Fireday nods to Molly.
"From the shadows beyond makes it sound like this flayer is an outsider, summoned here by magic like the elementals Xoud imprisoned," he comments.
Kaska is astounded that someone would try to farm in the valley, but she doesn't say so. Instead she asks "What do the butchers look like?"
Fifteen just waits quietly, the others are asking all the pertinent questions so she simply listens and absorbs the answer.
Paeytr shudders at Kaska's question. "They are crablike creatures with lamprey mouths, twitching eyes on their legs--so many eyes! Always watching! And the blisters on their backs--that's where they keep the brains of those they butcher!"
Molly lip turns up in distaste, but stows away the produce the man gave her.
She looks over the drawn map and then up at the valley they're in. "So she's about two miles ... that way." She points across the valley. "We should get moving."
"Despicable... what would they want the brains in their blisters for?" Holg frowns not liking the image pictured by the old man.
"What about this shady man that asked you about the Technique League? Can you tell us how does he look like? Do you know what direction he took?" Holg nods to Molly in agreement "Yes, we should get moving before the night falls"
If Paeytr does not mind Holg picks up another apple and a carrot "For later. Thanks again Paetyr. Let us know if you need some help" the Kellid smiles wide to the old man.
”He was a strange man, had horns and a tail I think. He went deeper into the valley. Don’t know if he’s still here.
“The Tehnic League agents came here months ago and they had questions about the machines. They were uncouth guests and overstayed their welcome, but left me alone once I told them the machines served the Butchers deeper in the Scar. They seemed intrigued and angry that the Butchers now controlled the machines. They spoke of confronting the Butchers, but they have not returned since. I suspect they found the Butchers to be more than they could handle. I hope so. They were rude to me.”
Paeytr lets Holg take some more fruit. ”Safe travels, friends. You are welcome here any time you like.”
As the group walks out of the orchard Holg comments "I like that guy. We need more people like him to take care of our land and fruits. Maybe we should ask him about his secret before coming back to Torch"
"I also think those Technic League guys were probably eaten by the brain thieves. We will find out I think... but for now, I think we agreed to visit the four-handed woman next, isn't it?"
"Thank you, Paetyr. Um, we will probably be traveling back through this way again; if you have need of any supplies from outside the valley, please let us know. We may be able to bring some things to you," mentions Viv.
"Allies are better than enemies. We should visit the woman first." Fifteen agrees with Holg. She doesn't seem inclined to eat the fruit either...
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Fireday nods in agreement.
"That sounds like the Technic League's thugs alright: so assured of the might granted by wielding technology they don't understand that they think themselves above common courtesy and hospitality. While I would not wish a fate like you describe on anybody, it cannot be said that they weren't warned. Thank you again, good Paeytr!"
He bows to the man before joining the others.
"I agree we should seek out the woman first, and maybe see if that horned man is still alive...Paeytr's description makes him sound like one of the fiend-touched...tieflings."
You head north from Paeytr’s grove, heading towards the machine caves. It is just before noon when you come across a small forested region. Ahead, at the base of a tree, you see what looks like a woman’s corpse lying in a heap, partially covered by fallen leaves.
"They have strange ideas for courtesy and hospitality" Holg stretches his neck to show some of the scars from his stay in the Technic League controlled mines.
-----------------------------
Entering the forested region, Holg approaches to look at the dead woman "Might this be the woman we were looking for? She seems to have seen better days..."
The Kellid removes the fallen leaves to see if the woman has two or four arms, and to check what might the reason of her death "Shall we want to ask her spirit for what happened to her, I will need 15 minutes of prayer"
As Holg approaches, two of the trees suddenly transform! Each of these six-eyed horrors is vaguely shaped like a dead tree, but one with claws and tentacles and spidery legs. They release bursts of psychic energy as they prepare to attack!
Fifteen staggers under the unexpected barrage, but moves swiftly into combat none-the-less, heading for the edge to put one creature between herself and the other.
"Wait, we might want to ..." Molly begins, but is interrupted as the creatures make their appearance. She shakes off the mental wave - the question of whether they were hostile settled. "Shooting at a target that's not moving is hardly a challenge," she mutters to herself just as her musket misfires.
Fireday yells and holds his head, but the pain passes quickly.
"We will not be made prey so easily!" he declares as he rushes towards the tree monsters.
Viv winces but somehow shrugs off the worst of the mental barrage from the strange tree-creatures as she backs up into the air. A metal shard appears in her hand as if from nowhere and she launches it into the foremost plantoid.
Fireday's rush becomes a dead run, the hacking edge of his spade poised to strike.
"CHOP THE WOOD TO LIGHT THE FIRE!"
Molly's first attack misfires, but her follow-up shots both strike one of the tree-monsters, the bullets tearing into their fleshy bodies. Fifteen moves up to the same creature and scores a critical hit, her blade slicing a deep furrow and causing blackish blood to spurt out onto the forest floor. Fireday charges up beside his fellow android, finishing off the monster with a slice of his spade. Viv blasts the other one with shards of metal.
The surviving creature unleashes a psychic wave of fear at the group before scrambling over to engage Fifteen and Fireday!
Fifteen's arms fall to her sides and she starts reciting what sound like complex mathematical formulae.
Making a fortress out of his mind, Holg steps back grasping his holy symbol and shouting with an encouraging battle cry while he casts remove fear "Gorum push us forward! No retreat! Only victory!!!"
Stepping forward, Holg unleashes a full attack on the tree.
Molly feels the fear begin to overwhelm her, but Holg's magic bolsters her nerve.
With small, nimble fingers long familiar with the task, she quickly clears her misfire . She then reloads and fires at the remaining tree-creature.
Viv holds her ground (air?) and charges up another metal shard with aetheric power before sending it barreling into the remaining foe.
Fireday has felt fear before, and knows full well that true valor is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it, and easily shrugs off the unnatural feelings to join Holg in the assault!
Holg suppresses Molly's fear, allowing her to shoot the creature with her musket. Though Fifteen babbles incoherently, the rest of you blast and slice the strange being, Kaska rushing in to cut it open with her falx. The monster crumples under your assault!
With the creatures defeated, you are able to examine the corpse. The woman's body carries several now ruined items, along with a +2 cold siccatite dagger encased in a shell of ice, frozen leaves, and flesh. A backpack under the body is filled with a wealth of strange technological parts worth 3,500 gp to someone interested in such components. Amid these parts is a metal scroll tube, within which are two arcane scrolls of destroy robot.
Despite numerous small sucker marks over her body, Holg determines that the woman died, oddly enough, of thirst.
As Holg prononuces his findings while the group searches the remains, Viv notes, "I wonder if the sucker marks mean that something literally sucked the water out of her body."
"Maybe these very plant-things."
Molly shoulders her musket and moves forward to check on Fifteen.
"Ghrá Geal? Are you still with me?" she asks hesitantly.
Fifteen's eyes flicker rapidly from side to side for a few moments longer before they come to rest on Molly's worried brown ones. "Yes Molly. I am here." She says, sheathing a sword to take Molly's hand. "My apologies. They were... very loud."
"These are interesting." She offers when the items are found. "Viv, these parts may be useful for your future plans in Torch. The dagger should go to someone without close combat weaponry." She doesn't look at Molly, but its been a subject of discussion over the years, Fifteen insisting that Molly needs a weapon for protection and the halfling insisting that 'I can shoot anything dangerous long before it gets me'.
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Molly reaches into her backpack and pulls out a shortsword in a scabbard. "Look, I bought the fecking thing, didn't I? I don't wear it 'cause it gets in the way," she says in annoyance. "You're not m' mum, ok?"
Clearly, Molly carrying a melee weapon is a sore point between the couple.
"The dagger would be smaller, and therefore easier for you to carry." Fifteen replies, her tone unmoved. "And I do not believe that your mother would stretch with you regularly?"
That might... maybe, be a joke...
Or possibly a genuine question...
Molly looks back at the android trying to determine if that was a joke. After a glance around at the others to see who's listening, she smirks. "I don't talk about who I've stretched with and who i ain't," she says. "And if you want any more o' that, you'll leave m' mum out of that conversation."
Holg laugh genuinely at the android and halfling interaction "Oh well, pick whatever you need if you wish" but avoids getting in the middle any further.
Removing the corpse he reaches the same conclusions than Viv "Most probably the poor fellow was sucked by the trees indeed. I hope she had the opportunity to die fighting"
Then raising his sight to the mountains south, Holg resumes walking to the machines cave "Well, that was a nice warm up. Let's see what we find the four-armed woman is about. I hope she has some nice machines to fight"
You continue north, and after another hour, you reach the machine caves. The mouth of this dark cave is fifteen feet wide and twelve feet tall, with a number of closely spaced natural pillars on the right-hand side. Gray-green lichen hugs the entry’s arch and the unmistakable odor of burned oil drifts from within. Various odd scuff marks in the rocky soil and grass suggest others have passed this way before.
Sniffing in the air Holg takes air before shouting inside the cave "Hello there! We are Numerian travelers looking to fight the brain thieves. The old Paetyr told us a four armed woman lives here that might help us in our quest. Can we enter your place?"
Molly looks over the ground with her musket in hand. "Something's been drug through here," she says, indicating the marks on the ground. "And there's someone's footsteps."
There is no answer from within the cave.
Holg sniffs checking out the footprints pointed out by Molly "Maybe the four-armed woman is in danger... Hey there! We are coming in! Do not shot!"
The Kellid eyes the others to check everyone is ready, then he walks into the cave using the continual flame on his greatsword to bring light to the place.
Before you enter the cave, Molly notices a narrow tunnel between two of the pillars. It leads northeast, away from the main cave entrance. It seems the humanoid prints lead in that direction.
Fireday lays a strip of paper with a sword on it on the dead woman's person before they continue on.
When they arrive at the cave, Fireday nods at the assessment of the others.
"Which way should we inspect first? I vote we follow the tracks."
"Hey," Molly calls out. She gestures towards two of the pillars. "There's a tunnel back there. That's where the footprints go. It might be a tight squeeze for you big folk, though."
Viv is busy stuffing the techno-wreckage into her handy haversack when Molly calls out.
"Excellent find," she calls back. "Could we perhaps widen it? With shovels, mayhap? Or does it go too far back in too much hard stone?"
"I don't suppose Gorum's granted you a spell that can mold earth or stone, Holg?" Fireday asks.
"Just moves carefully." Fifteen suggests. "Or Molly and I go and report back."
"I could pray Gorum to widen it, but I think we can squeeze through with some effort. Perhaps Molly and the others who have an easy time doing it can go first so we have some members ready to defend the squeezing ones..." Holg proposes.
Once Molly and Fifteen who seem to have it easy pass to the other side, Holg tries a fast attempt.
Seeing it is not easy, the Kellid slides his right foot, then tosses the sword to the other side and his backpack. Once others pick that up, he starts pushing his body through. It is oppressing, and his head seems so big right now that he wonders if he will fit through.
Ultimately Holg makes it through with many scratches in his face and arms "Easy peasy" he laughs while he recovers his backpack and sword.
Working carefully, you all manage to squeeze into the narrow tunnel. You proceed along its length for about 100 feet before it opens up. Two narrow tunnels connect in this large, low-ceilinged cavern. What appears to be some sort of technological weapon sits discarded on the floor in the middle of the cave.
Molly waits patiently with her musket ready as the others make their way through the - to her - wide crevice.
"I need to ask," she says once the others are gathered together together. "How quiet do we want to be? Because the first time I fire this, everyone and their sister in this cave system is going to know something's up."