Viv pokes Fireday on the side of the head. "I'm agreeing with you, dolt," she says, exasperated.
"And I'm agreeing with you!" Fireday replies, confusion clear in his eyes.
Kaska finds a place to sit. She takes a whetstone from her pouch and begins sharpening her falx's edge. It seemed fairly certain the button would get pushed. Either the bodies inside would awaken, if they awakened, as newborn babies, or else probably something fairly dangerous.
If it was the former, the androids could deal with them. If the latter, Kaska would handle it.
Holg looks surprised at Viv "Wow! You are right! I haven't thought of that" he turns then to Fireday as their conversation develops "Oh! Wow! You are clever ones indeed. That idea would never came to my limited mind. Ok, so we push!"
The Kellid pushes the button with renewed curiosity.
As Holg pushes the button, the pods shatter and crumble away into the same state of disrepair as the others. Before this point, the air quality in the room was poor, but the stink increases as both of the apparently intact bodies rise up and swiftly decay, flesh and spacesuit alike! What stands before you now are two animated skeletons clad in destroyed spacesuits! They howl with wrath and raise their arms, and the other two sets of skeletal remains shudder briefly before time takes its toll and the bones crumble to dust.
Still, the two skeletons prepare to attack!
"NO!" Fireday cries as it appears their attempts at rescue only killed these poor people.
He raises his holy symbol and calls Iomedae's power down upon the skeletons.
Kaska is up and at the skeletons in an instant. She moves up beside Fireday and slashes at the one he is confronting.
"Awww dangit!" shouts Viv.
"I guess that solves our problem of having to take care of people, though," she mutters under her breath.
Wasting no time, she sends another shard of metal tumbling end-over-end toward one of the space kooks.
Coen does not look surprised when the released ship dwellers suddenly decay and reveal themselves as malevolent undead. "Ugh, it was the third option. Should have known opening a star sarcophagus would just result in star mummies."
Coen then targets the same enemy as Viv.
Viv hurls a shard of metal that slams into one of the skeletons, cracking bones with the force of the impact. Coen blasts it with magic missiles, further damaging it. Fireday channels holy energy, and the damaged skeleton is consumed by white-hot flames, crumbling to ash in an empty space suit! The other one resists the worst of the energy, and Kaska's sword clangs off of its armor.
The remaining skeleton claws at Kaska, scoring a hit!
Holg, still perplexed by what have happened, finally reacts swinging his sword at the surviving skeleton "Gorum! Destroy what cannot be saved!"
Fireday brings the fire once again!
Coen delays to just before the undead's next action in order to possibly save his spell.
Viv pwings another shard off of the walls.
"Forgive us, Iomedae, for our carelessness has slain these innocents!" Fireday cries as he channels.
Holg slices into the skeleton, cracking bones despite the creature resisting the edged weapon somewhat. Coen batters the undead with magic missiles, while Fireday channels energy to further disrupt it. Viv steps over to get a clear line of sight and hurls a shard that she thinks might go awry, but she just manages to clip the skeleton's skull, shattering it to pieces! The undead collapses to the floor.
However, it seems like the fight isn't over yet. A glowing ball of light suddenly appears behind Viv--likely the same light that vanished earlier. The nebulous image of what might be a skull is visible within its depths.
It slams into the android, discharging electricity into her body!
Unlike with the sudden decomposition and animation of the corpses earlier, this time Coen is surprised and he rushes to act redirecting his delayed action to blast the floating neon skull thing.
"What is that?!" Holg does not give much thought, the Kellid jumps over the new arrival before it can electrifry more of his friends "Gorum destruct my enemies!"
Fireday turns and rushes after Holg to join the fray, eager to redeem himself, swinging at the skull with his swordstaff!
"Yeow!" howls Viv. She steps away and flings a shard at the unusual will-o'-wisp-like-skull-light.
Kaska turns on the new threat behind her and tries to cleave the light in two.
You all attack the ball of light, but the nimble thing manages to dodge everything aimed its way! Holg comes very close, but it still avoid his swing. Coen's magic missiles slam into it, though, causing it to flicker angrily. It swoops towards the sorcerer and zaps him!
"Keep up the pressure, Coen! It seems to be hurt most by your magic!" Fireday says as he attacks again.
"Damn! It's a tough one, come here!" Holg follows the ball and crashes his greatsword onto the electrical body "Gorum destroy this being!"
"This thing is so fast!" Kaska grumbles as she tries to track it and get in another chop.
Coen grimaces and casts another volley into the glowing thing in front of him.
Coen slams the aberattion with more magic missiles. This time, Kaska and Holg both manage to strike the nimble monster. Both Kellid's blades slice deep into the spongy mass at the creature's center, tearing it to shreds! It lets out a ghostly wail as it discorporates, its light flickering and dying.
It would appear this crashed ship is finally free of dangerous foes.
Coen wipes the sweat from his face with a shaking hand, nervously aware that he would not have survived another attack.
"We should take a closer look around for anything both useful and not cursed."
"I am so sorry," Fireday says quietly. It's not clear if he's apologizing to the group or the dead things...maybe both.
A thorough search reveals nothing further of value here.
"It seems our task here is completed. Let's take the explosives to the ratfolk so we can end with the transmission array" Holg sheds his sword and picks up all the remaining loot the group has found in the ship.
Before leaving the Kellid channels life to heal the wounds of his companions.
"Thank you, Holg," Fireday says as they exit. He takes one look back at the people they tried to save, only to kill them.
"Blessed be your souls as they ascend to whatever gods you worshiped, and may you forgive us for our carelessness. So let it be," he prays, making the sign of the Sword.
Viv nods somberly. "Yeah. What a mess. This whole place is just... ugh. Death and decrepitude. I kinda wish we could do more."
Kaska lowers her falx.
"I don't think we killed them." Kaska gestures at the two skeletal bodies as she speaks to the androids.
"If they had been alive, their bodies would not have fallen apart like they did. They were both long dead before we came."
With a last look around she adds "yes, we should go."
You leave the haunted canyon behind and make your way across Scrapwall back to Redtooth's Warren. The ratfolk is quite pleased to hear of your success, her nose twitching excitedly. "Excellent! Yes, these cylex charges are exactly what we need to blow up that receiver array! The Lords of Rust will definitely sit up and take notice of you after that! Here, take this detonator."
She hands you a small cylinder with a large red button on one end. "One charge of cylex should be enough to destroy the array, assuming you place it in a good location."
Holg nods to the Redtooths "Ok, we push this button and boom!"
"Shall we rest before moving on to the receiver array? I can still go on for a short while" depending on what the others thing Holg takes a short or long rest, then moves in through the manticore's territory and into the receiver's array location.
"I'm ready," Fireday replies, still a little in shock from the events of the day.
Kaska finds a play to sit down and resharpens the edge of her blade with her whetstone.
"We should wait. Coen used a lot of his magic and he should rest and recover it first. The things we're running across are getting nastier. His magic is really helping us turn the corner on fights that could have gone badly against us."
Fireday nods.
"Your intuition's been rock solid so far, Kaska. Commencing the attack at our full strength will all but guarantee success."
Holg shrugs "You are definitely wiser than me, so be it then!" the cleric gathers everyone and channels once more before going to sleep.
The man looks for some meat to cook "I am pretty hungry after all our walks and fights. I want a large steak." the Kellid licks his lips with desire "Yes, a huge one. Can you get us some real food chief? I will show you how to prepare a real good piece" Holg picks up some salt and pepper from his backpack "I got this one from a Tien merchant traveling from the Crown of the World. It should make it delicious"
"I've never had steak. In the church, most of our food is soldier's fare: hardtack and watered wine. Any meat I've ever had has been jerky on the road," Fireday says to Holg.
Coen smiles at Kaska gratefully and looks down at his shaking hands.
"I should be fine tomorrow. As far as my magic goes, I have to admit it's pure luck. I don't even know what we were fighting today, so it's pure chance we had a good matchup. I don't get to choose my magic really, it's just my Mother's gift."
He lifts his head with a thoughtful look.
"We could maybe be more sure about things if we scouted out what we'd be facing tomorrow before we engage. I'd hate to think what would happen if we ran into a swarm or something requiring a magic I don't have. If we can't then we can just trust in our luck."
He then goes into his pack and hands out a wineskin.
"This isn't anything special, but it's wine and that's better than nothing."
"How would you propose we do this scouting?" asks Viv. "Do you have some scrying magic?"
"Ah! That's a clever thought!" Holg seems impressed by Coen's careful logic and listens attentively before going to sleep.
The next day the Kellid wakes up reinvigorated and prepares his backpack and weapons for the new day "So... we head to the receiver array now!"
Kaska returns Coen's smile for a few seconds and shrugs, then quickly goes back to her sharpening.
++++++++++++++++
The next morning she loads on her gear and waits for everyone to be ready to move.
Fireday shares some of Coen's wine. He goes to sleep later than the others, spending time sitting atop the garbage looking up at the stars. All the things around him...all the ruins in this land...came from somewhere up there...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning, he rises and conducts his prayers before joining the others as they depart for the array.
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The ratfolk provide you with meat and cheese for you to dine on, as well as comfortable, if cramped, quarters to sleep in. In the morning, you head across Scrapwall to the receiver array. A few small humanoids in dark cloaks scurry to get out of your way, not wanting to mess with people of significant scrap-worth.
A light rain begins to fall as you approach your destination, pinging off the piles of metallic junk that make up the settlement's landscape. Rickety wooden walkways connect a series of chambers along the walls of a narrow canyon, the support structure for a large, dish-like antenna. The dish is 40 feet in diameter, but sits somewhat lopsided above the ridge and is streaked with rust. Small blinking red lights around part of its perimeter help maintain its dominance over Scrapwall's skyline.
Vultures wheel in the sky above the array, drawn by the dozens of half-eaten bodies that litter the floor of the area. The bodies belong to pale gray, naked humanoids with mouths full of sharp teeth and long, rubbery arms and legs that end in starfish-shaped claws. Many of the bodies bear crude tattoos or clutch fetishes made of junk that resemble the same robotic claw you have seen before--Hellion's holy symbol.
Holg examines the bodies from afar "It seems the vultures do not take it well to access the top there. Perhaps we can just place the explosives in the base to demolish it ensemble"
The Kellid examines with care the structure trying to determine the most accessible place where the explosion might cause irreparable damage to the structure.
Fireday grimaces in disgust as they pass the bodies.
"More of Hellion's blasphemy. It says something about this 'Iron God' that his only faithful are monsters and madmen."
He spits at one of the unholy symbols. Then he listens to Holg's suggestion and joins him in his search for structural weaknesses.
Coen would have shaken his head earlier in response to questions about scrying magic. He would explain that you've seen most of his magic and what remains isn't useful for that.
When seeing the room Coen tries to roughly calculate how high the dish is with an eye towards determining if an unseen servant can be used to place the explosive with direction.
"Is it weird to anyone else that there are corpses of those faithful to Hellion left out in the open here? Is that normal for this city or did something happen?"