As you pass the end of a cliff, you see the trail winding off to the right ahead of you.
Fifteen finds that her paranoia is actually closer to an entirely reasonable extrapolation, as three skeletons now stand in your way - one directly ahead, another in the sand to the right, and one more at the 5-foot ledge to the left.
The front skeleton immediately charges Fifteen:
but she is on alert and manages to fluidly evade its ossified punch.
Her evasion sparked a mental warcry from Fifteen, or more accurately 1B4, nestled deep in her CPU who reveled in the thrill of battle. Fifteen relaxes her defences, allowing the combat ready entity control of her actions.Unfortunately this causes some conflicting signals and Fifteen's counter blow is useless.
Kolsch hears strange sounds coming from his captors, which after some fuzzy processing his aural networks register as likely to be a form of laughter.
"A tavern owner? Here? Nice try. Next time, maybe try looking in a tavern."
Kolsch is quickly searched while still held at blade points, and his coin purse is taken from him. "Indeed, you have little of worth. Then go and find something of equal value for us, that can help us survive and defend our home, or find a new one. Bring us a weapon we can work into a trap, or some food we could use for a few weeks instead of raiding the surface. Anything that can help us descend back into the Darklands would be good too. Many treasures lie buried in the ruins beyond, but they are well-guarded by metal beasts and undead spirits. Scavenge for us, and we will let you live."
"Right. Scavenge. I will try. I am new to this. "
-Posted with Wayfinder
Baleiro circles around the closest skeleton, setting up flank for Fifteen, and mounts his own attack:
The nodachi gets caught up in the sand and misses the target.
In doing so, he leaves Rur exposed to the charge of the north skeleton, which jumps off the ledge, attempting to slam him from above:
But Rur deftly parries the blow.
The south skeleton charges Fifteen:
but is not smart enough to use flanking, making it easy for Fifteen to avoid the telegraphed blow.
Rur fights the skeleton which attacked him:
His targeting is impeccable and he breaks a few ribs through sheer force of the impact, but the skeleton is still a threat.
The east skeleton turns to Baleiro and unleashes a barrage of strikes upon him:
Baleiro blocks one of the strikes with the haft of his weapon, but the rest of attacks are well-placed: one of the lower arms hits him in the solar plexus, causing him to bend forward in pain, and the two upper arms slam the back of his skull, forcing his brain into an emergency shutdown!
Kolsch is led by his arms into a metal-sounding chamber and left there. Any attempts to leave the way he came are met with sharp pricks of the guards' blades. Slowly, his sight begins to return and he finds himself in a featureless metal room, one exit from which is guarded by two lanky and seemingly translucent humanoids armed with sharp daggers. The way forward lies through more metal rooms and some kind of a destroyed machine. An echo of some faint noise can be heard from far beyond.
Kolsch, finally gaining use of his optical sensors again, proceeds onwards, since back really isn't an option. He hears some noise and heads towards it.
Danger, danger! 1B4's 'voice' rings in Fifteen's mind. Shutting the unwanted intrusion out Fifteen focuses on a precise strike, before stepping back out of range of one of the skeletons.
Baleiro's nanites work to prevent further loss of vital functions, but the system shock he suffered is too big to resume any activity.
The north skeleton attempts to claw its way past Rur's defenses:
But Rur parries all the attacks. The south skeleton steps up and assaults Rur from behind:
Among the flurry of strikes, only one reaches Rur's body.
Fifteen notices a figure closing in on their location from the way they came - it has just two arms and doesn't look like a skeleton.
Kolch will charge the skelly he can reach.
charge
Kolsch's rapier pierces the skeleton's big skull at the spot where the bone plates join, but this doesn't cause nearly as much harm as it would to a living creature. Rur attempts to finish off the skeleton caught between himself and the newcomer. But even with the flanking, his longsword glances off. The east skeleton attacks Fifteen, who is the closest to it now:
One of the claws leaves a gash in Fifteen's polymer flesh.
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Fifteen, smarting from the blow she's taken, sidesteps the skeleton which struck her and attacks with Rur - hoping to finish at least one of the skeletons, although she is unable to do so.
The north skeleton keeps pummeling the flanked Rur relentlessly:
Rur parries several strikes but a couple manage to get through. This is too much for Rur to bear and he collapses onto the sand.
The south skeleton turns to face the new combatant:
But the newcomer is well-prepared and counters most of the attacks, the most cunning blow just scraping his armor.
Knowing he doesn't have an ideal weapon, but with no other had hand Kolsch continues to attack the skeleton.
"I don't suppose any of you folks know anything about a missing Innkeeper?"
"You're looking for my father then?" Fifteen responds, with equal calmness as she ducks and weaves around the blows.
Kolsch flanks with Fifteen and manages to destroy the damaged skeleton.
Rur continues to bleed from his wounds.
The east skeleton moves to engage the new threat, provoking an attack from Fifteen:
But this decision proves fatal and the skeleton crumbles to bone splinters.
Fifteen holds her attacking instinct - hoping that the newcomer will offer her an opportunity to strike at the skeletons flank.
"If you are the daughter of the inkeeper, then yes. I wish to find someone to peddle my beer. I am a brewer. " he replies in a monotone, seemingly unconcerned about the combat around him.
She'll do that then.
Fifteen steps aside and the last skeleton moves to attack Kolsch, stepping on Rur's lifeless body in the process
Kolsch tries to deflect the attack with his rapier, but the thin blade bends and he gets a resounding blow to the helm.
Kolsch will adjust his weapon to be better suited for the menace he faces. It glows with divine power as he holds it in his hand and he mutters a quiet prayer to Cayden Calean.
He will activate his good domain blessing on his rapier.
Unless otherwise noted, using a blessing is a standard action.
Fifteen attempts to use the flanking to backstab the skeleton, but as Kolsch takes the time to charge up his weapon instead of actually threatening it, she misses.
The skeleton retaliates against Fifteen:
Two blows are enough to bring her down, and the skeleton turns to Kolsch to land the final strike, before collapsing in a flash of light, struck down by the warpriest's blessed weapon!
Kolsch takes stock of the surroundings. No more hostiles are incoming, but three androids, wounded and unconscious, lie down in the sand amid the alien bones.
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Kolsch will cast stabilize on his unconscious new companions. Then he will go through their stuff to see if their is a healing potion or wand so he can revive them.
Finding nothing he takes out their bedding (if they have any), arranges them on it comfortably, and stands watch until someone else wakes up. At morn, he will do his prayers and pick up some healing spells.
As Kolsch stands vigil, nobody disturbs your rest. However, the cold desert is far from the best place to recover, and by the time Cayden Cailean answers Kolsch's prayers, things have taken a turn for the worse - Rur does not show any signs of life, while Fifteen and Baleiro feel their life energy slowly seeping away from them.
He will cast 1 CLW on each of them (which is all he gets per day).
15
Baleiro
Kolsch will use a fervor lay on hands to revive fifteen.
Fifteen sits up, disorientated for a second. "Thank you for your assistance Mr Brewer. We should continue to try and find my father."
Baleiro will sit up, his eyes darting around the room as he resets his combat inhibitors.
"Condition poor. Combat environment... Negative. Releasing direct control. "
Looking around, Baliero secures his weapon first, then inspects the newcomer.
"I am grateful." he says. "chance of mission success is greater if the four of us cooperate."
He looks down, analyzing Rur's lifeless body. "Correction. Three of us." he appends. "I will need time to prepare additional measures. I understand by now we no longer benefit from the water-breathing spell?"
"Yes, your companion was too far gone to last out the night. I was unable to heal him until morning. I would have to expect the spell to be gone by now. "
"Thank you for your assistance Mr Brewer. We must consider how best to proceed - continue on or try and turn back? Alternatively we could wait here but that surely runs the risk of further combat. The logical choice would appear to be a careful continuance, avoiding conflict where possible."
"We should continue onwards. But I need an hour to prepare some formulas. They will enhance my capabilities greatly." Baleiro requests.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Fifteen nods calmly, although inside her head 1B4 rages. We have no time to waste - every second loses the tactical advantage! Accustomed to ignoring the voice of the imprint Fifteen moves a few feet away and begins experimenting with her energy weapons, slowly but surely managing to conjure two stable weapons.
"I am in no rush. " and he takes out a notepad to scribble down some new ideas for a white ale he had been mulling over.
Now finished, Baliero will rise. "I am ready now, though we all still have damage. Exercising caution is recommended."
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Agreed."
Allowing her energy blades to disperse Fifteen leads the way through the sand, heading in the opposite direction to the one in which they arrived.
The trail continues, curving off to the right and then making a sharp U-turn around the stone cliff wall into a cavern not unlike the one from which you entered this desert. The cavern ends with a dead end, however, a crisp glow of light shines from the northern wall of this cavern, although no obvious source of the light is apparent.
Waving for the other two to stay back Fifteen begins to search the wall thoroughly, trying to locate the light source.
Kolsch waits patiently.
Fifteen feels a sense of confusion as she inspects the wall. She pauses to analyze the cause and finds that the data registered by her sensory organs doesn't quite align - the fingers feel smooth surface where the eyes see rough stone and vice versa. She closes her eyes and steps forward, half-expecting to hit the wall at full speed - but nothing happens.
When she opens her eyes again, she finds herself in a metal room, brightly lit by glowing panels in the ceiling above. To the left and right, complex machines consisting of spiral tubes and nozzles twitch and hum. Behind her is a circular opening, through which she can clearly see the cavern and her companions, though the image slightly shimmers as if seen from a distance on a hot day. Another circular door is in front of her but that one is closed.
You notice that the machines are very similar to ones you saw in an area past the robot guardian, except these ones are powered up. But they are also rusty and timeworn, their twitching motions are erratic, the hum unstable and sparks periodically fly through the tangle of wires. You realize that it's only a matter of time before one of them causes a large-scale short circuit, unless you find a way to power it down or attempt to leave the room before it happens.
Kolsch and Baleiro see Fifteen stepping right through the solid stone wall and disappearing in it.
"Now that is a bit odd." and he will move up to examine the wall himself.
"Predicting... Illusion probability is high." Baliero observes. He moves forward to follow Fifteen through the wall. "Remaining close to support ally is tactically sound."