The black sphere does show up in engravings surrounding the altar, as Bel points out, but there doesn't appear to be any ritual instructions to be gleaned from the images. If anything, Ordyt gets the sense of the murals as a story - or as a warning for the future.
Meanwhile, Flint heads to the eastern end of the room where the wall has been pushed inwards and cracked partly open. Adorning the wall in this location is a strange carving depicting a pit radiating light. All throughout the engraving are inlaid threads of starmetal alloy similar to those built into the massive cube at the center of this complex. The fissure in the wall is wide enough for someone to squeeze in if they wanted.
From outside the crack, Flint can see little more than black stone walls beyond, but he notices that its not entirely dark inside - instead, a sickly green tinge of light seems the leak from the space inside.
With his Solar Scimitar drawn and his lantern on to drive back the darkness, Flint says, “There is something shedding green light past this crack…If the mural is to be believed, a glowing pit awaits us. Should we further investigate the globe of blackness or investigate this new location?”
"Everyone take a few steps back please, I want to try something." Ordyt shuffles back a step, then carefully pokes the floating sphere with the tip of this rifle's bayonet. "Nothing ventured..."
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Mari's mind wanders while the others consult on the magical sphere, but her focus is pulled back sharply by Ordyt's sudden move to poke it with a stick.
While Flint investigates, Ordyt pushes his bayonet into the black sphere. There's no resistance to his attempt, until he pushes it in far enough to meet something that delivers a small amount of resistance. He pushes harder and the resistance increases, until suddenly - like a balloon bursting - the black sphere collapses in upon itself and the object at its center goes flying out.
The golden sigil flies through the air, hits the podium with a brilliant flash of light, then bounces off to fall to the ground nearby. The sigil looks like a twisted golden flame with inset panels of glittering crystal. . It glimmers dimly.
The black sphere is no more.
Sammad blinks once quizzically as Ordyt's experimental action yields a small treasure.
"Well, I suppose if it works...," he quips with a small shrug.
As he makes his way over and picks the sigil, squinting and turning it over to examine it. "Hmmm....I'd bet creds this thing is some sort of reference to this very structure, and its prisoner. Inescapable darkness hiding a brilliant flame, and all."
"Huh..." is all Mari can say, stunned that it worked.
The sigil appears to be the right size and shape to fit the second of the three depressions in the cube central to this complex.
"They say the gods protect the righteous, and fools," Ordyt leans over Sammad's shoulder and peers down at the little talisman. "I prefer not too think to hard about which one I am." Gives the ifrit a comradely pat on the back and gestures at the crevice Flint had indicated.
"Okay Captain, ready shortly."
”Nice work, Ordyt. Yes, a pause to catch our breath and treat our wounds would be most welcome,” agrees Flint.
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You all settle in and rest while the illusory wall of flames casts a flickering glow across the room. Once you're feeling ready, you get your weaponry ready once more and Flint leads the way into the crack in the wall.
Its a tight squeeze that requires some wiggling before he's able to get in. Once inside, he sees that the black stone in this broad, high passage is cleaner than elsewhere in Ezorod. Lit by green light, the walls, floor and ceiling are etched with twisting runes and bizarre images of alien entities made of fire or stellar material. The runes look ancient, but the images are fresh and crudely etched. A reddish metal threads through the rock, especially among the runes. Near the center of the room is a pocked metallic nodule, cleanly broken to reveal a tiny hollow filled with translucent greenish ooze. North of the nodule is a pile of white ash.
At the far northern edge of the room stands a verthani woman in armor. Both her armor and the few visible portions of her body are a uniform, slightly iridescent pale green in color. She glows with green light, dimly illuminating the space.
A tortured moan escapes her lips and you see her reaching for a bladed fan holstered at her shoulder.
---
|||| INIT ||||
Mari
Ordyt
??? Pale Green Stranger
Flint
Sammad (13 dmg)
Bel
”We have a hostile in here, possible infected with this glowing green ooze,” Flint calls as he attempts to assess the situation.
Rounding the corner, Ordyt's breath catches when Bel announces why the verthani woman is glowing. "Is she alive, still?" he asks over private comms before turning and addressing the verthani directly.
"We're not here to hurt you, ma'am, are you part of the expedition from Aucturn?" He lets the rifle fall to his side, holding his hands up in a (he hopes) placating gesture.
Mari, eager to get a look at the egg of a color, squeezes through the gap and takes cover against the near corner. While Ordyt and Flint, bless their hearts, try to talk things out with a zombie, she marks the creature for her exocortex.
Ordyt immediately recognizes that the verthani woman ahead is one such colour-blighted husk. Unfortunately, beyond powerful magic that can restore the essence that was drained away from the victim , there is no way to return such creatures to their senses and original capabilities.
The verthani responds to Ordyt's question with a murmured "It burns... the light... it... Hate. You.". She focuses her pale eyes upon Ordyt and launches herself across the room with a sudden surge. She draws her warfan as she goes, slashing down. The bladed edge bounces off Ordyt's armor.
|||| INIT ||||
Flint
Sammad (13 dmg)
Bel
Mari
Ordyt
Colour-blighted Verthani
”She’s aggressive and appears to be alive but possessed somehow. Take her down non-lethally and let’s see if we can help her,” says Flint.
His eyes blazing with the rush of combat, Flint sets his weapon to stun (non-lethal damage, move action). He swings at the poor woman carefully, trying to neutralize her without inflicting serious injury.
"Oh Everl--" Ordyt chokes out as she rushes him. "She is alive! The thing inside her--most of our weapons and magic will struggle to hurt it. Force magic is best, if you have it!"
Leaving his rifle, the oread grabs his pulsecaster pistol and attempts to put a taser bolt into the verthani's torso.
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"I don't have any of those things!" Mari shouts back, raising her breaching gun but not pulling the trigger just yet. Instead, she reaches out with her exocortex to the woman's equipment and cybernetics, trying to throw them into chaos.
The verthani calls out "The light! Nothing good... ever." as she slashes again. Her swing is a little shaky and once more, Ordyt is able to keep up his guard and block her strike.
|||| INIT ||||
Flint
Sammad (13 dmg) x2
Bel
Mari
Ordyt
Colour-blighted Verthani
Setting his feet more firmly after that embarrassing miss, Flint swings twice, still non-lethally, aiming to take the poor infected soul down without too much injury.
Swatting aside the warfan, Ordyt thinks about all the gun-fu holovids he's ever watched as he fires his pulse pistol at his opponent's leg, trying to numb each limb and avoid killing her.
Sammad follows the others into the room, and starts in surprise as the woman engages them! "Ma'am, I don't like your tone...or your disposition. I think it'd be best if you just settled down!"
He draws his pulsecaster pistol, following the other's lead, then fires determinedly at her!
Weakened by the color-blight, it doesn't take too many solid blows and pulses of debilitating electricity to blow the verthani back. She staggers, groaning, and then falls to the ground, quickly losing consciousness. Thanks to your careful attacks, she appears to be stable.
Combat Over!
Though her gear is strangely lacking in color, it seems to be fully functional.
Jetpack upgrade
Static Arc rifle
Warfan
Beacon with a depleted battery
Gear Clamp
Satchel with 3x R2E meals, a hygiene kit, a credstick with 500 credits.
You also notice around the corner another pile of pale, washed out gear, sitting among a mound of pure white ash. This gear includes a suit of kasatha microcord III, a belt with a holstered advanced semi-auto pistol, a tactical knife, and a mk 2 null-space chamber. Inside the chamber are fifteen R2E meals and three days’ worth of field rations, along with empty wrappers and containers for used R2Es and rations. The chamber also holds engineering specialty tool kits for armor, weapons, and technological gear, along with five mobile hotelier tents—four singles and one triple—each with one battery. The chamber also contains five mk 2 serums of healing, a grappler with 200 feet of titanium cable line, a compact case holding 1,000 UPBs, and a credstick (750 credits).
|
Belmarniss grimaces as they take down the woman.
"So...I presume we're taking her aboard the Maiden, maybe locking her in a room until we can get her back to the Archipelago for proper treatment? Either way, be careful...upon closer examination it looks like the COoS has already 'hatched' for lack of a better term, and may still be prowling around this place. We don't want to end up like her."
"Assuming she isn't contagious and we don't have the means to heal her among us, that sounds like a very reasonable plan, Belmarniss," responds Flint. "We should get all that gear too--there might be something we can use," he adds, moving over to start picking it up but being careful not to contact that cracked egg.
Kneeling down next to the unconscious woman, Ordyt carefully removes her weaponry. "I might be able to help her, depending on how deep the blight is. If it's bad enough my prayers won't be enough to cure her. We should get her back to the ship, it's the Colour that causes this, I'm fairly certain she can't spread it to us."
”Well said, both of you. Let’s go,” says Flint, helping haul the survivor and gear back to the ship.
Splitting the load between you, you bring everything back to the Breath of Embers. In the crisp light within the ship, the verthani's unnatural and strangely uniform pale green color is even more obvious. You tie her up and place her somewhere safe. Popoko chirps in with assurances that you'll be contacted if anything goes wrong with her, or if she wakes up.
”Ordyt, can you help her—at least get her stable?” asks Flint, wondering what capabilities his friend might have as well as the resources they may have on the ship. ”Is that pile of ash what will become of her if this disease continues to progress?” he wonders sadly.
Flint takes one of the healing serums and distributes the others to his companions (5 available).
"I do have this diagnostic lozenge if that will help, Ordyt," Flint adds.
Once she has been safely secured Ordyt rests a hand on the verthani woman's head and closes his eyes, whispering a prayer...to no discernable affect.
"As I'd feared," he says with a sad shake of his head. "I don't know the prayers or rituals strong enough for this. I will pray to the goddess about it, but for now I've done all I can."
|
|
Belmarniss watches as Flint and Ordyt tend to the woman and sighs as Ordyt's faith is strong enough, but his power isn't.
"And that's all she'd ask of you," she says with a nod. "So...with that medallion and the gear from the expedition, would you say we've gotten those chambers thoroughly explored? We can do another, more thorough sweep if you want."
Ordyt and Bel know that the colour-blight affecting the verthani woman is a fairly stable ailment on its own. It would take the Colour returning to feed on the woman again for her condition to further worsen. Though indeed, someone further drained eventually crumbles to a colorless dust.
Ordyt attempts to alleviate her symptoms with a lesser remove condition, but the elementary restorative magic has no effect on her more deep seated problems.
With the knowledge that there is or was a Colour Out of Space within Ezorod, the number of ill presences within this ancient prison only seems to be building. However, you've been victorious thus far, and those successes have galvanized your spirits against the trials to come.
"Maybe someone back in the Burning Archipelago could help her," Mari says hopefully. "She's certainly got better odds there than here."
Once the rescued verthani woman is secured and comfortable and his crew has availed themselves of the scavenged equipment, Flint says, "Let's go make sure that newest token works in the central room, then move on to explore that last passage."
Flint leads the way back to the central chamber, where you quickly confirm that the second sigil perfectly fits the second slot of the black cube. Then, you turn your attention to the last passage.
Ahead, the carving on the ground looks like an explosion. Runes and decorative trimmings cover the floor between the passage's walls. Beyond the symbol, you see the passage splits to the left and right.
The dust fades and disappears. You look further down each side of the hallway and spot three identical stone doors, each leading toward the east.
Ordyt blinks in surprised interest at the new sense of alacrity tingling his fingers. "You you get the sense that this place was built by solarians?" he offers, only half joking.
After a quick glance at the hall to the north the oread turns his attention to the southern doorway. "What have we here..."
"I get the sense that this place was built by a bunch of crazies, so probably."