Cade listens to the conversation and carefully follows Jasper.
Dejah did not add anything more in the robot language and simply moved past the drone, staying behind Jasper. She moved as quietly as she could and kept her eyes open for other signs or threats.
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Tabitha follows along quietly pass the drone with the others. She quietly speaks, thankfully that did not have to end in combat. "Tabi-I am glad we did not have Caedmon have to smash it like the other one. And we are lucky we have those cards as well. I did not think a machine would believe a lie though."
She looks back over her shoulder, marveling at the sight of a fully functional repair drone. And did not have to destroy it.
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Passing through the doorway, the party emerges in another rubble-strewn chamber. The northern wall of this otherwise empty metal room 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.
There are two doorways in this room, one on the east wall and one to the south. The door to the east is open, but the door to the south is closed.
Jasper looks around and spots a few useful items. Dejah, you know what these discs or these tongs are for? This thing right here, he says motioning to the key like device is and e-pick. Like thieves tools but for technological devices. This black handle here says that it'll open a higher lock than the brown cards we got.
Once the items are looked at he goes to look in the door to the east.
The room beyond the cage-strewn chamber is considerably smaller. 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. The whole room is dark, and the door on the opposite wall hangs open, the passage beyond leading deeper into the unknown...
Jasper's voice cut through the quiet as he had located discs that her own sight had not discovered. His keen sight was a boon.
She moved to take a closer look when Tabitha spoke up to advise the group. Dejah noted the information.
Looking to Jasper and Cade, she asked in low voice, "Do we want to try and open the south door and see where it leads?"
Jasper cautiously moves into the room with the coils, checking for traps and such.
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"I agree Dejah. We should make sure there are nothing behind us that will... Block our way out with Master Khonnir. And Tabi-I am curious if there are any other interesting items within." As Tabitha replies to Dejah. Seeing that the area is getting darker further that they go, she makes sure to cast light onto her dagger so they can see.
The doors to the south are stuck shut when someone tries to open them. They'll need to be forced open to get through.
Unfortunately, the panel is powered down, and there do not appear to be any visible slots or hatches for the silverdisks you carry. If power was restored to the panel somehow, the door might become unstuck...
Cade moves in and keeps an eye out for trouble. "Let me know if you need for me to work on the door."
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"Hum... Looks like it is a functional door. It has a slot for one of those cards we found. But it is currently not powered." As Tabitha states as she gestures to the control panel next to the door. "If we can find out where this places power source is, we might be able to relight the torch and open this door. But if you want to get in now, use the grippers."
Not seeing any traps or signs of gremlins, Jasper continues poking around and looks through the other open doorway. Once he peeks through, he will go back and see if he can help with the door.
"I cannot determine the exact origins of the bones in the pile", she quietly informed the others. She did not like not knowing but kept that to herself.
At the pronouncement that the door was functional just simply powered down, Dejah pondered a reliable way of turning the power back on, aiding Jasper in the endeavour.
Cade has difficulty helping the group with the door.
The panel's power source isn't anywhere in the room...
Jasper finds a tunnel with a sandy floor beyond the room with the nozzled machines. His foot kicks up a pile of swirling sand as he turns back to the shut door.
Jasper purses his lips and bites his tongue a bit while he's checking things out. Well...everything's wired right. Power supply ain't here though. It's somewhere else in this place. There is another room past the one over there we can check out. Got sand in it but didn't see much other than that.
Jasper continues exploring the tunnel, moving cautiously.
Jasper leads the party down the sandy-floored tunnel, keeping his musket readied for trouble. The party's footsteps *crunch* against the floor.
The end of the tunnel opens up into a massive cavern of sorts--though perhaps 'cavern' is not sufficient enough to describe it. A vast desert looms before the party, its sandy dunes and lonely tors rolling onward to the east, north and south. The very walls are carved of russet-brown stone, perhaps to try to convince the party that this place is a microcosm of some part of the surface world. The ceiling above the party is an oppressive, dark grey metal, similar to the wall you found on the outside of the entrance to this place.
A dirt path winds along a lonely, sandy stretch of land.
The enormity of the tasks ahead of you begins to sink in.
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Seeing as the group decided to move on, Tabitha follows, checking her spell book as she walks. When they pass through the doorway, she notices the party stops. She looks up from her book, and nearly drops it from the sight. A desert in a cave!? She steps forward, looking around, trying to gauge how large this cavern is. "Tabitha thinks the job we're on is a lot more bigger than we thought. Tabi-" She shakes her head before continuing. "I wonder where Master Khonnir could have gotten to in here..."
The cavern is large enough that you can't see the other side. That being said, there is a jagged, sandy, rock ridge that you could climb to try to get a better view approximately 90 feet away from you.
Jasper keeps watch below, saying If someone wants to climb up and get a better view I'll keep them covered.
Dejah, stowed her pike on her back, moved forward to the base of the rocky ridge, and, placing her hands and climbing claws in the right position, began to cautiously climb up to get a better view. She was sure to climb as quietly as possible lest she is detected by any observer.
Dejah scales the rocky ridge with ease, and without making a sound.
From her new vantage point, she can see across most of the strange desert. A large rocky mesa is past the ridge she's currently standing on, with what looks like a large cave entrance sitting on the northeast end of the dome. Another, larger plateau can be seen to the northwest. The side of the ridge she's currently on has a rock wall blocking her view of the southern half of the dome.
The bones of some sort of humanoid creature can be seen below her at the base of the ridge, half-buried in the sand. A breeze sends a spray of sand off to the northeast.
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While watching Dejah climb the ridge, Tabitha stays close with the group, clearly feeling a bit unsettled by the cavern. It is too big! It is like those vaults I read about back in the library back home! And there are walking four armed skeletons to boot!
She holds her dagger above her head and looks around. Tabitha whispers to the group. "Anyone see anything? Tabitha does not like being in such a wide open place like this. It is creepy."
Dejah's gaze lingered on the half buried bones in the sand by the ridge's base.
Deciding to remain atop a while longer, spying the surrounds, she began to quietly cast a spell - a Message spell - to communicate with two of her companions via whispered messages audible to their ears alone.
To Cade and Jasper, Dejah magically relayed her observations. //A large rocky mesa past this ridge - a large cave entrance at northeast end of dome, larger plateau northwest and can't see the southern part of the dome due to rock wall. Humanoid bones at base of ridge and a breeze sending sand sprays to the northeast.//
She looked down upon the bones once more and cast another spell - Sift - to determine/detect any traps or anything hidden beneath.
Not hearing a whispered reply from the two males, Dejah cast another Message spell and pointed her finger at Tabitha and then Val. Both females could hear Dejah's whispered message/description as she relayed the same information to them as she had done a few moments before to Cade and Jasper.
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While waiting with the others, Tabitha hears a whisper and she nearly lets out a shriek. Realizing it is Dejah's voice, she calms down and whispers back to Dejah. "Ah.. Um, Sorry. That spooked me, anyway, you said you found bones of a humanoid... Oh..." Tabitha shakes her head and then takes a deep breath to try to calm down. "Can you see footprints or can you tell if there is anything else with the bones? Anyway, guess we're going to have to check them out."
"A moment, please", Dejah replied in whisper as she surveyed the area.
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And it appears to have an extra set of arms.
Through the message spell link, she whispered her observations to Tabitha and Val, since the males were non-responsive.
"The bones do not appear to be from Golarion. They look almost human but the skull is oval shaped and is too long. Also, it has an extra set of arms."
After a quick pause, the archaeologist continued in whisper to her two female companions, "I cannot note any traps in the area of the bones. But be careful, if you decide to draw closer to them. Something killed that creature and it may still be in here for all we know. I'm coming down."
Using her climbing claws, Dejah quietly made her way down with little fuss/trouble.
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"Right, we'll meet you back at the bottom of the ridge." As Tabitha replies back in the whisper. She looks towards the rest of the group and speaks quietly with them. "We should meet up with Dejah, lets do so and then see about those strange bones. Might be related to those skeletons we heard about." She points towards the bottom of the ridge Dejah climbed.
Val nods.
As the rest of the expedition approaches where Dejah has made her descent, Caedmon & Viorec anxiously look around the massive dome. "...well, by Cayden's tankard, I never imagined something like this would be buried under such a small town." The priest says, nervously fingering his rapier. "And Khonnir is missing in this? How long do you imagine it will take to find him here?"
Caedmon doesn't say anything, but Val finds herself nodding. "Yeah... I was kinda expecting just a sorta straight line to Dad, with lots of monsters along the way. Now... now I'm not so sure I'm ready to keep going..."
The expedition reunites to plan their next move.
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Tabitha looks down to the sand, somewhat disheartened at the situation. She kicks some of the sand and then looks towards Dejah. In a low tone, she speaks. "Tabi-I got a feeling we should head back up to regroup. We know where to go now, and shouldn't be hard to get back here."
Tabitha looks back down at the ground, but starts speaking normally. "We will find Master Khonnir, Val. Don't worry." She gives Val a hug. "And once we return, I am sure we'll find him. And we will do so soon. So don't worry."
The archaeologist was uncommonly silent as she gazed upon each of her companions in turn. She looked about dome, the sand and ridges and back to the strange bones.
She turned to Tabitha, as the wizard girl was the last one to speak; her voice low for they did not know what lay beneath the sand. "You all want to go back up, back to Torch? But we have come a fair distance and it makes no practical sense to stop at this juncture." Dejah sighed and recollected the many lost hours and days of exploring among ruins she had done with her father when he was alive. In truth, she was the one to always push for longer...
Her mismatched gaze sought Cade's, for he was the closest thing to a friend she had among the party, "Even you? You would see us leave now and return later?"
Caedmon looks down as Dejah addresses him. "...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about what lies ahead."
"Let me explain--do you remember what Dolga said about the other expeditions that came down here? Of all of them, only Khonnir's first party returned--and that's because they stopped before they reached this place." He waves a hand at the surrounding dome. "Parda's group didn't make it in, and from what else the good Councilwoman told us, there was a party of Brigh worshippers that were better equipped than us that came before us, and they never returned. Then Khonnir led a second expedition beyond where he originally stopped and could now be anywhere down here."
Another soft sigh escaped her lips, but she gave a simple, brisk nod understanding the need for caution at this point of the expedition.
"Alright, then. It appears we are returning to the surface. Let us proceed, then, without fuss. Let us not forget the bags of loot. I will aid anyone in climbing." Her voice was low/quiet in the high-domed chamber.
Dejah took her place by Cade once more and led the party, spying for any new traps or unforeseen obstacles. The Changeling's footfalls were steady and careful/quiet as she proceeded back from whence they had come.
Dejah is able to lead the party quite safely back the way they came, retracing their steps with ease. A single breeze follows the party as they walk back down the rock tunnel to the caverns under Torch... and it feels oddly warm.
Winding their way back through the stony depths of the Black Hill's cave system, the party returns to the tainted water and makes their way back to the surface. From the position of the sun, it appears to be late afternoon.
The town of Torch normally isn't of much interest to anyone uninterested in mining or forging--aside from the eponymous Torch that was used for smelting skymetals, there's few businesses or real landmarks of interest in the small town. Perhaps that is to be expected from a recently-established town.
Only a few days ago, however, the Torch was somehow extinguished. The town's main attraction and means of sustaining itself has mysteriously stopped working.
After making a few discreet inquiries, you've been directed to the small mining town's hall. It was clear after days of being deprived of their livelihood that the townsfolk were desperate for aid, no matter where it came from... even from a shaman such as yourself, who knew better than to tamper with the strange artifacts and sites that rained from the heavens so long ago.
You step into the two-story marble building you were directed to and see a strange man waiting inside--a dark-haired man with odd line tattoos running down his face. He looks like he's dressed for battle, with a sharp longsword at his side, and his breastplate & shield bearing the scars of several fights. At the other end of the room, stepping through a pair of mahogany double doors, is an old dwarven woman in fine silks.
"Oh--greetings, folks. What might the two of you be here for?" She asks as she walks over to a grand maple desk that circles around a raised platform in the centre of the room.
You're only a recent arrival in the town of Torch, but already you've noticed the despairing looks on many of the townsfolk's faces. All it took was a simple application of logic to determine the reasons behind them--the biggest of which was undoubtedly the fact that the great Torch in the middle of town has been extinguished somehow.
Listening to the latest gossip gave you a clearer picture of what is currently happening in town to solve the mystery of the extinguished Torch--several expeditions have been led under the town with the objective of restoring the Torch to its former glory. Almost none of them have returned.
The most logical course of action, you've determined, is to find the authorities responsible for putting together the expeditions and offer your services. An expedition would offer a higher chance of survival than being on your own, and perhaps you may find some answers about yourself in doing so.
By the time the old dwarven woman in fine silks steps through the mahogany doors you've been staring at, another person has joined you--a wild-looking Kellid man, clad in a fine breastplate and wielding a well-balanced morningstar. He was no Raptor Claw tribesman, but he has the markings and bearing of a shaman. Has he come to offer his services as well?
"Oh--greetings, folks. What might the two of you be here for?" The dwarf says, breaking the silence as she walks towards the grand maple desk that circles the platform in the centre of the room.
Kadosh eyes the other figure askance.
"I do not know why he is here, but I have come to help the town," he replies confidently. "I was told this place might have information for me about what has happened to the flame."
So I can make sure it has gone out permanently, and that this place is not at risk of falling to its dangers again.
The dwarven lady looks over at Kadosh and nods. "Aye, ye've come to the right place then. About a few nights ago, the great Torch in the centre of town went out all of a sudden. There was no sign of it having any problems before--sure, the flames were often dim, but those flames were ideal for smelting and forging skymetals. Occasionally, the flame would shoot up into the sky like a great big pillar, but as long as no one was near the forges at the time, nobody would get hurt."
"And things just got more complicated from there..." She sighs.