Seeing he was not needed for either the medical attachment or defining what the podium does, Zulu scrounges the batteries from the dead body ,() and pockets them and just sits there while the rest the group discusses or rests, content with whichever plan the group comes up with.
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Dr. Davrin cleanly attaches the speaker to Zoran's ear. The speaker is silent now, but you're sure you could listen in to nearby traffic when the time comes. Once Davrin has rested, the group heads north to the first door in the hallway. Zulu quickly unlocks the door, and Pippimi opens it.
This room is pitch black, but your armor lights reveal that the ceiling, walls, and floor of this room are covered in heavy armored plates that show scratches and signs of scoring. Many of the plates seem newer and appear to have been bolted directly over damaged plates without removing the old coverings. Twisted, wrecked pieces of junk are piled up in the corners and where the walls meet the floor. Several pipes run through the room near the ceiling, with numerous valves along their lengths.
As the door opens, the piles of junk in the corners begin to shift and slide down to the floor to reveal two large slimes! You see faint objects floating within the slimes' mass, but are quickly distracted by four blasts of icy energy coming your way! Pippimi tanks the hits, two hitting her chest - dissipating only slightly.
Pippimi SP: 22/88, HP: 79/79
Davrin x2 SP: 77/77 HP: 67/68
Zoran SP: 86/100, HP: 73/73
z45719 SP: 76/76, HP: 72/72
Lenny SP: 79/110, HP: 78/81
Orange Slime - 0 damage
Purple Slime - 0 damage
Pippimi nods to Lenny and rushes in after him. Her incredible rolling speed gets her in there fast enough to deliver a trio of slashes into the same slime that Lenny attacked. "Blobs picked wrong team to pick on!"
Despite his earlier experience, Davrin once again gamely dashes into the room, opening fire first on one of the masses of slime then the other .
"Goo shooting cold rays? What next!?"
Zoran quickly moves in behind the others to begin warding off attacks.
"Pip, already taking a beating huh? Stay with us but I would be cautious grabbing those things." Zoran says peeking over her shoulder.
Zulu moves in the room with the group, calibrating his weapon against the orangish blob as he does.
"What is this? The garbage?"
Pippimi nods to Zoran as she finishes her slicing "Hmm, slimes do look too blobby to grab. But not too blobby to chop up!"
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Lenny, overly excited by his new armor, slices off only a tiny portion of the slime. Pippimi rolls in, slicing away at the slime. One of her strikes bounces off the pile of metal that covers the slime; her other strikes hit but seem slowed down by the thing's mass. Davrin dances in, sending two sonic blasts into the slime. It's mass wiggles from the impact and a thin trail of... liquid leaks out. Zoran and Zulu move in quickly, preparing to fight. The pair of slimes rise up, shaking garbage and scrap from their backs. As your eyes adjust you see that some of the metal plates are stuck to the slimes' backs like shells on a tortoise. Within their bulks are floating weapons, repurposed from those they've killed. Just as they are about to turn on you, the wounded slime swells up and then falls flat to the floor in a gooey mess. The second slime doesn't react to it's partner's demise, instead filling the room with a metallic WHINE.
The whining noise reaches an apex, followed by a sharp and sudden gap in all noise. During the split second you realize how loud a sound must be to vibrate through the floors of the vacuum filled room. Then the world explodes in a THRUMMMMM of sound. The sonic boom fills the room, cutting into your armor.
Pippimi SP: 45/88, HP: 79/79
Davrin SP: 54/77 HP: 67/68
Zoran SP: 63/100, HP: 73/73
z45719 SP: 26/76, HP: 72/72
Lenny SP: 56/110, HP: 78/81
Orange Slime - 179 damage, BLEED 11
Purple Slime - 0 damage
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Lenny holds his hands over where the ears would be under his helmet, only reflexively though. It doesn't nothing to stop the sonic intrusion that feels like two migraines in one.
Oh my gods! We have to kill the things before they make more of those noises!
He gets right to work rushing down to slice at the other.
"OW!" Davrin exclaims, more in vexation that in real pain.
Davrin races across to the other side of the room to get a clear shot and takes it.
"OOOOH, that awful awful awful." Pippimi takes a step to the side and delivers another spinning flurry of strikes with her blade, trying to get the weapon in underneath the armor plates.
Zulu grunts and staggers back under the hit, but manages to still raise his weapon, calibrate and fire.
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Lenny's magical sword digs deep into the slime, sticking somewhere in the center before he withdraws it. Davrin's sonic blast nicks the edge of the slime, knocking off an armored plate. Pippimi runs up and delivers two painful slashes to the goo, which just wobbles in silence. The thing continues to twist in place and you hear that horrible whine begin again. You prepare yourselves for the worst but the precursor to pain is cut off by a huge plasma blast from Zoran! The bolt of energy flies through the air, smashing through the center mass of the abomination, and into the wall. The slime shakes in place then collapses in a quivering puddle beneath the weight of it's junkyard "shell".
COMBAT OVER!
Within the corpses of the slimes are six weapons: 2 LFD screamers, 2 hailstorm-class zero rifles, and 2 snub scatterguns. It takes some engineering from Zulu, but he is quickly able to get slime residue out of the normal components and get them working again. More interesting to you is the purpose of this room.
This appears to be an automated repair system designed to use material gathered from the slimes to patch sections of the ship damaged in combat. You've heard of devices like these, but have never seen one in action; the systems are only used in enormous ships that have need of so many repairs that keeping the dangerous and expensive creatures on board is worthwhile. The pipes and valves along the walls are used both to suck pieces of slime up to where the reservoir of slime patch material is kept and to dump useless junk into the room to “feed” the slimes. It seems the slimes took some of that useless junk and paired it into working weapons! That natural ability to fix technology is what makes the slime repair system work for the ship as well.
Pippimi SP: 45/88, HP: 79/79
Davrin SP: 54/77 HP: 67/68
Zoran SP: 63/100, HP: 73/73
z45719 SP: 26/76, HP: 72/72
Lenny SP: 56/110, HP: 78/81
Orange Slime - 179 damage, BLEED 11
Purple Slime - 178 damage, BLEED 11
Pippimi swaps her acid dart rifle for a hailstorm zero rifle and an LFD screamer, passing both over to Zulu for his mechanical expertise in removing gooey goop. "Look like oozes make good storage location for weapons. These better than most team found in Hangar area!" She rolls back out into the hallway briefly to look for trouble and then returns. "Team looking little winded! Better take 10 now before more serious fight show up."
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Lenny looks on as multiple weapons are extracted from the remains of the ooze.
These things must've consumed several crew members to come by this equipment. He looks around for skeletal remains. They must be really acidic on the inside.
Yeah, we could definitely use the breather. This place keeps the punches coming.
"Rest might be nice.' Zulu agrees as he looks about the room.
As he walks about the room and during the rest Zulu points out all of the various points and bit of this room and its purpose.
"A rest would be good. No telling how much more cleansing this ship will need before we reach the bridge."
Davrin listens with some fascination over the purpose of the slime. "That is quite amazing technology... slime-tech!"
While the rest of the team takes a break, he wanders around, poking at random stuff.
After the brief rest, Pippimi asks "So, team want to check last mystery room? Or head for Grav-Train?" She looks down the hall "Pippimi voting for Grav-Train station! Better to get extra armor earlier than later if more deadly things lying in wait for team to fight."
"I would prefer purging the ship but if we send it into the superweapon eventually, that will do as well. I can take point in any room using the disguise as needed." Zoran says nodding as they head towards their next location.
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Most of the group settles down for a sweet ten minute rest. Meanwhile, Davrin goes around poking random items. He pokes a blinking red light next to a vent, which spits out a large heap of scrap metal - that he deftly dodges - in response.
Pippimi SP: 88/88, HP: 79/79
Davrin SP: 54/77 HP: 67/68
Zoran SP: 100/100, HP: 73/73
z45719 SP: 76/76, HP: 72/72
Lenny SP: 110/110, HP: 78/81
"Clear ship. Nobody to shoot us in the back." Zulu volunteers as the group discusses next steps.
Pippimi tries to rub at the fur on her head, but hits her armor's force field instead. "Hmm hmm. Maybe checking last room can't hurt. Anything bad must already have attacked team. Maybe room nice and empty and full of useful equipment."
Davrin starts to restless. "Really, Lenny? You're not just that tad curious to find out what's in there?"
Davrin starts to restless. "Really, Lenny? You're not just that tad curious to find out what's in there?"
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... " Maybe room nice and empty and full of useful equipment."...
Within a few seconds, Zulu has the door unlocked and Pippimi swings it open. You get a view of another... odd room. The floor of this chamber is covered in gravel, which stretches from wall to wall and is heaped in small hills and shallow hollows. The walls are scored and covered in small dents, and large sections are slightly discolored in what appear to be spray patterns, but they seem structurally sound. The area is thick with dust. To the left of the entrance is a metal cabinet with a large handle. You peer into the room, wait for a few seconds, and... nothing. Aside from the metal cabinet, it's just a room full of gravel.
The apparent floor here is pulverized rock. Your trained eye notices that none of this rock came from Eox, and appears to have come from dozens of planets with a similar composition. The dust in the air implies that the rocks have been recently disturbed and in no small quantity. Those spray patterns are angled upwards, as if something came up out of, or into, the ground...
"Wait... don't tell Pippimi... all pebbles actually deadly rock elemental swarm!!!" She stands at the ready with her new sonic blasting cannon, ready to fire if the pebbles so much as roll an inch. "Pippimi watching pebble. Pebbles not think they can get jump on team!" She maintains a vigilant guard over the gravel while the rest of the team actually makes heads or tails of it.
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Pebble swarm... you know that would sound downright silly if it weren't for what we've seen in this place... and all the other places chasing the corpse fleet has dragged us.
He looks more closely at the gravel...
Hmm, these are not of Eoxian stone. In fact they are from dozens of planets, but of similar composition. The dust tells me these pebbles have been disturbed recently.
He points at the spray patterns on the ground.
Look, something rose up or dove down there. Hmm, maybe I should be a substitute science teacher after all of this is over.
He forms his solar sword, but stays put behind Pip for now.
Davrin looks with great suspicion at the gravelly floor, and keeps his pistol draw.
If nothing strange appears, he turns on his jetpack and flies into the room, hugging one side of the walls, keeping close to the ceiling.
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Zulu and Pippimi level enormous guns into the room, waiting for any sketchy activity. Lenny and Zoran wait with equal anticipation, waiting for the inevitable terror to pop out. While standing there, Lenny flexes his science muscles and his thoughts briefly go back to that Castrovelian University and the honorary degree he earned there. While only a few weeks ago, that trek through the deadly jungle seems like a lifetime away.
Davrin uses his nimbleness to fly into the room. His eyes, trained to notice subtle changes in a bound motionless body, notice that the vacuum of the spaceship prevents his jetpack from disturbing the gravel pit below. The ceiling is ten feet above the floor and Davrin's short body hugs the upper edges.
As you all hold your breath... nothing happens. On a ship full of undead monsters, this appears to be a room full of dirt. The metal cabinet ten feet to the left of the doorway seems to be the only object of interest.
The cabinet near the double door contains a merciful venomous paragon semi-auto pistol (with 16 small arm rounds), 3 doses of tier 3 sedatives, and 3 doses of sprayflesh.
Pippimi narrows her eyes at the probably undead pebbles.
Zulu keeps scanning the room and the floor and the ceiling as the group explores the possibly full of undead pebble monsters room, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Looking at the dirt and rock with a frown, Zulu experimentally calibrates his rifle for ... rocks.
Davrin gingerly cruises over to the cabinet, his weapon trained onto it, ready to blast it into smithereens should it suddenly grow teeth or claws. A strike against with his pistol seems not to animate it, so he very cautiously teases it open...
... revealing a merciful venomous paragon semi-auto pistol (with 16 small arm rounds), 3 doses of tier 3 sedatives, and 3 doses of sprayflesh.
"Nice loot!"
The ever paranoid halfling studies the cabinet carefully nonetheless before reaching in, ready to snatch his hand out should the drawer decide to munch on it.
Zoran readies his weapon and stays close to the center of the group, energy pulsing through his temples. He finger twitches at the thought of another undead monstrosity revealing itself. When it turns out to be an empty cabinet...he sighs...almost disappointed.
"Too easy..." he whispers.
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Davrin snatches the pistol and medicine from the cabinet and floats serenely back out into the hallway. You look the items over, noticing a small label on the sedatives and sprayflesh. NOT FOR CREW.
The group slowly closes the door back on the discomfortingly still room, which Zulu locks again. Perplexed by the items and the room of gravel, you pause for a few seconds.
You pull up the ship map, finding that it is a short trip of a few hundred feet from hangar country - where you currently are - to the nearest grav-train station. With a map of the interior of the Empire of Bones, you should have no difficulty reaching that area, and could even reasonably find an unused cargo area or maintenance corridor if you need to take a night's rest.
Pippimi leans against the closed door to the pebble room and nods "Good. Just like Pippimi hoping - no danger, just goodies!"
"This good opportunity to take a good sleep while fight still going on. No telling when team come across even bigger and tougher undead, and Davrin looking quite worn out." She puffs up "Always important for workteam to have good balance of stress and relaxation!"
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The group heads down a side alley, finding a quiet room to sleep in. Zulu locks the door, Pippimi and Lenny move heavy furniture in front of it, and you set down for a good nap.
You wake up to a robotic voice sounding off in the earpiece vibrating into Zoran's chinbone. SECURITY SQUAD 1596 REPORTING IN. HANGER COUNTRY PERSONNEL HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. INITIATE CLEANING PROCEDURES. You shift the furniture out of the way, unlock the door, and check the hallway. Luckily enough, it is empty. You make your way to the hanger bay, to catch a ride to the armor floor.
With a large breath in, you open the large doors. At the fore end of this massive chamber, two shallow channels run from port to starboard, disappearing at both ends into open tunnels. Glowing tracks run along the channels, and a four-car tram sits on the aft set of tracks. The tram is locked to the station by eight large metal brakes. A hefty cargo crane, with a zombie marine at the helm, can be seen on the fore side of the tracks near the port tunnels, with a pile of crates not far from it. Low walls demarcate a 25-foot-square area in the middle of the room, and five computerized workstations line the interior of the aft wall. A large column descends from the ceiling above the square, reaching to within 10 feet of the floor; it’s covered in displays showing arrival and departure times along various routes within the ship. Three rows of hard benches line an area to the starboard of the walled-off area. Two large cargo doors, each 30 feet wide and 30 feet tall, occupy the port and starboard walls. A large metal trapdoor sits in the floor between the walled area and the portside cargo door. An observation post 50 feet from the floor and accessed by a metal ladder is in the port aft corner of the room. Three sets of 20-foot-wide bulkhead doors are evenly spaced along the aft wall.
Unfortunately for you, the grav-train station is guarded by undead! Five of the undead marines you've encountered before are on the ground level of the train station. Two of which are lounging by the benches on the right side of the bay, two are standing on the left side of the walled off central area. The fifth is at the far end of the station in a crane with a surprisingly long reach. There are three of a different type of undead creature, two of which are sitting on the benches while the third sits to your right atop the observation post.
Unfortunately for you, the doors CREAK loudly as you open them. The undead guards' heads move towards the doors and only Zoran is faster!
The marines, as one, pull the rifles from their holsters and open fire! Two luck shots hit Lenny and Pippimi, scoring your armor. The three undead you aren't familiar with jump into action as well. One runs towards the central area, throwing open the door.
The other two undead monsters level their guns, which shoots pink sharp needles at Lenny and Zoran! The one targeting Lenny from the tower manages to hit, and Lenny's skin immediately begins to numb up!
Pippimi SP: 16/88, HP: 79/79
Davrin SP: 77/77 HP: 68/68
Zoran x2 SP: 100/100, HP: 73/73
z45719 SP: 76/76, HP: 72/72
Lenny SP: 88/110, HP: 81/81
Davrin races ahead, heedless of the danger it poses moving up to the front, and fires at the nearest undead.
”Gah! More undeads! Getting sick of ‘em!”
Pippimi weathers the glancing hit with relative ease, refreshed after the nice long rest. She lifts up the oversized sonic cannon she picked up yesterday and braces it on her shoulder as she scurries in after Davrin. Once she has a clear blast angle that doesn't include Davrin, she sends a blast at four of the undead!
"Wow!" is all she says as her ears ring from the blast.
Zulu raises his rifle and targets the same enemy Lenny took a shot at, trusting Pippimi and Davrin to handle the other half of the room for the moment.
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Davrin sends a crack shot sonic blast at the moving undead, hitting it in the spinal cord! It slows down, barely staying upright. On the other hand... Lenny's shot goes into the walled off area in the center of the room, splashing against the barrier. Pippimi's sonic blast echoes throughout the chamber, buffeting a few of the undead soldiers. Zulu's large blast follow's Lenny's tracer, crashing against the wall.
The zombie marines return fire, one round hitting Pippimi in a glancing blow and another hitting Davrin center mass.
The marines, as one, pull the rifles from their holsters and open fire! Two lucky shots hit Lenny and Pippimi, scoring your armor. Following this, the targeted undead runs inside the center area, his head bobbing up and down behind the walls. He stops at a specific point, typing something into an unseen computer terminal. Lights begin to strobe along the wall and Zoran hears a monotone voice in his ear. "INTRUDERS. INTRUDERS. INTRUDERS."
The other two undead monsters continue firing their energy needles. One's barrage bounces harmlessly off Lenny's thick armor but the other catches Davrin in a weak point. He feels his skin numb up, reacting to the blow!
Pippimi SP: 65/88, HP: 79/79
Davrin SP: 29/77 HP: 68/68
Zoran x2 SP: 100/100, HP: 73/73
z45719 SP: 76/76, HP: 72/72
Lenny SP: 88/110, HP: 81/81
Teal Undead 0 Damage
Yellow Undead 72 Damage, STAGGERED
Red Undead 0 Damage
Purple Zombie Marine 19 Damage
Blue Zombie Marine 19 Damage
Orange Zombie Marine 0 Damage
Green Zombie Marine 0 Damage
Pink Zombie Marine 0 Damage
Pippimi, unable to close into melee with any of the very unpleasant undead, rolls forward and releases another blast of sonic energy from her cannon at the three still out in the open to the east. The sonic wave washes over them!
"Hullo undead marines. Ever think you not paid enough for this? Because Pippimi thinking you not paid enough for this."
Davrin's glee at landing a very punishing shot is short-lived as he is hit by multiple blows! Thanfully, the needle that punched through his armor failed to deliver its poison before he ripped it out.
Seeing Lenny and Pip take on two different targets, he yells out in near panic, "Guys, there's too many of them! We need to focus fire!"
He swivels back and forth briefly, then runs after Pip, hating that there's hardly any cover. He does what he can, hiding behind the corner of the room and firing over Pip.
Disappointed with his miss, Zulu adjusts the gain on his rifle and fires on the orange clad trooper again.