"Even if I heard of werecrocodiles here, I doubt they were made of glass." Selena furrows her brow, following after the others in the room with the great pool. Peering into the water, the half-succubus comments "I don't think we'll find anything by diving in there. Azerna said that the canals go deep down into the city basin and bring the water up: the problem is with the pipes up here that our crystalline-fish-reptile-whatever friend shattered here.". Putting an hand over the door next to her, she tries to hear if there's anything on the other side of the door "We gotta find who did this, make sure he didn't have any accomplices still here, fix the pumps, and we're golden. No need to dive in unspecifically deep submerged tunnels."
If she hears nothing threatening and no one stops her, Selena opens the door.
"I would point out that their is no true rush or need. We have spent the day fighting undead and other reptiles. We have acquired a mark, reopened an inn, and cleared a building. I say we call it a day and come back tomorrow better prepared and refreshed. We could also have that scale studied by someone with knowledge in many area's. Their are plenty of creatures both mortal and not that have scales. Be it alone or many it has enough intelligence to pick a target to weaken another group it is aware of. That means it is smart enough to lay a trap or make preparations. I doubt a mere beast would go after machinery in multiple area's to destroy. It would be more likely to use these sheltered chambers as a lair. Regardless I say we return later, we have gained enough today."
Nigrum was not fully recovered from his battles and nether were some among their group. A good bounty hunter knows when to pull back, less he become prey.
The eastern door opens to reveal, after a few feet, a cave in that has blocked the passage. It looks old, with several patches of fungus and mold suggesting that it has been a very long time since it collapsed. Some more recent scratch marks suggest something attempted to dig it's way out but had neither the natural abilities nor the materials to do so.
Aibek moved around the pool slowly, watching it's movements but made no attempt to move closer to it and obviously both impressed and unsure. It was obvious that there was more to these water pumps than the witchwolf had expected and would need careful study as quickly as possible to get the vital water systems back into operation for the people of Khalharum.
Aibek listened and smelled for a moment at the north door and, if the witchwolf if the witchwolf perceived no instant threat, slowly tries to open it...
The northern most room is full of tools and the remains of diving suits. It appears this was once used for repair. However, the damp within the rooms means that most are little more than rusted piles of metal and rotted leather scraps.
"I have no problem keep going on, Ginger! I'm still fresh as a-" Selena starts, intending to do tell another crude double entendre to the party, but she stops mid sentence.
It's better if I don't do that: Foxy already had her share of vivid mental images today. Maybe another time...
"-rose." the half-fiend concludes, giving a sidelong glances at the claw marks on the rock: if she hadn't been absorbed in finding something Foxy-friendly to say, the half-fiend would have looked for any glass shard on the ground.
Once she's done, the half-succubus moves around the pool and opens the door on the right.
"Selena, it's not always you. I'll be staying back then."
Nigrum shakes his head and keeps to the back of the group. Going into an unknown fight, weakened and without healing when it could easily be had made no sense to him. The water was not vital, Ayreth their exhausted healer had the ability to produce all that was needed at the moment. In her state she was an easy target and her death or injury would not only rob them of a healer and friend but as well as the only alternative source of water should the pump not be restored quickly, which all signs pointed to that. Then again his people believed in hard learned lessons, he would simply keep the escape route safe. He was in no state for another hard fight, let the fresh ones have at it.
"There may be wisdom in Nigrum's words. I'm still feeling the effects of our dead friend from earlier. I could go on for a little longer, but I don't think we should push our luck too much either."
The door to the right opens onto another large area, mostly filled with the various pipes you have come to expect. It is also filled with odd bits of detritus - broken wood, lumps of what appear to be metallic ores, bone and leather.
Selena also spots the doors at the far end closing after...something...rushes through them. It's hard to make out exactly what it was, as it was almost translucent. It looked very much like some kind of large glass lizard.
"Okay, okay, I get it. I didn't mean it like tha-" the half-fiend starts, shrugging, before stopping abruptly when she spots the translucent figure.
"Guys, it's beyond that door." Selena points to the door on the other side of the room "Looks like we'll be getting home soon, after all...". The Calistrian moves to the door, and waits for her friends and family to get into position.
"Ready?" Selena asks. When everyone is ready, she opens the door.
"Uh, right. I need a minute to prepare. Ginger, Aibek, could you turn to the other side?" the half-fiend asks, retrieving once again one of the clay pots. "I mean, it's obvious I'm saying that for decency. You can look if you want." she grins.
Turning her back to the party, in one minute the half-succubus is done applying the grease.
"What is... 'it'?" Mihara simply whispers, readying her weapons.
"Our pipe-shedding friend. It did look like a glass lizard, as ridiculous as it sounds."
"I wonder if we could make it a pet." Azri mused, moving over to where Selena was and pondering her options. "What do the rest of you think - try and capture it, or pest extermination?"
"Songbirds aside, I've never been too good with animals. I'll leave that decision to the rest of you."
Aibek moved closer towards the door as Selena moved to open it, pulling shadows to fist in anticipation of the fight to come. Listening for how far the creature had moved since Selena saw it behind the door, Aibek's thoughts began to swirl in trying to plan how to handle such a creature...
Aibek can hear an odd clicking from behind the door.
Behind the door is a more rough, unfinished room, the pipes on the ceiling extending a handful of feet before being capped off. Three things grasp the eye instantly - everburning torches hang from the walls, lighting dazzling piles of gemstones and broken glass stacked neatly around the room, organized carefully by type and size.
To the north of the room a large passage has been burrowed through the stone, leading down below the island.
Finally, a creature stands in the middle of the room. About the size of a pony, but made entirely of glass, it's long, serpentine neck coils back as you enter. Crystalline horns sweep back from it's head, and a long mussel bears glass shard-like teeth.
Azure eyes stare at you.
Oh, good, a language she knew.
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Having resisted the lure of the staff earlier, a room full of shinies proves to be too much. She stumbles into the room, wide-eyed and gawking. It takes a couple of moments before she can focus her attention on the glassy creature.
She translates the exchange. "He(?) says that this is his dams lair and he wants to know who we are and why we're here. Azri is telling him we're here to fix the damage and that we don't necessarily need to be in conflict."
"Ποιος είναι κυρία σας?," she asks.
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Selena whistles as they enter the room.
Nice place he got here.
Nodding at her sister's translation, the haf-succubus waits for the others to parley with the creature: she didn't speak one word of overgrownlizardspeech.
Mihara stands with Selena, uncertain of what is being discussed.
"Would you believe I speak nine languages, and yet I haven't a clue what they're saying?"
"I know what their saying."
Nigrum says off handedly from the back.
The glass creature shifted slightly, the sound of grinding glass loud as it does. It's head swung from side to side, trying to keep the whole party in view.
Aibek eased slowly into the room, shadow covered hands down and out, looking over the creature. Mind spiraling for anything that would line up even slightly with what was before them. Dark eyes bounced from the creature, to Ayreth's helpful translation, and back again repeatedly as the conversation continued.
Aibek spoke quietly in a soft lilt, "The waters been out weeks and best guess that these are older than that, figuring out why they came and what we can do to encourage them to go elsewhere may solve our problem...", not desiring any more conflict than needed with them...
"Yeah, tell him I don't have a problem either with them staying here, if they stop chewing the pipes and don't eat the people up here in the city." Selena nods after Ayreth translates.
The smaller dragon glared warily at Azri.
As Selena's comment is translated , the young creature hisses again.
Maybe they'd be able to get through this without violence after all. The shiny creature WAS pretty cute, and might be a fun companion to talk with in the future...
Aibek watched the creature as the others spoke, but backed away until the witchwolf's back pressed against the wall. Aibek muttered a very soft "huh" underbreath while watching the creature and surrounding lights intently with a tilted head, then dropped arms down and pressed a shadowed hand against the wall and watched how the shadows Aibek created and the powers the creature seemed to have interacted.
As the discussions the witchwolf was picking up by way of Ayreth's translations was moving more towards peaceful negotiation and information gather than violence, Aibek chose not to interrupt but to continue trying to figure out the creature more without provoking it - just in case it became needed...
"The noise was that of metal grinding against metal." The voice did not come from the smaller creature, but the passage to the north. A much larger figure emerged slowly from the tunnel, similar in appearance to the youngster you have been dealing with but with a purple hue to her glass body. One wing is folded neatly against her body, the other ends in a shattered stump. Even with her wings folded her bulk takes up much of the tunnel
"The sound was at a frequency that resonated within our bodies, causing cracks to form. My child decided to destroy the machines that caused it, as I could not reach them. We apologise - in all honesty, the idea that there were still humans on the surface did not occur to us, nor that the machinery still served a function."
Ah!
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Ayreth hands twitch at the sight of Lady Kosi's injury, her urge to heal surging within her.
She didnt think there were still humans on the surface? How long has she been here and how much does she know about Khalharum?
Ayreth bows to the best of her ability when introduced. After translating Azri's statements, she asks, "If there was a new sound, perhaps something went wrong and we can find the source. Do either of you know where the new sound originated?"
Mihara bows when introduced; while she does not understand the language, the gestures are simple to understand.
The dragon switched to common. "I am indeed Kosi," the huge being rumbled. "I understand you wish to repair the machine. I understand it has to do with water? I do not know if the noise can be muffled - it was loud enough to enter this chamber, from some distance away I understand - but I would appreciate any effort you could make. Simply returning the machine to it's more normal function would suffice. We would have tried, had we known, but I cannot reach it and my child is...impatient." She glanced at the smaller creature affectionately. "As are most young."
Swinging her azure gaze to Ayreth, she added, "It was in one of the two machines he destroyed. I do not know which one. I suspect restoring both, with the maintenance they have lacked, would help. It is my belief that magic was used to maintain them - those spells may have been broken, or worn thing through time."
Aibek's attention was drawn to the larger dragon and for a moment the witchwolf froze in place as dark eyes watched Kosi while the others conversed with it - instinct reaction for one whose parent turned into a dragon of great size at will. The similar name had not helped. Once breath came back to Aibek, the witchwolf still remained quiet while watching the others reaction as Aibek was unsure how to help here...
Selena bows her head slightly when the dragon enters the room. After the dragon has finished talking, the half-fiend nods.
"So breaking the machines stopped the sound, then? Truth to be told, I'm not sure that was an accident: they've been people" Selena's clenches one of her fists "who've been actively trying to sabotage Khalarum. We'll have to go around here and see if the malfunction wasn't caused by something they planted here. For all we know, we could fix the pump, put up the corrects spells, and it could go back to making that sound that harmed you again.".
She turns to the younger dragon, and lets her sister translate "Could you point us to which of the machines was making that noise? Maybe we'll find something there."
The glass like creatures nodded. "Sabotage? It is...possible. We are not always here."
After Selena's request was translated, the smaller creature nodded in mimicry of it's parent. "It was the machine above. I smashed the one below, and the sounds did not stop, so I smashed the one above too."
"As above, so below." Azri muttered. "Well, I suppose it would be best to start with the one down below. The upper one should be easier to access, so we can save that for later..." she glanced towards the smaller creature.
The smaller wrym replied,
"We eat minerals and stones of certain kinds," the glass wyrm replied, "So food is simple. The only issue we currently have is..." She paused for a moment, a backwards glance, "...is the noise the device was making. Once you repair it so that it runs correctly, we shall see about other services we can do for each other."
Azri was very perceptive, but didn't notice everything. "We'll be looking forward to it." the lich girl said with a smile. "For now, though, we'd best get started on the repairs. May your hoard grow ever greater, Lady Kosi." Azri inclined her head in a polite bow and stepped out of the room, fully intending to head towards the lower chamber in question.