With a suddenly-prone klaven right in front of her, Mayenyi stabs down with her shortspear in an uncharacteristic fury, teeth bared in her bark-covered face.
Zoreck, planting his feet, stabs forwards and impales the klaven upon his blade... the snarling guard wrenches backwards in an attempt to free itself, and when the Numerian's gun jams it seems that it may be able to... that is before a whistling incendiary, flung by Rikkan, strikes it across the chest and kills it dead...
Meanwhile, the other klaven is also quickly overwhelmed - Drancis tripping it and then Mayenyi stabbing at the fallen opponent.
Zoreck wrenches his blade from the now-dead klaven's chest, then regards the other lizard-man with narrowed eyes.
Kasia skitters closer, letting Wey take over to guide her aim, and fires her pistol into the remaining Klaven.
Even though the klaven is knocked over and partially shielded by Mayenyi, Kasia's aim is true... a bloom of red explodes across its chest as it staggers back to its feet...
Deflecting Mayenyi's spear with its bone-encrusted forearm, it slashes at the Chlorvian... and, in its rage, misses.
Without waiting for the Shocktrooper to be able to recover or run, Kasia cocks her gun and fires another shot into its chest.
Feeling savage claws scrape across her wooden skin, Mayenyi flinches back for just an instant, but rallies back and drives her spear home. She feels something vital snap inside, and lets out a feral-sounding snarl as the klaven crumples to the floor in front of her.
Rikkan was prepared to throw another bomb, but caught himself before letting the concoction go upon seeing the creature crumple in front of him. "Might as well be quick...we certainly aren't going to surprise anyone now!"
Drancis nods in reply, "That is the truth! I am worried about these doors here, should we check them out or press on here?"
Zoreck exhales as the red veil lifts from his gaze. Looking at his gun he mutters, "And now you fail me?" He knocks the pistol butt on the wall, causing singed wadding, unspent powder, and the bullet to drop out of the barrel. He then quickly cleans the pistol and reloads it.
Looking up at Drancis' question, he says, "Let's move."
"It's the poor carpenter that blames his tools." Kasia lectures with a slight smile as Zoreck slams his gun against the wall.
Rikkan gives the group time to heal before he checks the doors for traps.
Perception
If he notices any, he tries to disarm it. If not he unlocks the door, if it were locked.
Disable
Looking at the spider-lady with a quizzical expression, he says,"Huh? Oh, Betsy and I go back a while... ever since I liberated her from a Technic League enforcer who wasn't going to need a gun anymore. When she jams, if I tap her just right, the bullet and wadding pops right out, and I can re-use the bullet."
After a pause, he adds, "And I'd ask you where you got your gun, but this isn't the time for small-talk."
Neither of the doors leading from this section of the corridor, one to the north and one to the south, appear to be locked - reassuringly, neither appears to be trapped either. And so, electing to investigate in a cautious way, the group open the first of the doors they cam across - the door to the south. Three gurneys extend from the west wall of the long, rectangular room beyond. Each bears a humanoid body covered with a bloodstained sheet whilst a metal table stands askew from the southernmost gurney, and another bears a neat row of surgical implements near the far wall. The sweet, sickly smell of blood is almost overpowering here.
There are no other obvious exits from this room.
Grim, and all but certain of what she will find, Mayenyi crosses the room to uncover the bodies one by one.
Rikkan follows the plant creature and also sneaks a look at whatever torture had taken place in his room. "Maybe there's a clue or something," he whispered as he held his nose, as his extra appendage twitched a bit.
Perception
As the others move into the room, Drancis stays at the entrance and uses his telekinesis to move the klaven corpses into the room. "I will keep watch to make sure no one catches us off-guard."
Looking over Mayenyi's shoulder, Zoreck gazes at the body on the slab with a sour expression. He then glances around the room. "Back home, there were rumors that the Technic League kidnapped people and cut them up in weird experiments..."
The first two gurneys have actual human cadavers under their bloody sheets, and casual examination suggests a precise surgical dissection with the removal of small bones and vital organs. The surgical tools and equipment all appear very well-cleaned. The southern gurney, in contrast, bears a hulking shape beneath its sheet... apparently hearing Mayenyi and Rikkan, the previously motionless shape sits bolt upright, bending at the waist with a smooth, unnatural motion before sliding off the gurney to lumber towards them and attack. A patchwork of rotten cloth and grotesque skin, the creature snarls noiselessly at the friends.
A skinstitch's stuffing juts out of gaps in the sewing and the mouths and eye-holes of its component faces, giving it a horrifying, ragged look. Swarms of vermin and other creatures often find refuge within the straw, and the magic of this construct grants swarms nesting within its body amazing regenerative powers. Despite its ragged appearance, a skinstitch is strong, tough, and agile, though its components make it susceptible to fire.
Mayenyi pauses, knowing that Kasia's gun works better if it has room, but as soon as she goes, the chlorvian moves cautiously forward, taking a single probing attack at the patchwork undead.
[dice=Shortpear attack at the "I have no idea what golems are" undead]1d20 + 7[/dice],
Mayenyi's shortspear strikes the patchwork creature but it doesn't pierce the toughened flesh... the attack must have had some effect though as the huge creation's retaliation is woefully off-balance...
Kasia stares at the construct for a moment, seeing it less as a horrifying monster, and something suffering and in pain. She nods in thanks to Mayenyi as the girl ducks out of the way, and fires a shot at the creature.
Drancis, seeing there would be no way to push the creature backwards, instead concentrates upon drawing extra energy into his aether bubble and slamming it into the creature.
"Gaa!" His ire drawn at the grotesque monster, Zoreck's battle-instincts take over. Drawing his shortsword and pistol, he rushes at the creature, trying to dodge its blows.
Grit: 2/2
Mythic Power: 4/5
Rikkan uses a precise bomb, protecting the two front liners and lobs a fire bomb at back half of the strange enemy.
RTA
Damage
The animated thing, for surely it is an amalgam of may creatures, proves to be an easy target - lumbering and large, Kasia, Drancis and Zoreck all punch and slash ragged damage into the leather skin of their opponent... but somehow their efforts cause less damage than were the construct a truly living thing...
...and then, Rikkan's bomb catches the sewn together construct - and it virtually erupts in flame.
Mayenyi jumps back and raises her shield to cover her face in surprise at the sudden flare of light and heat on the construct's body; her next blow is weaker than it needs to be, and its accuracy may well have been the result of luck more than skill. Mayenyi grunts in frustrtion as she sees the tip of her spear simply skip sideways off the thing's flesh.
,
This isn't working... Need a new plan here, she thinks to herself.
For all of Mayenyi's frustrations that her spear does little more than punch a dry hole into the already dead thing, her actions do set it off balance... and once more she easily dodges its blundering swings...
Seeing that the thing is made of stretched leather, and that poking holes into is is ineffective, Zoreck holsters his pistol and draws his longsword. He slashes at the thing savagely.
Grit: 2/2
Mythic Power: 4/5
Drancis, seeing his aether bubble was less than effective, switches to a different tactic. Scanning the room, he spies a jagged piece of metal. Without a moment's thought he plucks it with his mind and flings it at the creature.
Rikkan again uses a precise bomb, protecting the two front liners and lobs a fire bomb at back half of the strange enemy. After the first bomb worked so well, he just had to try again.
RTA
Damage
Seeing the way the thing responded to Rikkan's bomb, Mayenyi remembers she has something similar in her backpack. She retreats a step from the creature, pulls out a flask, and hurls it at the creature's face. Unfortunately, she bobbles the throw and it really just drops almost straight down, landing right between her and the creature.
Neither Drancis nor Zoreck can land telling blows on the creature - fortunate then that Rikkan is carrying yet more of his bombs... lobbed at the easy target, Rikkan's bomb turns the creature into a huge firework - now motionless, the construct burns brightly for several seconds before it falls backwards.
...an examination of the room reveals nothing beyond what the group must have already deduced - that someone (or something) has been performing expert - and quite extreme - vivisection here.
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"This is obscene," Mayenyi spits. "We have to find this... this... parasite and end him, once and for all!" Her chestnut-brown bark suddenly darkens around her cheeks in what can only be a blush, and she adds, rather sheepishly, "Pardon the language."
There is nothing more to be learnt within this room and so, making their way along the corridor a little, the group open the door to the north... an unpleasant, coppery tang of harsh chemicals wafts from this room as the door is opened. Two large wooden vats sit on the floor, each filled with an unwholesome green fluid pumped into them from an adjacent box-like apparatus. Similar in construction to the other klaven conversion tanks on Garsilt and the temple ruins (and for those who didn't endure Lomrick's captivity, something they have heard of) this equipment clearly indicates Lomrick has the means to create klaven here.
Further along the corridor, there is a door to the west... and further still, the corridor ends at a door to the south.
Rikkan creeps forward and listens at the first door to the west.
Perception
From beyond the door, the subtle noise of a machine hum suggests that some form of equipment lies beyond it.
Rikkan informs the others, and if there is no objection, checks e door for traps. If there are none, he will open it.
Perception
This immense, octagonal room beyond the door has four short extensions branching out from the main chamber at each of the four, cardinal compass points. Another smaller chamber, seemingly made of glass, sits in the center, its walls extending from a gleaming metal base and connecting to a similar enclosure attached to the stone ceiling 15 feet above. The structure includes the vague outline of a glass door on its eastern face...
Within the enclosure, an emaciated looking humanoid staggers to its feet as Rikkan opens the door to the room... Strange tattooes belie this humanoid’s alien nature where the midpoint of its head splits like a flower with lavender skin overlapping its exposed brain.
- this, from the description that Kaetrix gave you, is almost certainly Relstanna... the Elali that was kidnapped by Lomrick.
Drancis averts his gaze from the gruesome scene unfolding before him. "By the Gods..." He then turns to the two natives, "Is...is this who you are looking for? I...I don't know if I can help her..."
Mayenyi moves immediately to the where the door appears to be in the eastern face, searching for a way to free Relstanna. "Don't worry!" she calls to the elani, "we're going to get you out of there!"
Zoreck draws his pistol on the person in the chamber, but then lowers it when his new friends identify her. Unable to stop staring at her exposed brain, Zoreck curses, "Qədər əvvəl deyil!"
The air near the ceiling around the glass chamber starts to shimmer - and, before their eyes, a swollen, brainlike bulb encrusted with fungal shelves appears... a wide mouth bisects the bulb's crown - and, before Drancis can move out of the way, it lashes out at him...
"What's with all the gods-damned snot-monsters?!"
Seeing red, Zoreck draws his shortsword and rushes at the thing.
Grit: 2/2
Mythic Power: 4/5
Zoreck's sword and gun make a terrific mess of the tendrils that had reached down to lash at Drancis... entire strands of fibrous material crash to the floor where the Numerian's sword had severed them from the bulbous body of the creature...
And so, holding itself flat against the ceiling (the ceiling is at 15ft and therefore out of reach of non-reach melee weapons), the fungus creature magicks a salvo of arcane bolts. Unerringly fizzing towards Zoreck, they crash into him in a shower of sparks and colour...