"Sharae, you look...well." offers Criek in greeting, taking in her appearance. "And, er, yes, a swim would be just the thing, wouldn't it? Let's be at it, as quick as we can -- I understand Val's reticence to have Khonnir accompany us undergroudn once more, but nor do I feel terribly safe for him staying up here, now that we know what Garmen and his associates are capable of. I'd not like to be away too long and let them regather their strength."
Genni says Sorry anody, I cannot link to the robo doc at this time. The reception is too poor
Once more at the noxious pool, Sharae resignedly stows all she needs to within her waterproof bag...
With a wry smile, she takes a deep breath..."See you on the other side"...and dives underwater...
Despite a momentary panic that leaves Anody almost completely stalled near the end of the tunnel, the little professor manages to make it through in a reasonable time.
Time for another swim....
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Watching his companions take gracefully to the water, Criek decides to try braving the passage himself rather than relying on Valia for a tow:
...finally emerging at the other end, well behind the others, gasping and sputtering and taking a moment to lay out flat on the rock floor and drip miserably for a while before collecting himself.
The party returns to the underground region that has shown much danger. You quickly move through the area, intending to return to the sunken vessel.
Enduring the decontamination system, you move into the desert area, where it is brightly light, by a false sun. The party continues to the science area, in the first room where you first found Genni.
Where do you wish to go?
"Genni, are the security cams active? Are you able to disable remote monitoring on this level, or will we have to destroy them to avoid observation?" Criek pauses to hear any answer to this question, and for any action needed to disable the surveillance in this room, before continuing --
"We need to access the engine room, is that correct? Are there security cams there -- and on the path to there -- that we can use to scout ahead? Anody, do you still have that, er, information tablet that we found? Can we use that to view a map of our path, or to tap into the security cams?"
Excited by the possibilities that he imagines for the strange technology, Criek nearly manages to forget about the dangers they are moving towards.
Genni's eyes blink. Accessing information net. To access the engine room move to the elevator at the center of this level. This can be accessed from this room. Warning, I am showing a malfunction at the elevator. I have no access to the engineering level cameras, they have been put offline at the source.
"Elevator? I guess that's some kind of stairs thing? I suppose we should go and check it out then? Professor, did Genni suggest it was through these doors ahead of us?"
"The word must be some corruption of 'levitator', so perhaps more directly up and down than stairs? We should be cautious, though -- a malfunctioning levitation field could be quite hazardous, especially if it is being manipulated by our enemies?"
The party advances and soon comes to the "elevator
This unlit circular room is empty save for a panel of controls on
the wall to the northwest. A coil of tubes dangling from the
left side of the panel periodically flashes with sparks, while a
single square window on the panel blinks with several lines of
strange writing.
Deck 3: Science
Deck 2: Crew
Deck 1: Docking
WARNING: Elevator off-line—please contact
maintenance!
Beside the last part of the writing a red light is flashing.
"Careful Professor... Please don't go delving into that panel whilst it is sparking with such energy. What do the words say? Does this 'Elevator' work? Where is it?", Sharae isn't scared by her alien surroundings - as a Desnan, the journey and the experience of the 'new' is it's own reward... But she certainly doesn't understand a lot of what she is seeing either!!!
**Next to the pool**
Oh well, medical robot you might as well follow us. You might come in useful. Anody sighs
**At the elevator**
Hrm, yes it is meant to replace stairs I believe the platform goes straight up and down and then the doors open... would be fascinating to see.. but Genni, are there any stairs we can take or is the elevator the only way to get to Engineering? Otherwise is there a way to contact a 'Maintenance' Robot and get it to fix the 'elevator'? Criek we really need to get you trained up as a Technologist!
"Sharae, the text appears to be a directory of the 'decks' within this place. If the position of the items is meant to represent their relation in space, it appears that the 'engineering deck' is one level above us.
[b]"If this room itself is intended to levitate up and down, it must be moving through some vertical shaft. If it has been disabled, is there a way we can get onto the roof of this room and perhaps access the next level from there?"
Criek examines the construction of the elevator, looking for any hatch or seam that could be exploited to get on top of it.
"Levitate... Like magic but an entire room? That's amazing... Quite the thing although...", Sharae has a mischievious twinkle in her eyes, "At least stairs don't break down"
"This place seems to have many wonders and pieces of knowledge"
No, no stairs Anody. And no maintenence. Perhaps you can repair it. genni says. And Sharae, this elevator has been functioning for longer than your civilization. It still can. This seems to be a minor problem, caused by deliberate action.
Many folk would be taken aback by a disembodied mechanical head showing signs of indignation… Fortunately, Sharae is travelled enough and experienced enough to recognise that ‘Genni’ is an ally and that allies should be respected, ”Sorry Genni, I did not seek to make fun at your expense… I was merely pointing out the irony of the situation”.
Considering their options for a few moments, Sharae suggests exploring areas of the complex that have not yet been visited, ”Unless anyone has any better ideas, why don’t we head southwards from here?”
Ahem.. well let us have a look here.
Anody peers at the broken box
One, the sparking is somewhat dangerous, possibly burning the repairer (DC 16 reflex save or take 2d6 damage, none on a save).
Second is the repairs permanence. The clips connecting the cables are destroyed, so after one use, the cables will slip free again. Of course you can simply reinsert the cables every time you use it, but it takes a minute to do so. Not good for quick escapes if needed. To rectify this the clips have to be remade. This is not difficult, requiring a smith about an hour to make at a forge.
The actual repair is know engineering DC 20, and the technologist feat, no problem for anody.
Ah, colour coded, all you have to do is insert these cables back into the sockets with the same colour. No problem at all. Ahem. I can't quite reach the panel. If someone could hold me up to it? Have to be careful though, a bit of clumsiness and 'plugging' the cables back in could cause a burn
Now these aren't secure so we'll have to keep doing this unless the clips are repaired. Ayla you can see how they're made right? Could you or your forge sisters make replacements?
Ayla looks at the clips
"Those should be easy to make,
Though Ingrid and Astrid have better skill in making smaller and more complex parts, then me.
Not to mention they love reverse engineering things."
Criek watches Anody's work with some interest before frowning at a thought. "If this is the only way to access the 'engineering deck' and it has been disabled on this level, then...would that mean the saboteur is not on that level, but on this one? Perhaps we should scout the rest of this deck, as Sharae suggests, before we ascend, to be sure no enemy lurks behind us?"
Perception rolls please
"Professor, please do be careful there...", whilst Sharae frets about the over-eager gnome, she looks around...
Well, either way the elevator is now an option. Genni how many security cameras are operational in the ship? Do you see anything of note anywhere?
A voice yells out THAT ME AM CUE! and a bestial figure explodes from invisibility into view.
A grossly muscled orc appears from an invisibility effect, beside anody. His eyes glow purple, and his arms are laced with metal. He is wielding a great axe.
MAUL KILL FIXY GNOME FOR HELLION! RAAGH!
"to be sure no enemy lurks behind us?"
"--and who IS THAT?!" finishes Criek with a shriek as the orc bursts into view mere feet away.
Sorted initiative
Valia
Criek
Ayla
Anody
Boz the Bruisier
Sharee
Surprise round.
Only Sharee can act in the surprise round.
Boz is up.
Boz yells ME BOZ! ME NOT HAPPY! activating rage
power attack/striking from invisibility/cleave.
power attack/cleave
Boz The Brusier
HP 48
AC 14 currently 10 raging and cleave
DR 2/-
obvious gear
leather armor and great axe
Sharea to act then round one
Valia
Criek
Ayla
Anody
Boz the Bruisier
Sharee
Criek staggers back from the berserk orc, drawing and flinging a frost bomb at him.
Reacting quickly to the assault and to the wounds inflicted upon her friends, Sharae clasps her Butterfly medallion tight - a wave of healing energy bursts from her...
Round 2:
Reeling from the blow of the great axe, and bolstered out of panic only by the wave of healing energy, Criek tries to make enough room to bomb the orc again. Nowhere to run to -- and who knows if he's got help waiting for us if we do? Have to kill him before he kills us!
ME COLD!
Anody screams as the axe bites into him very deeply. Staggering back he squeaks Help me! and does a full withdrawal.
Ayla cast CLW on Anody
The big orc sees Aya expose herself, and strikes
power attack still ticking
The heavy blow slams into ayla.