Now with only one foe to deal with, Gregory feels slightly more confident.
"Right. This is it. Only one of us gets to leave this room alive..."
+++Error: System Approaching Overload. Warning: Biofeedback Will Be Initiated To Prevent System-Wide Collapse+++
Gregory continues to press his attack.
+++Error: Overload Threshold Reached. System Protection Protocols Engaged To Prevent Catastrophic Collapse. Biofeedback Initiated+++
Gregory continues his assault!
How much more punishment can she take?!
Weeping in terror, Gregory does his best to finish-off the half-orc!
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Once again, only Gregory's bite proves effective.
However, the half-orc has worked herself up into such a frothing fury that she barely notices.
In two mean sweeps, she chews through Gregory's shielding, plunging the chainsaw deep into Gregory's gut, and spewing blood everywhere!
As Gregory falls, his life-blood pouring out, she roars in triumph, allowing blood to drip down from her weapon into her open mouth.
A puzzled look then comes over her, and she drops dead.
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After what seems like an eternity of nothingness, sight and memory return to Gregory; he recalls the excruciating pain of the chainsaw tearing apart his guts, as, for the first time, his cyber-suit failed him.
Looking around weakly, he is puzzled to Dinvaya standing over him, smiling.
"When I didn't hear back from you in a day, I thought that I should come looking. This place is fascinating! Shame about all the bodies... I hope that you don't mind, but I took the liberty of using some of your scrolls... How about we get out of here?"
Gregory nods weakly, and follows her back to her temple.
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As Gregory and Dinvaya leave, the monitors flick back on, revealing the same demonic face.
"Yes, flee whilst you can, mortals! If you dare to return, I will be waiting... if you dare to come and face me personally, there will be naught left of you but ash!"
This coaxes the pair to greater speed, and they hurriedly flee back to the temple.
Once there, Dinvaya is able to heal Gregory's physical wounds, but is unable to do anything about his suit.
"I think you will need to fix that... Come on; a good night's sleep will do you the world of good!"
[i]+++Stage VII Integration Achieved. Chameleonware Offline. Thermal And Electrical Shielding Online+++
In the morning, Gregory feels more like his usual self, although he still needs to restore his shielding.
After paying his respects to Dinvaya, he nervously heads back into the complex where he so recently made a brief trip into the afterlife...
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Gregory finds the upper reaches of the complex devoid of life, although when he reaches the 'temple' level, the same demonic face appears on the screens.
"So, you have returned. Foolish insect! A mere mortal mind cannot comprehend my power!"
A coruscating wave of black energy bursts from the monitors to envelop Gregory.
Gregory snarls in pain, and immediately starts smashing monitors.
Gregory snarls as he feels his force of personality being sapped, but continues to single-mindedly destroy screens.
Despite his foggy mind, Gregory manages to fight-off the compulsion, and continues to pounce around the room, smashing screens.
"Something of an impotent deity, aren't you?", he taunts.
Gregory takes advantage of this, restoring his shielding, and then heading downstairs.
At the base of the stairs, he will pounce forward, and destroy the two monitors there, before moving onto the room where he died.
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As Gregory descends the stairs, the demonic visage manifests on both screens either side of the door... only to disappear a split second later in shards of glass, as Gregory pounces forward, destroying them!
In the main room were Gregory fought his 'last' battle, the bodies are starting to get a little ripe. Nevertheless, he is able to collect up the equipment.
As soon as Gregory touches the Green Access Card, the monitors on this level flicker, and the fiend's snarling face appears in each of them.
"That... is not for you."
A multicolored explosion of leaping, ricocheting energy bursts from the monitors, and engulfs Gregory.
Gregory's eyes light up when he identifies the grenades, in particular, the plasma grenade.
"I know precisely what to do with this!"
When the fiend manifests again, he cannot stifle a groan.
"Oh, just go away already!"
He then repeats the process of monitor-smashing.
Right before he destroys the last monitor, Gregory taunts the entity, lifting up the plasma grenade.
"I get the feeling those batteries upstairs might be important to you... I think we'll see how well they stand up to a little exothermic reaction."
He then heals himself.
Heading back upstairs, he primes the plasma grenade, opens to the battery room, gently rolls the grenade amidst the batteries, and runs like hell.
Incredibly, Gregory manages to dodge completely out of the way.
"Alright, perhaps that wasn't one of my brightest ideas... I hope that I can still get out!"
Shaking his head ruefully, he heads back downstairs, to check-out the side chambers of the room where the big fight was.
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Back downstairs, Gregory sees that the roof of the many chamber has buckled slightly, and is still glowing red from the explosion above. Fortunately, the roof did *not* collapse.
Most of the side chambers are empty, but one was clearly being used by the chainsaw-wielding half-orc.
The eastern half of this room appears to be some sort of workshop, with all manner of metalworking tools hanging from the walls over junk-strewn tables. To the west, a sagging cot sits against a partially crumpled metal wall next to a two-foot-tall metal cabinet (that has a card reader attached to it).
Dozens of empty tubes from which strange fluids drip lie in a heap atop the chest. What looks like a partially completed and crudely constructed mechanical orc marionette or machine slumps against a metal cage-like frame at the foot of the cot.
Gregory tries the Green Access Card on the cabinet.
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With a beep, the cabinet clicks open!
Inside are:
A dagger covered in frost.
244 silverdiscs, a pouch containing 17 cracked and flawed gemstones worth 50gp each, a Green E-Pick...
...a bulky bracelet covered in blinking blue lights...
...a short length of flexible cord, with a socket at either end...
...and a loosely organized stack of papers held in a metal binder. The contents of this binder are part journal, part to-do list, and part notebook, but provide some fascinating information:
The entity that calls itself 'Hellion' is a synthetic intelligence known as an AI, which has extended its consciousness into this complex (although it maintains a physical presence in the caves below)!
Apparently, this entire complex is one giant burrowing machine. Hellion hopes to reactivate it, and transform it into a mobile stronghold that may even be capable of burrowing into the heart of Silver Mount. Unfortunately, the structure still requires vast amounts of power, and Meyanda's failure to gather that power has resulted in an unwelcome delay to this plan. Hellion hopes that this is but a temporary setback, but knows that every day that passes before it can strike against another entity called Unity (another AI which is apparently trapped within the Silver Mount), the greater AI will continue to grow in power-if Unity can find a way to extend its influence beyond Silver Mount in a significant way, it will be too late to oppose it.
With the excavation and repowering of the excavator delayed, Hellion recently revealed to Kulgara an interesting secret: Hellion was not the first of the Iron Gods spawned by the entity it calls "Unity." Another came before him-a "prophet of Unity" named Casandalee. Hellion regards Casandalee as a sister, and notes that just as it escaped Unity, Casandalee betrayed Unity and escaped as well. According to the fragments of memories Hellion inherited from its creator, when Casandalee fled Unity, she took with her a device called a neurocam, onto which had been recorded many of Unity's secrets and, Hellion hopes, Unity's weaknesses. Fortunately, Unity's robotic minions were never able to track down and capture Casandalee, so Hellion believes that this neurocam still exists, hidden away wherever Casandalee ended up. He notes that she was an android, not an artificial intelligence, and that she has certainly been dead for these many centuries, but that if the site of her death could be discovered, it might be possible to retrieve the stolen neurocam and extract key information about Unity and its defenses.
Working with information supplied by memories stolen from Unity before Hellion fled Silver Mount and independent research done first by Meyanda and more recently by Kulgara, Hellion has discovered that Unity's robots finally caught up with Casandalee in southern Numeria, in an area now settled by worshipers of Erastil-the town of Iadenveigh. Kulgara has been working up a plan to mount an invasion of Iadenveigh to search the site for clues or, perhaps, the location of Casandalee's last stand and the neurocam, but it's obvious from Kulgara's notes that she's not yet sure exactly where in Iadenveigh to start the search.
Gregory easily identifies the dagger...
...but is unable to fathom what the other items are.
The journal, however, definitely gets his attention.
Fascinating... I may have to journey south once this matter is sorted out!
Crating up what he can, Gregory goes back out into the main room, and checks beyond the double doors to the East (where the ettin originally came from).
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As large as this cavern is, the cave's proportions are dwarfed by the immense buried structure that looms over its western half. This metal leviathan presents a filthy facade of sharp angles, doors stained and pitted with rust allowing entry into its interior, and a wide balcony overlooking the rocky floor fifteen feet below. A massive mound of furs, rags, and refuse - a nest of some sort - sprawls in a sizable alcove to the southeast, while to the north, a 10-foot-wide tunnel curves to the northwest. Three areas of straight metal ridges protrude from the ground, marking paths from the building. Evidence of recent excavation work is apparent. An immense latticework of thick gray metal beams extends from the front of the buried structure, creating a wall of girders and struts that bisects the cave's northern reach. These beams have been painted with images of demonic faces and spiked mechanical claws, and are further adorned with strips of sinew on which countless humanoid bones have been hung like wind chimes.
"Right. There must be another way down."
Gregory heads back into the big room, and moves towards the double doors to the west, before checking himself.
Hang on...
He then heads back to the big, reinforced door that he could not access earlier, and tries his new Green Access Card.
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With a beep, the door swings open.
The walls of this chamber are obscured by banks of mechanical devices, flashing lights, and panels displaying messages in an alien script, images, and mysterious markings that shift and change with astonishing speed. The air is warm, and smells slightly metallic, while a high-pitched drone emanates from all corners of the room.
However, before Gregory can explore the room further, four tiny, cat-sized robots roughly the shape of a cockroach float up into the air, and turn the business ends of a variety of gun-like objects in Gregory's direction.
All four try to shoot Gregory...
...and all four successfully buffet him with their stun guns!
Round 1: Beetles, Gregory(-24)
Ouch! For such tiny things, they certainly pack a punch!
Gregory pounces forward!
Gregory tries to swat the remaining robots like the over-sized bugs that they are!
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In an awesome display of coordinated power, Gregory swats down both of the uninjured beetles, turn them into scrap metal, before biting down hard on the injured one, spitting out the pieces.
A thorough search of the room does not turn up any loot.
However...
Sucks to be you...
With a grin, Gregory places the facet *exactly* where it needs to go.
Nodding in satisfaction, Gregory takes the time to restore his shielding...
...and then heads for the western double doors in the central chamber.
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A large, dank cave sprawls to the west of a metal structure buried in the walls. An immense trestle of metal beams and struts extends from the side of the structure, and into the wall opposite, while a stone ramp winds from a metal landing along the side of the structure, down into the cave depths below.
Gregory carefully descends the ramp, wary of being ambushed...
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Although the ramp is moderately slippery, Gregory is able to descend without mishap.
At the base of the ramp, a short tunnel leads to another chamber.
The northern wall of this cave bears a crude, but still unsettling cave painting of a strange, four-armed red fiend rising up from a mass of what look like dead bodies - whatever eerie pigment has been used for this painting glows faintly in the dark. A dozen real bodies of orcs and ratfolk, as well as a few humans, lie heaped against the base of the wall below the painting. The torso of each decaying carcass is split open, as if it exploded from within.
"Okay... I am not sure what that is a picture of, exactly, but this doesn't look right, *at all*..."
Gregory decides to buff.
He then cautiously continues on through the room.
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This long, narrow cavern has a twenty-five-foot-high ceiling, adorned with hundreds of stalactites. The cave floor slopes downward to the east. Patches of strange fungi and lichen cling to the walls and floor - between these patches on the cave walls, strange words have been scratched into the stone. On the southern wall, portions of a buried metal structure protrude from the stone, particularly in the middle where a wide metal ledge rises fifteen feet off the ground to support a nest made of bones woven together by pale strips of supple leather and cords of braided hair. Two panels of glass, both smashed to fragments, once hung from the lower walls of the metal balcony.
When Gregory enters the room, a red-skinned, four-armed figure, wielding two serrated longswords, and a gun, the barrel of which glows cherry red, steps away from one wall.
"Ah, I was wondering when you would show up. We need to talk. Hellion," the creature nods towards the broken monitors, "would have me attack you, but I seek another path: I want to go home. However, I am bound to this plane of existence by the curse of a long-dead Kellid shaman. Do you have a way to remove it? I can offer you my weapons as payment..."
Gregory shakes his head, sadly.
"Unfortunately, that is not within my power to do..."
Sensing that diplomacy is no longer an option, Gregory pounces!
Gregory continues to press his advantage.