If Ayla can strike it
"I am nobody's specimen!?" squeaks Criek in a mixture of fear and outrage, whipping a bomb from his bandolier and flinging it at the metallic aggressor. Is this thing a creature of the technic league? The sadists have certainly carved up enough of my kin as if we were animals.
A rain of attacks fall over the robot, some effective others not so.
Creik hurls a vial at the robot with an enraged squeak, causing a mist of extreme cold.
Valia the bursts through the mist with a solid blow, punching through its armored hull.
R6 and Ayla dart in, slashing at it, but their attacks bounce of its armor.
Anody starts giving advice of the robot (naturalist ability) and sharee moves to R6 and casts a spell on him (guidance)
The robot turns to valia
The robot extrudes a net from it's arm and strikes at you with it.
touch attack
Valia barely flicks himself out of the way.
It seems as if the robot is repairing itself
For your info.
Robot
Hp taken 23 repaired 2, total taken 21
AC 18
Party buffs
+1 attack, +1 AC (naturalist ability) on all
+1 attack on ardash (guidance spell)
His sword attempts to cut open the armor wider.
Valia's blow slams the robot down, causing it to fall.
And with that the robots ceases to function, at least until it has some major repair work.
Fight over
Actions?
Valia spits on the row-bought. Abomination.
No one hurt yes? Anody says as he fixes his glasses. I do hope the robot's comment about alerting others was as ineffective as the one from the first we disabled. I fear it may not be. Let us move on.
"Let them come." Valia straightens his posture and looks to Criek & Anody. "Is the door functional?"
I think, despite our wish we are going to have to 'biolock' our way through this Anody says as he reaches up to insert his card into the slot.
Criek acquiesces, but holds his breath and covers his eyes with his hands in anticipation as Anody works the biolock.
Ayla stays alert for anything
Sharae moves, with the others, into the airlock and waits for the inevitable 'cleaning'. Recognising that she may well become temporarily blinded, she moves towards the exit door before the 'process' starts...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Once more the cleaning occurs in all of its uncomfortable glory. You step out the other side. As you emerge you hear what can only be a battle. You hear the creatures, one of which you fought before, in a frenzy, and electric strikes, along with robotic voices.
It appears that robots ate fighting those horrible sand creatures. Don't know about you but I'm quite on the side of the robots on this one.
Valia smiles. Perhaps we can get the jump on the survivors, then. The sounds of battle in the desert chamber are as sweet music to his ears.
"I will not commit to this exchange until the allegiance of the automatons is known to us. What do the say?"
They seem to be more concerned about the tactics of their engagement than anything else. Perhaps they were coming to investigate the 'vandalism' and ran into the creatures? In any case if any of them survive we can question them
Glancing at Anody, "But can we have any expectation that they will wish to be on the side of us? ...not that the sand thing seemed any more inclined to discussion, I suppose?"
"Ardash, there sound to be at least 4 automaton 'units', though you heard one explode just now? And the squeal just before that was a 'sonic beam' -- some sort of weapon? And they've announced two 'terminations' of their enemy, but remain under attack."
We'll only know what's going on for certain if we go and see. I think we can safely scout if they're more concerned with each other. If we tarry then the fight may end and the victorious side may regroup to be ready for us. We really shouldn't be dawdling
"Maybe we should take the opportunity to skirt around this fight whilst whoever...whatever...is distracted?", Sharae idly strokes the blades of her Starknife... resigned to the fact that the 'robotic' voices ahead will have raised the ire of at least one, if not two, of the party that she is travelling with... and that a fight is, at this point, inevitable...
Soooo...
Who is going to look. Who ever does make a stealth and perception roll. There will be penalties on stealth is more than one person looks, but as there is a fight going on, that may not matter much.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Criek, if you don't go up ahead and look, I will. Valia puts his hand on the ratfolk's shoulder.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Criek nods, "It...would be wise to know more, I suppose? At least to see if there is a clear path around this battle? And I am...less predisposed towards jumping in impulsively than you, so it falls to me?"
Criek creeps forward on padded paws to get a feel for the battlefield. How did I get myself into this? All I want is to return to my studies, yet here I am, walking alone towards two groups that think me either a laboratory specimen or lunch -- Khonnir, where *are* you?
Before Criek moves ahead, Valia tries to slide in a small pep talk, "You are the most nimble my little friend. I treasure your bravery today."
Its foe is a larger version of the creature that nearly killed the party before. Bodies of its lesser brethren litter the ground. Two bodies (well parts of them) lie around a blackened spot that seems to be like ground zero of an explosion. With your alchemetical skill, you determine quickly that that was a blast bigger than your best bomb, and was blast mostly, not flame.
Both the repair drones are stuck in the goop surrounding the monster, but the sphere floats clear.
The drones have no chance to see creik, and the beastie does not care. None spot him due to a combination of distance, and distraction.
Creik creeps back to the party
After Criek returns and describes the scene, "If we assist the automatons, what guarantee do we have that they won't immediately turn on us? Although, if they are agents of the Technic League, I would welcome the battle." His eyes shimmer at that last remark.
Questions,
Does there appear to be a clear route for the party to sneak around the battle, or is the area open enough that we're certain to be spotted?
"drones carrying pistols" - how familiar is Criek with firearms? enough to see something at 40 feet and call it a pistol without being mystified?
----
Criek creeps back to make his report, opining, "If we wait much longer to intervene, there may not be any conflict left in which to make an intervention? At a guess, the levitating sphere thing may be the last, er, standing? Anody, you speak Androften the best; if we were to aid the automatons, do you think you could negotiate with them?"
We have no hope of communicating with the creatures. So if we intervene it would have to be on the side of the automatons. Perhaps we could bluff them to think we are on their side. Nevertheless I would vote to skirt around and not get involved in the fight.
"They are not so far from the cave entrance, and the terrain offers little cover -- I'm not sure we could avoid their notice? We may be a low enough priority for either side that we would be ignored as we move past? Though the humanoid drones appear to be carrying firearms, and the sphere seems to use some type of force-blast, so staying out of reach would not be enough."
Well we can't reason with the beasts. Andoy turns to the more martial members of the group I'd say we should help the robots and then try to glean some information from the robots. But I leave it up to you to decide and I'll help as best I can
"Let's attempt to pass without bloodshed - but, if we are to fight, we had better side with the Robots...as the Professor has deduced, we do at least stand some chance of reasoning with them..."
Sharae grips her Starknife and prepares to follow the group...
Ardash looks impassively at the rest of the party members, waiting for them to make a decision. He draws his shortbow and knocks an arrow, in case the party decides to engage.
"This place is truly hostile - be on your guard and don't assume we will be able to negotiate..."
Valia: I cannot believe what I am hearing. These row-bought-lovers, they would side with the very unatural abominations I aim to destroy. I may not be a druid, but that creature deserves a fighting chance. To be trapped down here behind this "bio-lock" and cut off from the rest of the world... Starving... I should not hope to imagine its pain. If these people really wanted to avoid the battle, would not they attempt to pass through the other set of silver doors? What is really going on here?
Earlier, "Where is your empathy? That is a living being in there! It has probably been starving, trapped, and now its kin are dead. You would all so easily side with souless constructs so readily? Do you not BLEED? Do you not have souls as Ardash and I? Those are the very instruments of the Technic league! We discovered them infiltrating here below the city, and Now You Would Aid Them in Their Mission To Destroy Life?"
The argument clearly is not going his way, and so Valia looks extremely reluctant to carry forward. He looks over his shoulder toward the bio-lock. "Hold fast. Have any of you considered the other set of silver doors? The set at the east end of the skulk cave? These are the north doors, no?"
..."At the very least, let the creature die with honor, do not butcher it as betrayers."
Bemused, Sharae hears out Valia's impassioned plea against siding with the robots, "Valia, I have no wish to kill or destroy either of those who lie ahead...but, if we must fight, I would attempt to side with those that we could at least attempt to negotiate with... That...thing...that dragged me beneath the mud - is inscrutable...not to be communicated nor reasoned with. I have no desire for it to be butchered...but, if it does attack us, I fear we must defend ourselves in the best way available..."
Smiling, Sharae adds, "Of course, if it does somehow reach out and fight with us against a hostile force...things will be different"
"I ask you, how many row boughts have you reasoned with this past week?" Valia shakes his head. "They do not reason. They destroy. You may have traveled far and wide, but I have fought them these last five years. These are not sentient things. They are the abhorrent and mindless!"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...hmmm, and how many 'row boughts' have you attempted to reason with? I've seen nought but a single-minded desire to destroy...I wonder why? What's driving him? Fear? Revenge? A desire to show superiority?
Sharae keeps her thoughts to herself...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"You are right, Valia, that we have not yet tried the other doors -- and they would likely constitute a way to move around the immediate conflict. I suspect it would be somewhat of a moot point, however, as one side or another will triumph here by the time we are able to backtrack that far, even if we encounter no new dangers on that path?
Having seen Khonnir's mark on this path, I am inclined to stay the course here?"
So the party concensus is to sneak past?
The party emerges from the cave with the fight continuing. Another drone has been wreaked, but the monster looks hurt. Green ichor is running from many wounds, burns and bruises cover its flesh. The hard, rocky shell that protected it is shattered around it. It would not last much longer.
As you leave, you are noted by the metallic menace.
While saying that it fires another sonic blast into the monster, and the repair drone pulls itself out of the muck while firing its pistol. A blast of red light spits out, burning the creature. It responds by flailing its tentacles at the robots, as it tries to flee. The robots pursue.
Well let's hurry on then. Anody says. That one wasn't very friendly either
Valia checks out the way to the left.
"Why does everyone here think I'm merely a target for experimentation?" whines Criek, trying to use Ardash's bulk to block the view of the automatons.
"Let's head left? As Valia mentioned, there were other doors in the caves; if this place aligns with the outside world, we may find another access point in that direction? A second escape route, if we need it?"