Testchambers Alpha
You are in a place, with beings, doing... stuff... And there was this man you knew.
A dream. A memory of a dream. A vague notion of something that slips away as you slowly awaken in a red translucent encasement. A pod in which you rest. Your skin is moist from a fluid that was sucked out only moments before you regained awareness. Through the red; it wasn’t glass, more a hardened membrane of a translucent plant; you could see more pods. The membrane pulls away and you find yourself in a room with bright coloured parcels in dark brown framing. There are plants lining the wall, and you hear the soothing sound of a water fountain nearby.
From somewhere to the side you hear a raw and heavy but cheerful voice.
”Good morning gentlemen, I am glad to see your slumber was a pleasant one.”
There is a small clockwork owl sitting on the edge of the fountain, its eyes glowing a faint blue. A shimmering, half-translucent image of a bearded head is floating in front of it.
”My name is doctor J Upton and I will be your advisor along the way. I would come myself, but having lost my legs long ago, that would be somewhat problematic. In my stead, Wilbert the mechanical owl will be my eyes, ears and voice-box. Please be gentle with him, since he is a very delicate piece of equipment. Talking about equipment, you wil find yours stored in a cache below your stasis-pod. When you are all ready, head for the glass door. It is not locked so you can simply push on. I will give you your next set of instructions once you open it.”
Svitz walks over to the talking metal creature and taps it lightly across the head. Satisfied by the light ping that the creature is harmless he walks back to his pod and removes his equipment from the cache and begins to don his armour.
Terrified of his new surroundings Toxicroak dashes over to the trees to the right of him and attempts to hide up in the foliage, content with watching those around him for the time being...
Blinking with sore eyes, Keriann clumsily exits the pod, wincing as she attempts to support herself on her crippled legs, opting instead to levitate a little way over the ground.
She eyes the owl and her surroundings suspiciously, far from convinced that any of this is real, or that the "doctor" is telling the truth.
She turns around and levitates upside down as she takes out the contents of her cache, sighing with relief as she dons her boots, which turn her legs into tentacles – slightly shorter and thicker than the other four, but otherwise indistinguishable from the rest.
Once she has donned her armor and equipment, she focuses her innate magic, shivering slightly as she feels the effect of her self-hypnotic trance.
A metallic ooze flows out from beneath a pod. It transforms into a spitting image of Svitz, albeit smaller than him. It then performs the same task as Svitz tapping the metal creature on the head and moving to get its stuff. Once it has it gleans a metallic colour and its innate defenses are cast.
The smaller Svitz looks around at its "Allies" then sees there is one more his size, then transforms into a spitting image of Keriann. The tentacles are unable to be used as well but they look just as menacing. The new Keriann rips a part of its face off and a throws it to the floor. Out of this blob comes a small blue dog with a red ruby it its forehead. The pair of them then wait quietly to see what the good doctor will do.
As he finishes strapping on the last piece of his armor he notices the strange metal goo that was shifting its form. Curious as to what it is he walks over to it and bends down to eye level and sniffs the the odd creature.
A quick sneeze later and his curiosity has been sated and he looks around to gauge his other allies.
"Greetings" he says in common with a rough deep voice that perfectly compliments his immense size.
Keriann observes as the ooze forms into the image of her. Then, she turns to the bear-like humanoid.
"Hello. My designation is Keriann Caitlan. Designation and purpose?"
Svitz looks at the creature with the mass of tentacles that calls itself Keriann Caitlan.
"Svitz, I kill things"
A chanting can be heard from within one of the gestation pods for about a minute, then there is a flash of light and silence. A moment later a shimmering semi-tralucent quadrupedal predator emerges. It shrugs and wiggles its way awkwardly into its belt, ring and amulet before surveying the rest of the group. It looks each in the eye before saying, "We are a pack now. I watch your back, you watch mine. If not, we all die here. Work together we live."
BLOB turns into the same bear-like humanoid as Keirann and parrots what she is saying. "Hello. My designation is Keriann Caitlan. Designation and purpose?" It the shifts back into an ooze slowly working its way towards the owl again. The small blue dog barking and following its host body.
"Ehehehehehe.. Uhhh... Ooops! It seems that one of the subjects got switched... We shall port him over to the right chamber immediately!"
Joseph hits a few buttons and yellow particles start swirling around Karnicore. They build up until they create a large flash and BAMPH! Karnicore is gone, teleported right into the middle of Testing Chamber B
Kerian estimates the room to be most likely real. The doctor seems genuine though that does not mean there won't be pain and suffering in the near future. Just that he most likely won't lie about it or try to trick her into it. Most likely.
Keriann Caitlan shakes her head at this silliness, casts her hypnotic trance on her newfound allies, and heads for the door.
The door opens easily and the next room becomes visible. It looks like the room your in now, but without the plants and fountain. A big red circular plate lies in the center of the room. A short rope ties a white rabbit to the button. Many of you have seen this type of bunny before. It is quite often on the weeks menu and is frequently used for target practices.
The owl flaps closer to get a visual of the situation
"This is the Tutorial Room. The objective is to open the door to the next room. Many doors require a certain puzzle to be solved, a key to be inserted or a trigger to be pushed. Quiet often however there will be obstacles that one needs to pass in order to reach the objective. In the tutorial room, the door is operated by the big red pressure plate or 'button'. It is guarded by a polar-bunny. Good luck."
BLOB transforms into a spitting image of another scientist. A half-elf with a lab coat. "I thank you Keriann for adding the appropriate enhancements to Mint piece." The scientist scribbles something on a a clipboard.
"We shall now performing a docking experiment, do these ligands that we have here dock well to the upcoming binding site? Or shall the protein explode through incorrect force calculations. Namely that the force of the ligand is too great for the OPLS forcefields of the protein to handle. I predict if they are,possibly by the end of frame 4 do we have a breakdown of the encapsulating system." The scientist pauses. "Minimisation complete, experiment to be performed without the presence of stabilizing liquid such as water. Begin." The scientist walks up behind Keirann waiting for the door to open.
Toxicroak gingerly leaves the tree he was hiding behind, realizing that he was spotted when he felt tangible magic surround him. He goes over to his cache and withdraws his equipment, keeping his blowpipe in his hand, ready for use. He then goes over to the mechanical owl and looks at it momentarily. Then he takes a quick bite!
Watching closely and realizing that the owl is not writhing in pain from the poison Toxicroak is content that it is indeed a construct. He then enters the room after Kerrigan.
"Im Toxicroak. We die here together. I not kill you. You not kill me?"
Keriann approaches the pressure plate and the polar bunny, watching for any signs of aggression.
Mint piece, the small blue dog enters the room at BLOB's behest to investigate. It does so while trying not to draw the evil bunny's intention. If there are any traps that Mine piece spots it will disable it.
Svitz steps into the room, and over B.L.O.B. and examines the assumed battlefield and opponent.
He answers Toxicroak as he enters.
"Worry not, I do not eat my allies, that Creature blocking our way, however, looks very delicious."
BLOb
Kerian
Toxicroak
Bunny
Svitz
Lacuna6
As you slowly skulk closer to read the creatures intention, it sits real still and eyes you with its red beady eyes, seemingly devote of emotion. Then all of a sudden it leaps forward and assaults Kerian with its razor sharp cutting teeth. A small cloud of frost escaping its gaping maw.
But the strong metal plates of the kilt keep it from sinking its little teeth in your tentacle
BLOB confident that his four other companions are more built for combat than him he continues to take notes on his turn. His head changing to match the bunny in front of them, albeit it bigger.
So after Tree and the bunny moves I rage and jump over to it and bite it.
+1 Acid.
Bunny needs to make a DC 24 Fort save or be nauseated for 11 rounds.
Bunny needs to make a DC 22 Fort save or be poisoned (Injury; save Fort DC 22; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dex; cure 1 save)
I then cease raging.
I used 1 round of rage and 1 dose of poison.
Edit: Oops... I completely overkilled it...
BTW I wouldnt suggest anyone else eat that, I kinda flooded it with acid, toxins and poisons...
Bunny dead, Keriann gives Toxicroak a nod.
"We do not die here, together or otherwise. We hunt. You not kill me, I not kill you."
She looks over the button suspiciously.
"Is it trapped?"
One of the trees from the previous room rouses from the chamber. "What'd I miss? We're attacking something? A rabbit? Well at least they're not squirrels. Was someone climbing on me earlier?"
Cast Mage Armor and Barkskin before combat.
For my action I begin casting Summon Monster I
Svitz cringes at the horrible smell coming from the melting flesh that was once the polar bunny.
"ug, I was going to eat that" he says trying to block out the smell
"Maybe it wasn' such a good idea to enhance his sense o' smell"
Mint determines tat the button is indeed a pressure-plate trigger and that it is connected to something. However, it is so obviously in sight that he does not no whether it is a really badly covered trap or simply a triggering mechanism and no trap at all. It seems puzzled ((and so is the DM about the disabling part, without hands...))
Puzzled by everyones apparent paralyzation at the mere sight of the big red button Toxicroak waltzes over and steps on it, curling into a ball on top.
And nothing happens D: Puzzled, Toxicrok will stay there for a moment, curled up into a ball.
BLOB continues to look at the rest of his crew deal with this button, he doesn't seem to care how long it takes them to advance from this place.
Svitz lightly picks toxicroak off the button, then Stomps on the button as hard as he can... all 1000lbs of him.
The dwarf shook his head sadly, "I think ah let 'im see me kick tha broken equipment one too many times."
Lol, I could probably make a better str check then that :P
"You missed. Do again!"
Svitz shrugs and puts Toxicroak down, then jumps up and down on the button.
As Svitz starts jumping up and down on the button, it doesn't appear to do much at first. Then, after a few too many jumps, it all of a sudden cracks and is slammed into the casing. The little red light near the door turns green and the door opens with the sound of grinding stone as it is pulled up into the wall. The button is broken in two and lodged stuck into the casing.
"Problem solved" said with a toothy grin, obviously pleased with the results.
Keriann moves to the wall by the door and peers into the next testchamber.
Seeing the button give way to brute force and the door grind open Toxicroak scamperes across the threshold and into the new room. Looking around he is genuinly confused.
Spotting a big green light to his right he attempts to push it, seeing if it is a button.
Lacuna 6 squeezes through the tiny doorway into the next room. "Harrumph. I don't think they had trees in mind when making these passage."
The scientist with a bunny head looks up at the tree "Now, now, trees are a minority species. Why would we bother with doors made for you. Just go with what we made.. mmmmhmmm." BLOB then follows its 'allies' into the next room.
I pusheth teh Buttoneth! Anything happen? :)
"It seems to me that the whole walls and doors concept is rather pointless, and ceilings as well if you really think about it. Quite a lot of extra bother when moving back and forth, not sure what these little people are thinking."
"That isn't a button Tox, let us see if the next room provides more of a challenge" Svitz says to the excitable amphibian and then waits for recon to be completed.
"Its a glowy light. It might be." He gives it another shove, then shrugs, watching what the others are doing.
The light is exactly that: a big bright green light, trapped in a crystal. You do notice it humming with energy, though it feels cool to the touch and does not flare up. Two lines connect it to the two closest circlets on the floor