Zulu stops humming at Pippimi's comments, audibly anyway and looks over the room and the pile of organic matter.
Clank holds up his rifle and stays with the group as they advance. "You know, that's probably the first meat that doesn't look appetizing... at all..." He tries to lighten the mood while being prepared to light up anything that comes forward.
|
...after a moment of consideration, sets the chamber of devouring to off.
The group moves into the room, walking slowly between the slime covered pillars and the perfectly flat walls. Footsteps echo in the place, with nothing to soften them. The mass is, well, disgusting. Zulu confirms that it is in a deep state of decomposition, though odd. In some ways, it looks like the decades-old flesh of a mummified corpse. And yet, the wounds and slices are just at the beginning stages of rotting away. The android shakes his head and this, and examines the pile of flesh and gore closer.
Zoran and Clank eye the flesh and notice the explanation for the odd behavior. It is undead flesh. Some undead ghoul, probably. Thankfully the 2x4 inch slices of grey flesh and organs are most certainly dead-dead.
You stand in the hallway, in the blinking lights. To the north and south of you are identical double doors set into the otherwise blank metal walls.
Zulu shares the fascinating state of the scraps of meat with the crew silently figuring it was a good idea to turn that system to off, since this seemed like a pretty nasty trap.
When it becomes clear that the flesh pile Pippimi attacked isn't going to retaliate, she steps forward very carefully. Zulu's gross explanation has her scrunching up her face. "Pippimi not need graphic detail. Already graphic enough out of corner of eye. Yeugh." She turns her attention to the southern door instead and focuses carefully on if there are any traps or hazards on it.
Unfortunately, the shadows and red lights near the door keep bringing back unwelcome images in her mind. Just to be sure, she tosses her starknife at a particularly dark dark corner. When no evil creature yelps, he recalls it back to her hand with a nervous laugh.
Upon looking at the flesh pile closer Zoran make a sound of inhuman disgust and tosses the torn environmental suit scraps towards the group.
"Corpse Fleet scum. Hopefully they all met this fate." he growls.
Clank surveys the scene, but doesn't have much to help the searcing, and quips, "Well, isn't this a little shop of horrors. Let's keep going before I lose my appetite."
Long after everyone has lowered their weapons somewhat, Davrin's still got his pistol trained on the mass of ... meat. It takes a few seconds more before it registers. "Oh," he mutters as he lowers his weapon.
He stares at the mass and the environmental suit quite intensely, very certain that he should know something about them, but whatever thought he has just flit out his reach. He shakes his head in frustration and sighs.
"Yes, please, let's go," he intones rather monotonously.
|
|
Zoran thinks for a moment about the Corpse Fleet, not remembering much. He relays the basic facts to the group: The Corpse Fleet is an exiled offshoot of the Eoxian Navy that’s made up of powerful admirals and captains who roam the universe in starships forged from bone and steel. Officially, the government of Eox condemns this rogue organization.
The history lesson goes over most of the group's heads as each adventurer stares at shadows, throws weapons at equally shadowy shadows, or just looks at the shredded meat in disgust. With a shrug of the shoulders you head towards Pippimi's most recent starknife toss. Looking at the southern door with fairly addled brains, you decide that it is safe enough.
You open the door and step into a corridor. A cloying gloom fills this long, claustrophobic hallway. A red light on the western wall blinks slowly, giving the scene a sinister atmosphere despite the flickering white lights that Zulu turned on. In front of you are four doors, while the access corridor continues around a corner to your right. Choosing at random, you examine and then open the far left door.
Expecting the worst, the door creeps open. Inside lies... a bedroom? Minimalist sleeping pallets lie on the severe metal floor of this room, and simple Abadarcorp shelves and dressers serve as furniture. Being the adventurers you are, you loot the room!
Davrin stands in the center of the room, looking around carefully. He mumbles to himself, brain still full of fog. "Huh...something is off...What could it be?" Clank opens the drawers, hoping the cultists left some valuables amidst their undies.
A wave of five lasers blast out of the set of drawers and hits the goblin the chest! He gets blasted backwards onto his back, burns covering his suit. After checking him for near-death injuries, you smirk and loot the drawers. You under stand the reasoning behind the trap now, because the drawers contain a brown force field, a mk I electrostatic field, a bleeding fusion seal (6th), and a vicious fusion seal (5th)!
To your left is a curtain covering a doorway, and a second curtain covers a doorway to your right.
"CLANK?! You okay? Better be alive." Zoran says rushing over.
Zulu hustles after Zoran, reaching for his medkit.
Pippimi hurls her starknife at the obvious mimic (the chest of drawers). "You not eat Clank, you evil drawers!" When the weapon attack doesn't elicit a response from the 'mimic' she recalls the weapon and stands there frightened for a moment before rolling over to cover the injured Clank.
"Clank not get eaten today. Pippimi make sure."
Davrin ducks instinctively when the lasers fire off, his reactions not hampered by whatever ailment has struck him, even if he does stare glassy-eyed at Clank lying on the floor smoking away.
"Uh, yeah, let do that," he mumbles as he follows Lenny.
While the group tends to Clank, Pippimi picks up the other pieces of gear for later distribution, then heads to the eastward curtain. She eyes the piece of cloth with the deepest suspicion.
"Pippimi not get surprised this time!" She delivers the line like a threat, and immediately tosses her starknife at the curtain!
Clank winces as the trap spews fiery fury into his face. He appears singed and winded... but oddly no actual bodily injury. That. Was. Cool." While the rest of the group searches through the loot he discovered, he still feels sore. "Gonna need a minute, guys."
As lasers and starknives fly Zoran backs up against a wall and pulls Clank with him.
"This place is a deathtrap. Challenging death...but still those cultists if they are still alive need to be punished...and to think Corpse Fleet are here too." Zoran says switching between manic episodes of being wary of dying and wanting to kill the enemies here.
Zulu keeps an eye out for dangers while simultaneously trying to record and analyse the strange, out of character, behavior exhibited by a number of the crew.
it must be effects from the spore trap. Some sort of cognative debilitation. Fascinating.
|
|
Clank sits in the middle of the floor, wiping the char from his armor while breathing in deep. After he's done, Lenny charges through the curtain, Pippimi's starknife swiftly following him.
Three rows of mostly bare shelves stand along the southeastern end of this wide room. Here and there, a dilapidated pistol or longarm sits on a dusty shelf. Three humanoid robots stand near the north wall; each is hunched over and covered in scorch marks, occasionally emitting puffs of sickly gray smoke. In the flickering lights, it almost looks like they are moving... but no. That's just your imagination. Isn't it?
It seems this room once stored the cult’s collection of stolen and looted weapons, though its members took most of the firepower with them when they fled the base. Three doors to the north each lead into a small water closet. The three robots are clearly disabled. The shelves here hold the following battered weapons: a pulsecaster pistol, a red star plasma rifle, a tactical acid dart rifle, a thunderstrike sonic pistol, and a utility scattergun. All of the weapons are unloaded and broken, unfortunately, but they can be repaired.
Zulu looks about the room, especially the dead robots with some interest.
"Security robots. Killed by laser fire."
Looking about the shelves he appropriates the broken plasma rifle () and, continuing to look points out a small object covered in leathery gore.
"something there. Under that mess."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Clank isn't sure what the thing specifically is, but something clicks for him. "That looks like something that might by used by an Eoxian. It's almost like there's an overwhelming amount of foreshadowing that there's some members of the corpse fleet that we're going to have to fight shortly!" The goblin beams brightly.
Not able to contribute while her team flexes their perceptive and engineering skills, Pippimi stands guard next to the robots. Just in case they spring back to life. That won't happen... right? She taps one of them with her starknife. "Not even think about attack, OK?"
Midway through her allies' study of the mysterious organomechanical device, a thought crosses through Pippimi's head. She approaches one of the complex's walls, touches it with her hand, and clicks the heels of her boots together. Her personal gravity immediately reorients, with the wall becoming "down". She walks up the wall, gets to the ceiling and repeats the exercise.
When you turn to look at her, you find Pippimi standing comfortably on the ceiling. "Now not trip ground traps! Good new plan, yes?" She waves and the others and returns to making sure the robots don't spring to life.
Looking at the device the others are holding up Zoran quickly grabs it.
"Necrografts! Like other augmentations but they use undead organs and dark rituals...much like what raised me. Just having this installed taints you." he says wondering if this means the cultists and the Corpse Fleet may be more connected than they think.
|
|
... It's almost like there's an overwhelming amount of foreshadowing ...
Zoran, true to his nature, recognizes the foul necrograft. Doing so, he also knows that there is a decent market for second-hand grafts on Eox and in the Spire of Absalom Station. Meanwhile, Zulu and others comb over the weapon racks. You guess that it would take about an hour to fix each of these weapons, and that it would be mildly difficult. As they are, they're pretty worthless. But if you fixed them up they might be worth a few credits.
Room looted and washrooms used (much more comfortable than going in your suit...) you turn and go through the other curtain, on the western wall. Pippimi follows from her high perch. Inside is another bedroom, this one with a single bed and a desk. Strange garbled phrases are written in a variety of colored paints on several walls. The desk was once a garden variety Abadorcorp desk but has now been co-opted into a profane altar. It's been painted over with skulls and the symbol that you now recognize as the sign of the Devourer.
The graffiti on the walls is written in an unholy tongue, profane to behold. Yet... Clank seems to be reading it just fine! Although the graffiti is scrawled in different handwriting and is sometimes presented out of order, the writing essentially repeats the phrase “The Entropy of Existence is known.” It is repeated over and over across the wall, hundreds of times. As you get closer you realize it is not just paint that the writing is made of... Much is put on the wall using industrial paint or ink but other occasions of the phrase are scrawled out in blood, feces, and moldy food waste that has been ground into the wall.
Davrin very solemnly listen as the rest of the party share what they know. For himself though, his mind is blank. Somewhere within, he feels like he should comment, even if just to make a snide remark or innuedo. But he can't think of any so he stays silent.
Moving into the new room, he stares silently at the writing. "This is not paint," he intones. "Going crazy, I think." He then moves on down to the next room, not taking care to wait.
Zulu looks about the room with interest, but quickly loses it as there turns out to be nothing truly interesting in this place, just gross indications of the cultists madness.
Not entirely sure if she's not imagining the weirdly gross scrawlings, Pippimi tries to focus her attention on reaching down and searching the bed and table for anything useful.
After the most cursory of searches, she practically flings herself westward after Davrin, calling out "Davrin, please take with! Not want to be alone with weird writing!"
|
|
Ignoring the door returning to the hallway, and attempting to ignore the hairs standing up along the back of your neck, you head through the westward curtain. You are greeted by another bedroom. This one has two beds, a door returning to the hallway, and a thicker curtain along the west wall. (Not much for privacy, these cultists.) The walls in this room are also decorated with the frightening Abyssal characters that Clank helpfully translates. The Entropy of Existence is known. The styling is different, however, these letters curling around in carefully painted strokes. They are bright, using a chaotic blend of neon colors, definitely using professional paints. They are as beautiful as they are frightening. For Zoran, Pippimi, and Davrin, these words seem to echo through their minds. Is this just the sickness dogging your minds? Or some eldritch being, calling out to your base consciousness? The trio is distracted by the line of thinking. In fact, now that you're not distracted by the filth of the previous room, that phrase sounds familiar...
You realize it’s likely a reference to an obscure holy text of the Cult of the Devourer called The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void, which was written some centuries ago by an evil elven soothsayer named Nyara and contains ominous prophecies.
You search the room, most of you finding nothing. Zoran however, mind unclouded by the flickering lights and the ominous tone, finds a small lump under one of the sleeping pallets, which turns out to be a datapad and a credstick holding 1,400 credits. The datapad is a tier 1 computer, offering little challenge to the experienced hacker.
Curious, you press Play. In the video, a verthani and a gnome are sitting cross-legged on the floor inside one of the base’s living quarters. Both are dressed in robes and wearing unholy symbols of the Devourer, and the verthani is teaching the gnome to sing a paean to the Devourer. Throughout the song, both cultists repeat the phrase “Nyara knows!” over and over.
Zulu scoops up the datapad and effortlessly unlocks it, frowning slightly at it's lack of challenge to his skills.
Looking it over, Zulu plays the video and shows his group.
"Means nothing to me. Thoughts?"
Pippimi almost begins retching before the sensation passes as quickly as it came. "Uuuu. Go quick, this place not good for health... Can check creepy cult vids later!"
Trying to fight her desire to get out of this place, Pippimi throws a starknife at the heavy curtain to the west before recalling it once more. If nothing on the other side responds, she pokes her head through.
|
|
Clank, the group's resident priest, thinks about the phrase on the walls...
But nothing clicks for him. Instead, he watches the video.
Hearing that odd phrase, Clank recognizes Nyara as the name of an ancient elven soothsayer who was most notoriously the author of a Devourer cult holy text called The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void. Clank has no time to ponder the entropy of existence however, because Pippimi's starknife is already flying through the air! It hits the heavy curtain with a dull thud, then is recalled before hitting the floor. Only the heavy silence of the abandoned base responds. Ready to get out of this place, you walk through into a dining area!
This kitchen and dining area seem as if they were abandoned in the middle of a meal’s preparation. Pots of meat slurry and festering dairy sit on the stoves to the west, and metal cups full of some sludgy, long-turned beverage sit on the tables to the east. Tiny flies buzz about the entire scene, flitting from place to place among the rotten smorgasbord. You're guessing that the whole room just reeks, though you can't smell anything within your suit. [ooc]Finally something your protections work against. Looking around the room, everything appears inedible.
Pippimi waves her starknife through the air to ward off flies. "Why cult guys so gross? Blood on wall, creepy sayings, not put things back in fridge when done..." As she stabs a fly, she adds "Hmm, maybe cults guys in big rush, not do good housekeeping. But that still not answer where they go?"
"At least it seems to have happened suddenly...some time ago. Hopefully all the cultist are not sludge as well." Zoran says gritting his teeth and shaking his head.
"I don't want to be next." he adds holding up his hand cannon.
Zulu looks around and mutters.
"ominous"
Pippimi pauses mid starknife-throw. "Lenny sure? Maybe curtain actually cult guy in disguise!" She follows up right behind him, hoping to back him up the moment the curtain attacks.
|
|
Lenny and Pippimi peek through the curtain as the rest of the group forms up behind them. Inside is a large room. Looming over the west side of this sterile room are floor-to-ceiling computer consoles that swallow the entire wall with dizzying displays of darkened screens, inset buttons, levers, and switches. A squat, bony, reptilian creature is slumped over in a congealed puddle of blood in front of the consoles.
The room's lights flicker ominously. The shadows stretch and wane, seemingly moving across the room. Just then, Davrin notices a second lizard creature charge out of the darkness and bite at Lenny!
The beast crawls up to Lenny with incredible speed. It bites at his leg twice, clamping down onto each of the gym owner's legs. Not breaking through the armor, it still leaves a mark! The lizard looks like some pre-historic dinosaur, the size of a very large dog. It's red hide appears quite thick and it's many sharp teeth have pieces of flesh still stuck inside them. But the most frightening part of the creature is the billowing smoke pouring from it's eye sockets! Those eyes... they Gaze right into your souls.
Opponents that look at a creature with a gaze ability are in danger of being charmed, being paralyzed, being turned to stone, or suffering another negative effect. Each opponent within the gaze’s listed range must attempt a saving throw (usually Fortitude or Will) at the beginning of its turn. On a successful save, the effect is negated. An opponent can give itself an advantage against this ability in one of two ways.
Looking Obliquely: An opponent that avoids looking directly at the creature’s face (either by following the creature’s shadow or by tracking it in a reflective surface) or that looks at the creature through a camera or heads-up display gains a +4 circumstance bonus to the saving throw. However, the creature with the gaze ability gains concealment against that opponent.
Blocking Its Vision: By completely blocking or covering its own visual sensors, an opponent doesn’t need to attempt a save against the gaze. However, the creature with the gaze ability gains total concealment against that opponent.
Lenny 16/45 SP
Clank
Davrin x2
Zulu
Zoran
Pippimi
Monster-Lizard-Thing
Although he looks into the smoking eyes he is able to shake off any ill-effects.
"Lenny! Shake them off quickly I got your back." Zoran calls out from behind him.
Then he turns his attention to the attempting to shake the attack.
Not recognizing the threat posed by the creature's gaze, Pippimi readies herself to leap at the lizard and wrestle it off of Lenny.
But her addled mind leaves her unprepared for the monster's influence. "UUUUUAAAAAHHHH!!!" Pippimi yells out in confusion as suddenly it seems like the room is FULL OF GIANT LIZARDS! "NOO NOOO! LIZARDS NOT LICK PIPPIMI, NOOOOO!!!" She waves her weapon wildly, batting at non-existent threats.
Zulu is briefly confused by looking at the lizards eyes, but manages to shake off the adverse effect by switching his ocular filters to a different polarization setting.
Seeing straight, he snaps his rifle to shoulder, sets his targeting computer and fires.
Pippimi bats Zulu's mega-laser attack right out of the air in a ludicrously unlucky twist of fortune!