Suna mused at an experience where to break a metal creature he used its own arm to pierce through its otherwise tough outer skin. There was cause for using a prey's nature against them to win.
" A few days old as well.. which means there well may be no body on the other side. Once you are done.. 'playing' with the metal creature, we should take caution not to lose our own lifeblood. Now the question here is.. how to open it? There is this.. blinking light here. Maybe one of you 3 can figure it out? "
Alyna walks over to the blinking light and examines it. She notes the brown coloring of the panel, and after reading the screen, she wonders if the strange cards with the brown stripe the greyfolk gave them might be of some use here.
"Who has the cards the greyfolk woman gifted us? This panel has a brown coloration to it, possibly paint, and I believe the cards given to us had a brown stripe on them, if I recall correctly."
Suna tosses Alyna the bag containing the Disks and bundle of cards, of which he recently had little use for save for possible income.
" As long as you figure out how to open this.. "
Bob hands one of the brown cards to Alyna and motions as if it is hers to keep.
"I bought one at a tech market. The brown is the most common. Other colors are supposed to be harder to find and possibly access things the brown ones cannot."
Bob encourages Alyna to use the brown access card after examining the mechanism first.
Alyna graciously accepts the cards from both Suna and Boba. Taking one, she looks for any way to use it to open the door.
"We should be ready for anything, as we do not know what may await us on the other side of the door," she says, ready to use the card when everyone is ready.
" Blood generally notes something unfortunate. Do not worry Shaman Alyna, we are ready. " Suna readied his Crossbow and nodded to the woman. Allowing Bitha to go in front, his sense still sharp.
If the doors opened from the card's application, Bitha headed in, sword in hand. She took a look at the room, trying to figure out if any of the town folk had passed through these very doors.
Perception
The door slid silently into the roof above, the mechanism working by simply passing the card across the face of the flashing panel.
A slow hiss followed the doors rise, as if steam had again escaped from somewhere. Bitha moved in quickly, but found the room beyond completely clear. There was no sign of blood, nor bodies or any other sign of activity in here at all.
The only details that were notable were a series of hoses and nozzles that protruded from either wall. A small cloud of steam seemed to hang near the left wall, drifting slowly to the floor. On the far side of the room was another door, closed tightly. Another brown panel waited here as well.
Both Suna and Boba's dog whined a little at the smell in here. It was astringent, like strong alcohol or the alchemical smell that came from some of the more arcane shops in town. This place felt completely lifeless, and every spec of the metal walls and floor were spotless.
Those with the background of technological constructions could tell the nozzles were designed to spray a liquid or jet of steam. It looked like some form of elaborate trap, though it needed a strong power source to fully work apparently.
Alyna took note of the nozzles and hoses protruding from the walls of this small room. She looked around as best she could to determine if they may be dangerous, using her knowledge of engineering to the best of her ability.
"If we can pass through here without disturbing anything, it may be a prudent course of action to take."
"Give me that brown card. I'll try to open the next door with it, unless the cards go bad when used."
" Be careful.. I don't like the looks of all this going on.. there is no sound and it interferes with my nose. It is too quiet " Suna stood poised to strike.
Bob looks at the trap mechanism to salvage anything useful.
Giving Boba the time he needed to do his work, the others waited nervously. Bitha stood with the brown card hovering near the panel, while the deft hands of the little man worked their magic.
It took a few minutes, but he eventually had each nozzle blocked. Whatever was coming out of those things would be hard pressed to get past that particular disablement. The best part was, he could re arm it at any time just by removing the blockages too. A good job all round really, even he did say so himself.
He turned and nodded at Bitha, signalling her to open the other door. Again the panel slid soundlessly up into the roof. Beyond was a passage that looked like a desert cave. The stone was stained ochre and red, banded like the sandstone of the southern lands. Bitha and Suna alike realised instantly that no rock like this existed in this part of the world.
The cave twisted to the left, making natural turns that quickly took it from sight. However, where the outside caverns had been cold due to the river, this place was dry and hot. The suddenness of the transition from metal to cavern was also too perfect to occur naturally. It was almost as if the metal building had sliced through the ground to create the transition exactly where the door was.
Alyna proceeds cautiously with her companions, eyes peeled and ready for anything.
"Think that trap is disabled for now. This place sure is different."
Following, Zlota looks over at Alyna. She had heard the alarm like she had, understood the words. They weren't ones that sounded inviting in any sense.
Slowly, she follows, one of her daggers drawn just in case. Ksitha, though, remains nearby. They both understood that there was danger, and both stayed as alert as possible.
Perception
Know. Nature
Suna covers his nose but his eyes and mind were still sharp.
" How did a desert suddenly appear.. strange "
It was an enigma, the presence of a desert in the middle of cold terrain. However, both Bitha and Suna recognised the sand as unnatural. It was nothing that had been made naturally. The silica structure seemed wrong, and the sand had an almost kinetic structure, as if it could bind and shape easily.
Suna's natural perception and tracking abilities did pick up the signs of the other groups that had been through here though. The sand had shifted very little it seemed, and the cat man picked up the tracks of at least a dozen people that had moved through the cavern. The tracks overlapped each other, telling the catman that there were at least two different sets made at different times. There was also a set of drag mags beside one set, as if something heavy had been supported or carried heavily through the sand. Suna had seen enough of these types of tracks to recognise it as most likely a body being dragged along. There was no blood, though the sand may have absorbed it.
He indicated the direction of travel, setting the group in motion again. As they followed the tracks, the tunnel wound and twisted for a short distance before opening out into a desert landscape much larger. The sky seemed to open up, a dark cavern of massive proportions extending beyond the range of even the best vision in the group. The tunnel seemed to burrow into almost vertical cliffs that stretched into the sky as well. Suna felt he could easily climb them.
As they stood staring upwards though, the front members of the party suddenly cried out in shock. Their feet sank quickly into the sand around them, the gritty substance almost liquid as it swallowed them to their knees.
At the same time a large rock structure that had been sitting in the sand nearby suddenly erupted into flailing tentacles of purple flesh. The tentacles struck out at the two in the quagmire, writhing hungrily and trying to burrow into their flesh.
Suna roars out, seeing his allies were being attacked. He leaps into action, scaling the Cliff with ease before aiming his crossbow down and firing at one of the protruding purple appendages. His stripes become much more prominent.
Bob climbs the small ledge with ease. He points the new microfiber net gun with both hands taking cover as he fires.
Reflex
Alyna calls upon her Goddess and launches a bolt of fire from her hand at the strange creature.
Reflex 1d20+1
Bitha holds Her ground and attacks the creature trying to hold her tight.
Attack
Damage
Taken aback by the trap, Ksila roars and attempts to bite whatever attempted to catch it unawares.
Zlota, frightened by the sudden appearance as well, casts Acid Splash.
The response from the party was unified and strongly effective. Suna and Boba immediately went for higher ground and released two well aimed shots. The catmans bolt skewered a meaty tentacle trying to wrap itself around his hunting partner Bitha.
Bobafette's new weapon hissed with released pressure and the blue fibred net stored within spiralled through the air. The weapon settled over the creature and immediately constricted with a whirr of powered winches. The beast squealed from within the rock like carapace but couldn't withdraw its tentacles now they were hopelessly tangled in the netting.
Fire and acid leapt from the two tattoed ladies in the party, but only Alyna was successful in hitting the thing.
Then Ksilla and Bitha struck. They moved in, and struck simultaneously. The big sword in Bitha's hand crunched through the hard shell of the thing and a gout of purple fluid sprayed through the air. The squeal of pain erupted from within it again. Ksila's had leapt forwards, tearing at the trapped tentacle mass and ripping a large chunk of flesh from the thing. As the snake bodied eidolon withdrew from its bite, the tentacle creature convulsed and then went limp. They had killed it, but still the quagmire around it was trying to grip the two who had closed in.
Suna roared out in victory as the creature's life was ended congratulating his comrades on a speedy reaction. He begins reloading the Crossbow in his hands peering down over the scene from his spot.
Ksila screeches, failing to resist.
Fort save
Perception
Boba and Zlota both turned at once in the same direction. They had heard the sliding of sand, and possibly the sound of a distant voice coming from out of the darkness, deeper in the desert.
Something was stirring out there. Something that had responded to the battle they'd just had.
Bob makes a quick whistle and points in the direction of the threat. He readies another shot with the net gun.
Bitha picks her way out of the sticky material, and nods at the half long, moving quietly in the direction of his point.
Suna's ear twitches as he looks in the general direction. His crossbow already loaded but the thrill of the recent kill still distracting.
Alyna helps Ksila out of the muck as best as she can.
Upon hearing Bob's whistle, she looks in the general direction he was motioning toward, hoping her darkvision could be of use.
Zlota fears for her eidolon, but with the thing fast approaching, she looks to Bitha. "Bitha, if the foe be mighty, is it fine for me to make you mighty as well?"
"Let's do it. Don't know what's next in this crazy place," Bitha whispers to Zlota, taking care to not alert what else might be waiting for them down the hall.
Ksila became firmly stuck as the ground around it solidified. The resinous fluid the tentacle creature had been secreting to make a quagmire of sand had now set into almost rock. It could probably be chipped away using axes or picks. A hammer type weapon or tool would be even more effective though. Certainly the eidolon itself looked like it would have trouble.
Even as the group attempted to free it, another monstrosity rounded a corner in the rocky wall. It was only some 20 feet from the party and moved with purpose.
The thing was undead, Alyna could tell that immediately. Its skeletal remains twitched with whatever necromantic force gave it a false life, but they never quite moved with the fluidity one would expect from living creatures.
The upper body bore four limbs, looking like arms but longer. Each ended in a three fingered hand. Its head looked to be like a large preying mantis, only made from bone instead of chitin. Blue motes of light glowed from deep within the sockets where large eyes would normally be. Whatever it had been in life, this thing certainly wasn't something local. It paused for only a moment to look at the group, then rushed forward with frightening determination and reflexive action.
Alyna stares at the undead creature with a mixture of curiosity an slight apprehension. She knows her ability to channel energy does not effect undead creatures so she quickly and methodically analyzes her options.
She concludes that, considering her companions' prowess in the last few fights, her companions can easily dispatch the strange skeleton. She then turns to Ksila attempts to break the creature from the solidifying muck.
Bob stays hidden on his ledge and fires to catch the monster flatfooted.
He didn't want to see Ksila harmed.
Bitha moves forward and prepares to engage the undead.
Seeing the monstrosity, Zlota looks at Ksila then Bitha. She reaches out and touches Bitha. "Here!"
Suna looked down upon the creature with interest, it was almost as if the being was a Hunter itself! He looked from his position and guess the distance it would take to approach their group. Maybe the sting of his Hammer would fair better than his Crossbow?