Yukarii knew there it would be hard but they may be able to use planks from the wreckage to perform the burial. She looked up at the others and called out. "See if you can find a pair of planks. I need to perform last rights for these poor souls so they may finish crossing. We should do this before venturing inside." Yukarii shuddered looking at the wreckage, "We need something to wrap them both in as well and flowers if we can find them"
As Zendara moves into the ship she notices lots of cracks in the wall, but also many mostly-intact crates. She wonders if anything inside has survived.
She also notices many holes that look like they were made by a ballista, as well as bolts sticking out of some of the crates...
(fail)
... but she has no idea where they came from offhand.
The rear of the hold gives her a creepy feeling for some reason, and she proceeds up the ladder instead, finding shards of lift crystals and burned out equipment... evidence of a fire that had been put out before it consumed everything.
Continuing up, she sees that the crew quarters are burned out, but the cockpit is okay. She takes a look inside...
(fail)
... but she finds nothing.
As she comes back down to the crack where she entered, she hears Yukarii asking for planks, so she grabs a couple of the crates and pushes them out (still unopened), hoping that they can get the planking she needs from them.
Once they are near the group, she pulls out her extra blankets, figuring the dead needed them more than she did, and hands them to Yukarii.
Edwin cast a spell to heighten his senses, before helping Yukarii with the funerary rites. He looked around for the planks that she requested. "Do we have any flowers on the Dawntreader? I can't imagine we'll find any here."
<--- NOPE
Zendara has little trouble breaking up some of the already broken crates and gets enough wood which can be lashed together to form a makeshift litter. Her spare blankets also make for a respectable shroud in a pinch.
Despite his last statement, Edwin did manage to find some flowers. "What do you know, there's a small flower in a crevice here!"
He picked enough blossoms for the service, trying not to kill the small plant.
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Yukarii couldn't see anything immediately helpful in the hold and she really didn't want to venture into the darker parts. Something about it felt...wrong, threatening. The light from above seemed much more pleasant and she decided that maybe she could find some sail cloth up there. Without really thinking about it Yukarii began to make her way towards that light with Yukaari floating along warily at her side.
You climb the last ladder which leads to the crew quarters and the cockpit. The crew quarters has been gutted by fire and there's nothing of value left. Brushing your hand along the gutted sleeping quarters you felt an impression of something but it's too feint to be sure what, theres only two berths so probably the crew slept here in shifts.
Like the Wink's cockpit, this one has a dizzying array of dials and switches, all of which are smashed. The great winds are missing entirely and there's a lot of crunchy glass on the floor. You sweep some away from the pilot's seat and have a sudden impulse to sit down. The aged leather is cracked but you get a powerful impression of an intense woman frowning with concentration as the ship weaves through a debris field with ballista bolts flying left and right. And just as suddenly the impression is gone and you're there in the ruined cockpit open to the elements.
Zendara gets Xindyra to help her haul out a few crates, and they open them up.
(fail)
They find an urn and a tea set that have interesting geometrical designs, and one box with smashed pottery bits. She pulls one larger bit out for a souvenir, but otherwise leaves that box alone. The intact items she packs up for when they leave, knowing Professor Munroe would be interested.
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Yukarii found the engine room to be a mess when she entered it. Thing broken all over the place. Despite it's obvious state of disrepair Yukarii felt far more comfortable here than down in the hold. She held her hands over the panels and felt the vestigial memories of the machinery when they still ran.
As she made her way up and through the crew quarters Yukarii she could see the signs of the fire that once burned through it leaving everything ruined. There was something feint, some vague something, but it was far too weak for her to identify.
When she reached the cockpit Yukarii could tell all the dials and switches were smashed and there were just as many as in their wink's cockpit. When she found the pilot's seat Yukarii sat without thinking, something drawing her along. Once she had the impression of an intense woman, frowning in concentration, washed through her. The ship was dodging through the debris as she dodged ballista bolts. Then, she was back in the seat, amidst ruined controls.
Yukarii went to stand up when her hand slipped on the dust coating the leather seat. She thumped back down and her hand slid down the edge and brushed something metallic that moved just a bit. Yukarii got up and bent over to reach beneath the seat where she found a tin. Ykarii opened it and found a book within and quickly closed it.
Yukarii looked around for anything she could use for a burial shroud as she put the book back in the tin and the tin in her pack. Once she was finished she looked to Yukaari and said, "We should go back Yukaari-san."
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Zendara gets Xindyra to help her haul out a few crates, and they open them up.
"Umph, what's in these things, some are heavier than their size would suggest."
"An urn? But...hmm, it's rather unfamiliar to me. I've spent my share of hours in libraries and places of learning, but this is unlike a design i've ever seen. Must be old."
She takes out her journal and makes sketches of it, before the find is turned over to the professor.
You skimmed the first few decades, all the entries seemed rather boring - routine patrols, personnel changes, maintenance. It did take part in two small border disputes with the Kez twenty years apart, the high point of this was when it landed the killing blow on KS-Impossible in the brief Shoal Wars.
It patrolled for a decade afterwards and was reckoned to be twenty years obsolete before it was officially taken out of service. Unofficially it was overhauled and made to look like a Kez scout ship. A skeleton crew of special forces commanded by Captain Aria Redmond Sanders and her husband Lieutenant James Jonas Sanders where ordered to shadow the Kez exploration of uncharted islands in the south eastern expanse. Navy brass wanted to know if anything of military importance was found.
The last few log entries suggest that Kez appeared to have found something of great importance, a midsized uncharted island with extensive pre-sundering ruins. A great many Kez ships where en route and it seemed likely they'd found something important.
A plan was hatched to steal whatever it was that had the Kez excited. Posing as a high ranking official and her entourage they landed unannounced on the island and imperiously demanded to inspect the operations and the finds.
The civilian Kez archeologists where only too happy to start sending things back and the finds where packed up for shipping and dropped off where MLN#246 could pick it up. Thinking they'd pulled off a real coup the MLN#246 quickly departed but then their luck turned. The crew started having nightmares and nobody wanted to go anywhere near the back of the hold, and then the Imperial Kez Navy started hunting them.
Out gunned and slow, in desperation Captain Sanders navigated into a debris field they'd spotted on the way. There they managed to evade the most of the Kez ships but a frigate found them and gave chase. Neither ship had any business in the thick part of the debris field, especially not the frigate but its captain got greedy after landing a few shots and got pulverised between a pair of rocks.
The MLN#246 very nearly got away but it too was blindsided and crashed on this nameless rock with no chance of escape.
The final words on the log read: If by some inexplicable luck out remains are found, please take our cargo to the admiralty with utmost haste and please inform commander K P Sanders of our fate.
"Sanders. I think they mean one Keith Philip Sanders, a senator, formerly in military command.
The man died some 70 years ago, but his family line is still around."
Edwin skimmed through the logbook. It seemed that the Kez archeologists had stumbled on a significant find, quite possibly the same thing that Dr. Munroe was looking for.
He commented, "It seems that they had an important cargo on board: some sort of dangerous artifact that started giving people nightmares. We will need to proceed very carefully!"
I wonder if that was what seemed creepy inside the ship.
With all tha was revealed from the journal Yukarii had a really bad feeling about what was down there. She gave Yukaari a worried look and thought back through what she had felt in the hold She prayed to Norala that she was wrong.
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Yukarii did not like the feel of the darkness in the hold but at least it was not the same as what she had felt in that massive derelict vessel. With everything gathered that they needed Yukarii said, "Let us perform the burial before we deal with whatever is in the hold."
Yukarii went about preparing the bodies for their sendoff using what they had found to do a proper burial in the depths. She was familiar with many forms of sendoff, in her homeland Norala governed such things and knowledge of proper ceremonies was a given with how she was raised. As she performed the ceremony and eulogy Yukarii shifted to her own language as it was the easiest for her. There wasn't much she could say since she didn't know these two but she did her best.
When she had finished performing the ceremony Yukarii and a now semi solid Yukaari, moved the two bodies to the edge and then she sent Yukaari down to make sure there was nothing the pair would slam into on the way down. Once she was ready the pair pushed both biers over the edge,
Zendara stays silent the requisite time to make sure she is respecting the dead and then she asks
Okay, are we checking out the creepy thing in the hold now?
If people agree, she gets her bow ready, and when everyone gets inside, she starts singing to inspire courage.
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The ceremony was simple but tradition and propriety was honoured and when it was time to consign the departed to the depts, they fell straight down in a gentle arc away from any of the boulders. The company watched for a while until they could no longer be seen by the naked eye, onwards and ever downwards the fell into the heart of Oberon where it is said the gods waited to shepard them onto the afterlife.
Everyone walked just that little bit taller, it was the right thing to have done.
Edwin consulted with his comrades about their next course of action. "Investigating the hold will be dangerous. We can expect it to take a toll on our sanity."
Before moving towards the hold, he cast a spell to heighten his perception. Even minor details might be crucial.
Edwin cast a spell so he could whisper to everyone. He cast a force barrier around himself as a precaution. After descending into the hold, he looked around the main hold, moving towards the center for a good vantage point. He wanted to start by getting a general sense of what was down here.
He told the others, "Don't go too far ahead. In a moment I'll explore the potentially more dangerous areas using a magical sensor, before we venture in ourselves."
Edwin summoned his invisible, magical semsor, and spent a few minutes exploring the hold. He narrated as it entered the 'scary' area (he didn't fell afraid right now), "There's a large barrel stuffed with straw. It looks big enough that a human could stand in there, but I can't tell what it contains. I can only guess that it's some sort of item from the dig."
Xindyra drinks a variety of things:
Alchemical allocation (heroism potion) / 40 mins
Mutagen, +4 Dex, +2 NA / 40 mins
Barkskin extract, +2 enhancement to NA / 40 mins
Cat's Grace extract, +4 Dex / 4 mins
Shield extract, +4 shield AC. / 4 mins
Net sum, +4 NA, +1 max Dex AC (armor cap at +6), +4 to Dex skills & saves, +2 to other skills & saves, +2 to attack.
Yukarii looked at her other self nervously at what Edwyn had to say. She didn't like this one bit but knew that they needed to investigate. She was glad that her usual preparatory spells were already in place and decided to add one more to the batch. She focused on remembered what it was like to be roaring drunk once when he vision blurred and she started seeing multiple images of things she added the frustration of not being able to tell which was real and then overplayed it so it was her that there were multiples of and reversed it so everyone else had to deal with the frustration of not knowing.
When Yukarii finished her spell first one, then two, then three, then four more of her stepped out of the first. "There," all four of her said in unison as they began to weave in and out of each other, "that is better. Let us proceed."
Cautiously the away team enters the crashed airship's hold through the crack before approaching the spider web choked darkness at the rear of the hold. You all feel it now, a pressure on your minds whispering go away! GO AWAY!
<--- FAIL
<--- PASS
<--- PASS
<--- PASS
Xindara, Yukarii and Zendara push past this but it proves too much for Edwin. There doesn't appear to be any immediate danger but the whispers don't stop, what could be within the barrel? Between them the ladies manage to crowbar the lid off revealing musty straw.
They start removing the straw, ending up need deep in the stuff as they uncover a curious stone carving, a pair of almost naked powerfully built squatting humans holding up a thick semi-circle of stone. They both have curious almost hungry expressions and pronounced canine teeth in their open mouthes. Most of the stone is of white marble with black veins but the bit round their mouths has a curious rusty patina. The quality of the stone masonry is outstanding, almost down to the level of individual hairs or pores. Something about the piece makes you feel unwary as if the subjects where capricious.
Edwin decided that he didn't need to go into the room, since he'd already had a look at the crate through his magical sensor.
Yukarii didn't like the looks of the strange carving. It was incredibly disturbing to look at, especially the red around the mouths of the squat humans. Even worse was the strange sound of the voices telling her to go away. She managed to shrug that off and cast a spell to observe magical auras as she examined the sculpture.
Yukarii wasn't sure what the red stuff was and she shuddered back from looking at it any further as she didn't think she really wanted to know. As she was examining the statue magically she started and nearly jumped back as she said, "I think it just moved," in a strangled tone of voice.
"That...looks like dried up blood? What, are these vampire statues or something?"
"Moved? I didn't see, but i'll take your word for it."
Xindyra holds her rapier just in case.
Before anyone has a chance to react a strange looking moth as large as Edwin bursts out from its hiding place, an extra-dimensional space anchored to the base of the statue! This immense moth has huge purple wings marked with spiraling black patterns that seem to shift and writhe. Something about the way it flutters and its pulsating abdomen lends it a nightmarish quality!
The shifting patterns on its wings are mesmerising and cause confusion in anyone who does not after their gaze. Those with strong wills may be unaffected.
It emits pheromones that may weaken attackers.
It's very presence is frightful!
It is resistant to illusory effects and can fein death.
Edwin
Xindyra
Yukarii <----- WE ARE HERE
Zendara
Moth
Spoiler:Edwin Mage Armor, Message
Xindyra Message, Heroism, Mutagen, Barkskin (38 rounds), Cat's grace (39 rounds), Shield (40 rounds)
Yukarii Message, False Life (6), Mirror Image (4)
Zendara Message
Moth
Edwin Mage Armor, Message
Xindyra Message, Heroism, Mutagen, Barkskin (37 rounds), Cat's grace (38 rounds), Shield (39 rounds)
Yukarii Message, False Life (6), Mirror Image (4)
Zendara Message
Moth
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Yukarii was startled by the moth thing but not as much as the others. In fact she had secretly been expecting something like this after she thought she saw the movement so she and Yukaari were ready.
Yukarii focused on thoughts of fiery heat, the fear of being burned, and channeled it into a ray to send at the moth thing.
Yukaari, meanwhile yelled at the thing with her spectral voice, "Over here you hideous bug," taunting it to try and get it to turn on her.
The eerie shifting of patterns on a gloomwing’s wings is hypnotic—any creature within 30 feet that does not avert its gaze from the gloomwing must make a DC 14 Will save at the start of each turn or become confused for 1 round. This is a mind-affecting effect—gloomwings and tenebrous worms are immune to this effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Implant (Ex)
A gloomwing can lay eggs inside a Small or larger helpless or dead creature as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. A creature implanted with gloomwing eggs must make a DC 14 Fortitude save each morning to avoid suffering 1d4 points of Constitution damage. Within 24 hours of a creature’s death from this damage, 1d4 young tenebrous worms emerge from the corpse, devouring it completely in the process. The eggs can be destroyed via any effect that cures disease, but the eggs themselves are not treated as a disease for purposes of what creatures are immune to this effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Pheromones (Su)
After the first round of combat, a gloomwing can emit a strange, musky scent in a 30-foot radius as a free action. All creatures within this area (save for other gloomwings or tenebrous worms) must make a DC 14 Fortitude save each round to avoid becoming weakened by the pheromones. Once a creature fails a save against this effect, it takes a –4 penalty to its Strength score—this penalty lasts for as long as the battle continues and for 1 hour thereafter. Lesser restoration or any other effect capable of healing ability damage immediately removes this Strength penalty. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Feign Death (Ex)
Whenever a nightmare creature is unconscious, it appears dead. A conscious nightmare creature can also make itself appear dead as an immediate action. Any creature that physically interacts with a nightmare creature feigning death must succeed at a Heal check or Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the nightmare creature’s Hit Dice + the nightmare creature’s Intelligence or Charisma modifier, whichever is higher) to recognize it is actually alive.
Illusion Resistance (Ex)
A nightmare creature automatically disbelieves illusions (no saving throw required) and has a +4 bonus on saving throws to resist illusion effects.
Regeneration 5 (Ex)
Good-aligned weapons, silver weapons, and spells with the good descriptor cause a nightmare creature’s regeneration to stop functioning for 1 round.
Speed: Same as the base creature. If the base creature does not have a fly speed, the nightmare creature gains a fly speed of 10 (perfect maneuverability) as a supernatural ability.
Special Attacks: A nightmare creature gains several special attacks. Save DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 the nightmare creature’s Hit Dice + its Charisma modifier unless otherwise noted. The nightmare creature’s caster level is equal to its total Hit Dice (or the caster level of the base creature’s spell-like abilities, whichever is higher).
Fear Aura (Su)
All creatures within a 60-foot radius that see or hear a nightmare creature must succeed at a Will save or be shaken for as long as they are within the aura. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same nightmare creature’s fear aura for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear affect.
Frightful Presence (Su)
This ability activates when the nightmare creature charges, attacks during a surprise round, or succeeds at a DC 15 Intimidate or Perform check. Its frightful presence has a range of 30 feet.
Night Terrors (Su)
Once a nightmare creature enters a target’s mind with its dream or nightmare spell-like ability, it can attempt to control the target’s dream. If the target fails a Will saving throw, it remains asleep and trapped in the dream world with the nightmare creature. Thereafter, the nightmare creature controls all aspects of the dream. Each hour that passes, the target can attempt another saving throw to try to awaken (it automatically awakens after 8 hours or if the nightmare creature releases it). The target takes 1d4 points of Charisma damage each hour it is trapped in the dream; if it takes any Charisma damage, it is fatigued and unable to regain arcane spells for the next 24 hours. The target dies if this Charisma damage equals or exceeds its actual Charisma score.
Spell-Like Abilities: A nightmare creature gains the following spell-like abilities:
Constant—protection from good;
3/day—detect thoughts, dream, nightmare, suggestion;
1/day—shadow walk.
Zendara started to sing, her refrain putting a spring in your step.
The nightmare gloomwing had barely more than animal intellect, while it didn't understand Yukarii's words it found her wild gesticulation annoying, it would lay its eggs in her corpse first! Despite Zendara's song its ghastly appearance left the away team shaken although all managed to hold their ground...
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
<--- PASS
<--- PASS
<--- PASS
<--- PASS
The Gloomwing bit and clawed its chosen target but it succeeded only in shattering two of Yukarii's phantom images.
<--- MISS
<--- MISS
<--- MISS
Edwin <----- WE ARE HERE
Xindyra
Yukarii
Zendara
Moth
Spoiler:Edwin Mage Armor, Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage
Xindyra Message, Heroism, Mutagen, Barkskin (37 rounds), Cat's grace (38 rounds), Shield (39 rounds), Inspire Courage
Yukarii Message, False Life (6), Mirror Image (2), Shaken, Inspire Courage
Zendara Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage
Moth
Edwin Mage Armor, Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage
Xindyra Message, Heroism, Mutagen, Barkskin (36 rounds), Cat's grace (37 rounds), Shield (38 rounds), Inspire Courage
Yukarii Message, False Life (6), Mirror Image (2), Shaken, Inspire Courage
Zendara Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage
Moth
Edwin, Xindyra, Yukarii and Zendara are up.
Xindyra recalls reading a book on strange creatures such as these, and finds an immediate urge to sare the dangerous details.
"Careful! It has fear inducing capabilities, can confuse if you look at it too long, and can exhume a dangerous musk. Oh, use silver or blessed weapons, it heals quickly!"
Xindyra steps 5ft back, retrieves and applies alchemical silver coating to her rapier, then quick studies the moth as a swift action.
Aware of the musk, she takes a deep breath and holds it.
She looks down to avert her gaze.
Edwin tried to make out what was going on in the smaller room. He recognized the moth, but felt very confused about what to do next.
He got the urge to attack something!
Mind befuddled, Edwin momentarily mistook Xindrya for an enemy and he barreled towards her only to miss by a wide margin.
<--- MISS
Averting her gaze, Xindrya digs in her bags for an alchemical silver weapon blanch.
"Edwin! Snap out of it, your enemy is over there.", *points at bug*
Yukarii watched as the thing clawed futiley at Yukaari and managed to shrug off the strange feelings it gave her with ease. Fortunately Yukaari was also able to fend off the effects so she too could continue to fight.
Yukarii stepped away from the thing and focused her mind on thoughts of confusion, of nervousness and terror and not knowing what was going on. She then pushed that into the mind of the bug to start messing with it's perceptions.
Yukaari, meanwhile, lashed out at the thing, her ghostly arms simply passing through it, in the hop[es of getting it to attack her instead of anyone else.
Yukarri tries to insinuate her will in the moth's mind but it's too alien for her to have much success.
<--- PASS
Frustrated with futilely attacking Yukaari the moth's wings snap together and it rises, releasing a musky cloud of pheromones as it does which quickly envelopes the entire area. The cloying scent was repulsive sapping all of your strength!
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
The giant moth's wings glow an iridescent purple as it casts a spell! With a pop a giant bat appears which immediately attacks Zendara, scrabbling with her hair and biting her scalp which bleeds freely!
If you make this roll its possible to spend a move action to try and disbelieve (you get a DC 16 will save). Note if one you passes the save and tells the others they get +4 on the roll. NB the summoned monsters are quasi real and do 20% damage (minimum 1) if you save.
<--- HIT
<--- FAIL
<--- FAIL
Edwin <----- WE ARE HERE
Xindyra
Yukarii
Zendara
Moth
Spoiler:Edwin Mage Armor, Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage, Suggestion (2 rounds), strength -4
Xindyra Message, Heroism, Mutagen, Barkskin (36 rounds), Cat's grace (37 rounds), Shield (38 rounds), Inspire Courage, strength -4
Yukarii Message, False Life (6), Mirror Image (4), Shaken, Inspire Courage, strength -4
Zendara Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage, strength -4
Moth
Edwin Mage Armor, Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage, Suggestion (1 round), strength -4
Xindyra Message, Heroism, Mutagen, Barkskin (35 rounds), Cat's grace (36 rounds), Shield (37 rounds), Inspire Courage, strength -4
Yukarii Message, False Life (6), Mirror Image (4), Shaken, Inspire Courage, strength -4
Zendara Message, Shaken, Inspire Courage, strength -4
Moth
Spoiler:Round: 1
Zendara was hit by Giant Moth for 8 (total damage taken 8)Totals:
Zendara: 8 damage
Edwin, Xindyra, Yukarii and Zendara are up.