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Mikail tumbles through the door, completely unaware of the nature of the room. As he falls without moving, he ends up upside down, looking back at his friends in the previous room. Just as he is about to call out a warning, he sees the terrified fish thing.
He lets out a squeal of fright before realizing the situation. Curiously, (even more so from his upside down viewpoint) he studies the fish. "You know, I am about done with this whole business! First the hobgoblin challenges me to a duel, then a psychotic fairy tries to bath in my blood, elven deamons in mirrors, and now a room with no gravity and a fish out of water that is terrified of me. WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG HERE?!?!?!?!" he cries out, frustrated at the barrage of emotions he has been subject to. Frustrated now, he crosses his arms petulantly and taps his fur clad foot... choosing to completely ignore the fact that he is upside down.
Ferabras, the fish's eyes seem to get wider as you speak to it, but there's no comprehension there.
Mikail, the fish looks terrified and seems to feel, well, out of water. It lets out a wet BLURP that might be a scream and turns tail and shoots out of sight around the corner as you try to right yourself.
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Fera reaches out a hand for Zolarus' spear, saying as he does so, "No need to pull me back in, I don't want to leave Mika out here alone - but something to keep me steady would be great. We'll have to figure out some way to move around in this room if we're going to keep going down here. Any ideas?"
At the calling out in Sylvan, the fish thing pokes its head around the curve. "Why should I believe you? You could be in league with that horrid redcap..."
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Mikail jaw drops as the fish comes back and talks to him. "Hey! You're back!" he exclaims. "We killed the Redcap. He attacked us and so we fought back and got him. We were hired to take this place back for the Pathfinders, trying to prevent war from breaking out again. Please.. maybe we can help each other?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
The fish person seems to brighten slightly at news of the redcap's timely demise. "Oh joyous day! Oh frabulous news! I DID not like him! He was vile and nasty and a terrible creature! I am called Blegenshy! I am happy to meet you, strange man. I was swimming in the forest of the First World when a strange light overcame me and I was suddenly here! I cannot stand the rest of this place, but this room is nice and I can swim and I JUST WANNA GO HOME!" the fish creature suddenly breaks into a great wet sobs that burble and burble, tears spilling from it and forming into bubbles around itself.
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This place is just plain bonkers.... Mikail thinks, turning to Ferabras and shrugging. "Ooookkaaaaayyyyy.." he draws out, eyes wide in disbelief. "Where to now? And how do we go about getting there??" With these words, Mikail attempts to straighten himself out and orient himself to what should be the floor.
It take Mikail a few tries, but he eventually is able to swim through the passage well enough to suddenly find himself out the southern door and back into normal gravity!
You find yourselves in another antechamber, albeit with gravity. There is a door to the west and a door to the south. Checking the southern door carefully you discover a long hallway stretching into the darkness. Heading down it, you finally end at a doorway. Cracking it open, you see a strange room.
The east and west corners of this hexagonal room are filled with strange stone-and-metal machinery, and most of the parts appear to have rusted or otherwise deteriorated long ago. Vines, bushes, and other small flora jut through the walls in various places, the various kinds of foliage choking the machines and bursting out the corners. Long flumes of black stone jut from the ceilings in various places, each of the strange tubes pointed toward the decrepit machinery and similarly choked with vines. In the underbrush, something moves...
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Even with Mikail's example to learn from, Ferabras flails about quite a bit as he makes his way across the gravity-less passage. Fortunately, he thinks to leave one end of a rope with his companions, allowing them to pull themselves across.
Continuing into the strange labyrinth they've discovered below the tower, Fera is glad to have his feet back on the ground - though less glad when they enter the machine-room that has been taken over by jungle. "This place is crazy," he mutters, "just plain crazy. Talking fish that swim in air, face-changing mirror dwellers, horrid, bloody-minded little fey, underground jungles-"
His griping is interrupted by movement in the underbrush. "What was that?" he asks, studying the shifting leaves.
There seems to be something human-shaped in the underbrush. It seems to be trying to crawl out, but it's covered in vines and brush. "Huhhhhh..." you can hear a choked cry come from the spot where you see the movement.
Ferabras rushes forward to cut away at the vines. As he does, he can see a man, skin covered with yellowish plant-like growths, rising from the vines, just before he hears a hiss of air from a bright yellow flower!
He pulls back in time to see a thick cloud of spores erupt from the plant as vines whip forward and two more human-shapes, these looking more corpse than man, arise from the undergrowth!
(However, he also spots a heavy wooden chest, half buried in the dirt.)
Round 1:
Ferabras and Mikail
Foes
Hoshiko, Zolarus and Soren
The slash cuts the corpse-man-plant down! Two remain!
Mikail stabs the nearest zombie and it falls without a sound.
The remaining zombie tries to slam Mikail, while the plant spits another gob of pollen at him!
for damage!
Mikail manages to dodge both!
Hoshiko's slash cuts deep into the zombie, who doesn't bleed but exudes a weird sap...
Zolarus guides Ferabras!
The plant seems to shrink a little as the arrows strike it, but it still writhes and sends its pollen forth!
The plant tastes of earth and regret and when Ferabras is done with it, it moves no more. The zombie, now confused and disoriented is easily dispatched.
You dig out the chest Ferabras saw earlier and after checking it, unlock it to reveal a wand, a scroll and two potions marked as cure moderate wound potions.
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"As am I, friend Soran," Fera replies, his expression going a bit thoughtful despite the carnage before them. He appears to be attempting, once again, to digest the notion that he's got friends, as his life prior to joining the Society did not lead him to expect such a thing.
"We've unearthed some treasures in this nasty little garden," he says, collecting himself a bit, "can anyone tell what they are? Hoshiko?"
Heading back you try the western door, finding a small antechamber and a door to the Southwest. Mikail listens at it, hearing a sound like a small fire and a high pitched sobbing.
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Soran sighs.
This place is strange. Can we just get a mission that lets us be in the woods, or at least outdoors? You rarely find this kind of crazy in the woods...
The young hunter lazily watches the mechanical dragonfly flitting around his shoulder while he talks, and then nocks an arrow without drawing his bowstring.
Well, let's open the door and find out what kind of strangity we have to deal with now...
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"Hmm, if that spell lasts a while and reaches a long way, maybe we should cast it on one of us while we're exploring down here?" Ferabras asks. "It seems a silly spell - like Detect Soup or something - but if it can give us a bit of warning if something's there it might help. Though I'm not sure what kind of animal we'd want to look for with it..."
He shrugs and moves to the door Mikail is listening at, then nods in agreement with Soran, "You never know what you're going to find in this place, do you? Let's see what kind of crazy is behind this door." He has Mikail step behind him, then opens the door, blade held low, hoping to help whoever is sobbing, rather than frighten them.
Mikail slowly opens the door. The shelves in this cramped storage closet
have long ago crumbled to dust and fallen onto the stone floor along with
smashed glass bottles, rotten barrels, and other debris.
The source of the sobbing is a small sullen looking creature trying to hid amidst the rubble. This small humanoid creature has thin, leathery wings, small horns, and is snuffling as it wipes its eyes and nose.
"No no! Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!" it wails in a high pitched voice.
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"We aren't going to hurt you unless you make us. What are you doing down here?"
-Posted with Wayfinder
The pathetic little creature sighs deeply and draws a sniffling breath. "I am called Dax. I came down here with my master, Florian, but he.... he was killed by a trap and then the other soldiers with him were chopped up by the evil little man. I fled in here and I've been here ever since! I don't know what to do without Florian!" He breaks down into sobs. You're pretty sure he was this Florian's familiar.
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"I am sorry to hear about your master," Ferabras says kindly, "but I can at least tell you the evil little man is dead. You mean the one with the red hat and the big boots, no?" Pausing a moment to let Dax reply, Fera continues, "We can't return your master to you, but we can get you out of here. Perhaps you can come with us, tell us what you know of this place, and we'll help you leave here."
The creature nods at your description. "With the big scythe. I cna come with you? Yes yes yes! Please! I don't know much, but I'll help, I will! I can help!" He springs into the air and lands on Ferabras' shoulder, weighing no more than a sparrow.
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Fera's black teeth glitter in a surprised smile as Dax alights on his shoulder, and the fearsome tiefling says encouragingly, "Yes, yes, indeed, I'm sure you can help! Where was this trap that killed Florian? You'll point it out to us, right?" He turns and moves west, continuing around the circular area the way they had been.