"Is it time to kill him now? I will do my best to make it clean and painless.
'A quiet death conceals your presence, and shows mercy to your victim'. It is written"
"I do not know if this was Rexel, or if there is anything left of Rexel inside. The creature does not seem to be able to speak, and understands nothing."
"Still, I don't wish to needlessly kill another being. But the only humane option would be to take him with us. Tying him up and leaving him might be a long slow death."
"Ideas?" Looks at Andretta, Thorthal, Petronicus, and Bardos.
"A haenae heard o a way tae unklaven someain. We need tae fin some stronger bonds thocht, th rope willnae haud heem forever."
"Deal with the creature however you see fit, but should bonds be chosen, make sure they are tight, I don't fancy being stabbed in the back this day, or other for that matter."
"Let's take him with us then. Mr. Bardos, you seem particularly piratical today. Surely you must have some facility with ropes. Would you care to bind our prisoner securely?"
...ahem..."Let's take him with us then. Mr. Bardos, you seem particularly piratical today. Surely you must have some facility with ropes. Would you care to bind our prisoner securely?"
"Well I can help with those knots. You just need to adjust them here.... and here"
Slick half heartedly looks around the room for anything of interest.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I have a thought. If I sever the tendons in the small ones legs and arms, it will not be able to attack us. Is this an acceptable compromise?"
"Now, that is the Mr. Slick we know. You have done an admirable job on the restraints. " looks again at the knots. "Quite admirable. Perhaps we see how that works first, before attempting amateur surgery, yes? "
The two rooms the alien warriors came from are unlit.
The northern room is roughly rectangular, and is empty apart from two cylinders against the northern wall. These empty cylinders have root-like cables extending into them from the ceiling, and appear different from the pods seen in other rooms.
The south room contains several opened leathery pods. Eight humanoid bodies lie in the center of the room, each with a single puncture wound in the base of their skulls.
"Very well. We can always finish him once you are done with your interrogations"
Slick checks out one of the humanoids, mainly looking for weapons, but also to figure out what they are and how they died. He is not taking any of the weapons found so far.
"Does anyone know what these things are?"
Thorthal gathers up any unclaimed battle axes and projectile weapons.
"Jist in case he gits oot."
"I turn my back for a few minutes and Mr. Slick seems to have bound better than I could ever have done."
Nope, nothing to see here but paizo dice.
Haer Kul will examine the puncture wounds and the pods. Is there anything in the pods that would have caused that or been inserted into the holes? Does it look like the punctures were caused by a weapon, or something more surgical? Do the metal rods fit the punctures?
At first, Haer Kul is unable to see a weapon which fits the punctures. Then he notices the bony claws on the creatures.
"Ah. I see."
Haer Kul will take the little alien's missile weapon and projectiles.
If there are no more unopened pods and we've searched both eastern rooms, let's proceed to the west unopened door.
"Time to go.
'Stay on the move to confuse the enemy and prevent counter-attack' .
It is written.
And I need to get back to my Mast- I need to get back to Kem. If this is not Ptolus, are we in Palastan? Or perhaps Ren Tehoth? How far do you think Kem is from here?"
Andretta replies to Slick, "I suspect we are a very long way from any of those places."
"Hmmm"
Slick addresses Haer Kul: "Is one of these others your owner?"-Indicating the rest of the party-"Or are you on the run?"
Morgrom snaps out of his daze now that people are finally speaking properly. He looks at the bound creature and says, "Ah, slavez! Good! We build wealth an power!"
Andretta's jaw drops at the statements from Slick and Morgrom. She doesn't translate, and edges away slightly from the group.
"Andretta, what is wrong? I am merely trying to determine how far we are from Kem"
"Horrible, horrible place names in this land where you are from Mr. Slick. It was as if their founders desired the worst combinations of consonants imaginable. How can your Elven ears stand it? What's next? Alba Noth and Jabel Shamar?" He turns to Andretta. "I know not of slaving in the River Kingdom milady, and Mogrom has never practiced such things since he joined us."
"What kind of preposterous barbaric culture do you hail from? Mes dieux, do I look like a slave, sir? We are all free beings in pursuit of common ...", looks at Morgrom, "... or at least overlapping goals. Slaves are a hallmark of a cruel culture and immature economic structure. One day I will introduce you to the ideas of the free thinkers of Galt, and the foundations of real civilization. For now, we must focus on the task at hand, no? To determine how to get home from where are."
"Mr. Morgrom, this alien is not a slave. At worst, he is a prisoner. But more hopefully, he may be our friend Rexel, and we may be able to restore him. It is a faint hope, though."
"We are definitely very far away from Kem"
"Do not worry Haer Kul. I will not alert anyone to your condition. 'We do not judge; that is for the Galchutt'. It is written."
"Let's go. We need to find stairs or an exterior door. What is this way?"
Slick points to the next door clockwise from where he stands.
"Slavery? A agree wi Haer Kul."
"Th stairs wad probably be at shaft in th center Slick, thocht thare mebbe a second method o traversin thes vessel."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I am only a slave to beauty..." Petronicus smiles wistfully at Andretta. It is clear from his rosy cheeks that he has somehow found the time to apply fresh rouge to them.
"Beyond that door, Mr. Slick, are the pods from which we escaped. And the next room is just a store room, where we found our equipment.
"I agree with Mr. Runecloak that the center may be the quickest exit. But I remain curious what is behind the door on the west. I can suppress my curiosity if everyone else wishes to make haste."
"If only two doors remain, then let's try the west door to ensure no enemies are behind us when we leave."
Haer Kul smiles at this, and proceeds to the west door to listen.
He assumes the rest of the party follows.
If he hears nothing, he will attempt to open the door. . If the first attempt fails, he will try to take 20.
Haer Kul is able to bypass the door's mechanism, and it slurps open.
Beyond is a stone chamber lit by a glowing panel bolted to the ceiling.
Eight leathery cylinders with transparent hatches stand in the four corners. Vaguely humanoid figures can be seen through the thick liquid which fills the pods.
Haer Kul examines the creatures in the pods. Do they resemble dog-men or the psycho aliens we just fought?
Thorthal stares at the green circle, and then picks up one of the metal rods.
"Hmm."
Thorthal touches the metal rod to the green circle.
It is impossible to identify the humanoids through the goo and the closed hatch, especially from the angle Haer Kul is trying to do it from. However, he can see that all 8 pods are occupied.
Nothing visible happens when Thorthal touches the rod to the circle, but there is an audible click from within the circle.
"If we cannot tell whether these are friend or foe, lighting them all on fire will solve the issue, and create a useful distraction."
Slick rummages through his gear looking for something to start a good fire with.
He considers an everburning flame briefly, passing his hand through it, and stuffing it back in his backpack.
"On the other hand, since this goo may not light properly..."
He attempts to pull one of the pods open, katana poised.
Slick swings open the hatch, allowing the goo and the humanoid to spill out of the pod.
The occupant was a lizardman, but it appears to be dead. Various tubes are still connected to it from the pod.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Looking at the slack-jawed expressions on the rest of the party, Slick shrugs and moves on to the next pod to open it.
"We should check if they're all dead already, or need help."
"..."
"You know, to... get that way."
"..."
"Dead... I mean"
*cough*
"...yes, fire does not seem applicable here...."
Blinks and refocuses. "You are right, Mr. Slick. We should check on each pod. But please allow me to ascertain whether they are indeed enemies or not, and more importantly, whether they may be information sources."
Haer Kul will look at the extracted lizardman. How are the tubes connected to him? Where? Does it look like an exchange of fluids? Does the lizardman look drained? Anything else interesting?
In total, the pods contained 3 lizardfolk, 3 hobgoblins, and 2 gaunt, colourless humanoids. All are dead.
Some tubes connected to their nostrils and mouth, and are filled with a greenish goo. Others puncture their skin, and are filled with air.
"Malfunction or vile experiment? Perhaps if we continue, we will find the answer. Let us move on to the the central shaft."
The dead humanoids have no equipment, and nothing else of interest is in the room.
Thorthal will cautiously touch the metal rod to the sparking circle on the central shaft.
"If only I could speak with the dead with any accuracy," murmurs Bardos.
"Given our lack of memories, I doubt they could tell you more. So we must simply observe, and employ our little grey cells, no?" He taps his forehead.
If Thorthal doesn't open the door, then Haer Kul will attempt the mechanism.
If that doesn't work, he will try up to 3 more times.
booyah!
If he still hasn't succeeded, he will take 20.
After Thorthal touches the rod to the glowing circle, the door slurps open to reveal a dark 10-by-10 square shaft leading vertically up and down. Green fibrous material lines the walls, and a thick, vine-like cable hangs down the center from some unknown location in the darkness above.
Thorthal can see that the shaft is blocked by a square platform about 20' below, and that light flickers about 50' above him. The shaft continues past the light.