GM Rednal's Legendary Planet AP (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

While the guards attack, so does Ooran. "Two down, two to go. Now you're outnumbered, eh?"

Greatsword attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Greatsword damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 3 = 10
Shortsword attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Shortsword damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Shortsword attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Shortsword damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Why don't you just surrender and make this easier for everyone?" Vincent asked.

Mwk Falcata: 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 7 - 1 = 11, Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 2 = 9

"Maybe I should keep my mind on fighting and my mouth shut..." Vincent grumbled, as he stepped to the side to afford the wyrd a clear shot.

Seeing an opportunity, Phai fires at the one in front of Ooran, hoping to set the last remaining opponent up for a flanking maneuver-
Rapid Shot 1: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Rapid Shot 2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Again, one arrow flies true, the second...not so much.."They won't surrender, they are just...parts of a greater whole-"

Btw, Those arrows that fail have that 50% chance to be recovered...I'm not really rolling, and just "recovering" every other arrow...I assume thats fine but if you want rolls for that, I can do that :)

Eh, taking the average and recovering half the normal arrows is fine. XD Roll for anything special or enchanted, though.

Working together, your group was able to get rid of the last of the guards before they could deal any further harm to the group - and the Wyrd buzzed over to Ooran, looking a little bit concerned for his well-being after the damage he'd taken. BR-N3R was watching from the back, and skittered forward slightly now that the room was clear.

Understood, will do. Not a big fan of enchanted arrows anyway, prefer to have the magic on the bow...so it's unlikely to come up often, as I'll likely keep special arrows in reserve unless it's a perfect fit for a situation. I usually do run with some durable special material arrows later on...which again makes it a moot point as durable is normally almost 100% recovery regardless of hit/miss-

"Here, drink another potion, Ooran, they are no use to us if we die here...then we should check out that door they've been guarding!"
Feeding Potion to Ooran: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Ooran downs the potion and goes to check the door.

Perception (find traps): 1d20 + 10 - 6 ⇒ (10) + 10 - 6 = 14

"If you have any more of those potions from earlier, you should probably drink another, Ooran. You look pretty beat up." Vincent allowed Ooran to check the door, while he investigated the wooden enclosures more closely.

Ooran drinks two more of his rapidly dwindling potions.

CLW Potion: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
CLW Potion: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

There seems to be nothing interesting about the wooden enclosures - they were for holding prisoners, not items, and were currently empty. Obviously well-used, but empty. The southern door seems entirely safe, and soon comes open.

Inside, a metallic circle, easily large enough to walk through, stands in a heavy metal frame atop a five foot stone dais at the south of the room. Its thick metal construction is embossed with a series of large flat runes along its rim, and two pillars stand to either side of the dais. A sloping ramp leads from the platform to main floor.

With a hint of gladness that the construction seems intact and whole, but determined to continue the search, Phai comments: "A gate, here, then, not the holding cell I hoped for. Where to next? The room opposite the shaft?"

Vincent smiled in agreement, "Burner, do you know if it's active or functional? Will we need to do anything special to get it to work when we find Andretta? And yes, Phai, that sounds as good as any direction. I'll lead the way."

Ooran starts to walk towards the portal, but stops when his companions remind him of their search. "Right! Yeah, let's look in there."

He follows them and looks over the door before opening it.

Perception (find traps): 1d20 + 10 - 6 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 6 = 22

BR-N3R scuttled forward to look at the gate, then turned back to the group. "It's not active." the robot said, sounding a bit worried. "The gate runs off of the bio-electric energy, but... I don't think the facility has enough power to keep the atmospheric shield up and power the gate at the same time. We'd need to hit it with a big jolt to activate it." the little robot explained. At its words, the Wyrd became still.

"Well, let's not jump to drastic measures just yet. Let's finish looking for Andretta, and keep an eye out for any kind of battery or anything we could use to shunt the power from the generators to the gate. If we blast it with power from the generator, we should be able to get through the gate before we lose all the atmosphere. I think... right?" Vincent sounded hopeful, but not terribly confident as this was clearly outside of his expertise. Determined not to leave a helpless woman behind to certain death, he reiterated, "Let's get back to our search, now that we know where we can go to escape."

As they walked, Vincent asked the robot, "The atmosphere outside is deadly correct? What about for someone that doesn't need to breathe? Why is it dangerous?"

"Also, we did take a prisoner from the guards, back in the level we started. We moved on swiftly since then, never taking any breaks...the longest we needed was finding equipment and repairing the generator. There's still a good chance he's alive and still out cold, and we may run into others we can take alive. If we leave using the gate, they would perish anyway when the atmospheric shield collapses, so while it seems cruel, the logical step would be to use them to feed life energy into the auxilliary unit...would that work?"

Phai visualizes one of the lizard guards, unconscious, in the containment field, then pressing the OTHER button, wondering how the Wyrd reacts.

"Hey, we can worry about how to get that thing running once we've found Seddon and Andretta. Our first priority is finding them. I don't care what happens to this place when we leave. I can probably rig up some sort of timer or remote switch to transfer power from the shield to the portal. Y'know once we need it"

He opens the door with one of the metal key rods.

As the harmless flames flickered around your bodies once more, the Wyrd mostly expressed confusion at the queries - it didn't seem to understand the questions. Another image of an arrow appeared on its body, pointing to the central shaft, then the image of a woman being grabbed by a large thing repeated.

"Plugging in a guard won't work. System's not built to draw power from anything but the Wyrd." BR-N3R explained. The creature paused... and a sense of acknowledgment came through the link. "Besides, it's not like it's guaranteed to kill it or anything. That would be ridiculous - what use is a system that can only be charged from one side and would kill the things used to power it? If you don't have a spare and it fails, poof, no access."

"Let's look for a spare then. There's still some rooms left on this floor that we haven't checked. Perhaps we can find something useful in them that will help us power the gate." Vincent tried to sound hopeful, but it came out a bit forced. The auttaine led the way back to the room opposite the central shaft.

"Right, let's get this door open and take a look inside."

"Right. There must be another way. What if the Wyrd got killed by an accident? They'd have no escape route in that case. Besides, if Ooran could rig something to remotely drop the athmospheric shield, we could barricade ourselves in the gate room, drop the shield, and escape before the atmosphere becomes toxic to us.", Phai thinks aloud as she follows Vincent and Ooran, her hands covering 3 different directions with Shield, Glaive, and Bow...clearly, she was nervous in this place.

This hallway ends before a large door, but the green circular disk covering its organic locking system has been torn away. Greenish fluid oozes down the wall where the vines that resemble nerves, veins, and arteries now lie exposed. The door itself opens and closes every few seconds, seemingly at random, exhibiting deep claw marks on its surface.

Inside, this room once provided a palatial bedroom with a large, ornate bed in the northeast corner and a man-sized desk and chair to the southeast. The primary exit lies west, while two smaller reside on either side of the room beside it. The chamber has experienced significant vandalism, however, as the bed’s mattress, pillow, and sheets have been torn to shreds, and the stationary writing equipment lie scattered across the floor. A repeating message can be heard coming from somewhere by the ceiling, repeating in two different languages.

Phai shares the content of the message with the others...(feel free to read the spoiler).
Assuming it is the same message in two different languages, she attempts to pick up some meaning in the unknown language, connect the dots between what she knows it says, and what words could mean.
Guess whats my next magically learned insta-language on Level-Up?

"Ha, reconfigure the gate, as if we knew how those things operate. I guess we'll need to take our chances with wherever we end up, and hope we don't run into a stronghold of more antropomorphic newts."

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
While starting to turn the room upside down, Phai muses: "I guess the storage chamber will be the one side room we have not opened yet. But if this is Lomricks quarters, it can't hurt to look for anything useful. I also wonder if that Clockwork could receive different instructions...Brenner, do you think we could give it an order like following and protecting us? I am not keen on following Lomricks plan, but if we leave the construct here, we may run into problems wherever we end up beyond that gate."

"Huh, finally a language here that I get. So, the mind and power are hidden, but where is the body. We haven't found any clockwork yet." Ooran starts looking around the room for a hidden storage space.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 - 6 ⇒ (8) + 9 - 6 = 11

"Glad you guys understand it at least, because I certainly don't. When we get some time, we'll need to find if any of these names are listed in that journal we found. Burner, do you know anything about a prearranged storage space, since you did work for Lomrick before? Sounds like the gate will take us to Balimere, though I'm not certain where that is, and I certainly wouldn't know how to reconfigure the gate if it's even possible. Sounds like maybe the gate was found by Lomrick, not created by him, and someone on Argosa could have clues, if we can ever find our way there. If we do find the memory gem, we should probably not give it to the clockwork until we find a way to figure out what it contains." As he was discussing the message, Vincent helped search the room and scanned the area for magic.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Cast detect magic.

"I wonder what caused such damage to this place. Think it was the big insect down below?"

The small robot looked up at Vincent. "If there's a storage space, it's in here somewhere." the robot said, watching the rest of you look - though, after a perusal of the room, none of you found anything that matched the description in the message.

The primary exit lies west, while two smaller reside on either side of the room beside it.

"It could be in one of those places", Phai points at the 2 other exits of the room. "Ooran, could you check those for traps?"

"Closets perhaps? Let's take a look." Vincent carefully cleared away some of the debris in front of the doors, while Ooran checked for traps.

Ooran checks for traps on the two closet doors. "I think those claw marks look a bit like those lizards. Maybe it was more of those void zombies."

Perception (find traps): 1d20 + 10 - 6 ⇒ (12) + 10 - 6 = 16
Perception (find traps): 1d20 + 10 - 6 ⇒ (3) + 10 - 6 = 7

It takes a solid ten minutes of searching to locate anything useful within the chamber, but eventually, Vincent pulls out a small clockwork key hidden in one of the drawers - and as he holds it up, a small device darts down from the ceiling and lands next to him, showing no sign of hostility. The repeating messages stop as the creature descends.

"Interesting find, Vincent. You think this is the clockwork device? In that case, only the memory gem remains to be found. Where'd this thing come from?"
Phai attempts to estimate where the device had been before, and carefully checks there for any kind of hidden compartment(taking 20, for 30)

I am unsure, have we checked the other exits of the room now? I would have taken a closer look at this room again if we had found nothing in the side rooms, but did Vincent now find the key in Lomricks room itself or in one of the side cabinets?

"Maybe whoever tore this place up found the gem. We'll just have to find them." Ooran starts heading to the last unexplored room on this floor .

Vincent carefully inspected the small creature, "Can you understand me? Can you speak?" Turning back to the others, Vincent asked, "Perhaps this thing was the one making that announcement? Want to try talking to it in whatever language it was speaking earlier?" After he was finished inspecting the creature, Vincent tucked the key away in a pocket, scooped up the small device and caught up with Ooran.

Phai attempts speaking with the creature in Ultari...
Assuming no response:"I think it's a clockwork unit...meaning it would need to be drawn up with the proper key- it DOES look harmless, so if you want to...hey, where are you going?"

The side chambers have nothing interesting - just a toilet and a closet with nothing of interest.

It took extensive searching to finally locate the memory gem, which had been carefully hidden behind a false drawer of the desk. The clockwork device didn't respond to Vincent's query - it didn't seem intelligent in the first place, though it was definitely powered by something.

"Let's avoid activating this thing for now. We have no idea what it will do if we plug in the memory crystal and wind it up. Let's just take it with us, finish searching and get out of here. There should be ample time to investigate this little guy once we're out of danger."

"I agree, lets play it safe. But before we rush towards that last door, let me write down the instructions and names from the message...if we wait too long, we may forget things."

Phai will jot down a rough copy of the message content in her sketchbook(with a lot of sketches to get added IF she ever would manage to rest again)-

Ooran gets a chagrined look on his face. "Ah, I guess it was I'm here after all. I'm sorry." He shakes his head slowly. "My concentration isn't what it should be. I think those bugs got me good."

"No worries, Ooran. Once we get out of here we'll find a priest in a city that should be able to get you fixed up and feeling back to normal again."

"Yes, and if no priest will be available wherever we end up, we'll find a spot to hunker down and let you sleep it off over a few days, while we chart our surroundings and forage for food and water.", Phai adds, nodding helpfully.

The last room had a tougher lock than the rest, but you eventually managed to get through. This long chamber contains only one feature, a stone throne on a raised pedestal. Unfortunately, the throne is thoroughly broken - something appeared to have rampaged through here at one point, and whatever it was for, it's no longer good for much of anything.

"Still no sign of Andretta or the dog people. We must have missed something." Ooran scratches his head in confusion.

"Were there any rooms we missed on our way up? Does anyone know if it's possible to use the device that made the load messages to speak to the whole facility? We could call out for Andretta, and maybe she could respond or help us find her? Do you think it's possible she was taken through the portal already?"

"No, we only just repaired the generator, and if Brenner is right, the portal would need more energy to activate...so as long as the atmospheric shield is up and the Wyrd with us, nobody can have left...you are right, we must have missed something. Lets scout through all the levels again, and have one of us keep their eyes on the shaft."

Thinking a moment, Phai then turns to BR-N3R :"You also stayed back with Andretta when we fought the Mimic...did you manage to see anything?"

The small robot shook its body (given the lack of an independent head). "I was with you when you sent her back to the shaft." It explained. "Given what the Wyrd showed, though, I think it's most likely that huge insect snatched her when she went to try and find your other friend. I... think it's unlikely she survived."

"Lies. It was mere seconds between Vincent's plea for help that send her towards the shaft and my lucky shot into the Mimic's vitals that sent it down. Surely we would have heard her shout, or cry out...nothing of the sort. That body down there MUST have belonged to the 8th person, the empty cylinder. And the dog people cannot have vanished. Lets search through the floor methodically!"

Suggesting one person to stay at shaft, other two checking all the rooms, then everybody goes down, rinse and repeat...no nook and cranny left to hide, if somebody or something else is in this facility, we'll find it.

"We never did find Ooran's friend. Is it possible the voice was some kind of vocal mimicry from the giant insect just pretending to be Ooran's friend? The last thing Andretta said was that there were people down below, including children. Instead all we found was a mangled body and the insect creature, which could have possibly mimiced her voice as well, if it's capable of that."

Yup. I'm confused now. Everything seems to point to Andretta being the body at the bottom of the shaft, which had clothes that are the right color for the character art, but she was wearing rags and a blanket. With the evidence we have, Vincent would do a floor by floor search, and if he can't find any evidence, he'd assume she was somehow taken, possibly by the dog people, through the portal and the voice down below was faked.

I suppose it's possible, Andretta was a ghost or something all along, and we were just interacting with an elaborate haunting or something, but that's really beyond Vincent.

Did we check the baby/food room since Andretta went missing? If the insect did abduct her, and the body at the bottom isn't her, then perhaps the insect knocked her out and took her to the babies for feeding? She could be in there unconscious still...

Similar to my thoughts, Vincent...but we did interact with her...I think when we first saw her, you put your own cloak/blanket around her. And the rags were real. Also, we helped her climb. She'd have to be a special kind of Ghost if we don't figure something is weird. I did ask to make a Sense Motive Check(and Will Save if applicable), when we heard Ooran's friends voice right after the insect attacked. Since I was refused the Will Save I do assume the Voice Mimicry was not a magical/illusionary ability, but one inherent to the Insect(or I failed a hidden Save). And since I was not suspecting something was amiss, I suppose I failed the Sense Motive (too).

So, yeah, lets check all the places again, floor by floor, without anything able to sneak by, and take another look at the cylinders in our starting room, maybe. I fear we have little else to do than leave through the portal, but I'd like to rule out all other options first. Phai would still refuse to believe the body down there is Andretta(yay Denial).

I have to admit, I'm curious how this would have played out if we had went downstairs first, killed the insect, then proceeded with Andretta in tow.

I'm all for systematically going through the place looking for Andretta. I'm pretty sure Seddon was being impersonated, but Ooran's wisdom damage is kinda mucking up his sense of reality.

@Phai: Differently. XD If for no other reason than you all would've been a level lower in both the literal and statistical senses...

The small robot tilted back the other way as Phai accused it of lying. "...Ah. This must be 'emotions'. I don't have those." It said. "If you really want to look around and be absolutely sure, though, I have no reason to stop you." As a robot, BR-N3R didn't need to eat or sleep, and was apparently going to be just fine if you took the time to look around. With that, the robot simply trundled over to the central shaft and sat down, ready to wait.

You found the canine-creatures on the second floor of the facility - they seemed to have grouped up and gathered together, and when they saw you, the ones who'd been in the room with you growled slightly to their companions, clearly trying to keep a wary distance. Apparently, they'd grouped up and climbed up a floor at some point. Regardless of which level you checked, however, there was no sign of Andretta - or Ooran's friend and fellow gladiator.

No hidden passages, either. You saw the maps. XD

When they find the dog-people, Phai addresses them:
(Ultari):"Yes, keep that distance. We mean you no harm. We are prisoners like you, yet you attacked us. Why did you react like this, and where are you from?"

I am not telling them we may have a way to escape the facility just yet...not before we can figure out if we can operate the gate without draining the wyrd, or, alternatively, if once the gate is operational, it will stay that way for a time regardless of the number of people who pass through, rather than draining with each person passing it...The Wyrd helped save us, and I'm not willing to sacrifice it to save this pack.