It looks as if the lab has not been used for over a decade. The baskets contain an array of towels, medical instruments, and common chemicals.
There are enough materials in here to create an alchemist's lab woth 200gp.
Loot: 3 potions of gaseous form
1 dose of cardioamp
1 dose of cureall
3 doses of grade 3 haemochem
4 doses of torpinol
"Whoa! Look at all this stuff!" Poshment says in awe, raising a few of the vials precariously in the air. "Enjoy!" he says mischievously as he tosses a pair to Alldur.
________
'Do you need a restock Zimdoz?' Alldur asks after awkwardly catching the vials and turning his attention to the various jars and pots making up the alchemical ingredients.
You find that the remaining room opens onto the stairwell leading upstairs.
"How swell! Up, up, and awaaaaay!" Poshment declares as he leads the charge up the stairs.
Heading up the stairs to the next level you find yourselves in another hallway. A hole has been burrowed through the door to the south, a similar hole is in the door to the west. Both holes are small in size, about the size of a small cat.
"You know, holes are not quite the development I thought I'd see up here!" Poshment admits. "I've had waaaay too much food to fight in there, so perhaps the door? Unless Zimmy-dizzy wants to go for a squeeze?"
________
Zimdoz looks around carefully, trying to find traps.
A wide balcony overlooks a spacious atrium here, its low iron railing wrought with geometric symbols. A window high on the west wall is protected by narrow metal slats. Three doors stand in the east wall, but only the central door remains intact, with a short message written above it which reads "Lab 4: Animal Research". The northern door has a hole burrowed through it, while the southern one has been completely smashed apart. Inside the atrium are 2 large bird-like beasts who appear to be made of mostly a head, lunging forward on four scaly legs. Wisps of noxious black vapor trail from their hooked beaks.
Alldur draws a wand and triggers it's action, hastening the party.
Zimdoz doesn't know much about these things, but he moves up and helps by shooting the closest one with a fiery and poisoned discharge.
After Zimdoz fires his brutal opening blast, a magically accelerated Grezzag charges into the fray. "I kinda miss robots, you know? Something so satisfying about the way they crunch when you whack 'em!"
________
As the Half-Orc launches away, Poshment barely catches him on the heel. "Stay safe, don't die! Or at least make a lot of noise when you do so we know to runaway!"
________
You recognise the creatures as achaierais. They have spell resistances. They have a breath weapon that can do acid damage and cause confusion in a 10 foot cloud.
Zimdoz's shot strikes the nearest creature dealing a significant amount of damage, dazing it.
Grezzag charges across and hits the second acaierai, dealing a mighty blow.
The dazed creature stands there doing nothing. The second creature breathes out a black cloud.
(10ft cloud - anyone within takes 2d6 damage and muts make a Fort 15 or be confused)
"That's some gross stuff, stop that!" Grezzag shouts at the active archaierai. With a debilitated fore before him, the spins his axe of death and brings it down upon the beast.
________
Poshment waits for just the right moment to jump in and save the day.
________
Alldur maneuvers to line up the bird-beasts before unleashing a lightning bolt.
With two blows Grezzag slices one of the creatures in two.
His remaining two attacks on the other creature miss.
The second creature is roasted by Alldur's Lightning bolt.
Zimdoz nods, "well done, all!" the squeaky ratfolk seems quite pleased.
"Glad that's over with, those things are weird!" Poshment remarks.
________
A foul musky smell fills this room. The room is crammed with hundreds of metal cages and boxes strewn about haphazardly. Much of the metal in this room is twisted and gnawed, and the remains of several dismantled metal automatons lie in pieces on the floor. A small creature with golden fur sits atop the automaton and appears to be chewing it. It growls warningly at your approach.
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'We don't mean you any harm, friend, just looking for the owner!' Alldur hopes the creature is smart enough to parley.
Zimdoz and Alldur you know that the creature is an aurumvorax. They have damage reduction except against piercing and slashing weapons. They are immune to poison and have fire resistance. They also have the grab and rake ability. They have animal intelligence so although they can understand common they are unable to speak.
The aurumvorax growls softly but makes no aggressive movements.
"WWWHOOoooaaaaaa there big fella... Nothing to worry about here, just a bunch of nosy folks poking around somebody else's business, nothing to see here!" he whispers to the beast.
________
With Poshment's words the auromvorax seems to relax and continues mucnching on the construction, it watches you warily but makes not hostile moves.
Poshment looks at the auromvorax, then to his allies, and back to the auromvrax. He pushes the door closed and heads for the cluttered room.
________
Both doors to this room are battered outward and hang askew on their hinges. The furnishings within- a pair of large metal cages and a desk- have been smashed to pieces and pushed together into a large nest.
Poshment hikes a little leg onto some of the wreckage. "You know, being the most perceptive of the bunch of us," he declares, taking off his hat and leaning on an elbow against his knee. "I'm confident that those birdy things made this mess." He nods sagely, as though only someone of his caliber could put together pieces like this.
"Let's search it!" he shouts, running into the room.
________
'That tracks. Yes, let's' Alldur begins searching the room aided by detect magic.
Looking around the room it appears that the achaierais you encountered earlier formed a crude nest from the mangled metal and splintered wood. The nest contains the mangled remains of a human figure wearing an all tools vest
Zimdoz also looks around, carefully examining the room, looking for traps and secret doors.
You do not find any traps or secret doors and there does not seem to be anything else of interest in the room.
"I don't think there isn't anywhere else I can walk in here without stepping in bird poop," Poshment declares stepping back out of the room and making his way up the stairs.
Heading up the stairs you reach the fifth floor atrium. This wide curved hall ends in a metal hatch to the northwest. A large slate board covered with neat lettering hangs on the east wall. A flight of stairs to the east leads up, while another flight to the south leads down. The door to the southern stairwell appears to have been burrowed or chewed through.
The slate board reads as follows:
Lab 1: Alchemy
Lab 2: Fluid Siphoning Research
Lab 3: Gaseous Ooze Research: Anada Visk, Lead.
Lab 4: Animal research (animals used as needed in other experiments)
Lab 5: Infernal Clouds Research: Genisette Farvastian, lead
Lab 6: Technic Research
Lab 7: Quasi-Gaseous Research: Armestor Kelkin, lead. Limit 1001bs of live animals per week. Kelkin - I am NOT running a slaughterhouse here!
Lab 8: Swarm Behaviour Studies: Lors Everenki, lead (monitor activation of bionanites and report full awakening at once, priority one.)
Lab 9: Smoke and Particle Research
Lab Zero: Mnemotechnic Recovery
"Oooooh, a team of people were doing all this research. I thought it was just one pointy hat!" Poshment says, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
________
This room contains a large desk and bookshelves. Metal hatches lead to the east and west. A thick glass window is set into the hatch to the east. Several strange black hoses lead from the door to a large machine against the northeast wall.
Poshment pokes and prods at the hoses. "It'd be bad if one of these burst, right? Or if I poked a hole in it? Should we find out, or is it something we just know is true?"
'Give me a moment to see if I can figure this out before we start destroying it.' Alldur says, beginning to trace hoses and figure out function.
Zimdoz nods, and says to Alldur, "um, just let me know if we need to turn it off, or something." He whips out his thieves tools, ready to assist the expert wizard.
Alldur you think that the machinery is in here can be used to pump air into or out of, a kind of vacuum chamber. You can all hear the sound of laboured gasping coming from the room.
"Oh! Someone might be dying! BUT! BUT BUT BUT! Are they someone better off dead, or alive?!" Poshment polls the others. Flipping a coin into the air, he catches it then flips it onto the back of his hand. "Ok, ok, let's turn the hoses off and see who is in there!"
Alldur, agreeing with Poshment, tries to figure out how to pump air into the gasping creature.