Excellent piloting, Braenar. Let's see to the wounded, but meanwhile, our choices as I see them are Egret Isle and The Nautilus. Egret is half a day northwest, and The Nautilus is half a day west and... well after that recent vertical move, I'm actually not sure how far up, but probably still well above us. The air might be thin though, so not sure if we would be facing any dangers from lack of oxygen... hopefully not, if we find a way to control the old ship and lower her a little.
In any case, if we're just looking for a place to rest, Egret Island is a good choice. However, if we are looking for an adventure, The Nautilus is a huge derelict ship, rumored to contain fabulous technologies from former civilizations.
Despite us all needing some rest, we have half a day of travel to rest either way, so I think my vote is for Nautilus. We likely won't get the chance to visit something like that again, and though it is rumored to be haunted, the potential payoff is well worth the possibility of danger... plus it just sounds exciting, doesn't it? What do the rest of you think?
"The Nautilus!" Dr Monroe's eyes lit up, "Scholars have long suggested it came from another sphere, crewed by the Gith whoever they where... I've never visited it but I've read much about it. It's shaped like a kind of gigantic snail and made from peculiar grey metal which defies being cut. It's been picked over several times before of course but its large enough to have secrets still! It's supposed to be chock full of all sorts of strange machinery that nobody understands, miles of gleaming pipes and crystals and that sort of thing."
The second expedition from The Melodium University on Anchorage never made it, a huge storm scattered their flotilla and they found the islets now known as the Shoals and charted them instead.
The third expedition was a hundred and fifteen years ago arranged by the grandfather of the current Kez. They set off with great fanfare and slunk back six months later. What they discovered was never reported.
"Nautilus you say? Ah, i have heard of the organized ventures to it.
Three thus far, all went wrong."
And she shares what the history spoiler hides.
Edwin pondered Xindyra's information, "The Nautilus does sound very dangerous. We'd have to be cautious, and be prepared to retreat if necessary. I must admit, the potential for new discoveries tempting."
Zendara smiles, hoping that they will get to see the Nautilus, but remains quiet, not wanting to pressure anyone into danger.
Both of Braenar's bushy eyebrows go up, "So the fabled nautilus eh?" He swallows before looking at the chartt, he runs his fingers through his beard as he studies them. After a few minutes of calculation he mutters, "Aye I agree we can make it, just. It's very high up so the air will be thin enough ta give some of ya a low grade headache. Should be ok once you get used to it, but you'll need time to recover after vigorous exercise."
Braenar grips the wheel and brings The Dawntreader about, cutting an angle into the stormy winds and rising steadily up. The winds make for a bumpy journey and the noise of the wind is incessant. Time passes slowly, and it seems like the storm could blow forever as if St Xandarus of the Hunt's hounds where dragging it along in their eternal wake.
After fitful sleep you wake the next morning to find the storm has blown itself out sometime during the night. The air ship is now very high and the air is crip and the cold breeze cuts like a knife. The ship has stored of winter clothing which while rather plain, you're glad off. The chef Andrew Segal followed by several helpers brings a hearty spiced chicken soup up in copper urns for breakfast. Normally you'd have plainer fare to break your fast but he insisted this would fortify you against the cold. It was delicious and served with great hunks of nutty moist dark bread so nobody complained.
Suddenly Marek O'Connor, one of the archeology undergrads pointed out of the mess hall window, and with a note of awe in his voice he cried, "Look at that!"
In the distance riding majestically above the clouds is what appears to be a great snail shell, miles long, hanging there exactly the way bricks don't. Constructed of some unknown metal it looks almost golden in the morning light. Time has taken a tole on it, bits of its skin are damaged and weather beaten, yet the whole is surprisingly intact for something that supposedly came from beyond the stars.
Braenar lets out a low whistle and asks, "Where abouts do you want to try and dock?"
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Edwin was rather disappointed in the styling of the cold weather gear available. Lesson learned: need to buy proper winter gear of my own!
The Nautilus was indeed a magnificent sight. It was worth the trip just to see such an amazing vessel! As they approached the legendary craft, he strained to make out its condition. "There's a large hanger underneath the bow, but it appears to be damaged."
Maybe we should fly around it once, to see if there is anywhere else to dock? We might see more as we get closer.
"Aye lets circle round..." replies Braenar and with much whirring of the rotors he deftly steers The Dawntreader around The Nautilus. Up close the sheer scale of it is daunting, who could conceive of constructing something so big? The internal volume looks large enough to house thousands of dwellers.
Most of the surface is smooth metal although every so often there are blisters of inscrutable machinery. Pipes and tubes and dish like shapes, all with no apparent purpose. The one thing you don't see is any signs of life or movement.
Ah, thanks Braenar. I see two other possibilities now. There is a small hangar that looks like it is in good condition towards the center of the spiral, and there also seem to be mooring rungs and possibly a hatch up there at the top of the shell. Shall we try for the top?
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"When you want to be on the winning side, one must always be on top.", the tiefling jokes.
Edwin couldn't tell for sure if there was access on the top of the craft. "Yeah, the central hanger looks to be in good shape."
Braenar replied, "Aye lets take a look see." when Zendard and Xindrya suggested inspecting the top of The Nautilus. He nodded at Edwins observation, "Good ta know laddie." and walked over to the helm.
He strapped himself into the pilot's seat and started adjusting knobs and dials. Satiated with the trim and power settings he squeezed on the throttle and The Dawntreader soared gently towards the top of the giant craft. The closer you got the more overwhelming the scale of the ship was before something clicked in your mind and labeled it as "land".
The top of the alien craft while curved is large enough and flat enough to build a moderate sized town. On top it's a pretty featureless expanse of smooth grey metal that resists any attempt to cut or scratch it. The only feature is an area right in the very middle where there's a number of very large metal rings sticking out of the floor which appear to be for mooring. There's also a set of stairs with railings, sunk into the floor ending in a metal door. The steps and railings are disconcertingly large, suggesting it was built for beings who where perhaps half as tall again as a grown human or elf.
Braenar moors the airship using several pf the giant rings and once you are safely disembarked he motions you forwards saying, "Over to you!"
The door has a large circular metal wheel as think as your thumb attached to it, apparently part of the opening mechanism. There's also a smaller hatch on the door behind which is a series of shiny brass studs. It is of course locked.
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Yukarii managed to get a good nights sleep despite the storm as the fighting had drained her mental energy. She had needed the sleep badly and she felt very good that morning though Yukaari was starting to get grumpy about the lack of...fun. She went on deck and ate witht he others when the Marek pointed out the Nautilus.
Yukarii looked out at the massive airship in curiosity. It was an amazing sight to see, this massive, snail shaped, ship, and Yukarii couldn't help but feel a shiver of discomfort at it's seemingly alien origin of it. Something about it, even at this distance, just felt wrong.
As they approached the ship to dock on top Yukarii cast a pair of protective spells. She didn't trust this place, at all, and she wasn't about to venture inside without some form of defense. With that done Yukarii waited, on guard for what might come, as she unconciously stepped a bit closer to Marek.
Zendara disembarks, jumping down the over-large stairs in her excitement to get inside.
Rolling acrobatics just to make sure I don't break my leg on the giant steps
When she gets to the hatch, she takes a close look to see if she can figure it out
<--pass
She's never seen anything quite like this before, but it seems to be very logically laid out and she gets a sense of how things *might* work, which she explains to Edwin.
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When Zendara was carefully looking, Xindyra was glancing over her shoulder.
What she saw, though, sh was beat to the punch for saying by Zendara first.
The prospect of fiddling with an unknown lock on such an infamous derelict vessel, got Xindyra all excited.
Her tail faintly moved left to right, as this puzzle was a challenge to be overcome.
"Hey! It worked! Now to see what is in this place."
"Good job!" exclaimed an excited Dr Munroe as the door smoothly opened. A blast of warm air with a faint metallic odur washed over you. Dr Munroe peered inside and remarked, "Oh! That's not what I expected at all..."
The now opened door revealed a rectangular patch of inky darkness which neither Xindara's or Zendara's eyes could pierce. The echoes of your voices suggest a long corridor but it was hard to be certain.
Zendara casts Detect Magic and tries to determine why she couldn't see into the hallway.
Zendara, not sure exactly what it is, but guessing it is some sort of protection against intruders, summons a bat.
She asks it to fly in 50 feet checking for danger and then to come back out.
If that works, then she lets the bat go, turns her traveler's any tool into a cane, and proceeds into the darkness, feeling her way with the cane carefully, listening and feeling for danger, and not moving forward until she is sure it is safe.
The bat encounters nothing untoward and rather bravely Zendara enters the darkness. As she does so she feels a cool sensation settling over her skin, presumably a side effect of the darkness magic. The corridor has a 15' ceiling and is ramrod straight, proceeding towards the upper tip of the Nautilus. The floor and is made of some cold textured material, possibly metal. The walls are mirror smooth and also appear to be metal, you can't reach the ceiling.
Outside the whole expedition are waiting on tenterhooks. Marek sidles closer Yukarii although his focus is on the oblong of utter night. Inside Zendara discovers the area of magical darkness extends for 10 yards before giving way to normal but otherwise complete darkness. The corridor stretches another 50 yards before ending in a junction. The left fork spirals down farther than you can see, the right fork goes on for some distance.
Inside there are no tracks of any kind, and there's almost no noise beyond your footsteps, your breath and your heartbeats. Due to the strangeness of this environment your movements sounds terribly loud and you are unusually aware of your heartbeats.
Zendara casts light on a copper piece and leaves it on the floor just after the unnatural darkness. Then she calls back
The darkness only lasts 30 feet, so you guys can come on in.
Yukarii noticed the way Marek shifted closer to her after she had done the same in his direction. She said nothing but their was a very slight, mysterious, smile that crossed her lips. The exotic half-elven woman heard Zendara call out that it was safe and nodded as she began to walk towards the opening. As she reached the spot where the darkness began Yukarii looked back at Marek and gave him a quick wink before stepping through the opening.
The darkness within didn't bother Yukarii in the least, it felt far more welcoming, in fact, than she wanted to admit. It also did little to hinder her vision as the moment it became too dark everything shfited and became black and white of various shades and tints, allowing her to see just fine. She reached where Zendara stood and continued to look around as she shivered slightly at something other than the cold.
Edwin spoke an arcane phrase to surround himself with armor of magical force. He drew his rapier, cast a light spell on the blade, and followed the sound of Zendara's voice into the darkness. Once everyone was all together, he cast another spell, so he could whisper and be heard by Ferian, Xindrya, Yukarii and Zendara.
Once Zendara and Yukarii had shown the way, the others slowly inched forwards through the super natural darkness. Edwins light was met with huge collective sigh of relief.
The party paused just past the entrance and Professor Dexter glanced back at the wall of inky darkness and remarked, "What do you think a security feature? But look there's no lights in here, almost as if the creators of this place abhorred it..."
The walls and floors of the tunnel where made of the same strange grey metal as the exterior. The floor has a textured pattern apparently for grip, because the walls had a mirror like finish but where slippery smooth.
Dr Munroe brings out a funny looking dark grey penknife and tries to scratch the wall leading to an ear piercing screech as the metals slid past with no mark left. With a raised eyebrow he told you, "Just like the reports said, it resists an adamantium blade!"
The party caught up with Zendara and Yukarii at the junction and Dr Munroe pointed out, "Seems we have a decision, left and down or right and level... We know this vessel has been explored before and from what I understand they entered via the lower entrance."
If somebody had been watching the party they might have noticed several people subconsciously walking close to each other. Dr Munroe was shoulder to shoulder with Professor Dexter and Marek was drifting closer to Yukarii.
As the others considered the options, Marek knelt down and examined the floor. He ran a finger along it and examined it in Edwin's light, "No dust. What's keeping this place clean?"
Now that everyone has caught up, Zendara continues along the right fork.
The corridor extends for a quite some distance, easily five hundred yards. It's remarkably straight and monotonous so it came almost as a shock when the mirror door appeared out of the gloom. A closer look reveals it's almost transparent and if you strain you can vaguely make out something behind. The barrier emits the faintest hum and if you reach out to touch it the hum becomes louder and higher almost painfully so. On the right hand side at head level is what appears to be another combination lock like the one you encountered earlier. Below this is an inscription of some sort although the glyphs or cartouches or whatever they are look nothing like any Oberon native language.
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Edwin examined the door, eventually declaring, "It looks to be a plane of force. Most spells and effects won't do anything to it at all. I have no idea about what the symbols mean."
After several minutes of experimenting with different codes, he finally figured out that he had to add one extra symbol to the earlier four digit code. "Ah Ha!"
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Xindyra nods at Edwin's arcana observation.
"You're right. It's an interesting phenomena, i have only read limited literature about them."
The symbols takes a moment of study. Having some knowledge of the strange langage that is Aklo, it made it somewhat easier to compare.
"I can't say i am 100% accurate, but i believe these symbols could suggest Forward Engineering & Crew Quarters."
Edwin manages to figure out the code and with a loud buzz the mirror like plane of force disappears to reveal a cavernous chamber at least one hundred feet by one hundred and fifty and a good sixty feet high. The room is dominated by a large and inscrutable central machine which adjoins the far wall. The machine looks like a series of huge glistening black spheres in a line linked by a central cylindrical apparatus which goes through the wall. Banks and banks of cabling and pipes sprout out of the floor and enter the bottom of the black spheres. There is low hum coming from the machine and a faint metallic taste to the air.
The wall to the left has ranks and ranks of chairs that are weirdly shaped and too high. Each chair is in front of what looks like the bizarre union of a pipe organ and a writing desk with ranks of dark green ovals about 12' off the floor. The right hand wall has two exits both through mirror doors.
There appears to have been a battle in here at some point, the walls are dented which given the adament nature of the universal grey metal seems surprising. There's also a number of strange 8' high ovoid shapes clustered around the far wall on the right hand side. The ovoid shapes are iridescent purple and seem to have a faint halo of light an inch from their surface.
Yukarii looked around at the room they found themselves in with curiosity. It was a very large room, with a big machine in the center Yukarii didn't have any idea clue about. What did catch her attention were the ranks of chairs to their left weird ovals above them and what looked like a pipe organ of some kind at each.
Yukarii didn't hesitate to cast a spell so she could see magical auras and examined what was around.
She could see some kind of aura on the black spheres but had no clues as to what it was. She continued to look at the ovoids trying to figure out what they were without magical augmentation....
...and what she saw shocked her. Yukarii stepped back from the ovoids even further and said quietly, "Hey, there is something humanoid looking in those..." her words trailed off as she tried to come up with the right word but finally gave up and said, [b]....rankei. There is also magic of some kind on them but I do not know what kind it is."[/n]
Zendara first examines the spheres
Perhaps a propulsion system, or a weapon... hard to tell. This would require more time and people than we have to study it.
Zendara then examines the ovoids:
These remind me of the description of Voor spider eggs. The Voor were an aggressive species of parasitic spiders from the astral plane. Supposedly created by the Illithids, they were regarded as the number one menace by most races in the astral plane and were supposedly exterminated ten thousand years ago.
Yukarii, you saw something inside them? If any of them still seem alive, and they are indeed spiders, I would suggest that we kill them immediately. Science is one thing, but loosing that kind of threat on the planes again is, in my view, not an option.
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Edwin didn't know much about the strange devices, but he could see something in the ovoids. "I can see something in the egg-like things too! We should probably keep our distance. Do you think they're inert?"
He cast a spell and focused his attention on the dark shapes, looking for signs of movement.
There's no motion at all from within that Edwin or Yukarii can detect.
Dr Munroe let out a low whistle when the alien machinery was revealed behind the mirror gate, "Wow what is all this stuff? I think it could be..." His voice trailed off as the iridescent purple eggs were pointed out.
Miriam's bow was immediately drawn with an arrow nooked and pointing at the eggs. "Voor?! Those are serious bad news, let's pray they're dead!"
A hush went through the previously excited party and subconsciously Marek edged closer to Yukarii, a look of concern on his face.
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Yukarii sonsidered what was said about these...Voor...and she didn't like it at all. If they were that big of a threat it might be best to deal with them while they slept, maybe by destroying this ship and letting them fall into oblivion. Of course if they were truly dead this was not a problem.
Yukarii's gaze turned to teh Professors Dexter and Mondroe and asked, "Can they sense thougths? Are they intelligent? I might be able to determine if they are alive or not with a spell to sense their minds but if it might alert them it would not be wise."
Dr Munroe stares at the eggs, "Yes the Voor are indeed meant to be intelligent and they're meant to possess a kind of twisted telepathy. But aren't their eggs supposed to pulsate in time to the hive song only they can hear? These seem utterly motionless."
Mariam glanced at Dr Munroe and he nodded. She turned to Yukarri and replied, "If they're alive they already know we are here. I say it's worth the risk, we need to know what we're dealing with here."
Yukarii considered the viewpoints of the two acedamecians for a moment and then said, "I agree, give me a few moments to prepare."
Yukarii turned her mind inward and reached to her otherself, Yukaari-chan, this wil be dangerous. Are you prepared to shield me if this goes wrong?
The sensation of phantom fingers in her mind brushed the sides of her face and cupped her chin as a phantom forehead pressed against her's, Of course Yukarii-chan, always. There was a mischieveous tone as she added But this will be two you owe me now.
Her mind resolved and prepared Yukarii began to focus on thoughts of listening to words hidden within another's mind and the emotions of connection, belonging, as she began to gather the energy for her spell.
Yukarii completes her spell and reaches out searching for any intelligence, but beyond her companions there is noting to be found within range.
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Yukarii breathed a sigh of relief as she dismissed her spell. She felt nothing from them, as a group or an individual, and that meant they were likely all dead and staying that way. She turned her black eyes to her companions and said, "It is safe, these Voor are no more." She looked at the ovoids thoughtfully and then said, "If they are like insects but smart I wonder if they share a...." she wasn't sure of the right words again, "haibumaindo? If the queen was killed then maybe their minds just shut off and they died?"
Oh, like a hive mind... shared consciousness or something?
Yukarii nodded firmly at Zendara's words, "Yes, like Yukaari-chan and me. I could survive without Yukaari-chan with a weaker mind but she cannot survive without me. She is part of me."
"A hive mind? perhaps..." mused Professor Dexter. On a whim she pulled back on her bow and shot one of the larger purple ovoids. It shattered into a thousand fragments with a sound like glass revealing a dessicated humanoid with thin gangly arms and legs and a long head shaped like an olive. It was hunched in the festal position and appeared to have been partially digested.
She stares at the dessicated corpse for a while, "Yeah! Ugh what a way to go, that's totally going to give me nightmares!"
(fail)
I don't know what that is, but it certainly doesn't look like a spider, does it? It looks partially digested though, so I wonder if this was... spider food storage or something?
In any case, it all looks dead, so perhaps we should continue.
Xindyra comes over to stand with Professor Dexter.
Something is familiar about this corpse, but the identity eludes her only just.