As Lendaro and Solaria are checking her map, the rest of the group moves ahead through the bloody hallway and into the plant room. The doctor and cleric follow along. Lendaro has a bit of recollection in remembering which doors you have entered and not.
The cerebric fungus rips its roots from the machine, and starts to walk. It moves about five feet from Rakdon and wiggles its tendrils.
"Red food, red food, red food..."
It continues to chant in your minds.
"Holy spug! Rakdon watch out, Testuda Defend!"
Linpul initiates combat by swinging her hammer with a powerful overhand chop while sending Tetsuda to defend the ratfolk.
Dr Lendaro quickly loads and fires from the hip with a irritated sneer - anxious to quiet the plant's pleas.
1. Almost Everyone
2. Purple Plant
3. Solaria
As soon as the cerebric fungus realizes that you are hostile, it starts projecting a strange set of images pulled from your minds around it. This makes it difficult for you to hit it.
Linpul strikes the purple plant with the hammer and it shrieks in your mind. Tetsuda tries to bite the creature, but its tendrils keep the beetle at bay. Lendaro is distracted by the collage of images that suddenly surround the creature and fires at a four armed undead kasatha instead.
Thera runs up and launches into a verbal assault that only the plant can hear.
"What was that?" The voice whispers in your mind.
Etha steps around the plant, flanks with Tetsuda (or Linpul) and swings her greatsword. Green goo leaks from the slash wound. The cerebric plant screams outside of your minds.
Rakdon's flames burn the purple plant. As it screams in your minds and outside, the hamster sees an image of his master screaming and burning in flames.
The cerebric fungus becomes charred and its tendrils flop to the ground.
Dr Lendaro reloads his pistol, and nods. "Excellent work."
He then heads to the southeast door.
Dr. Lendaro opens the door and sees a familiar passageway. It is a T-shaped hallway, with double doors to the east, west and south (you have gone through the east, west and south-east is the room with the bed-tables and medical drone, south is where you found Khonnir, and west is the Elevator room), as well as single doors to the north and south of the left branch.
"Yuck, plant goo got on my hammer. Well, if we go to the elevator room I can have Tetsuda fly me up to the top where I can tie off a rope and drop it down."
Solaria looks around the room with the now dead plant. "Do you think there is anything interesting left here? Maybe some of the 'red meat' wasn't quite as pure as we think?"
Solaria looks around the plant room and finds nothing left of interest, at least nothing that can be used. Rock, dirt and sand samples from the desert are scattered on the table. There doesn't seem to be a use for them.
You head out the south door, then turn right along the hallway to the western double doors to the elevator room. There are four double doors, one in each side of the elevator room and a loose panel above you. The flashing warning is on a panel on the side of the room.
Dr Lendaro shrugs in response to Linpul's idea, then gestures to the elevator.
"Go right ahead. Your plan trumps mine... considering I have yet to conceive one.."
You head into the elevator. Removing the panel, you see a dark space above you. There are flickering lights, and an opening several feet higher.
Spending some time with Tetsuda she sits down and draws a chalk circle around herself and chants for about a minute.
"Before we start to go up into the unknown, we should make sure nothing down here can make our exit hazardous." Solaria looks on with some uncertainty. She places her hands on the door to the right of the elevator as they head towards it. Using her special blessing from Desna, she is able to look into the room, without entering.
HPs: 20/20
Channel 0 used of 7 today
Door Sight 1 min of 6 mins today
Spells used today: none
As Tetsuda and Linpul fly up the elevator shaft, Solaria places her hand on the the single door to the right of the elevator room. She sees a room with tables, chairs, broken glass in front of a machine with small gray tubes, and a door to the west.
Linpul climbs to the top, attaches a rope, and drops it down. She sees double doors to the east.
Is it still a DC 15 climb check with the rope, I don't think I could make a DC 15 climb check :/
THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T THINK I COULD MAKE IT
It takes about an hour to climb up the rope to the next floor. Everyone, except for Rakdon, Linpul and Tetsuda, is breathing heavily from the exertions. Thera nearly falls twice, seeing her life flash before her eyes, multiple times.
You are standing in front of double doors.
Linpul pats Tetsuda on his shell to get him to open it up for her to pet under his wings.
"Good beetle, you deserve a treat when we get back. Now double doors, this could be interesting, let's make sure this thing isn't trapped. You all need to get outside some more and exercise a bit. Granted I just flew up, Tetsuda can't carry all of us."
The gnome whispers a short word to aid her in her task.
Dr Lendaro takes a breather before his slow but successful second crack at climbing. "Yes... Thank you. Exercise.
I suppose my rope climbing skill has suffered a decline since the invention of stairs."
Linpul doesn't see any traps on the door. Moving closer she can smell a rotten stench coming from gaps in the door, and the sound of growling.
Etha doesn't breathe heavily, but she does sweat.
"I wish I had a spell for that. Climbing. Or flying. I don't ever want to do that again."
After Linpul checks the door, the sylph promptly opens it.
"No need to worry. I'll protect you guys. Or at least try. Haha."
A cloying, animalistic stink fills the air of this hemispherical room. To the north and south, curved ramps lead up to hallways leading out of the room, while several doors sit in the east wall. Flickering lights flash and strobe on the ceiling, and the gray metal walls are scorched, dented, and partially broken in places, exposing colorful wires or metallic struts within. Four mounds of rubble, cloth, and bones lie scattered about the room.
Catlike, wolflike creatures suddenly begin to growl as they see the door open. Their mouths drip with saliva.
1. Everyone
2. Cat beasts
"Thylacine? They may look scrawny, but their bite can be quite nasty."
Dr Lendaro takes aim and fires.
Seeing her friends engage the wolf like creatures, Thera launches into song, desperate to grant favour upon their attempts.
Feeling the powers of Thera's song Linpul readies for combat. She waits for Tetsuda to move in before striking.
"Tetsuda, attack!"
---Linpul's Turn---
Moving behind her armored friend, the gnome takes a powerful swing at the cat-wolf-whatever.
"You know, I'm not even sure I want to know what these things are. Let's just knock them out and keep moving, we have to return the flame to Torch. Take this!"
Dr. Lendaro blasts one of the thylacines with his gun. It whimpers as it collapses to the ground. Rakdon's bolt stabs into the cat creature and sticks out of its side. It growls at the hamster-folk.
Thera begins to sing, improving your battle prowess. Her voice carries over the low humming in the area.
Tetsuda and Linpul flank one of the beasts, biting into it and smashing it with a powerful strike of her lucerne hammer. The marsupial doesn't make a sound as it is smashed into the floor.
Etha charges and swings her greatsword at the unwounded animal. The undead familiar clutches to her shoulder as she moves. She chops through half of the cat's face and it flops to the ground.
Solaria takes her morningstar, advances and hits at the creature in front of her.
Solaria smacks the thylacine in the snout with her morningstar. It falls to the ground.
With the thylacine's unconcious, Linpul looks for their tracks or where they may have some from. Knowing how they got here or how they have been living would be a great way to start. Unless they were left here by someone.
"If anybody can help me find some tracks or anything, we might figure out how these creatures have been living for either a long time, or who left them here for us."
Dr Lendaro briefly inspects, pokes, and prods the dispatched creatures to see if there is anything out of the ordinary about the thylacine or their state prior to death.
Linpul notices tracks that come from the northern ramp. Their are also several tracks inside the wide semicircular room.
Dr. Lendaro notices that the creatures seem starved, like they were left here and forgotten, likely as guards.
"If the tracks lead here, we would be wise to follow... see if any other starved creatures are around to nip at our heels."
Heading up the north ramp.
Lendaro leads the way up the north ramp. You go through a small, but long passageway that goes on for about 100 feet to the west, until it comes up to a door. There is a slot for a keycard on the side of the door.
Rakdon does not see any keycards laying around the tunnel or near the door.
Solaria marks down the way the group has come, noting the doors and the way.
Upon reaching the door, Solaria places her hands on the door, calling on Desna to show her the scene on the otherside.
HPs: 20/20
Channel 0 used of 7 today
Door Sight 2 min of 6 mins today
Spells used today: none
She sees a cavern with a dead tiny creature with furry ears and sharp teeth beside a sharpened metal spike. The cave looks similar to the Black Hill Caves you entered earlier, but you don't remember entering this room.
Solaria describes what she sees to the rest of the group....and adds, "We may have found another entrance...who knows?"
Thinking about the possibility of a second entrance didn't really surprise Linpul. But one of the gremlins? Here?
"We umm, sort of had a deal with the gremlins. We best not leave this area unless we wish to possibly run into them. We haven't made good on our promise and I don't exactly wish to."