There are a pair of double doors at the South end of the room.
"Red food is red food. It is red and wet and warm. Give me red food, hungry, red food, hungry, red food, hungry, red food, hungry, red food..."
The plant continues to murmur this in your heads as Derlin gives the description. Afterwards, it stops.
"There were creatures like you that came here. They were pulled by shiny, metal creatures not like you from that door to the other door. They left red food on the ground. I licked it up. It was delicious. Now I want more. Red food, red food, red food... Please, I am very hungry."
Yvell ponders for a moment and then says this, " So red food is warm red and wet. If you do not attack us then I can promise you we can give you red food from time to time. But if you do not behave there will be no more red food. You will be lonely and then starve. Agreed? We have no red food right now, once we leave we can give your red food from above. "
He looks to Derlin " A few Chickens would be nothing and if we warm them up I'm sure it will enjoy it as well. Chickens taste good. What we do know now is.. some of the people were left dead to be eaten by the plant and the others must have been alive.. and dragged off, we are in the right direction. "
You hear the whispers getting louder, more forceful.
"No, no, no, no, no. Give me red food now. Now, now, now, now, now. I am getting angry. Just a taste. Give me a taste. A little taste. Red food, red food, red food, red food, red food, red food..."
It continues to chant this whisper into your head, incessantly.
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"Look into my brain again if you wish to forsee your fate should you becomes hostile."
Derlin staes at the being with cold dead eyes for a moment, most of the familiar warmth you expect from the missionary is gone. He looks at the creature, falca grasped tightly. He seem lost in some dark thought.
Are you seeing my mind creature? See what I am capable of......
Memorys flood back from Derlin's bloody past, to a time when he was a creature of carnage. Moving past those, there are the possibilities of the here and now. Of my blade cleaving through you. Of my hands setting you a'flame creature. I am capable of this and MORE should you provoke me further. My friends wish to let you live so that you may eat red food another day. I will feed you to my Goddesses' Forgiving Flame!
Red food sounds a lot like flesh if you ask me. Don´t we have some food?
To the creature:
Stay calm, stay calm, no need to get angry. We can bring you some red food. Just be patient with us ok?
Burnt One nods along with Ibuki. "Plant friend can have food if good. Hurting us is bad."
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Bran readied his shield in case the creature attacked.Undead, killer machines and now a talking plant. It's like this place is some sort of workshop of horror.
Bran doesn't say anything, talking wasn't his strong suit. Instead, he tries to quietly move between it and Ibuki/Burnt One in case it starts to lash out at the group.
" It can take it's chances if it wants, I won't be bothered either way, especially if the plant cant move. We simply close the doors and leave it here to die. However if it wants to fight then it will experience what it should already know from our thoughts. "
It's nature if you're trying to identify the creature. Some kind of plant, fungus hybrid called a Cerebric Fungus. You may ask one question.
"Okay, I will wait." The plant thing whispers. "Red food, red food, I will eat red food..."
It wiggles its stalks but doesn't move otherwise.
"Burnt One thinks time to move," the scarred half-orc says. They skirt around the blue monster to investigate the rocks and dirt on the table, then take up a covering position in front of the southern doors.
Question: Any special abilities?
Allright, maybe we should go on and get that red food, don´t you think?
As he sees Burnt-One moving about the room, Ibuki adds:
I think this is a plant or fungus actually. Might be something called a Cerebric Fungus. I don´t think it´s from here.
Ibuki adresses the fungus again.
Can you tell me where you come from? And when did this metal creatures pull the ones with the red food through here? What did you eat before?
"I don't know where I came from," the cerebric fungus says. "I only remember this room. It was a long time ago. Hours or days when the creatures not like you pulled the creatures like you through here. Very delicious, red food. I have only eaten red food before. Red food, red food, red food..."
Burnt One replies to Ibuki, "Yes! Plant friend is a plant Burnt One thinks. Maybe plant friend caused the rusty red things in the room with the monster images and the strange lights?"
They then duck underneath the table and try to open the box. "Found something! You four, get over here, and we open doors?"
Derlin opens the Southern double doors and sees a hallway shaped like a T. Forty feet across is another set of double doors. Twenty feet across is a pair of double doors and the fork in the hallway that turns back to the West. A trail of blood leads to the Eastern doors.
Yvell ushers the rest of the group safely out of the room to the southern door, gives Derlin a swift nod, " Follow me, I wish to be done with this soon I rather not be called a liar by a plant and that blood doesn't look to good. " Yvell moves up to the eastern door and when everyone is positioned and out of the plant room he opens it, ready for what the blood led to.. he hoped.
Yvell opens the door.
Metal desks sit to the north and south of this long room, yet the most distinctive features are a pair of odd, bedlike tables flanked by curving panels of blinking, pulsing lights. Moving armatures of metal extend out over the beds, each outfitted with glowing panes of glass and strangely glowing tools. The chamber reeks of blood, with great crimson stains splashed across the device, beds, and floor.
A blue and gray robot , similar to the repair drone, with stains of blood on his metal arms and chest, stares at you from the east end of the room.
It speaks in a monotonous, robotic voice.
Yvell is horrified at the amount of blood displayed in this room and barely contains his anger as he speaks back to the Automaton.
A blue light from the metal creature's eye runs up and down your body. It speaks without emotion.
The robot motions with one of its hands at the bed.
Yvell seems hesitant at that, as the Plant from before confirmed there were bodies eaten. He keeps himself in a non-threatening posture but seems wary.
As Yvell opens the next door, Ibuki seems shocked, yet follows the set course of action.
Ah my plant friend, wait here please. We might be able to find the source of your red food. by the way, we are not red food. We are blue food and that really tastes horrible, believe me. Am i right my friends? Can you all please confirm that?
Yvell, please consider your next actions, before this situation get´s out of hand. Our friend here could is very able to confuse all our senses. Perhaps we should all move into one room and maybe close the door again.
Burnt One nods emphatically. "Burnt One's blood is blue as the sky!"
Burnt One stores two guns and their greataxe in their pack, and grips the third tightly, seemingly intent on using it.
Burnt One follows Yvell out into the hallway, wrinkling their face at the blood. When he opens the door and talks to the junkmetal moving, they examine the room for any other dangers.
The machine says he might be infected with some alian bacteria and should lay down there, where a healer will soon attend him. Apparently there were others, who are all healed now except for one. That might be Yvell though, not sure.
"He looks fine to me. Does it mean by just being from here?" Val says looking at the robot.
Yvell seem to become increasingly angered as his eyes flash to Ibuki for a second, though not related t the other Half-elf at all, seemingly at the situation. " I always consider my actions, three or so steps in advance. I'm trying to get as much information from these beings as possible. If what this creature says is true there might be others who know of this place and might be able to guide our group. I want everyone to live and for our mission to be completed. Remember, not only must we find Khonnir Baine, but we must get the Torch functioning once more.. or find a way of restoring it. Which reminds me, when did you pick up the language or are you stringing bits and pieces? "
This might not be the time to discuss language classes, standing between a machine that wants to "heal" you and a fungus that wants red food.
"Wait . . . if red food blood," Burnt One says, thinking. ". . . Let's take some back to plant friend!"
Uh how we gonna do that? You have an idea?
Ibuki positions himself near the doorframe, between the robot and the funugs, looking from one to another to see what´s happening.
"Take beds back?"
That could work. If our other friend there doesn´t mind. It looks pretty intersting. I wonder what those things on it´s back are.
Ibuki takes a closer look on the robot.
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"Are we going to feed this thing blood from creatures who most likely were injured and brought here against their will? I'm not sure..."
Derlin casts a hard look at the paladin.
"At the temple where I was trained I knew many paladins. None of them would have allowed such a vile act, at least til the source of the blood could be determined. If it came from voulentary bloodletting that is one thing, but this could be the lifeblood of the very man we seek. If he's dead I have a serious issue with defiling his lifeblood in such a way."
"Perhaps some blood from an animal slaughtered for food would suffice. My faith makes me question this greatly. I am shocked that Yvell's Code would allow it, in any case."
"I think 'red food' means meat. Either Humanoid or animal. Which if there is living beings that try to hurt us we might use that...."
Val seems conflicted on this. On one had it is a circle of life if you think of it as fertilizer, which all things become in the end. But it seems strange and a little wrong.
"I think we should just close the door on the...interesting plant...thing and investigate whoever this machine has. It mentioned something was still being treated? It seems to think the creature is still alive...removes undead...may be someone khonnir's group." Bran says, somewhat concerned about where the groups conversations were going. Sure, an animal is fine but another living creature may be...a bit much.
The plant whispers. "I will wait. Maybe blue food is good as red food...blue food, red food, blue food, red food... The voices stop when you close the door.
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The robot motions to the blood with his metallic hand. Afterwards, it continues to speak in its monotone voice.
The robot has some kind of liquid stored in canisters above its back. You notice that there are tubes that lead from the canisters to the robot's hand, where there are syringes. You believe the robot can use the needles to insert whatever fluid is behind its back.
As more people enter the room, the robot says.
He points to Bran with his needle-fingers.
" You are spouting nonsense, I promised Red Meat, and suggested Chicken, you must of missed that when you were trying to think too hard on the issue. Feeding it an animal would be the same as feeding any other living being in a trade, but I guess you would rather slaughter something that has done nothing more wrong than a Lion eating bodies that were left behind. " He gives a similar star back to Derlin but furrows his brow
Folding his arms he sighs and speaks, much more calm this time " The construct Identified itself as a medical unit and that it would never hurt it's patient. A likely story. The point is that there were 4 people with some.. illness and it assisted in treating them. It says all but Bran are the same. That he is fine. It is instructing our group to be subjected to whatever experiments happen on that bed. One of the four is still here somewhere around but I don't believe it will let our group simply leave. " He thinks upon its choice and believes he finds a reasoning " Perhaps it considers MAGIC an illness? The ability to produce it I guess. Either way, it seems we have an issue. Unless we can convince it otherwise."
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"Nonsense? You seemed all too eager to offer it blood for passage. I agree a chicken would be a proper meal. Mayahps your ears were twitching when I said the same. Offering it the blood in this room would be a vile act, in my opinion - lest ye prove it was let willingly, or drained by this chicken draining automaton."
"If it signified Bran as safe then your logic holds, the rest of us contain the spark of magic in our blood. It considers magic and illness. Something terrible has happened here..." Derlin glower first at the elf and then at then construct.
"We should move on, if it is just a tool then it's master has much to answer for."
" I would do no such thing as offer it any of this blood, that thought did not cross my mind at all. Basically an animal or the person who cased the death of those who were fed to the creature after death, but none other. Let us see if it will allow our group to. " As Yvell closes the door with the card to see it's reaction.
Everyone leaves the room, the door closes and nothing happens. You also do not hear any movements or noise from the medical room.