at the creature to be sure they had understand what she draws she continues.
She draws with a stick a line under the big circle from the X. Then she point at her and the creatures, and finally shows two fingers to include both group. She then make the sign of moving with her two fingers through the line she draws.
Once her hand arrived to the end of the line, she looks back at the creature and including only them in a circle movement. She make the sign of sleeping with her two hands under her cheek and after that she tries to mimic the growing and mutiplicaying of the creature - pointing regulary to the mark she made when arrived at the end of the drawing line.
The she waits for there response.
Ray stands in quiet observation as Selkania offers to guide the vegepygmies to the Darklands, agreeing with the group's assessment and decision.
Roguish Voice: Good plan. There probably wasn't enough weed-killer in Torch if you led 'em up... although I got this guy in Daggermark...
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For a few moments, the vegepygmies fall into hushed conversation, trying to decipher the symbols. Before long, they seem to pick up on the message. The leader turns to Selkania, bows, and lays his hammer at her feet.
"Thank you, emissary of the sacred birth gods."
The others follow suit with deep bows, before the whole group bursts into motion. The chieftain enters one of the alcoves, removes the holy symbol from the body's neck, and places it around his own. The others then begin removing items from the alcoves, laying them at Selkania's feet, presenting each with a bow of their own.
Once the last item is presented, they rush back to the alcoves. As teams of two, they each gently lift the bodies off the ground, and assemble themselves in a line.
The chieftain, at the head of the line, chirps out,
"We are ready to follow, emissary.
The items piled include:
As well as a collection of shoes, bags, belts, and other accessories, all of which have been thoroughly damaged and are effectively valueless.
Vivilaas watches the procession cauitously. Still conflicted on whether the party's choice was right or wrong, she nevertheless finds the details of the vegepygmies' behavior fascinating.
Turning back to Selkania one more time, she asks: "Do they want to take those men with them? That seems a bit traumatic for the families up above: does Brigh have any strange funerary customs I am not aware of?"
After some time to think about the corpse of the Brigh's follower and their use by the creature Selkania says.
I think Brigh will accept the use of the corpses of his follower by these creatures. As long as we give the holy symbol to the church I thinks it's ok. Both group will be happy, the family to have something to mourn for, the church to know what happens to its follower and the vegepigmy to grow.
Vivilaas nods deeply at Selkania's words, poring over the situation in her head. "So the Goddess is fine with even her own being used by other, to create something new. But the vegepygmies seem to revere the dead forms, even after they no longer can be used to continue to cycle. Do you think its a form of ancestor worship? Or is a fragment of the host imparted into the vegepygmie's own soul?"
She sighs and brushes a thin hand through her dark hair. "This gives me much to think about."
"I'm with you Viv. Not too long ago we were getting slaughtered... now we're... I don't even know. Is this everything they desire?"
Thirst time I meet these creature, I cannot say for know if I made the right decision. But even if some voices in my head want me to burn these creatures I don't think It's Brigh will I'll do it.
Only time will give us the right answer. I don't know if the Vegepymgimies are responsibles for the death of the Brigh's followers and if letting them live is Right. But they don't attack us on first sigh, which is a pleasant change so I prefer to give them the benefice of the doubt. Let's get them to their new home and we will get up to give the bad news to the temple and hope they can do something about Khonnir.
Says Selkania unsure to have made the right choice.
"I'll back you my friend. If it be the wrong choice, I stand by you knowing you made the best choice you could given the information at hand."
Besides, death is pretty permanent. I'd think you would rather err on the side of mercy--if we were wrong, that can be corrected!
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On your way out, Seri takes some time to disable the electric trap beyond the door. Before advancing further with the incapacitated Khonnir, you check out the other cave branching off of the dome, to make sure you can pass safely.
Several strange shell fragments and bits of bone lie scattered across the floor of this large chamber. Ancient cave paintings of four- armed humanoids and strange animals decorate the walls—but to the south, a particularly unusual depiction that looks like an oblong shape burning in the sky above several kneeling four-armed figures dominates the prehistoric decor.
A dead, desiccated version of the hermit-crab like creature you fought at the entrance to the dome sits here.
It sits atop fragments of broken tribal artwork and jewelry. One necklace remains intact, and detects as magical, with a moderate abjuration aura. It has an amber pendant, with several unusual insects trapped inside.
The doors that lead from the dome to the Black Hill close around you all. A calming voice calls out in Androffan.
”Decontamination procedures beginning. Please stand by.
A faint mist sprays over all of you, before the second set of doors opens with a chime.
Once in the caves, the vegepygmies quickly head towards the hole leading deeper. In unison, they bow, before beginning to carefully lower the bodies down.
When you resurface and head to the temple of Brigh, word quickly spreads that Khonnir has returned. A crowd begins to gather outside, but Jorram restricts access to only his acolytes, the town councilors, and other important community members, such as yourselves and Jhestine.
Khonnir is brought to a medical bed for examination. After consulting a few machines, Jorram turns to one of his assistants, whispering a command. She quickly departs, returning with a scroll. He unfolds it and begins reading aloud, slowly moving one hand above Khonnir’s body. He frowns, concerned.
"It seems his head wound was used to introduce some sort of parasitic infestation, though it's unlike anything I've ever seen. I may be able to treat this. Please excuse me for a moment.
He moves over towards a statue of Brigh and sits on the floor, bowing his head in silent prayer.
While this happens, Bazlundi and Dolga begin to ask about your discoveries, but first Dolga mentions,
"We found someone who might know a bit about your skeleton, though it might be moot now. Name's Sanvil Trett, another refugee from Starfall. Said he'd head to the Foundry tavern to wait for you once you got back."
The noise from the crowd outside intensifies, earning an exasperated sigh from Dolga. The elderly dwarf strides towards the temple's doors, hefting her massive warhammer as she does so.
"Oi, you lot! This is a place of healing. Clear out now before I give the priests a couple cracked skulls to fix!
While she does so, Bazlundi expresses gratitude for recovering her would-be son-in-laws body. She also promises that you shall receive the promised rewards for recovering Khonnir. She nods to one of the acolytes, who approaches the collection of pipes, gears, and machinery that functions as the temple altar.
The acolyte begins pulling levers, adjusting dials, and rearranging gears. Her movements are hard to follow, but before long, a hiss of steam heralds the emergence of a thin bronze tube from the temple wall.
The tube is a scroll case, with a fine toothed gear serving as the cap on each end. Inside is a scroll of resurrection.
About fifteen minutes later, Jorram stands, and returns to Khonnir. He puts one hand on the scholar's head and casts a spell. A moment later he tries again, before repeating the incantation a third time.
"Brigh's magic has not driven out the malady yet, but I shall try again tomorrow."
Jhestine rushes back to her shop, returning with a potion. Pouring it down Khonnir's throat also yields no results.
Selkania bows to Jorram.
She says with sadness in her voice Bishop Jorram. We found the corpse of the Brigh follower. Unfortunately they were use by creatures named Vegepygmies who use them to increase their number. Vegepymies are plant creature only able to procreate from corpses.
Rather than killing them - as they begin to negociate with us - and taking back the corpses, we've decided to direct them to a more convenient location in the darkland. In a strange circle of life, their corpse will be of use to create something new. This is in this believe I've decided to accept the bargain. We have taking their holy symbol and weapons to give it back to the temple and the family they had. Hoping this small token will suffise to appease the pain of their family and give them a sense of closure.
Selkania gives the holy symbol to Jorram.
"Resurrection! I never thought I'd see usch magic, let alone be given such a gift! Thank you. Truly, we didn't do it soley for reward, but our appreciation runs very deep."
To the party, "We have many things to do before we continue exploring. Engaging in some rather lavish commerce and a trip to the Foundry Tavern are but two."
Ray stands by in quiet observation at the medical practices and attempts to combat the parasites inhabiting Khonnir Baine, wizard and scholar.
Roguish voice: You know, "wizard and scholar" isn't actually part of his name, it's just describes him. You can have thoughts of him as just "Khonnir".
Ray blinks a few times.
Referring to him as Khonnir Baine disambiguates him from other Khonnir Baines in the region.
Roguish voice: Yeah, are there a lot of Khonnir Baines rolling around that make that totally necessary?
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"I see. While that is certainly an...unorthodox approach, I do see the logic behind your decision. I will see to it that these are passed along. Who knows, perhaps you might inspire them to hear the Whisper in Bronze. From what little I know of their kind, they are prone to worshipping Gozreh. The man is clearly stressed and weary, and you catch a hint of disdain in his voice.
Jorram turns to the Grippli, "I'd appreciate any help you can provide. Unfortunately, I am the only person in town able to cast the magic that would rid him of this disease, so any further attempts from me must wait until tomorrow."
Dolga listens to the description of what you need, jotting down a few notes.
"Sounds simple enough. Any of my apprentices should be able to put this together, but you know what they say. If you want something done right, do it yourself. I'll bring it by in the morning.
With that, she departs for her forge.
A young, attractive man with long hair sits at the bar when you arrive, nursing a glass of white wine. He stands and greets you excitedly.
"Hello! I'm Sanvill Trett. I assume they told you about me? I've heard the news. It's fantastic to have Khonnir back. I'm sure they'll patch him up in no time."
”Dolga asked me to look at the skeleton you guys found. I can’t say I know too much about it, but I know it’s not from around here, to say the least. Until Desna smiled on me and got me out, I lived in the Killbox in Starfall. Learned a bit about technology under the League’s nose when I worked in those markets.
One time a traveling merchant came through. Had a skull just like that one. Tried to pass it off as a demon skull, freshly slain on the front lines in Mendev. Before he could start the bidding, the gearsmen came out and carted him off, skull in tow. That can only mean one thing. It’s not from this world.
I’m not sure if that helps you at all, but I do have some other information I expect you’ll find useful.
I still have some friends in Starfall. We were part of a...” he pauses momentarily, …well let’s just call it a book club for fans of Andoren literature, if you get my drift. Anyway, as soon as this whole mess got started I reached out to them. Word was that the League did it, and they already had resources in place to prepare to take the town over.”
”So I’ve been trying to figure out who’s been involved ever since, keeping a low profile. I think I have a lead. There's a warehouse down on the far side of the hill, Nobody seemed to be using it before the crisis, but ever since there's been a lot of men coming and going. Garmen Ulreth's men. My first thought was that he's hoarding food and supplies so he can sell them for a fortune if this crisis drags on.
That seemed like his style, but then Garritt Burwaddle who runs the junkyard told me Garmen actually moved his men in a few days before the flame went out. He's gotta be involved. Maybe the League promised to put him in charge of the town after they take over? There's no chance they'll follow through, but he's always had more greed than brains.
I know how to handle myself in a fight, but I'm sure I'd be no match for Garmen and his thugs. You were able to handle whatever it was that Khonnir. Would you check it out for me?
"Of course. Rest, pray, and try again. If there is anything we can do, do not hesitate to ask." Vivilaas says to the Brigh priest. She looks at Khonnir with concern. Still not truly back yet. When did this happen. Was it because we couldn't get there fast enough? Saddened and guilt-ridden, her head perks up when the priest mentions Sanvill. "We'll meet him there then. Let us know if anything changes."
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The samsaran listens to Sanvill's tale with mounting concern. "So you are saying that the League, and Garmen, are both behind the dying Flame? To what end: I would think that the Flame's existence would itself give the League better 'justification' to try and claim it." She sighs and looks at her companions. "Still, we can investigate the warehouse while we wait to see how Khonnir's condition improves. You say you've seen men going in and around: what kinds of men? And how do they approach it?"
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Despite only having just met Sanvill Trett, Ray readily accepts the data he relates as valid input into his reasoning upon why the flame has died.
Roguish voice: This one might be trying to pull the wool over your eyes, get you to off an enemy of his...
Ray blinks a few times, trying to determine if Sanvill Trett is in possession of any bolts of woolen cloth that could be used to cover his face as he considers the information presented.
"I concur that investigation of the warehouse is a logical next step. What is known of Garritt Burwaddle, junkyard purveyor and Garmen Ulreth, warehouse dweller?"
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"The men are his usual Ropefist thugs, mostly, and a dwarf I couldn't get a good look at Garritt says he saw a woman with purple hair in the area around the time things got rough, but she hasn't been back.
He continues, The dwarf doesn't leave often, but the others change out pretty regular, like they've got a schedule set. I'd say there's at least half a dozen people in there at any given time. I saw Garmen go in and out a couple times, but not enough to make predictions.
"Garritt's a good guy. Fancies himself an inventor, but never seems to produce much. Maybe that's why his hair went white. Still has a knack for being able to fix pretty much anything, though.