Fifteen hisses as the beetle attempts to bite, instinctively putting the wall to her side she lashes out, a short, thick mace forming around her hand as she does so.
"Don't get between me and my father!" she yells, bringing her mace down with a resounding crack.
The beetle's carapace shatters under Fifteen's righteous wrath and it literally implodes into a mass of chitinous fragments and ichor.
Baleiro will stride forward, drawing his nodachi once again. This time his attack lacks the precision and impact it had before.
Baleiro feels weakened as the nanites in his body are still busy with neutralizing the toxins inhaled with the contaminated water, and his strike fails to pierce the beetle's hard shell. The insect retaliates:
But its mandibles just catch the sand where Baleiro's foot was a moment ago.
Rur darts past Fifteen as she fells the bug, stepping in and nearly slipping on the resulting goo. He swings his longsword at the beetle that just attacked Baleiro.
Rur manages to put a bit more force behind his swing and the beetle drops dead. The last beetle tries to attack him, oblivious to its siblings' fates:
A momentary loss of balance is enough for Rur to be bitten by the bug, and a trickle of artificial blood begins dripping down his calf.
Fifteen skirts around her companions, splashing through the water as she does so, to land another thump on the remaining beetle.
Fifteen's strike causes the beetle to roll belly up. Its legs twitch for a moment before it stops moving. The glands of the dead beetles keep illuminating the area.
While Baleiro waits for his vertigo to pass, you take stock of your surroundings. You see two paths forward - one is over a 5-foot ledge and into a stalagmite-filled passage , the other is through the waist-deep water around the protruding stone wall.
You notice track marks on the ledge - a group of people has gone this way not too long ago.
The water is faintly illuminated by a greenish light, coming from somewhere behind the stone protrusion.
As Fifteen releases her mace it disappears in a fiant blue puff, just as her axes did during the fight at the Foundry Tavern. Both Baleiro and Rur notice that the high pitched whine, which had vanished when her weapons were manifested, becomes audible again as the mace vanishes.
Fifteen looks around but draws no particular conclusions before gesturing both ways and looking towards her companions, head cocked to the side. "Which way?"
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Rur points-out some marks on the ledge. A group of people have gone this way not long ago." He frowns at his heavy armor. "If you would both assist me, I would be able to continue on."
Three large stalagmites on the ledge are sturdy enough to support ropes to aid Rur. Baleiro and Fifteen clamber up with relative ease and fix a rope, allowing Rur to follow.
A collection of stalactites and stalagmites choke the low-ceilinged cavern, making it difficult to squeeze between them. Matching stalactites close in from the five-foot-high ceiling, giving the impression of a maw of needlelike teeth bearing down on one another. A dead half-orc sprawls on the ground near the cave’s eastern entrance.
You recognize the body as a young half-orc woman named Parda, who was a popular brawler in town. She was one of those who traveled with several thugs into the caverns. Almost everyone called her a friend, and many felt that her falling in with the thugs was going to be her end — turns out, they were right. Returning her body for a proper burial ensures
the gratitude of those who mourn her loss.
The body bears multiple stab wounds from a short-bladed weapon like a dagger, none of which have been fatal but together they must have caused a massive blood loss.
"Scanning..."
Hovering over the dead body, Rur says, "This was not done by mere beetles, but by a blade. Was it treachery within the search party, or are there more intelligent things than vermin down here?"
"This woman was called Parda." Fifteen responds. "She was very popular around town. Val liked her. She often got into fights but no-one seemed to mind." Confusion colours her tone at the last line, she'd been taught that fighting was generally a bad thing. "Her family would appreciate it if we return the body. We should collect it when we leave."
"Parda. I remember her." Baleiro replies. "This is... sad. Yes. Sad. We should return her."
He will kneel next to her and look for anything else around the body they could use to wrap her up. If not, he'll arrange the body into a more peaceful pose.
Baleiro doesn't find anything suitable for wrapping, and in fact notices that the body doesn't have anything except the barest of clothes - unless Parda had decided to venture into the caves completely unprepared, it looks like anything remotely valuable has been looted already.
Moving on, the stalagmite forest ends but the passage becomes so narrow that you are forced to squeeze, brushing the walls. You reach a place where the dark cavern opens up, its twenty-foot-high ceiling thick with stalactites. A rocky shore overlooks a placid pool and stream, fed by a trickle of water leaking from a narrow fissure to the north. A small garden of toadstools and dark mold grows along the banks.
At the far end of the cave, you notice some sort of a frog-like creature the size of a short, stocky humanoid with webbed feet and claws. A tattered leather hood hangs in strips from its head. Its eyes look like solid milky-white circles the size of small plates.
This is an underground predator called a blindheim. Its eyes are capable of emitting flashes of blinding light, which it uses to disorient prey. Blindheims possess intelligence similar to wild animals, and can potentially be trained to live and hunt alongside sentient creatures.
Rur raises his shield and backs into the passage to the right. He realizes he could be considered an invader to this creature's home. As a precaution, he holds his longsword out so the creature can see he is armed.
Baleiro, up front, will raise an arm to keep the blindhelm's eyes from meeting his as he advances forward. He would have to lower it when he used his nodachi, but he didnt want to risk getting blinded so quickly.
"This is a blindhelm. Evidence shows it was trained by someone." he declares.
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"Is it a...sapient species?"
"Can we bypass it? Give it food and move past, or bring it with us?" Fifteen asks. "Animals don't like me, so I should not approach it."
As you hesitate, conversing, the creature makes a few quick jumping strides in your direction, hugging the cave wall. With a loud croak, it fills the cave entrance with a blinding white light!
The sudden flash doesn't leave your retinal shutters time to adjust, and you go completely blind, seeing only white light with blue-coloured rings swimming in it. Baleiro is the only one retaining his sight, but because his vision is blocked he can't see where the creature has gone now. The only clue is a loud splash.
Baleiro will lower his arm and draw his Nodachi, turning towards the pond and raising his weapon.
"Status report." he requests of his comrades, taking a defensive stance.
"My photo receptors are overloaded."
"I can't see anything." Fifteen replies, completely calm, in a way that would be impossible for a flesh and blood humanoid. "My combat effectiveness is going to be heavily impaired." Fifteen pauses a moment, filtering out the distracting rings of colour and focusing on auditory receivers. "I can move and fight, but this will be difficult. Rur, what is your status?"
A few seconds go by in complete silence, disturbed only by the quiet splash of the water ripples against the cave wall.
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"I cannot see, but it may be best to continue on. We do not want our enemy to perceive our weakness."
Rur keeps his back to the wall behind him and slowly shuffles south. "Baleiro, if you would, please get us clear of the creature's immediate vicinity and to a place where we might--hopefully--recover."
"Take my hand; follow me. Keep your weapon ready. Remain confident." He says. He will keep the point of his weapon aimed at the pond as he leads them past the Blindhelm's lair.
Fifteen makes a point of walking confidently, the sounds of Baleiro's footsteps as he moves tell her enough to be able to match his path cleanly.
"Follow the sounds Rur. The creature likely fears us more than we fear it."
Baleiro leads the party down the next passage, trying to keep up appearances. As you leave the blindheim's lair you hear a splash of water behind you as it slowly emerges from hiding and returns to its lair.
The passage soon opens into another damp cave, which is thankfully empty, save for a collection of crates, boxes, rubble, and scavenged metal heaped in its northwest section. Several strange chalk drawings of twisted, spiny plants, a strange three-legged creature very much resembling the automaton you neutralized at Khonnir's house, and emaciated four-armed humanoids mark the walls.
The passage forks at this point, one way leading further southwest and another branching off in the southeastern direction. Both branches slope upward, making it difficult to see what lies beyond them.
Among the rubble and refuse here are several ruined bits of technological devices, strange tangles of wires and unusually crafted fragments - but nothing that is recognizable or looks useful to you at a glance.
"There is salvage here. Rubble and broken technology. It is safe to rest here for now." he says. "Remain as alert as you can, but we should rest until you can see again, if you are critically damaged then I may have to lead us back past the Blindhelm to return to the surface."
He will then start searching through the rubble for anything of worth.
Baleiro finds 7 silverdisks - small metal disks etched with circuitry, a little larger than coins but much heavier - a full pound each. These disks are accepted as currency by the Silverdisk Hall - a popular gambling establishment in Torch, and by extension became a sort of unofficial currency among the local merchants at a rate of 10gp per piece.
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"Realigning optical elements." Rur would like to wait for his sight to return before pressing on.
Fifteen sits quietly, trusting that her nanites will fix her vision given enough time, she'd survived worse in the wastelands before Khonnir found her. As she waits she slips into though, a mood that in her sister or another human would almost be called 'melancholy'.
Baleiro will gather the silverdisks together, stacking them and after considering if they would slow him down, stows them in his pack.
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About half an hour passes as Baleiro rummages through the techno-garbage pile and the other two androids listlessly wait for their eyesight to restore. Gradually you feel that the burn-in starts to heal, but before you are able to recognize any shapes in the darkness again, Fifteen hears the faintest of footsteps near her and feels a gust of air brushing past her cheek. Turning sharply at her warning, you swiftly draw your weapons and prepare to defend yourselves.
Baleiro:
You notice what looks like 3 lean and translucent humanoid shadows peeling themselves off the walls and taking form right next to you on both sides of the cavern. They all wield quite real-looking swords and daggers pointed at you, but do not immediately attack.
These are living humanoids known as skulks, who prefer to live underground or in dark places. Their skin has an uncanny capacity to mimic the color and even pattern of their surroundings, making them very hard to spot when they don't want to be seen. They are generally known for their cowardly and petty behavior.
One of them, slightly smaller than the others, addresses you in a crude Common language.
A strange vaguely female voice speaks right next to Baleiro in a hoarse whisper:
"Sef wants to see you. Come, one who will see her. We will keep the rest safe if you behave. If you fight, you will die as others did."
Baleiro will tense, checking the body language of his comrades.
"Skulks?" he observes.
"If you will not harm my allies, I will come." Baleiro agrees with them.
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Fifteen's head cocks to the side in her 'inquisitive' motion. "Go Baleiro. If there is to be negotiation you are most skilled in handling it. We will be fine."
Skulks... I wonder what those are...
Now with a 'known' unknown in the area Fifteen sits a little straighter, Rur can hear the sounds of her nanites whirring into higher pitch.
The skulks exchange a few short phrases between themselves in an unfamiliar, strange-sounding language. One of them emits a high-pitched whistle at the edge of your hearing. A sound of sloppy irregular steps draws near as the blindheim arrives from its lair. The skulk kicks him and gives a sharp command, and the blindheim sits down obediently. The skulk catches a large centipede from a nearby wall and gives it to the creature as a morsel.
Two other skulks lead Baleiro up the southeast tunnel, then due south around a 10-ft ledge and into a deeper vast chamber. Four ramshackle huts made of what appear to be strips of metal, hides, and some sort of fibrous plant matter sit in the cave, while to the south yawns
a dark pit. The far end of the cave ends abruptly with a strange grey metal wall.
Baleiro is now led past the huts and northwest, ending up not so far from where Rur and Fifteen are being guarded - but on the other side of the earthen wall. This cramped cave is filled with metal junk covering almost every inch of ground. The precarious pile rises up in a heaplike hut to the northwest. Baleiro is ushered inside, where another female skulk, with no less than six throwing daggers strapped to her body via leather strips, greets him.
”I am Sef. My tribe came from Nar-Voth down below. We were much more in number, and led by Kiora. Kiora had powerful magic, made us fly up here. We settled this cave. Tried to move inside the wall but attacked by skeletons with four arms and metal beasts who lurk there. We retreated. Our weapons are made to hurt flesh and draw blood, metal and bone dull them.
Then that woman with purple hair came from above, with a big tribe of her own. She was afraid of Kiora’s magic, pay us treasure, many silverdisks. We let her pass and she promised us more treasure if we guard the cave from anyone who follows. We take pay, kill intruders. But more intruders come, kill Kiora. Now we have no magic and are tired of guarding. We think she is not coming back. We think she is dead.
Gremlins from the north come and curse us. Nasty gremlins, hard to catch, hard to kill, nasty curse. Cannot rebuild tribe while they are here, cannot move back to Nar-Voth without Kiora’s magic. Help us get rid of them, and we will not harm you. We also pay part of treasure - many silverdisks and more. Do we have a deal?”
"Allow me to clarify the request." Baleiro states. "There are gremlins you need exterminated, and in exchange, you will leave us unharmed while in the area, and provide compensation in the form of Silverdisks?"
He will nod. "These terms are acceptable. There is no reason we should not cooperate. May I have the information you have on these gremlins? It will make removing them more efficient."
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Sef nods. "Yes, this is what we want."
She then shrugs."Gremlins are sneaky tiny pests. They love trouble and mayhem. They have gremlin magics, can disappear and then backstab. If you attack them but leave them alone, they will not forget until they get revenge. If they steal an item from you, they will curse it. If they capture you, they will curse you. You can only be safe if you kill them all or drive the whole tribe away."
"Understood. Where can we find these gremlins?" Baleiro requests.
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"They have made their nest in the tunnels just north of here, you'll have to climb up the ledge to reach them. I'm glad we have a deal, this is better for everyone. Luepel, escort the intruder to his tribe and let them pass through to the gremlin caves."
After the accord has been reached, Baleiro is escorted back to his allies, whose vision starts to return. A few minutes later you are back in the large skulk cave, preparing to scale a 10-ft ledge up to the gremlin tunnels.
Baleiro will scale the wall easily. Getting up top, he fastens up a rope.
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Fifteen scales the wall alongside Baleiro, possibly even a fraction faster. [;)] Once at the top her nanites whir into action, a thick, short blade materialises in one hand, as her newly returned sight scans the darkness.
Fifteen's nanites have done a good job at recalibrating her optics, as she spots a thin wire running half an inch above ground across this section of the tunnels.
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"There is a tripwire, just... here." Fifteen points, leaving her hand just in front of the wire. "Step past it carefully."
Rur makes use of the rope and climbs up carefully. At the top, he heeds Fifteen's warning.
Baleiro will kneel and examine the wire, figuring out the mechanism.
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