Coen conjures down another fiery meteor, and the big gremlin can't get away in time. It shrieks in pain as it is burned!
Kaska slashes the goblin, landing a solid hit, though the force of her blow is blunted by its fey resilience. Still, it is wounded quite badly now. The ranger steps around the gremlin's side.
Fireday moves up to take her place, slicing at the gremlin, but it dodges away from his swing.
Viv fires a blast that goes wide of her target. Gylwinth, too, is unable to land a solid strike.
Clearly outmatched and grievously wounded, the gremlin warily steps away from Fireday and Kaska. A puff of smoke engulfs it, and then it is simply gone! It is unlikely to come back any time soon.
Fireday glares as the gremlin retreats. Cowardly wretch, but giving chase would probably be pointless.
"Let us seek out their leader. Killing him will end this."
The big gremlin seems to have been the leader. You scour the small network of tunnels and caves, but don't find any more gremlins.
Fireday smiles under his wrappings as he turns to Kaska.
"We have fulfilled our end of the bargain. Let us scour their lair for anything useful, and then return to the tribe and shared the good news with them."
"The skulks block the route Khonnir took Gylwinth. To find him we need for them to let us pass. If they keep their word..."
Fireday regards Gylwinth and nods, though his eyes clearly communicate his confusion.
"That is true, but I have a suspicion there is more down here than we can search before the spell ends. In the end, we may need to make camp down here, or seek the hospitality of the tribe we have just aided."
When Kaska adds her thoughts, Fireday turns to her.
"I do not mean to speak out of turn, Kaska, but are you sure we should be using the word "skulk?" The tribe may hold that word as a slur."
Kaska gives Fireday a sour look. "Or not. You have a better word?"
"Sure. Lots to do still."
Kaska bends to the older man's wishes. "Of course. As you say."
There does not seem to be anything of value among the junk in the gremlins' lair. A strange circular door is set in the metal wall here, but it is sealed shut with no obvious ways to open it.
You return to the skulks and report your success. Sef sends one of her people to confirm the gremlins are gone, and when she is satisfied, she hands you a pouch. "Your reward, as promised." Inside are 59 silverdisks and five strange cards made of a smooth, flexible material. These cards each bear a brown stripe. "I don't know what these cards are, but the purple-haired lady asked us for any such cards when she first passed through. At the time, we had none, but the fact she was looking for some is enough to convince me they have value. You may now pass through the door in our cave."
Fireday bows to Sef.
"Thank you again, we leave in peace. May the Inheritor's glory shine in your hearts."
Coen marks time as knots on a leather thong attached to his belt as he renews his light spell.
"We still have time. Mind if I check those cards? They're probably something useful down here."
He puzzles over them to try and figure out a use, passing over it with detect magic and applying what little knowledge he can.
The cards don't radiate any magic auras. Coen looks over them for a bit, but can't figure out their purpose.
Once you are ready, you head to the far end of the skulk's cave, where the dark gray metal wall stands. The smooth expanse is pitted and scorched but solid-looking. A circular opening pierces the wall five feet off the ground, allowing access to a hallway on the other side.
The walls, floor and ceiling of this slightly curved hallway are made of smooth dark gray metal. Panels of lighter material run along the ceiling eight feet above. To the north and south the tunnel is blocked by walls of metal junk and rubble, while another open doorway yawns to the east.
Past that doorway, about thirty feet away, Coen's light illuminates a three-legged humanoid robot similar to the one you fought in Khonnir Baine's workshop. It seems to be in good repair, but it stands motionless.
Kaska also looks at the card-like pieces, but they mean nothing to her.
When Kaska sees the robot she halts the others with a gesture. She approaches to slightly closer and looks it over carefully.
If the robot seems operable, she attempts to habituate it to her presence so that it will at least ignore her.
The robot seems operable, but seems to be in a low-power mode--almost like it's "sleeping." Kaska's attempt to reprogram it doesn't go well, however. Interpreting her actions as a threat, the single eye on its head lights up and it assumes an offensive stance!
As the robot comes online and threatens him he can't help but groan."Not again..."
He fumbles to load and fire his crossbow before it can get closer.
Overcompensating in an attempt to not hit those in melee, the arrow goes incredibly wide, threatening neither the activated automaton nor his allies.
Fireday takes a swing at the robot.
;
Noting another hostile robot, Viv plucks out an iron bead and launches it telekinetically. It whips past Kaska with a whoosh of wind.
Kaska curses and strikes at the robot.
Coen and Viv both open fire on the robot, but both of their projectiles clatter harmlessly against the metallic wall behind it.
Fireday steps up and slashes at the robot, managing a good hit! Sparks fly as his blade slices through the strange substance that makes up its body.
Gylwinth steps up behind the warpriest, stabbing with his longspear. He lands a powerful hit, the spear driving deep into the robot's chassis and tearing through several vital components!
Kaska tries to finish it off, but her blade is stopped by its hard exterior shell.
The damage to the robot seems to slowly repair itself before your eyes, though it is still badly damaged. It fixes its gaze on Fireday and tries to smash him with its heavy fists. Gylwinth intervenes with a distracting spear strike, making it harder for the robot to hit Fireday. The robot's fist glances off the warpriest's armor.
Coen reloads, shoulders the crossbow and fires again hoping for a lucky shot.
After missing badly on her first try, Kaska brings her falx around again, cleaving at the machine from the opposite direction.
"Press the attack!" Fireday barks. "Quickly! Before it can fully fix itself!"
He takes another swing at the robot.
"For Victory! For the Heart!"
;
While Coen and Kaska both miss with their attacks, Fireday scores another powerful hit, slicing off one of the robot's arms! As it flails about, Gylwinth thrusts his spear deep into its body once more. It falls backward and lies still, components sparking and burning as it is now damaged beyond repair.
Viv says, "Glad that's over with! That was some mighty fine fighting there, Gylwinth, Fireday. Thanks." She advances cautiously toward the remains, but stays a good ten feet away.
Fireday grins under his wrappings at the satisfying shriek of metal against metal as he cleaves the robot's arm off and Gylwinth finishes it off.
"You are welcome. We coordinate well as a fighting force. If we keep up such tactics, we will find Khonnir in no time."
He takes a look around the cave to see if the robot was guarding anything.
There doesn't seem to be much in the hall where the robot stood. The northern wall of the otherwise empty metal room beyond it is a tangle of what look to have once been strange cages of some sort. Tangled amid the metal ribs of these cages are ribs of a more organic nature—the ancient bones of some sort of alien creature. Smaller mounds of rubble lie against the opposite wall.
Fireday searches this room as well, but he doesn't find anything. A door to the north hangs open, while another closed door is set in the southeast wall.
"What are you talking about?" Kaska responds to Gylwinth, puzzled.
"Do you understand nothing of these things? It was a sentry. It was never harmless or oblivious. Can you not see that I had to walk directly by it to go forward? Why would I provoke it when I might have passed without doing so?"
"You are an elder, but you're not my clan. Don't try my courtesy toward you by berating me about things you don't understand. If you wish to make the decisions take the front. If you continue to follow instead, do so in silence unless I ask for your advice."
Kaska steps aside to allow Gylwinth to move ahead of her, arms folded.
Coen rolls his eyes at the argument and exhales a long suffering sigh.
"Stop arguing here, you're both being too loud. You can roll around in the dirt to figure out who's stronger when we get back."
Kaska looks back at Coen. "And you, soft-bodied boy who stands in the back and waves his hands around, I don't like you. You're snide, and your mouth is always running far ahead of what you can back up. I'll make you the very same offer again. If you don't like how I'm handling the front, where I take it on the teeth while figuring out how to keep the rest of you from stumbling into danger, you do it instead. Otherwise shut up."
Viv straightens and approaches Kaska and looks at her evenly, then gestures for her to step to one side for a moment.
Kaska "Hrumphs" at Viv.
"This is just more of the same thing. You want togetherness and harmony so you pull me aside? I may be the youngest but that doesn't mean I'm always the person who needs correcting. Nobody else here can do what I do. For some reason though they think they can tell me all about how I should be doing it. But none of them are actually going to take the front instead of me because they know they've no idea what to do up there."
"Their combined wisdom on tracking, scouting, dealing with traps, watching for ambushes, it's not worth spit. Walking point isn't a spectator sport but they want to treat it like one. When they can do better than me, they can have something to say about it. Until then if you want harmony keep them off my back."
With that, Kaska walks away to check the cages, bones, and rubble piles.
Kaska finds herself in an odd spot, liking the androids more than the people. Fireday shows her respect. Viv is wrong, but at least she treats her like an equal person.
Kaska joins Fireday in his search, and it turns out that two sets of eyes are better than one. Between the pair, they unearth a few treasures. The first appears to be a powerful, long-handled tool that resembles a blacksmith's tongs with a few knobs and adjustable flanges down its handles. The second is a small device with a black, rubbery handle and multiple prongs emerging from a long, thin shaft at the end. There are also two silverdisks whose lines still glow with innate energy--functioning batteries for technological devices.
Kaska looks over the objects Fireday and she have found to see if she recognizes anything about them.
Kaska recognizes the first tool as a set of grippers. The second object is unfamiliar.
Fireday looks over the items as well. His relative naivete compared to Kaska prevents him from understanding what they're looking at, so he keeps his mouth shut.
The door opens onto another small chamber. Two strange machines sit to the north and south against the walls here. Their faces appear similar to coils of metal tubes with several nozzle-like protrusions pointing into the room itself. They appear to be non-functional.
Just ten feet from the entrance, another door opens onto a short stone tunnel that curves to the north. With their darkvision, Fireday and Viv can see that it opens into a vast, sandy cavern.
Kaska explains the grippers to the others, then tucks them and the other mystery items away.
She nods at Gylwinth and replies "I will cover your front." with something that comes close to a smile.
As she looks around in the next small room she mutters "I think we are getting closer to the source of the machines."
There doesn't seem to be anything of value in this room. It is unclear what purpose the machines would have served if they were in working order.
As Kaska leads group into the sandy tunnel, you see a white, coral-like rock formation partially buried in the sand. Gylwinth and Kaska notice the twitching movements inside the shell moments before a forest of purple tentacles erupt from within, tracing whirled patterns in the surrounding sand as they reach for you!
"Watch out! Something in the sand!"
Since the tentacled thing seems like a plant in some ways, she decides to stay clear of it and use her bow.
As Gylwinth steps forward, his boots sink into the sand. The strange creature has excreted a quagmire of sticky fluid around it, and it hardens around his lower legs! He is entangled in the mire, but he still manages to drive his spear into one of the writhing tentacles!
The creature lashes out at the Kellid, but fails to retaliate effectively.
Fireday mutters a brief prayer to Iomedae and then gently touches Kaska's shoulder.
"The Inheritor will guide your mind and strengthen your arm for war."