After a few hours, Khonnir begins to stir from his bed. In the corner, Val Baine has been working on a strange white gun, poking and adjusting the wiring and circuitry.
The councilor opens his eyes and sees you.
"Bran, Ibuki, what... are you doing here? And what happened to me? My head it throbs. I... think I remember. The robots defeated our expedition, then they started to experiment with me. They said they hadn't seen magic before, and tried to figure out how it worked. They injected me with pharmaceuticals and nanites. It was a nightmare."
Khonnir has always been a strong man, one that did what needed to be done. It is quite alarming to you when you see tears fall down his face.
"They all died. So many. Tortured by those medical drones. And I still haven't discovered why the torch went out. But, did you two save me?"
Val has moved to the side of Khonnir's bed, and wipes away the tears with a handkerchief, unable to say anything. She wipes the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.
As you eat refreshments and talk, you can see the Junkmaster some distance in the back, sorting through scraps and metal and putting them in a small wagon. He says quite loudly, "Could be some skymetal in this. Oh, and this could have some working circuitry. Oh, and look at this!"
About an hour passes.
|
"Your food is quite good, I've never seen it preserved so. You have quite an interesting friend Auehda." Derlin remarks, trying one of the centrally located tubes. As the junkmaster moves away, the missionary lowers his voice to consult with the table.
"How long should we remain in town? I have a mind to buy a blade made of stronger material. If I were younger, with the skills of my youth...ah, that is behind me. In any case, it's what's been on mind. Have any of you ever had this tube food before?"
Yvell watches as the Gnome Junkmaster seems engrossed in his task, until Derlin seems to pipe up once more. " I would say about a day's worth of rest. On our first trek we did not come back and rather camped, the fairer people of our group would enjoy the change. It would also be good for the body to lie in a bed between travels " Yvell playfully eying Val as if to send a message that he was challenging her joking nature.
He then chuckles, almost uncharacteristically, "We have appraised most of the haul and intend to grab both Ibuki and Bran so that they receive their share. Equip ourselves, I personally Need a new set of Armor and wish to have my blade sharpened. Then find a few live animals and a hunk of beef to feed the plant. I'll also pay for that myself as I promised. After which we have a few places to explore inside the 'Divinity' and there was the space along the ridge of the gremlin's home that appeared much like the Entrance to the Desert area. We can check that later however. And of course if we find any other bodies we should take them to the church of Brigh or at least thats what Freddert seemed to say. The Torch is the most important task at this time. "
" As for the food, No.. it is my first time.. it tasted of Fish Paste. " He seems to say in hidden disgust
"Yes, the tubes are great!" Auehda says. "The Junkmaster gives me some now'n'then."
After the group decides on which items to sell, they shovel those into Khonnir's well-fitted backpack. "Auehda knows some selling stores from the Junkmaster's job. We get done and go meet Ibuki and Bran with others!"
Auehda takes you to sell and buy things before you head to Khonnir's place.
You head to Town Market. The area south of Crowfeather Lake has the town's large market, where all sorts of artisans and merchants sell their goods. You can find all manner of mundane goods here, as well as masterwork gear. There are dozens of people milling around even this late in the afternoon.
One particular merchant seems to stand out. He wears a sword at his side and his long hair is tied into a tail behind him. He calls you over.
As you approach you notice several technological gadgets, silverdisks and batteries in his stall, as well as magical items.
"Ah, you must be the adventurers that saved Khonnir. The whole town has been talking about you. I'm sorry we could not meet earlier. I am Sanvil Trett, merchant of technological goods and other commodities. I am very curious as to what you found beneath the Black Hill. As I am not an adventurer myself, I couldn't even imagine going down those depths, but I am curious. Perhaps we could make a trade?"
He makes a small bow and flicks stray strands of hair back behind his head. In his stall you see batteries and strange liquids in vials, as well as technological gadgets.
Auehda pulls out their own wares, which have as much diversity as Sanvil Trett's. "We can trade!"
After selling everything else, they hand him the broken welding gun. "How much of worth?"
"Well...dad..." The word seemed forced. "Me, Ibuki and a few others went in after you when you didn't show back up for a few days. We..uh..saw a lot of what happened to the expedition and feared for the worst. It's...it's good to see you're doing ok." Bran says, fighting back a few tears. He places a hand on Val for comfort and says, "Did you find out anything about why the flame went out?"
Val watches this merchant and is eager to see what they can get for their finds. But for now is content to let the more tech knowledgable people talk.
Khonnir! It´s good to see you well again! Can you remember anything else?
Sanvil Trett frowns. "I am afraid this gadget is broken, or at the very least malfunctioning. It still works, but it could easily backfire when you use it. There are many things in the Numerian ruins that are broken, especially after all these years. You place the battery into this slot in the back, and when you pull the trigger fire shoots out about a blade's length from the barrel. Then all you have to do is touch them."
He shrugs. [b]"If you want to sell it, I could give you 600 gp for it.
"Now, if you would like to tell me about these underground ruins, or show me interesting gadgets, I would be willing to pay a great deal. Or better yet, take me to these caves of yours. I am not an adventurer, so I would be relying on your skills to keep me safe. I could reward you for that as well."
He runs his hand along several stacks of silverdisks in his stall.
"What do you say, heroes of Torch?"
A small earthquake shakes the town, causing things to clatter to the ground.
You feel that he is telling the truth mostly. His words are carefully selected so that he isn't lying. But he's keeping secrets. You can tell by how smooth he is. People like that are usually hiding things.
Khonnir turns to Bran and Ibuki. He coughs. "I can still feel those things crawling around inside me. I know nanites are imperceptibly small, but still. No, I wasn't able to find out what caused the torch to fade away, likely something happening in those ruins beneath the town. I could sense that there was a great amount of power being moved somehow, but I don't know where, or even how."
The wizard starts to cough again. Val Baine gives him a glass of water.
"You both know as well as I do that if the torch remains non-functioning, if it disappears for good, that this town will be in trouble. Not only will we lose our means of economic stability, but the Technic League will come to investigate. We've kept them away for a long time, paying those gods-damned taxes, but they'll be here."
"I wish I could help you, but I still can't feel any movement in my legs and my brain is still swimming. You're going to have to find out the cause and fix it, or we'll all be in big trouble."
Khonnir suddenly loses consciousness and Val adjusts him onto the bed.
The young kellid girl with tattoos on the side of her face and wearing machinist clothing, sits beside the bed and watches her adopted father breathe slowly.
After a few moments, a small earthquake shakes the room and things fall to the ground. Val doesn't seem to notice.
"Hm. Will not sell that, then," Auehda says. They consider the silverdisks. "You are nice but we found not much but danger. You should not go down."
"I see. Well please keep me informed of what you find, and I will make it worth your while." He places a dozen silverdisks into Auehda's hand. "If you find anything particularly difficult to identify, bring it to me and I will help you understand the object's scientific mysteries free of charge."
Yvell snorts and eyes the man; clearly he had the Merchants Ideal with the way he spoke and maneuvered himself. Sanvil would be one to get himself harmed however by the way his curiosity seemed to show. " We will consider your proposal at a later time but for now it is much too dangerous. We will however seek you out when we find suchitems of interest. If you can make an arrangement, we could also give information and look for specific things if needed. It however would cost you a fair bit in accordance with the amount of danger. I am sure as a vendor you follow Abadar's teachings. Is that-"
Yvell's left ear twitches as he notices the earthquake, his positioning unchanged but the displacement of items alarming. " Anyone else.. felt that? I assume this is not normal? "
"Huh, ground moving? Auehda felt it. Strange strange."
Sanvil grins, his eyes seem to light up.
"That is strange. The only time the earth shakes is when the Torch is about to flare upwards into the sky, like a beacon. And it has done no such thing." He glances quickly to Black Hill and waits a moment.
"Perhaps you've done something in your exploration of the ruins beneath Torch to warrant such a change. So very curious indeed..."
The merchant adjusts his cloak and the scabbard at his side.
"Please keep me in mind when you decide to share your findings. I have many prospective clients who would be interested in such knowledge, myself included."
It is nearly early evening when you reach Khonnir's house and rejoin with Ibuki and Bran. Val Baine has fallen asleep in her chair beside the councilman, who is also asleep. Tear and oil stains mess up her face.
Ibuki and Bran are at a table nearby. The former is studying a spellbook, while the other is on his third mug of ale.
Bran raises his mug and says, "Ho there, friends. Hope everything went well on your end." He looks at Val and says, "Khonnir's ok but doesn't know much. They got about as deep into that cave...ship...whatever as we did before they got ambushed by those robots. Looks like he's the only one that he remembers making it through. Any of you feel that quake from earlier? Seems strange all things considered. This place doesn't exactly get many of those..." He takes another swig of the mug and says "We should try to get going early tomorrow if possible. I may need to do a little shopping around town before we go if our...salesmanship got us anything of course!"
"It went well," Auehda says cheerily. "Got all the money changed and sorted and split up. Here's Bran's section," they say, tossing Bran a sack nearly the size of his head. They give Ibuki a small pouch filled with silverdisks. "Auehda is good with numbers!"
They also sling Khonnir's backpack down from atop their own more ratty one. "I am not good to carry this very well. You want it?" they ask, addressing Bran.
Yvell nods sporting his newer Segmented Stone armor. " We ensured the proper amount of gold was given and you two your equal shares. Auehda indeed did a good job and whatever was not either Valtyra or I handled it. I am glad to hear he is fine but just as you say the tremors are not a good sign. I agree we need to head out early, but suggest a small time in which we work out some things and I impart a few maneuvers I had learned. It will increase our survival. " Yvell sighs as he starts thinking of regimens to properly instill his own teachings.
" We will go back to the Divinity first, feed the plant and explore it fully. If we find nothing else there was a metal where the Gremlins were, most likely it is another door or portion of the Divinity. We will explore that and hope it has anything if we cannot find the torch. This will be a little more lax as far as time for there is no mortal danger, but we must still be alert. Worse happens we find more artifacts to appease our..'friend' at the market. "
Ibuki is totally consumed by copying some spells into his spellbook. Scroll of unseen servant
Scroll of technomancy
Scroll of detect radiation
I agree, we need to head back to the divinity. First priority must be finding out what caused the earthquake and silence it if possible. Then relight the torch.
Val, we leave Khonnir in your care. Please look after him and yourself. Would be nice to see you´re still here when we come back.
Yvell agrees, " Especially if the source are one in the same, from my resources however, that sound only comes when the Torch is about to light up, but instead did not. So they very well may be related. Either way, though it might seem odd for me to say this, I have confidence our group shall find out the source, as our capability and strengths have shown. "
Also: You learn the Technomancy is Bard/Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Detect Radiation is Bard/Cleric/Druid/Ranger/Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Cost is 20 gp. The scrolls of Unseen Servant are now blank.
Morning comes. Khonnir remains sleeping through the night and continues to sleep now.
You all have headaches.
You all meet up at the Foundry Tavern in the morning. Val Baine has prepared a few different soups (black bean, chicken, and vegetable) and breads, along with cheeses. She also prepares a light ale and some juices (blueberry, blackberry and strawberry).
" We should go back tomorrow. We need to make sure we didn't wake anything up." Val says looking at her friends. "But first I distinctly remember a certain Paladin say something about sleeping in a bed tonight."
Val looks at Yvell raising an eyebrow slightly; "So where is this bed you mentioned?"
Auehda notices a new ache when they roll out of bed in the morning, but it is almost a footnote compared to what they've endured before. They use the moonhouse away from the Junkmaster's home, then spend an hour meditating beneath the hill.
After shoving all their stuff into their pack, Auehda makes their way to the Foundry. "Thanks alot for the food, Val Baine! How is Khonnir Baine doing now after the sleep?" they ask as they pour a bowl of the vegetable soup.
- 0-level (4) - know direction, light (30 minutes), read magic (30 minutes), virtue
- 1st-level (2+1+D) - burning hands (DC 15, 3d4), cure light wounds (DC 16, 1d8+3), goodberry (3 days), obscuring mist (3 minutes)
- 2nd-level (1+1+D) - lesser restoration (DC 17), produce flame (3 minutes), resist energy (30 minutes, DC 16)
"Don't mention it, um, Burnt One." Val Baine blushes.
"Dad's doing a lot better. I fed him soup earlier. He should be back to his old self in a few days."
The kellid girl digs into some mix of soups but barely touches it. She takes a few bites of bread.
Yvell visibly sweats as Val had brought up the mention of.. Bedding. " Well the Foundry of course, as I am not from here.. though if you were offering... " He seems to follow along with this ploy as Valtyra was the one to initiate it.
Regardless of where he ends up tonight, Yvell will awake with a headache, from what OR who is another story all together.
The headache is mild but nothing he hadnt dealt with before, otherwise he felt energetic and went to do morning exercises. He looks upon Val Baine and sighs, " It doesnt take a doctor to tell that your worried girl, eat and drink or you will make Khonnir's condition worse with his worry about YOUR condition. The best thing you can do for him is take care of yourself so that he knows the child he raised will be fine. And dote on him a little..Your smile is better than a sad, hungry face. " Yvell says folding his arms as his new suit of armor weighed differently in odd places but overall protected his form much more efficiently.
Uh i have such a headache, really bad. Maybe because i couldn´t grasp this technic spell last evening, but i´m not entirely sure. Never had this before. How are you all feeling? Perhaps i got poisoned down there? Oh no...must have been something in the water. I think i swallowed some. Glad to hear Khonnir is better though.
Auehda crumbles bits of goat cheese into their bowl and begins shovelling the soup up with a hunk of dense brown bread, blowing to keep it cool.
"Auehda has headache too Ibuki. Probably not so bad for them though." The half-orc extends a hand to Ibuki's forehead, reciting something that could be a spell or could just be commiseration.
Native growth reheals.
Wounds of heart and blood,
Native growth reheals.
Wounds of hope and breath,
Native growth reheals.
Let me accelerate the healing,
draw out poison,
end disease.
Let me save a friend from death-touch, madness, and early age."
Val grabs a strawberry juice in the morning her head hurting.
Val holds her head sipping her juice,eating little, as her head feels like it is going to split.
" Let me see whats going on perhaps? Allow me to examine you Valtyra "
Yvell also takes a similar action and places his hand upon Val's head trying to discern the issue.
" I don't think it is mere coincidence that the majority of us have this affliction. " Yvell take a bite of hardtack soaked in black bean soup.
Ibuki and Auehda feel the headache disappear from the wizard/arcanist's brain. It is no longer pounding inside his skull.
"These headaches have been happening since the torch disappeared. I'm surprised that you all haven't felt it yet."
Val Baine says as she tries to eat more food. She nods at Yvell.
When Yvell places his hand on Valtyra's forehead, he feels only cold sweat.
You finish eating breakfast. Val Baine puts everything away.
Auehda stretches, patting their belly. "More than Burnt One has eaten in days and days; thank you Val Baine."
"Auehda is ready for the cave fights again," they inform the group.
"Yes lets go to the caves. And see if there is anything to get rid of this headache" Val Holds her head and when she heads outside visibly winces. Clearly not feeling well.
You head back underwater, taking the same path as before and reach the desert. Its heat begins to grip you, squeezing out droplets of water against your skin.
A pair of strange plant-like creatures float about 10 feet above the footprint path, motes of fungal material showering beneath and around them.
"Well....that's new. Best to avoid those things unless they come after us yeah?" Bran says preparing to aviod the creatures as best as the group can.
Yvell seems agitated simply being near them and rallies the group into position. " Stay close, I don't like the look of those spores, we already have headaches from something to do with this area, I don't want strange fungal pollen making that any worse. " His voice powerful and resonant, the team's body naturally reacting to its command.
" At least they don't seem telepathic like the other plant, but be prepared for the worse! " Drawing his wickedly sharp blade which had become reforged.
Mh let me think....
He rubs his nose like this.
Auehda draws their club and moves to Derlin's side, pressing a palm to the missionary's elbow and drawing a spiral on his mail.
The small plant like creatures look to be about 3 feet long. Definitely not undead.
The plant creatures notice you and fly above you, sprinkling their fungal material on top of you.
Yvell roars out as he sees the creatures fly above and rallies the party. " Just stay calm and wait for them, prepare to fight if need be! He spins his blade around in a whirlwind to try and deter the sediment.
1. Auehda, Derlin, Yvell
2. Gassy Plants
3. Valtyra, Ibuki, Bran