Maruf steps next to the creature and claws back!
Stabbed and bruised, Richard stumbles and falls. When he comes to, he groans and looks up to find the battle still happening. Not willing to risk giving the thing an opening to finish him off, he sings a pure note and heals some of his wounds.
Seeing Richard fall, Kharax channels healing energy.
Maruf attacks the thing, managing to land one claw!
Richard comes to, and defensively heals himself!
Alpha counters with a shield bash!
Alpha swings, but misses!
The creature continues its assault on the party, landing a blow against Alpha!
Richard sings another note and vanishes.
Kharax charges healing energy and steps up to release it at Alpha.
"I'm real sick of your extra arms, buddy!"
Alpha is unfazed when he sees some circuits being exposed from the blow as he fights back!
Richard concentrates and vanishes!
Kharax heals Alpha!
Maruf claws the creature twice!
Alpha attacks, but misses!
Continuing its assault, the creature stabs Maruf and Alpha!
Alpha fights on despite his pain circuits activating.
Drawing his cold-iron sickle, Richard steps back behind the creature and slashes at its flank, reappearing from his temporary invisibility spell.
"Alpha, if you have a slashing weapon, I suggest using it!"
Kharax, seeing this thing outpace his healing, decides to provide more of Torracha's gift to the undead. "Here's some love from the elements!"
Maruf lets out a snort as the creature cuts into him! "Right back at you, f~~+er!"
Alpha and Richard miss, but Kharax and Maruf do not. The last striek from Maruf brings the undead, four-armed creature down!
"That should patch ya up sum, Cobbla'". He then looks over his android friends. "Either one of you need more healin' support?"
Richard looks at his own wounds, then glances at Alpha. "We are both injured."
"This thing was vicious. All those arms make for many dangerous weapons flying about it. I suppose it's too much to hope that this might be the last of them." Examining the four-armed corpse, Richard tries to see if any clues remain upon it. He then proceeds to search the room with both magic and his normal senses.
"Affirmative. I am still damaged."
"Yes, I'm still hurt too. I have an extract though if we are moving on."
Searching the body, you find javelins (2), mwk short sword (2), cloak of resistance +1, and 40 gp.
Richard also finds a black access card underneath the table.
"'ere ya go, Richard!", smiles Kharax as he applies Torracha's blessing on him.
"Unfortunately Alpha, the elements already healed ya for the day. Can ya 'elp him, Rich?"
Maruf uses the new card to lead the way!
"Thanks Kharax, I can help Alpha." Richard says, getting out his newly purchased scroll and reading off a healing spell.
"There. Fully healed it seems. Or repaired, if you prefer." Richard grins as he rolls up the scroll and puts it back in his scrollcase. He then piks up one of the creature's shortsword a and gives it a test jab. "Did that thing look undead to any of you? Strange that it used weapons. And masterwork creations at that. Worth a good amount of gold I'll guess. We should take both, but I think I'll field test this one. That cloak might help someone too. Anyone want to wear it?"
"You are deserving of gratitude. It was rather well equipped."
After everyone has healed, Maruf leads the way back down the corridor to the other door. It leads to a narrow, curving tunnel, terminating at the southwest, but to the north it leads to another door. As fate would have it, the door is locked, but the newly found black access card opens it easily.
Going through a short hall, you enter a large room. A large metal desk with blinking lights and strange glowing panels sits atop a raised area on the east side of this room near a circular table. Two couches covered with black material sit to the south a pair of black metal pillars. Splatters of dried blood stain the floor and walls near a pair of doors to the north, while here and there patches of rust-red mold and fungus cling to the southern wall. The room itself is brightly lit by glowing panels on the ceiling.
Alpha will scan the room!
"Bah! SNORT! The wizard's gotten himself killed and now we'll never get the Fire going again!"
"We don't know that Cobbler." Richard says, staring at the blood with concern. "I think Khonnir might still be alive and until I see proof, I'm not giving up hope."
Moving to the northern door he examines the blood for any evidence or clue about what happened here.
Maruf scoffs, "Then if you're so sure, let's go find him!"
If nothing interesting is found in this room, Maruf leads the way forward (pushing a button or two along the way).
"Yeah, I prefer Richard's version than your's, Cobbla."
Searching the area, Alpha notes the machinery here merely flashes and blinks in random patterns. Occasionally, garbled lines of scrambled text or images of strange creatures, such as live four-armed creatures or slender living plants, flash briefly on one of the monitors on the desk.
Usin the black key card, the door behin the desk is able to be opened. Inside, you find several upright lockers, most of which contain only strange pieces of junk and rubble. Still, a search of all five lockers uncovers some items of use, including a cylinderical object, three silverdisk objects that appear operational, and 26 silverdisks. One of the lockers contains a small locked security bin. This bin has a white-labeled panel on its surface, and is locked.
The blood appears to have dried, and been there for a while.
"This appears to be a flashlight. I cannot identify these silver disks however."
"Looks like the blood is old. Can't say how old though. What's a flashlight?" He asks Alpha. "A signal torch or blinding weapon of some kind?"
Richard joins the Cobbler in the locker room. Upon discovering the security bin, he takes some time to see first if it is safe to open, then tries a few tricks he learned from Khonnir to try and get it open.
"It is similar to a torch or sunrod."
"Huh, yer gonna have to explain some of dis stuff to me later, Alpha.", the half-orc laments.
Kharax examines the north door, checking if there's anything weird on the other side.
Richard almost opens the locker on his first try, but can't quite pop it open. After some more time and using the e-pick, though, he manages to open it. Within the locker he finds, four spheroid objects, some sort of gun, and some sort of suit or armor.
Richard looks through the newfound objects, curious about them, particularly the gun. His studies with Khonnir have given him a broad range of knowledge, but despite his own artificial origins his education in technology and engineering was rudimentary. He knew who the real expert was, and looks to Alpha. "What do you make of all these?"
"There are two bang grenades, one flash grenade, and a soft grenade. You prime them with a twist of the dial and arm it with the click of a button then you throw them. The flash grenade blinds, the bang grenades can render a target slowed and the soft grenade is for knocking people out. The firearm is a stun gun. It can knock people down to the ground."
"Fascinting." Richard looks over the items identified by Alpha with awe and curiosity, particularly the gun. "Mind if I hold onto this? I assume you just pull the trigger..."
Richard sights down the barrel of the weapon, but is a little uncomfortable with a weapon that feels like half-a-crossbow.
"I think we should follow the blood."
"Affirmative."
Maruf grabs the canisters and follows on.
Following the blood stains through the northern doors, you enter a hall. Bloodstains mar the floor and walls of this hallway, while scorch marks and smears of ash on the walls evidence some sort of altercation having taken place in this area relatively recently. Four tangled mounds of metal and other materials lie further up the hall, surrounded by strangely colored stains. Searching the hall, you find nothing more of interest.
Continuing down the hall, it curves to the east before ending with double doors to the south and east.
"Mind if I take one of 'em 'bang granades?", Kharax asks. "In case I gotta do anything from the backlines."
As they follow the path, the half-orc speaks his thoughts. "Huh, well, this hopefully means we're on the right track... and mebbe this is Khonnir's team's work...".
Looking at the two doors, Kharax poses the question: "Should we look for anything useful to the south, or follow the blood trail more?"
"Here," Maruf roughly shoves one of the grenades into Kharax's hand.
"On the right track, yes, but you think the wizard survived after this? SNORT! I have a bad feeling about that chance....."
The Cobbler follows the blood trail, stooping over and sniffling after it like some sort of savage animal. He pushes his way through the doors where the blood trail leads.
"The trail would be logical."
Following the blood trail leads you through the eastern double doors. Inside, a long table with various unusual stones and dirt samples heaped on it sits along the southern wall of this room, while to the north a line of metal desks with glowing panels and buttons are placed next to a large humming device. The heart of this device seems to be some sort of flickering sphere of reddishbrown mud or dirt. Dust covers much of this room, save for a strangely clean swath between the doors, which leads to the strange humming device.
As you looks for the blood trail, you note a “clean stripe” seems to indicate that something came out to clean up all traces of blood on the floor.
All of you hear, in your heads, “Where am I?” and “Who are you?” and “What is this place?”.
"Something or someone was here to clean up the trail." Alpha looks around for the source of the voice.
"You are in a chamber though I do not read you with my optics here. I am called Alpha. My compatriots are Maruf, Richard, and Kharax. We are exploring this place to find out what this place is."