"Well, here goes nothing..."
Pulling out his tools, Gregory gets to work.
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After a couple of false starts (which result in nasty electrical discharges), Gregory *almost* disables the electrical wiring... but then a redundant circuit reactivates, and he has to start again.
He sets off the electrical cascade a further three times, before he finally works out how to trigger an overload, which turns off the circuit.
The door at the other end of the chamber is closed, but not locked.
Gregory manages to completely avoid the first four cascades, but is caught off guard by the fifth one, which easily earths itself via is metallic exoskeleton.
After disabling the electrical supply, he then heals the damage...
...before cautiously opening the door at the other end of the room.
Gregory moves up to the door, and with a shrug, tries one of the access cards that he found earlier.
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When Gregory swipes the card, there is a beep, and then the door noiselessly slides open.
The air in this room seems to buzz and hum with energy. Strips of glowing rectangles light the room from above, while strange flickering windows line the east and west walls. A large glass-topped circular table sits in the middle of the room. To the north sits a large metal desk covered with blinking lights, while a humming pillar of purple-and-black metal stands nearby, its sides flashing with tendrils of violet energy. A single golden panel flashes with a soft but incessant light on the side of this pillar. A thick layer of dust coats everything, diffusing the lights shining from the various surfaces, and many of the machines seem to be damaged, cracked, or otherwise ruined.
"Interesting..."
Gregory cautiously moves into the room, and begins to search it.
He then tries to divine the purpose of the machines in the room.
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Gregory does not find anything of immediate value in the room.
Carefully looking over the machines hints that they might be some sort of environmental controls (measuring temperature, pressure, and light levels, among other things), but nothing more. The glowing golden panel, however, seems to be some sort of 'reset' button.
With a shrug, Gregory pushes the button.
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As soon as the panel is touched, the room begins to whir and hum. A series of muffled clicking and buzzing sounds echo through the walls, and a moment later, the circular table in this room flares to light, providing an illusionary projection of a desert-like vista, which Gregory is able to identify as the sandy realm that he just trekked through. Numerous panels on the wall fill with static, and the pillar of purple metal flashes and begins to pulsate.
Gregory jumps slightly when the banging and clicking starts, but relaxes slightly when nothing horrible immediately happens.
He spends a few moments studying the illusion, and pondering the static-filled panels, before shrugging, and leaving the chamber to continue on his way.
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The corridor continues for about 50', before dead-ending in a set of double doors. about 40' down the corridor and to the right, another set of double doors stand, this one with another slotted box next to it.
As Gregory moves to investigate this door, the door at the end of the corridor slides open noiselessly, revealing an undead horror - a strange, partially rotten four-armed humanoid with an elongated skull, wielding a pair of swords crafted from metallic-looking bone!
Wordlessly, the creature charges forward...
...skewering Gregory on the end of its blade!
Round 1: H, Gregory(-14)
"Okay, you *definitely* look dangerous..."
Gregory steps back, and draws a scroll, quickly casting a spell that causes a translucent shield of force to appear in front of him .
Emboldened by the creature's inability to hit him, Gregory attempts to shred it.
Gregory hisses in frustration.
"Well, I would to stay and chat; you've been a brilliant conversationalist. However, I think I really need to deal with this situation via another route..."
He then withdraws down the corridor.
Gregory restores his shielding...
...then heads back into the caves.
Once he gets to the circular door, he casts Barkskin and Greater Magic Fang from the scrolls.
He then hurries back to where he encountered the Juju zombie. As soon as he sees it, he will use the Scroll of Shield.
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Gregory is able to trudge back through the desert landscape (which is now lit by brilliant daylight provided by two suns high in the sky, and is oppressively hot), and passes through the illusionary wall.
When he gets back into the main corridor, he sees that the door to the room the creature came out of is still open, and the creature is standing at the threshold.
Upon spotting him, it raises its swords in a clearly hostile gesture...
...and charges forward!
Round 1: H, Gregory
Gregory calmly steps back, and uses the scroll.
"My turn, you undead freak!"
Emboldened by his new-found success, Gregory presses his attack.
Gregory continues to try to slice-and-dice the zombie.
"Come on, die already! I haven't got all day..."
Sensing that he has it on the ropes, Gregory presses his attack.
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Although his claws are easily batted aside, Gregory's bite has more power behind it; he lunges forward, and bites down hard on the zombie's already injured neck, completely severing the head.
The body continues to stand for a few seconds, before it drops nervelessly to the ground, and quickly decays into a pile of dust, leaving equipment scattered across the floor.
"Well, I am glad *that* is over."
His eyes light up when he analyses the aura of the cloak.
"Now, *this* I can definitely use!"
Gregory then crates-up the remaining stuff, and moves on to the chamber that the zombie came out of.
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A large metal table is surrounded by odd-looking chairs in this room. To the west, what appears to be a transparent wall looks out over a strange desert valley. Four pillars support the fifteen foot high ceiling, while dozens of crude images of a pickaxe made of a skull and bones have been painted onto the walls with some sort of ivory pigment, along with several phrases in an unrecognizable language.
A quick search of the room reveals naught of value, apart from a single Black Access Card.
"Huh. I bet that there's a story, here, but I can't quite fathom it... I guess it would help if I knew the language..."
With a shrug, Gregory picks up the Black Access Card, and moves back to the sealed door.
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The Brown access card does not work, but the Black one does causes the door to beep, and slide open, revealing a 10' wide, 5' long 'corridor', which ends in another set of double doors.
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.
Another set of double doors exit to the east, whilst a single door is located behind the metal desk.
Gregory eyes the blood nervously.
"*That* doesn't look ominous, at all..."
He decides to investigate the single door first.
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The door opens with the black access card.
Inside is a small room containing a series of upright lockers, mostly containing a variety of junk, but a few things spark some interest:
A solid cylinder about three inches wide, and six inches long, with a button at one end, and a piece of glass at the other.
Three batteries.
26 silverdiscs.
A dog-sized sealed metal chest, with a card reader on top.
"Huh. An amusing little toy."
Gregory is, however, much more interested in the sealed chest...
I guess that I will have to come back for this...
Leaving the chamber, he heads over to the doors with the blood-trail, and attempts to open them.
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The doors open with the Brown card.
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.
The corridor gradually curves for about 80 feet, ending in double doors to the east and south.
Steeling himself, Gregory goes through the eastern set of doors.
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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 reddish-brown 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 Gregory steps into the room, a voice speaks in his head.
Hello! Who are you? Where am I? What am I? Do you have more of the delicious red food?
Gregory is momentarily taken aback to discover an unfamiliar voice in his head, but quickly recovers.
"The name's Gregory. You're in a ruin underneath the town of Torch, in Numeria. I am afraid I can't see you, so I'm not sure what you are. I'm not sure what you mean by the red food..."
A horrible suspicion creeps over him.
"Do you mean the stuff that was on the floor?"
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Yes! A group of creatures like you were pulled through this room some time ago by metallic creatures not like you, and they left delicious red food on the floor as they were dragged through. I was really hungry, and it tasted delicious... You smell *really* good...
The reddish-brown mud suddenly splits down the middle, revealing a mouth full of extremely sharp teeth, and the room is suddenly filled by a deafening shriek!
It then extrudes some tentacles, and starts moving forward, projecting a babbling cacophony of nonsensical questions (What does red sound like?).
Round 1: Gregory, CF
Gregory manages to retain control of his senses, but has absolutely no idea what this thing is. However, he is very certain that he does not like it, and pounces forward!