YES, we will help!
You had me at "sweetie" Gaz says with a wink and six finger guns.
Biconiamaca giggles at Gazigaz's forward moves and gives them a holographic map of the caves where Syvatsolex generally takes her hunting parties. The receptionist points out one remote tunnel, noting that they don’t currently have anyone searching that area, as it is a bit out of the way of Syvatsolex’s usual routes.
Biconiamaca wishes the team luck as they leave and warns them to keep an eye out for stridermanders in a tone that indicates that such a suggestion is patently ludicrous. She provides a voucher for the skittermanders and Nakonechkin to rent a hovercar to take them to the underground entrance, a trip that takes 30 minutes. Along
the way, it seems that the vesk boss may be having different thoughts about this rescue mission...
Ancient Caves
A road leads close to the entrance to the caves Biconiamaca told
the you about. The presence of a small dirt parking lot suggests
that this area is used often. Another hovercar is parked in the
lot; a Gadraveech Tours logo adorns the vehicle’s doors. This
may be a clue that they are on the right track.
When Nakonechkin pulls their hovercar over, he turns to his
skittermander employees, looking guilty.
Look, fuzzballs, I have a real bad feeling about this. I ain’t one to shy away from danger, but seeing as how the guide’s car is parked right here, maybe I should stick around out here to make sure they
don’t just come back from answering the call of nature or something, yeah? I can give you a buzz if I see anything out
here.
The vesk seems to have made up his mind.
Dakoyo and Gazigaz seem to think there is something on the boss's mind.
Nakonechkin is more afraid about what’s in the caves than
worried about accidentally missing the lost tour group.
Don't worry Boss, if your scared you can just wait here and we will help you! Let's go team! Dakoyo will go towards the cave with the rest of his crew.
we got this boss!
"Sure thing boss. You be brave from a distance!" Gaz says without any sarcasm before joining in the group jumping high five that Dakoyo clearly called for.
Afterwards he starts combing the area for clues.
While the rest of this wide passageway appears to be
well-traveled, there is a massive crack in the northern wall
stretching from floor to ceiling.
Nako and Quonx both concur that the crack likely occurred within the last day, probably by a minor quake which are very common in these sorts of cave systems.
Gazigaz peers into the fissure, he finds nothing of note within the tunnel opening.
If there is nothing of note then Dakoyo will follow behind Nako as he would presumable press forward.
Gaz, will listen closely to see if he hears any noises echoing through that small tunnel.
Gazigaz only hears silence beyond the crack.
Let's go see what is going on! Let's go HELP! Dakoyo will start to move ahead.
Gaz follows Dakoyo's lead.
The walls and ceiling of this 10-foot-wide passageway look jagged with dirt crumbling from the ceiling as the heroes step inside. The floor is littered with pebbles and other rocky detritus. They hear a faint panicked scream from further down the tunnel.
As the intrepid salvagers step a few feet further, the weakened walls give way and part of the tunnel ceiling collapses on them!
Dakoyo and Gazigaz manage to jump away to avoid being buried under the partial cave-in, coming away with only scrapes and bruises, but Nako and Quonx are trapped beneath the heavy rocks and are much more injured as a result.
Round 1
Helpers get helping! If Nako or Quonx are not freed by the end of each round, they will take more damage!
Gaz will start digging out Nako, so she can help dig out the others with her beefy muscles.
Dakoyo will start to dig out Nako
Through the power of cooperation, the heroes have freed themselves before any more than just some minor cuts and bruises could be done. The partial cave in does not block their path and there's no time to rest as another faint scream echoes through the air!
Thick stalactites laced with ribbons of dark metal hang from
the ceiling of this expansive chamber, and patches of the floor
are oddly smooth. Shelves in the eastern half of the cavern
are raised five feet from the ground. A pair of passageways
exit to the west and another tunnel leads north.
Dark red splotches dot the floor here.
Thick stalactites laced with ribbons of dark metal hang from
the ceiling of this expansive chamber, and patches of the floor
are oddly smooth. Shelves in the eastern half of the cavern
are raised five feet from the ground.
In the middle of the cave, two dark, amorphous shapes quiver slightly. Each is slightly larger than three feet in diameter and small pseudopods form and shrink back within their irregular, formless shapes. The heroes see the pulsating masses and in turn, the forms seem to take notice of them. Somewhere further in the cave, a weak voice calls out.
...helllp... meee...
One of the dark blobs quivers in place.
Dakoyo will have 2 hands holding his battlestaff, 1 hand with the needler pistol and the other hand free.
In his 6 hands Gaz is holding a tactical baton, a static arc pistol, one hand on a comb from his hygiene kit, one hand on a mirror from the hygiene kit, and two locked-and-loaded finger guns pointed at the beautiful skittermander in the mirror.
Nako is holding her Ember Flame Doshko in two hands, pistol, knife and sticky grenade in her other hands leaving one free.
"Does anyone else hear that? Cries of help in the distance! There's just one thing in our way though. Guess I'd better... "
Nako runs up to red and proceeds to politely smash it in the face.
As Nako bravely rushes forward to confront the dark blobs, she barely enters the cave when one of the shapeless forms quivers even more before swiftly leaping across the room and attaches itself to Nako's armor and weapons! It then forms a tendril to pummel Nako!
Nako barely manages to fend off the attack from the attached creature's attack. She then adjusts her tactics to attack this blob but finds her ember doshko is reacting to some interference, perhaps magnetic, in striking the strange form.
Her diligent hours of pumping iron at the gym pays off and Nako scores a fierce hit. Additionally, the fire of her doshko causes the glob to detach!
The other blob then quivers and leaps across the cave and attaches to Nako, it also attempts to smack her with a psuedopod it forms!
It cannot land a hit on the martial minded helper.
Quonx scores a direct hit, the heat of the laser causes the blob to detach from Nako!
"Making friends already I see." Gaz chuckles as he walks up behind Nako and his static arc pistol at Green.
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Upon closer inspection, Gazigaz recognizes the cave blobs as ferrofluid oozes from part of a documentary on top ten amorphous xeno-forms he saw part of in the dentist office waiting room of his last teeth whitening procedure because a stellar smile IS worth it. As an ooze, they are immune to critical hits, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, stunning, gaze abilities, illusions, visual effects, and other attacks that rely on sight as well as being unflankable. He recalls from the show that ferrofluid oozes are resistant to electricity and able to withstand most bludgeoning attacks from predators . Also, there was an interesting bit about how their magnetic nature can allow them to "leap" onto ferrous, technological items, which they can feed upon, and attach themselves upon such and thrash about on any adversaries in possession of said items . He then notes a follow up bit of trivia that fire causes them to demagnetize and detach from their "food" .
Dakoyo will move up 5ft and take a shot at green.
Dakoyo unleashes hyper propelled needles at the blob which shred its surface.
Initiative
Green, 15 damage
Nako, -13 SP
Red
Gazigaz, -3 SP
Quonx, -5 SP
Dakoyo, -3 SP
The blob whips a tendril at Nako...
... and fiercely connects!
Full attack on green.
Nako's doshko simultaneously cuts and cooks the blob into a pile of viscous fluids that no longer move. She ferociously swings at the second blob but does not have the right angle to connect.
The ooze then forms a heavy looking psuedopod and flails at Nako...
... and lands a strong strike on her side!
Gaz winces as the latest blow lands on Nako.
"Don't worry, kiddo, you've got this!" he says to reassure her.
"Speaking of which, if you guys could get that last one, that'd be great..."
Dakoyo will walk up and smack at it with the battle staff
Quonx twists the battery dial past 10 and into the realm of 11 and scores a charged up laser attack on the ooze. Gazigaz provides uplifting words to Nako's tired and slightly bruised body to give it some more gusto while giving adrenaline boosting combat instructions to devastate the remaining feral ooze. Dakoyo blinked at the wrong instant and missed his shot.
Full attack
Nako narrows her eyes in calculating concentration, her swings finely tuned from hours upon hours of sparring practice and never missing leg day. She slashes the shapeless blob into very precise pieces which lay motionless.
The heroic explorers shift through the remains of the oozing blobs and find nothing of note. They then hear another weak cry for help coming from the eastern side of the cave on an elevated ledge.
As they approach, they see a pahtra with rips and tears in his clothes, bruises and cuts that are no longer bleeding can be seen under the rips. A nametag can be seen on his jacket says, "Parsinum". The pahtra moans before noting the assembled skittermanders and he snaps upward from laying on the rocks with a jolt.
Nnyaaaaahh! Wha- wha- ah- who, who are you?!
"We're here to help!"
A quick look at the pahtra reveals that even though he is wounded, he is awake and stable.
You're a rescue team from the hunting lodge? Where... where's the rest of my group? Rrrrrrr, my head, oh, it's coming back to me. We had a reservation for a hunting tour in the west tunnels of Kryynalio but on the way there, we saw this newly opened tunnel and promised our hunt guide some extra creds to take us in there instead. She didn't want to but didn't want us to leave a bad Yelp review for the company so she took us in. We came in and suddenly we got ambushed by some four legged creatures. I didn't get a good look at them or see how many because I got knocked out. I came to, I don't know how much time passed, and these oozes were all over me, beating me up and trying to get any of my tech gear. I stripped all my stuff off and crawled away to this ledge. Oh damn, my buddies, Detmer, Lorijel, Rummeg, and our guide, Syvatsolex, have you seen them? And can you get me out of here?