Examining the outside of the lift shaft, there is nothing other than the green disk used by Palomia to open the doors… on first inspection, it is a total mystery as to how the fabled ‘little room’ can be summonsed…
…but, leaning into the shaft and looking up… and then down into the darkness, Globlob sees something within the shaft - about sixty feet below him, some kind of metallic box swathed with organic material. The 'cable' that runs along the centre of the shaft is attached to the top surface of the box...
Globlob perks up at the sight of the metal box down below and pulls his head out of the lift shaft. "Hey, hey! I found box. It down. Straight down. Way down there." He even points down the shaft and then peers toward the cable as he considers simply climbing it down to the box.
Ravboom looks thoughtful. "Maybe plant not supposed to be in shaft? Maybe plant grow up and mess up shaft?" He takes one of the funky 'guns' and shoots it into the shaft, seeing what the plant like material does, before anyone goes in. "Oh, stand back..." He adds, after firing...
"Or don't..." He shrugs, as Palomia does something dumb, and then Biggun has to out do her by jumping face first down the shaft.
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Three things happen in quick succession, first Ravboom 'fires' the alien gun into the vertical shaft... the thorn that whizzes from the barrel embeds itself in the far wall but there is no reaction from whatever it is that is growing up the vertical shaft...
...secondly, Palomia gives the 'cable' a pull - tentative at first, she satisfies herself that it is load bearing... and that, if it is attached to something below, then it is probably too heavy to pull back up...
...and finally, in a stunning demonstration of natural selection, Biggun jumps into the shaft - accelerating quickly, his glorious flight lasts for about three seconds before it ends with the crunching of bone and a metallic 'clang' that echoes back up the vertical shaft...
Sixty feet above Biggun, Andretta looks at Ravboom with an incredulous expression, "What just happened?"
"Biggun stupid. Pretty obvious. Most Gobbies are stupid. Goblins, on the other hand, pretty bright. Ravboom Goblin. Biggun Gobbie. Gobbies do stupid things regularly, usually die. Sometimes before can make small gobbies. Still trying to figure out if Goblins turning into Gobbies, or Gobbies slowly becoming Goblins, as dumber ones die off and smarter ones live to make small Goblins."
Blekk looks down the hole, grimacing as he examines Biggun. "This might be dumb...but might be able to help Biggun. Let me know if room starts coming down to me. Want time to be able to scream."
He grabs the rope and deftly climbs down it, then digs out his potion of cure light wounds and shoves it down Biggun's throat. "You crazy, gobbo? What you do that for?"
"Me Blekk, not Glob! What, we all look the same to you humies? I think he gonna be okay, hopefully he be good to climb back up. Don't think I can carry him up, way too big. Needs to stop eating so much."
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Slowly sitting up with the faint taste of something foul and delicious on his tongue, Biggun blearily looked around. "Did you get number of giant that hit Biggun?" he asked before his head finally cleared. Hauling himself up, he stomped on the roof of the thing he was standing on. "Maybe make hole in room, go in, and pull lever?" he asked, shouting up to the others.
Regaining consciousness on the roof of the ‘little room’, Biggun looks around for a way into the rectangular box… and, presumably disappointed that he won't get the opportunity to make a hole himself, discovers that there is already a substantial opening in its roof.
…there is no light coming from within the box but, with his darkvision, Biggun can see that the innards of the ‘little room’ have been devastated with huge dents, rends and holes – and that there is a door leading out from the box…
Globlob follows Blekk's lead, climbing down the rope and hopping onto the top of the metal box. His eyes go wide and he sticks his head down through the hole in the roof. Bright red beady little eyes peer about into the darkness as he tries to see what he can see of the path ahead.
Ravboom looks down. "What you find?" Being the cautious type, he wants to know what was found before he climbs down the shaft.
"Found the magic room! Uhh...looks like it might be broke. Something smashed its way out. Not sure if whatever it is still around here. Biggun okay though! So no worries there."
South of the 'magic room' with its broken door lies an irregular-shaped hallway. Towards the west end of the hallway stands a slender workbench with a cabinet set in the north wall... whilst a heavily bent door-panel, ten feet wide, covers the southern wall at the east end with red, spiky runes painted on the door’s exterior.
"So, something smashed it's way out through the roof, but didn't come out of this door. That means it's..." He glances up the shaft gingerly, ready to jump back. "...above us if it still here, and could come back any time. Joy..." He looks at the woman. "You speak Doggie? Need warn the other doggies..."
"Fine...a tree or a wall would be one thing, but I guess it would be hard to climb a rope without thumbs," Relas admits. "Just hurry, okay? Who knows what's down there or when that monster will be back!"
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Solie lets everyone else down first, then carefully climbs her own way down. It wasn't easy or quick, but at least she wasn't killing herself like Biggun tried.
"Thing up above? Or maybe it already went back in," Solie said with a wicked grin. She peeked into the chewed up hole herself curiously. Danger hardly bothered her. She liked to watch Biggun smash things,it was a guaranteed good show.
Ravboom will wait until everyone else is down, guarding the rear. Once they are down, he will do a back flip across the shaft, bounce off the wall, do a front flip and bounce off the other wall, and continue doing that until he lands on the top of the little room.
Leaving Palomia behind with Relas, the rest of the group – including a still bemused Andretta – steadily and safely climb down the shaft… just in time to see, a still rather wounded, Biggun clamber through the hole in the magic room… when he promptly doesn’t die, it is clear that it is safe to follow him…
The workbench in the room beyond the ruined ‘magic box’ is covered with alchemical and medical equipment… needles, saws and vials spattered with blood are scattered quite chaotically across the bench…
A bound book also sits on the workbench, filled with strange writing… when some of the goblins shy away from the book, Andretta moves forwards to take a look, ”Hmmmm, let me see… it’s written in Ultari, is that spoken on your world? It’s mostly just chemical formulae, dates and times… but here… what’s this? The final entry of the journal is a little more of a commentary… let me translate for you – ‘We have removed several of her hatchlings and placed them in the Level 2 Test Bay. I have a new serum I believe will suspend the compounds formed in the tauslek’s cranial gland for an indefinite period of time. This could significantly advance our efforts to indefinitely preserve a victim’s personality matrix. Degradation of these vital fluids and their memories will become a thing of the past. Unfortunately, the subject is less than happy with me for pursuing these bodily violations. I need to convert a few more klaven to assist in controlling her and guarding against any outbreak. She’s quite intelligent, and I don’t doubt her capacity to understand the concept of revenge.’ It’s signed ‘Lomrick’… what do you think it means?”
Andretta also takes a look at the runes on the damaged door to the south – she reads aloud, ” Danger. Hazardous Specimen.”
…meanwhile, sixty feet above the conversation, Palomia is discovering that Globlob’s moves are almost impossible to replicate… the Bhagra, if it is possible to determine their demeanour, look quite nonplussed…
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Hiding any winces from the pain of his wounds, Biggun moved away from the evil book with words and picked up one of the vials. Giving it a sniff, he couldn't help the sneeze that came out, causing him to drop the vial on the floor and shattering it. "Bah, not good to drink," he said before investigating the other broken door.
Leaving Palomia behind with Relas
Globlob does not bother to go anywhere near the writing, but he does answer Andretta when she asks questions. Not that all of his answers are particularly helpful. "Dat a book. See if aklemy stuff help Blekk any. Maybe it mean evil lizards steal voice of other gobbies they keep here. Or maybe it mean box and doors broken by tauslek. You know what tauslek is?"
"Bark, ruff, ruff, whine, bark bark!" Rav makes dog noises at the Bha-Gra, pointing toward the shaft. Then he waits for Paloma to go down, and then bounces down after her.
As Palomia and Ravboom make their way down the lift-shaft, the Bhagra left to themselves, their 'friends' below them continue to explore the area that they have discovered. Weapons in hand, they move towards the door with the warning sign... and tentatively, peer inside...
...the room beyond is littered with bones and is heavily spattered with dried blood. But of its original occupant, there is no sign...
However, the descent is not in vain, as rifling through cupboards and drawers, a veritable trove of treasures is found:
...no sooner have Ravboom and Palomia rejoined the group, squeezing through the hole torn in the roof of the 'Magic Room', then the silence that had prevailed across this strange place is shattered. Screaming, the mechanical sounds of the strange guns wielded by the guards... and a high pitched chittering noise... all echo down the shaft towards the group gathered at the bottom... it seems to be coming from farther up the shaft then where the group climbed down from.
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Picking up the shiny ring, Biggin quickly put it on a finger and felt...not lighter, exactly, but it was a funny feeling and he liked it.
Then the scream echoed down from above. Walking into the broken up-and-down-room, Biggun looked up and screamed back. "Biggun not scared of scream! Scream not do nothin'!"
"Scream not do nothin, no. But think-scream not come from nowhere, someone made it. Probably not gonna be nice when they come down here."
Blekk positions himself nearby the door, waiting for someone nasty to poke their nose into the room.
Ravboom shrugs. "No find food, maybe whatever scream edible. If not, maybe whatever it killed had food. Don't think we can hold out forever down here, no way out."
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Solie scrambles back to peer up to where the screams were echoing from. If there was screaming, something exciting was probably happening and she should be around to witness. From a distance of course with a few meat shields between her and the thing causing all the screaming. Safety first!
"Biggun climb up so Solie can follow!" she encouraged the large goblin. "Or maybe you all climb up first so I can follow..." Solie gave a shrug then started to try to gesture everyone forward and up. "We gonna miss it all if we don't hurry!"
The noises from above the group get louder as they debate what might be making the sounds and, more importantly, whether to send Biggun up to stop the sounds… in the end, as Biggun grips onto the vine – ready to climb, the sources of one of the sounds comes to them… a high-pitched screaming that grows louder… no, grows closer… as, out of the darkness, one of the guard creatures – seeming missing part of its leg below the knee – accelerates down the shaft under the force of gravity. Its scream is brought to an abrupt end as it crashes into the roof of the ‘magic room’ and, apparently less lucky than Biggun, the impact kills it stone-dead…
…the group have barely recovered from the surprise when a voice hisses down the shaft, ”Prisssssoners return to their Ccccellssss or sssssuffer pain”… and, from the scuttling and scraping above them, something large is climbing down the shaft towards the group…
Globlob's eyes widen dramatically and he takes a step back from the metal box, drawing his bow. He takes a deep breath as his cheeks bulge in a most comical fashion in preparation for the inevitable. After all, the only way to victory is through song.
Ravboom readies his sword and waits for the thing to come out of the box...
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Solie rethinks her choice to try to go up and shuffles back instead. Apparently the excitement was coming to them, though she wasn't sure if she lived that as much.
"Maybe I stand back here... Palo looks strong probably good to hide behind... " she mumbled as she tried to scramble to put others on front of herself. She drew out her crossbow and ensured it was loaded and ready for action.
Blekk stands, waiting to gank the first guy who comes in.
Starkly illuminated by the limited light in the 'containment' area, Biggun is confronted with the nightmarish vision of an enormous centipede-like creature – almost large enough to fill the shaft – descending towards him at some speed… the mandibles of the beast open wide as it charges. Biggun stands, foolishly brave as a near certain bloody end approaches... and, it is only Palomia's grease smeared across the surfaces that saves him... at the last moment it loses its grip and, sliding the last five feet of its descent, doesn't attack...