Finally shaking their concussion off, the two remaining Klaven retaliate... powerful arms driving massive bone claws at Blekk and at Relas... yet, still groggy from the sound burst, their punching is too wild...
Blekk snorts. "Call that a hit? THIS be a hit!" He dives at the klaven's jugular, his massive maw gaping wide.
Ravboom yells at the Klaven while firing his gun. "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!"
"Maybe...maybe you should just stand back and watch, Palo?" Relas offers hesitantly as he shifts around the attacking klaven and attempts to tear into it once more.
Blekk screams as the bolt comes dangerously close to Little Blekk.
"FOR GODS SAKE LISTEN THE BIG CAT THING, PALO!"
Despite Palomia's, somewhat dangerous, contribution to the fight the klaven's fate had been inevitable from the moment that Globlob's wand had reduced their combat effectiveness by 50%... Relas, Biggun and Blekk all, going hand-to-hand / teeth / pointy fork thing, land harsh against their foes...
...and the fight is over, almost as suddenly as it had started. The first of the Bhagra to climb after the friends, now clambering from the lift shaft, looks almost disappointed as it sees that the klaven have been slain already... turning, it leans in to the shaft to aid one of its companions - and doesn't see the threat as, with a spine-chilling howl, a bizarre leonine creature bounds, from the southern passageway, towards it...
Hairless and blue skinned, this creature has two tentacular tails whilst dozens more thick tentacles quiver and twitch around its neck where its mane should be.
...as the bhagra falls under the sudden attack of the creature, its throat ripped in a single efficient deathblow, there is a scream from the shaft - one of the bhagra falling to its death as it loses its footing... and, worse still, there is more howling coming from the north...
Ravboom turns to fire at the blue cat. "Brainer! What blue cat? How many blue cat? Blue cat can only come from there? No other entrance?" He asks quickly, unlimbering his satchel full of gunpowder. He only has two shots left...
...and then only one as lead slams into the blue cat. "Brainer, open door for everyone take them out, Relas, block blue cat entrance! Palo resummon you after blow up! Baghra GO GO GO GO!" He points back toward the exit while preparing to toss his backpack toward the corridor to the north if Brainer confirms they can only come from the north. It's fairly obvious he intends to blow up the northern corridor to collapse it and trap the cats there.
"I'm on it!"
Relas races from the room and makes for the archway to the northern part of the complex, not even pausing to wonder if Ravboom's suggestion was wise or if finding out what getting blown up was like would be a good idea. Though his eyes widen as he spots the blue cat creature he hugs the wall, clearly intending to try and go around behind it.
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"Who Brainer? Don't see anyone here named Brainer. Am I Brainer? Must be, I'm smartest guy in room. I'm Brainer...I'm Brainer..."
Being a goblin, Blekk quickly forgets the whole exchange. But the name 'Brainer' slides deep, deep into his subconscious, into the part that enjoyed the feeling he got while he was tearing apart the klaven, that brutal, animalistic part of us that we all know we have, but nobody really likes to think about...and it waits. The name Brainer waits for another day.
Globlob huffs in exasperation at the sudden appearance of even MORE enemies. Since his voice is no longer resounding off the walls, he hollars another tune.
"Icky, mangy, hairless cat!
Look much more like great big rat!
Break the teeth and pull the ear,
Snap the spine, we make it fear!"
As one, Palomia and Solie aim their weapons towards the leonine beast... Solie strikes a glacing blow but, once more foiled, Palomia's bolt strikes the wall and clatters to the floor harmlessly...
...and, with the salvo of arrows over, Biggun races in. Balancing himself, he plunges the trident into the flanks of the beast... pained, it roars wildly... and, echoing back from the northern passageways, more roars fill the air.
...spinning around to attack Biggun, the creature bites... and, as it lurches forwards, tentacles slap at the over-sized goblin.
Relas continues to move towards the northern passage. As he rounds the corner he comes face-to-face with two more, reflexively lashing out at the closest with a paw.
Once more, Biggun thrusts forwards with his new toy… and, as his muscles flex, the alien creature is impaled on the pikes of the fork. The dying beast quivers for a few moments as its tentacles become immediately limp, and then it slides off of the weapon and onto the floor…
Blekk positions himself next to Relas, waiting to gank the first thing that pokes its head in.
Ravboom tosses the pack with the explosives in front of Relas, and then begins to aim with the Boomrav. "Relas, will blow up if look like you can't stop them. Biggun attack over Relas, fall back if Relas go down. Everyone else get out of gate, take Brainer with you, may need more information from it."
Globlob scurries up behind Andretta and fwips an arrow between her legs at one of the approaching tentacle-cats.
As the creatures advance, Relas bites at the closest of them... starting a bestial melee that threatens to overwhelm Palomia's companion as the second lion-beast joins the fray...
"Woooo! Can't match these cat-like reflexes!" Relas whoops as he manages to duck and dodge all of the incoming blows. He then retaliates in a flurry of teeth and claws.
Relas, clambering high against the akata, bites down at its flanks... and then, batting the flailing tentacles aside, Relas' claw rends a fatal gash across its neck.
...and now, only one of the creatures remains.
Globlob briefly drops out of bow-shooting stance to bounce up and down, cheering for Relas. His laughter is less of the infectious kind and more of the cruel amusement kind, though. "Go, big cat! Eat other big cats! Nom, nom, nom, hahaha!"
Afterwards, he immediately goes back to trying to bean the other tentacle-cat with an arrow. With a bit of help from his friends.
Blekk moves next to Relas, blocking the remaining beast from entering the room. "YOU SHALL NOT GET PAST ME AND RELAS!"
He tries to sink his teeth into the thing.
Ravboom grunts. "Not know Blekk can be resummoned if blown up by powder." He says, as Blekk steps up next to the explosive pack he's aiming for. He turns his wrist ever so slightly and fires at the (enemy) cat.
He makes sure the bullet careens off one of Globlob's decorative skulls before slamming into the tentacle'd cat. What it loses in killing power for bouncing off Blekk is more than made up for in Rav's satisfaction levels. "Oooops."
With only one of the blue-skinned lion creatures remaining, the initiative is very much with the group of escaping prisoners... and, between Globlob's arrows, Ravboom's bullets and Blekk's savage biting, the akata is surely destined to fall...
...and, as the fight escalates in it's ferocity, more of the Bhagra climb from the lift shaft...
Flailing ineffectually against Relas, the last of the blue-skinned alien beings puts up a poor defense...
Gee, there's just this one left - it'd be a shame for Rav to use all of his boom on just this one!
Relas continues to engage in vicious melee with the remaining akata, hoping that maybe he and Blekk can finish it and save Ravboom from having to blow them all up.
Blekk rips the akata to shreds.
...and, after facing off against the klaven guards and the sudden incursion of akata, the group finally have a moment of quiet to consider their surroundings. To the north, from where the two leonine creatures joined the fray, there are two corridors - one to the east that ends at a door... and one to the west that leads to a large chamber.
The large chamber includes four, dominating columns of unusual green metal - each one of them throbs with a slow, rhythmic pulse and sheds a faint green light that oscillates with the eerie heartbeat sound. A thin layer of orange dust, marked by animal-like paw prints, coats the floor. To the northwest, a large breach has smashed part of the external wall, plainly revealing an irregularly cylindrical shaft tunnel that heads directly upwards for about twenty feet - beyond which the night sky can be seen… rocks and debris are scattered around a small meteorite at the bottom of this shaft. A shimmering translucent field of energy has cordoned off the broken wall from the outside environment, occasionally flickering with an intermittent drop in power. Several spherical objects litter the ground before the meteorite, both inside and beyond the energy field. Composed of strands of unusual metal, they appear hollow and torn open from within…
The quiet is suddenly interrupted though when the few remaining lights in the facility suddenly dim and a strange gong-like sound echoes around the corridors. Accompanying the sound, a disembodied voice… a voice that seems to be coming from multiple direction but talks in unison with itself, starts impassively speaking. Andretta listens for a moment, ”It’s in Ultari… wait a moment… Oh no… Oh, that doesn’t sound good… it is saying that the Facility Power is compromised… auxiliary power has been diverted towards atmospheric shielding… Drain will soon exceed capacity, repairs required or system failure is inevitable”.
As the voices repeat their message, over and over, Andretta looks concerned at the warning, ”I don’t suppose we want to be around when system failure occurs!!! What should we do?“
BR-N3R reiterates his previous guidance to the group, "Garsilt Gate is to the west of the access shaft... Emphasis: beyond the specimen reception area".
"But Palo, what if there are still more speci-er people trapped up here? We can't just leave them to die!" Relas protests. "Can't we look around really quick to make sure?"
"Relas. If there be more people here, don't you think they would've done exactly what we did? We've been on many floors, all we found is death, monsters, and Bha-gra. Look at us. Look at Palo-looks like she about to drop already. She hasn't used much magic in hours. We gotta get out of here before we start making mistakes. Sleepiness makes you make mistakes. Right now...last thing we need."
Blekk shakes his head, a sad frown forming on his face. "Kills me to say this. Know I haven't been with you guys long, so I dunno how much say I have. But if other people not here right now...don't think they're ever gonna be."
Globlob grunts and nods in agreement with Blekk as he moves to pat Relas's flank. "We not know how long it be until entire place go BOOM, either. Better we get out now before it come down on head. Especially because getting worse!" He points to the meteorite that has punched through the ceiling, because that seems a good enough reason to him.
"Too much talk. No more! We go!" Turning on his heel, he scuttles imperiously in the direction indicated by Palomia. Clearly, everyone else is expected to follow.
Rushing across the room as the alarms blare with increasing urgency, the friends arrive at the door to the south of the room where they fought the klaven... stopping, for just a moment, to find unused potions on the slain guards, . The door itself is locked... yet the lock presents no obstacle for BR-N3R - his tail slides across the green disk in the wall... and the door creaks open. Two klaven, presumably stationed here as guards to the large artefact behind them and apparently unsurprised by the group's arrival, level their rifles towards the friends at the opening door. Standing in front of a structure that somehow exudes a power merely by its presence, the guards bare their teeth... teeth which appear to have been intentionally filed to points.
The artefact itself... a metallic circle, easily large enough to walk through, stands in a heavy metal frame atop a five foot stone dais at the south of this room. Its thick metal construction is embossed with a series of large flat runes along its rim, whilst two pillars stand to either side of the dais.
Blekk snarls at the klaven, showing his teeth and brandishing his bloodsoaked claws. "You gonna let us go NOW or you won't live to see this place blow up! So sick of everything trying to kill us here!"
"You kill quick, Globlob runnin' outta songs!" The skull-clad goblin shouts at the rest of his group before drawing in a breath that makes his stomach bulge comically large.
He lets out all that hot air from his lips, fortunately, in the form of a little ditty that is bellowed rather than sang. To punctuate the final line of his song, he shadow boxes with both fists in the direction of the Klaven.
"We bash and crash,
We crush to mush!
They big mens now?
We go POW POW!"