"Gorum wouldn't want you to fight at anything less than your best, Holg, I think he'll understand," Fireday replies.
It takes you a couple of hours to reach the Clockwork Chapel, but you make it there without incident. Dinvaya welcomes you into her shrine, looking at Holg's injuries with concern. "Heard you tangled with that manticore. I'm guessing he got the worse end of things. Let me see... Yes, it looks like you're suffering from mild radiation poisoning. Brigh, grant your servant the power to fix this broken human machine."
The half-elf grasps her holy symbol and then touches Holg's arm. His weakness recedes as the magic restores him.
"You'll still feel sickly for a while. If you come back tomorrow, I can prepare a more powerful restoration spell to fix your constitution."
Holg smiles to Fireday comforted by his friend's words "You Fireday understand better the feelings of one than many others that call themselves true humanoids"
--------------------
"Thanks Dinvaya. That is great" the man moves again his muscles without effort "The manticore's den was full of waste and rusted chains, do you think it is that which transformed the manticore? The dumbness in my arm seems pretty similar to the radiation I took when the core fused below Torch"
Holg offers some of the gems the group found to Dinvaya "We can pay you. Perhaps we can buy some scrolls or potions to restore ourselves if we find more of these in Scrapwall"
"It seems we next step should be visiting the wrecked ship to recover those explosives for the ratfolks" showing his tremendous energy the Kellid starts once more walking and preparing to move on.
Dinvaya waves off the payment. "That's not necessary. I'm happy to help."
Fireday smiles at Holg's words.
"Thank you, Holg. That means a lot."
He smiles even further when Dinvaya heals Holg and refuses a reward for it.
"You have a truly noble and generous spirit. The Inheritor will smile on you as your own goddess does."
Kaska had passed on a pistol earlier, but she does keep this one, tucking it away in her backpack.
"I really should figure out how to use these things. They could be handy in a pinch...
"Glad you're back in fighting trim, Holg. That's very generous of you Dinvaya - I need to figure out how to deal with that invisible fire..." says Viv thoughtfully. She fiddles around thinking about the problem for some time.
"Well... I dunno... what else do we need to do around here?"
"We are supposed to head to the wrecked ship so we get the explosives to destroy the receiver array" remembers Holg "I propose we walk through the manticore's lands we just freed"
While the group walks towards the ship Holg queries Fireday "Why is it you do not want to destroy the Arena Fireday?"
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You cross the breadth of Scrapwall, heading to the far northeast reaches of the junk-town. As you travel, you spot a trio of gremlins lurking among the twisted heaps of metal. Your scrap-worth proceeds you, though, and recognizing you as powerful opponents, they give you a wide berth.
This region of Scrapwall is shrouded with strange mists that obscure all sight beyond 5 feet. The mists are clammy and unpleasant, seeming to leech the warmth from your skin. You venture deep into the eerie canyon, and eventually you come across what appears to be a crashed vehicle lodged in the rubble. The ship is made of silvery-blue glaucite, the metallic alloy the halls under Torch were made of, and sits at an awkward angle on the ground, tilted downward from aft to stern. Much of it is buried under rubble, but a pair of doors hang open, revealing a room beyond.
The air is unnaturally cold in this empty atrium. Metal doorways yawn to the north and south, and the slanted floor is strewn with strange bits of rubble and twisted lengths of metal. The ceiling is badly damaged here, its gray metal shell shattered in numerous places, exposing coils of rusty, mold-covered cables and wires. The room is devoid of light, save for what you bring with you.
Holg feels uneasy as the group ventures in the mists. The Kellid moves silently, away from his usual vivid conversation, and instead focusing on hearing what he cannot see.
The servant of Gorum is surprised by the appearance of the wreckage and observes the nature and safety of the structure before venturing in.
Holg casts divine guidance and steps into the dark room, readying his sword before him that shreds the warmthless celestial flames the lantern archon gave the holy warrior.
Viv moves quietly into the ship, waving her hand occasionally at the mist.
"This is gonna make it impossible to hit anything at range," she says, clearly annoyed.
"This place has a bad feel, it is steeped in evil."
Kaska moves carefully and quietly, keeping her eyes peeled.
Kaska creeps forward quietly, peering down the corridor beyond the entry doors. Three doors hang open, each leading into another room. From the northern room comes a soft grinding sound, like that of metal scraping against metal. From the east a faint light, similar to that of a lantern held aloft, casts strange, flickering shadows through a tangle of rubble. And from the south issues the cloying stink of rotted flesh.
"This place remembers me to the one under Torch" Holg lights Kaska with his greatsword "How this could have arrived here?"
Ad the group advances and strange noises are heard, the Kellid stops to listen more carefully "Oh, well, we have to decide now between the grinding machine, the ghostly light and the rotted flesh..."
"Within fighting a potential robot or a ghost, I think I prefer to face first the dead meat... let's investigate" Holg points out his preference on the way to go, and signals Kaska to the south.
Coen's reaction is pure fascination as he looks at the ruined ship.
[v]"You're right Holg, I think this place is still active just like the ruins in Torch. Be careful of the mold."[/b]
Reminded of the dangerous mold found in the previous ruins Coen uses what he knows about Nature in his attempts to avoid a humiliating and painful death.
Just in case:
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While the group walks towards the ship Holg queries Fireday "Why is it you do not want to destroy the Arena Fireday?"
"Collateral damage, Holg. While Scrapwall's cruel masters are no innocents, we don't know if those assembling to watch the arena's battles are or not, and I would not condemn any civilian to death in an act of expediency. Besides, Gorum would want you to challenge your enemies openly and with your own strength, not by creating an avalanche of fire and rock that does not give them a chance to fight back, right? Iomedae feels the same way." Fireday replies.
As they enter the ship, Fireday looks around quietly following after the group.
The air in this compartment is choking and stale. The dust here is inches thick—nothing has disturbed this area in years. To the west, the wall is partially crushed and melted, leaving a five-foot-wide, two-Foot-tall gap that opens into another chamber beyond. Four large coffin-shaped objects made of glass and metal sit against the walls—one to the north and three to the south. The northern pod and the central southern pod are partially broken. Each contains a skeleton clad in fragments of strange, bulky armor. The other two southern pods appear to be only slightly damaged. The air is thick with a rancid scent, like old meat gone bad.
Inside the intact pods are two people in pristine suits of armor with clear glass faceplates. One is male, the other female—both appear to be human, yet of an unknown ethnicity with dusky skin, reddish hair, and delicate features.
"Aye! You have convinced me Fireday, we should not fudge a face to face fight!" Holg raises his sword and nods at the humanistic android.
The Kellid steps in after Kaska, he observes the strange humans in suites "I have never seen people like that before" and closely examines the suites "Do you think those are good armors?" checking the bulky armor to see if it is beyond repair or it could be useful if properly mended.
The cleric helps himself with detect magic in his investigation.
"I could probably reverse-engineer it, given enough time and practice," Fireday replies as he does the same. He takes a closer look at the armor and thinks on what he's learned over the course of their adventures exploring the Rain of Stars' ruins...
"Wowwwww," says Viv as she very carefully presses her hands against one of the tubes. "You think these people are still alive in there? Asleep? In storage?"
"Maybe... I can just break the tubes and see if they wake up!" Holg readies his greatsword showing how would he do it to open the tubes.
There aren't any magical auras in the chamber. Fireday recognizes the suits of armor as space suits, which the ancient starfarers whose ship crashed in Numeria would use to survive in the inky reaches of the void above the world. However, they are too heavily damaged to provide any protection beyond a little bit of armor. Nonetheless, the damaged suits would likely fetch a fine price to collectors for their novelty alone.
The two suits worn by the sleeping humans look intact, though you'd have to open the pods to gain access to them.
"We could certainly take these damaged suits and we'd fetch a good price for them if we found a collector who wasn't with the Technic League. As for these two...how to free them without killing them?"
He takes a closer look at the pods, trying to determine if there's a way they could be opened without harming the people inside.
”What if they’re like vampires and just resting right now?”
In theory, opening the pods shouldn't harm those sleeping inside. They would likely wake up from their stasis, though.
Holg steps back while Fireday examines how to open the pods "Well, they might certainly be vampires... but they might be someone in need of help too... anyway they seem confined and calm there for now, so perhaps we should better explore the other areas before freeing them and calling the attention of other livings around"
As he explains this, he gives a look to the collapsed area to the west "We can take the corridor after exploring this zone"
"That's a good idea, Holg. If... if they are survivors from another time and place, best that we don't expose them to more hazards than necessary while they are adjusting to waking up here," says Viv.
"Fair points, all," Fireday replies. He steps back from the pods and regards Kaska.
"Would you like to take point, Kaska?"
The rubble opens up onto another section of the ship. Here, a door stands closed. Without power, the door can't be opened in the normal way.
"Sure" Kaska nods as she moves to the front, relieved the sleeping pair will be left where they are.
When she reaches the door, Kaska goes to work trying to figure out how to get it to open. First she tries out the random set of colored cards, waving them around any promising features, then she moves on to messing with anything that looks vaguely like controls.
"Take this one Kaska. While I was with the scavengers there was a ratfolk that often opened this kind of stuff with picks like this one. I think it might help" Holg hands the black e-pick the group had encountered previously.
The Kellid additionally tries to help by providing some extra divine guidance.
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With Holg's guidance, Kaska is able to strip a few wires from the door control panel and fuse them together in a different configuration. There's a spark, and then the door slides open.
A massive black window, spiderwebbed with hundreds of cracks, graces the western wall of this chamber, half-buried under rubble and twisted metal. Curved consoles of strange controls line the walls, with three chairs made of an unidentifiable off-white material facing them. A figure dressed in red fabric of an unusually fine weave sits slumped over the console in the westernmost chair.
As fresh air fills the room from the open door, the figure slumps and slowly crumbles away until nothing remains but a few brittle bones and a pile of dust within the fabric. As this happens, each of you are suddenly overwhelmed with a series of powerful visions--flashes of emotion mixed with the sound of screaming and explosions, sudden feelings of vertigo, and the conviction that gravity has gone mad.
Though the vision passes quickly, something rises up from the remains. A seething vortex of shadows and crimson dust coalesces into a vaguely humanoid shape with long, thin fingers that wisp away into smoke. The thing cries out in despair and pain as it drifts forward to attack!
Before you can react, the creature reaches for Kaska!
Seasoned in many battles, Holg does not lose his focus, and he grabs to the wall to avoid falling down. His eyes open wide though as he spots the new enemy before them, recognizing the nightmare from previous adventures "A wraith! That is dangerous Kaska, it can easily drain your life force and make you one of them. You will need a magical weapon or positive energy to defeat it!"
"The battleaxe! The battleaxe we found in the manticore nest was magical!" Holg looks for the magical battleaxe and offers it to Kaska.
Fireday plants his sword-staff in the ground to keep his footing as the intense emotions wash over him, his faith keeping him centered.
Then he raises it and clutches his holy symbol.
"O Inheritor! We face a foe that our swords will not harm. Grant to us the sword of your light in our time of need!"
His holy symbol glows and then he points the prongs of his staff at the wraith!
Viv sheds off the sudden surge of emotion - her own "emotions," such as they are, being muted and synthetic - and she raises one of her metal shards. "Aetheric force is a b+~#*," she says before propelling it toward the misty foe.
Kaska withstands the vertigo and confusion the wraith brings on, then ducks away from its grasp. She drops her falx in favor of the axe Holg offers her and swings back at it!
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Losing his balance Coen slumps to the floor. From there he manages to struggle through a spell to attack the wraith with Magic Missiles.
The wraith weathers the worst of Fireday's channeled energy, but Viv's blast and Coen's magic missiles tear through its spectral form.
Opening itself up to attack, the undead phases through the walls of the ship, emerging behind the kineticist and sorcerer. It reaches for the latter, plunging an icy hand into his chest in an attempt to drain his life force.
"Kaska it has come here at our back! Take my place!" knowing his sword will do nothing to the wraith, Holg readies an action to switch places with Kaska. When Kaska comes to his place to swing at the wraith Holg will 5' step to take Kaska's place and touch her with battle rage "Gorum, give Kaska the strength to destroy this life mockery!"
"On it!" Kaska turns about and slides into Holg's place.
Viv spins and without hesitation makes a whirlwind motion ending in an an overhand throw and hurls another shard covered in energized force.
Fireday frowns.
"I can't channel a second time, and I don't have a magic weapon! This is going to hurt!"
He approaches the wraith and holds out his hand to it.
"Iomedae! Let your healing light burn away this spirit's pain!"
Coen looks up as he feels the wraith drain his lifeforce, the flame of his life somehow defenseless against the leeching cold of the grave. Realizing that he is prone and utterly unable to escape he struggles against the inevitable. Marshalling his will in a last ditch attempt, he attempts to cast more force damage at the shadowy undead menace.
His waning vitality causes him to collapse further into wracking coughs, interrupting his spell and causing the invisible force to disperse into the area around him to no effect.
Kaska misses with her attacks, but Viv strikes the wraith with another blast, and Fireday infuses it with positive energy.
The creature recoils and whirls on the android, reaching out to drain his life-force next!
Viv's hair rises slightly as a strange wind seems to swirl around her. The constant focus on her kinetic power brings errant aether to the fore, causing her garb to swirl and her possessions to clink and tinkle.
Alas, it is to no use.
Fireday grits his teeth as the wraith's cold touch washes over him.
"Iomedae gives me strength, as her Fourth Act gave her soldiers their strength at the Second Battle of Encarthan! I WILL NOT YIELD!" he cries as he calls her power to him for a second attack, his circuit tattoos igniting with holy light.
Holg gives Kaska once more Gorum's battle rage "You can end it Kaska!"
Kaska tries to hit the spirit with the axe again.