Weapon Equipped = Falchion
Conditions = water breathing (3/5h)
Falchion: Attack: 2 BAB +4 Str +1 Focus (-1 PA) Damage: +6 Str (+3 PA) Crit: 18-20x2
Chef’s knife: Attack: 2 BAB +1 MW +4 Str / +2 Dex Damage: +4 Crit: 19-20x2 Range: 10’
Studied: (skeleton) (move/immediate; +1 att, dam, bluff, knowledge, perception, sense motive, survival)
Prestidigitation (1/1)
Yambul smiles as the beastie falls, ”They keep getting tougher don’t they?”
He lines up for healing, begging off the potion in favor of one of the wands.
He looks over what they found on him, but other then carrying his fair share he has little interest. He looks around the room lightly wondering what he might be guarding before taking up his position by the door to guard as the others presumably do a more thorough search.
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Rūha closes her eyes, visibly distressed after the fight before she takes a minute to calm herself. She responds to Chaance first. "It spoke of being cursed by Zyphus. Cursed with unlife. It must have affected all the kasatha that were here. And... they were kasatha, ancient ones." She shakes her head "I just promised to bring it to peace. That'll take bringing the body out into the light of the sun with the rest. Before it resurrects."
She heads over to where the undead body has been hacked apart by Yambul. She crouches down and lifts it up before looking over at the words in kasatha written all over the room. "All the writing was left probably by the undead. Prayers to Zyphus and curses to Zyphus. I suppose they were quite confused. It is..." She trails off, not able to convey the sense of painful tragedy she feels.
After taking the time to move the body back out and onto the sands, she returns to search the room. It doesn't take long to locate the black key card. She mutely passes it to whoever is interested, distracted by her own thoughts.
The black card Rūha founds happens to open the eastern door you found a bit earlier.
The door opens into a 10-foot-wide circular corridor that ends at a collapsed area to the north and another door to the east, this one without the characteristic card-lock of the others.
To the south the corridor seems to continue for as far as the light of the previous room arrives.
Rhoreen will move into the room, with her light, to look around for things of interest. She feels like she is getting more comfortable with technology-magic and wants to see what else she can learn.
Perception
Rūha closes her eyes, visibly distressed after the fight before she takes a minute to calm herself. She responds to Chaance first. "It spoke of being cursed by Zyphus. Cursed with unlife. It must have affected all the kasatha that were here. And... they were kasatha, ancient ones." She shakes her head "I just promised to bring it to peace. That'll take bringing the body out into the light of the sun with the rest. Before it resurrects."
"He'll regenerate too? That's rough. No wonder the teams each had trouble. And I'm sorry Rūha. I mean I've seen dead humans and it doesn't bother me so much 'cuase there's so many of us."
"But there are so few of your kind. And these are undead - a whole other matter. Anyway, I'm sorry you have to deal with all this."
He moves quietly down the new hall, falchion out, when the others are ready. Well, not especially quietly. But he's not talking at least.
Rūha shakes her head. "Before this I thought I was the only kasatha anywhere on Golarion. If anything, I should take this as a positive sign - maybe some of the kasatha that were in here escaped and are alive and well." She follows Yambul through the black-card door and lights a torch.
"Everyone ready? Let's forge on while we can."
"Let's *forge on* while we can."
Rhoreen double takes a look at Ruha.
"Was that a pun, Ruha? A true pun?" Rhor asks, not realizing the giant 4-armed humanoid had a sense of humor. "Wow. I had no idea you were so funny."
Chaance doesn't hesitate to ask for healing, when she watches Yambul's wounds knit shut from the touch of the wand. Her eyes enlarge behind the lenses in her goggles, as the large gash closes together, and the pain disappears.
"I just promised to bring it to peace. That'll take bringing the body out into the light of the sun with the rest. Before it resurrects."
Chaance keeps up with the others as new doors open, and hallways are revealed. She doesn't look pleased, with what the living kasatha has to share about the undead ones.
"Should we do that now, before they have the opportunity to reanimate?" The elf looks in the direction of the cook. "I know that means a delay, but erring on the side of caution might be in order."
Chaance doesn't press the matter, but an undead kasatha just stabbed her brutally, so perhaps never having to deal with that same undead kasatha is desirable.
Following the southern side of the corridor, this one coils around the habitat module for a hundred meters before abruptly ending on a metal wall. After a careful search you find nothing in this branch and come back to the door to the east. The door is not locked and opens easily by passing the hand in front of a panel to the side.
Beyond, there is a small corridor of just a few meters long that ends in front of another door. Opening this door is just as easy as opening the one before, and leads you to a completely new area.
A large metal desk with blinking lights and strange glowing panels sits atop a raised area on the east side of this room near a circular table. Two couches covered with black material sit to the south a pair of black metal pillars. Splatters of dried blood stain the floor and walls near a pair of doors to the north, while here and there patches of rust-red mold and fungus cling to the southern wall.
The room itself is brightly lit by glowing panels on the ceiling.
The blood marks to the north are definitely human and are four days old.
Rhoreen waits for others to enter first, then follows them in. She does look over the bloody mold.
Heal
”It’s human blood, I think. And not too old. Less than a week, for sure,” Rhoreen informs the group proudly. She looks around, trying to learn more about the techno magic of this room.
Perception
Yambul is very worried about the time as they cut back to the eastern chamber.
He tries to determine which way the others may have gone. Though he suspects it's obvious from the blood smear, he checks the other doors too just in case.
Well, perhaps the dust makes things clear.
Rhoreen pauses for a moment, turning to look at Zzvkgrogk, then at Ruha.
”You know? I’ve been thinking all on my own with no help from anyone else, anyplace…” Rhoreen smugs her thought process. ”I think we should turn on the day and night controls for the habitation area. I think…I think it would solve a lot of problems. We’ve been thinking it, but I think we should do it.”
Rhoreen looks to see who correctly agrees with her because she’s right. Smugly so.
’Yazzelkapoof times five, anymore takers?” Zzvkgrogk skitters about joyfully administering healing. ”Great job everyone, I really though Yambul was a goner!”
"It spoke of being cursed by Zyphus. Cursed with unlife.
”This one too?! But this one was different… Does Zyphus operate deploying tougher curses on higher ranks? Is this then the ‘dark enemy’ the logs in the control room mean? I mean – kidnapping beings and doing experiements are evil – really evil – but THIS is even darker! I am often confused by the enemy of my enemy thing.”
He looks up at Rūha. ”You seem kind. Let’s all go find your kin together.” He winks, snags the black card from the one of many Rūha hands and scurries forth to use it on the door before stuffing it in his pocket with the others.
”I think we should turn on the day and night controls for the habitation area."
Zzvkgrogk recalls.
”Yes, but you saw how damaged the equipment was… I was afraid it would just blow up. If it doesn't great -- but it's artificial, yet still our best chance here. Let’s see if there are more to put to rest, and hit it on our way out.”
He imagines himself shooing everyone out of the starship and desert, back to the safety of the cave while he alone tries to operate the environment controls. Really need to find a way to move faster. Where is a steed when you need one?
He quaffs an extract of heightened awareness and heads for the human blood spattered doors where he tries the black card. ”If this is human blood, let us hope it is not Baine’s!”
Shield
Heightened Awareness
True Strike
Hits: 13/13
AC 16, touch 14 (+3 dex, +1 racial), flat-footed 13 (+2 armor, +1 racial)
Laser Pistol Charges: 8/10
Brown nanite hypogun charges: 7/10
Wand of Cure LIght Wounds: 41/50
Batteries (Charged): 2 / 3
Batteries (Uncharged): 1
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At some point before accessing the deck, or perhaps after, the group decides to give rest to the undead, trying first to return the cycle of day and night to the habitat module. As they press the button marked as 'turn on', the glaucite ceiling dome above the desert shimmers and pulses with electricity for a few seconds. After this, the ceiling suddenly takes on the appearance of a strangely red sky with gray clouds and a red sun—surely an image of the kasatha homeworld’s heavens the Androffi took from their planet. The ceiling begins the projection of a day/night cycle that according to the command screens lasts for 26 hours (13 hours of bright reddish light followed by 13 hours of dim light in which 3 moons move across the sky).
In addition, the temperature rises to a sweltering 95º F during the day, with periodic mild breezes moving through the “valley” now and then.
When Hetuath, broke tribal taboos and forced his way into a sacred cave that led, to his shock, to the module’s observation chambers and the science labs beyond, he scavenged for food, taking back bio-cultures, chemical supplies, and anything else he deemed "edible" to help his tribe sustain itself. This proved to be the kasathas’ undoing, however, as the consumables reacted negatively with their alien physiology, creating a necro-toxin that ravaged the entire tribe. As he watched what he believed to be the last of his people dying as a result of his attempt to save them, Hetuath gave in to despair and cursed both fate and the gods, attracting the attention of Zyphus that brought the curse of undead upon the tribe.
Now, thanks to the heroic actions of a handful explorers, the restoring of the sky and wind appeases the spirits of the undead kasathas, finally destroying the curse and bringing peace to their souls.
---
Back on the Science Deck, Yambul finds recent marks of passage both to the north, in the form of human blood, and to the east, in the form of rust-mold spores.
All the three doors here have card locks.
"Ah, you see? I think that did it," Rhoreen smugs broadly. "Exactly what I thought would happen. Sort of. There were no explosions, and that I'm willing to be wrong about."
Rhor dusts off her hands in complete and total success, and then returns to the bloodied area, and while barely strutting at all.
"I think we've done some good for your people, Ruha. We should be proud."
After celebrating and being ever so glad he was worried over nothing and that nothing exploded in their efforts to banish the Kasathas' curses, Zzvkgrogk makes cards available to anyone who wants to try and open the door while he goes to the console windows avoiding the molds to the south.
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Out on the sands, Rūha folds her arms together as the remains of long-dead kasatha bask in the light of a fake sun. With the immediacy of the discoveries fading, she's able to start considering her next moves. The Androffans had kidnapped kasatha of the distant past, kidnapped them and studied them like one might study klikharps in a aurarium. Far worse in fact, because there was no chance of mistaking that kasatha were sentient. The hubris was appalling. Were these Androffans the true precursors of the Azlanti?
She'd come to Torch in hopes of finding some meaningful direction to her new life, but this revelation left her uncertain. Was this some kind of sign? If so, what did it mean. A coincidence? A fine one, if so. Or was this all some kind of strange, endless hallucination brought about by the event horizon? ... Better not even entertain that last option.
Rūha looks over the warming dunes, for a moment remembering similar waves she'd watched in her youth - those carefully manicured for nostalgia, rather than to fool the less well informed. She shakes her head. Eventually, she would need to determine longer term plans. For now, she could focus on saving Khonnir Baine.
The edges of her eyes crinkle as she regards the rest of the group "Thank you for your help with this. I agree we did something properly good here. Not for my people, but at least for these few unfortunate souls."
-------------
Now on the Science deck, Rūha focuses herself on the task ahead, exuding a more business-like aura than at any other time you've seen her. She strides over to the screens atop the desk and takes a look at what they're showing. If the contents appears to be more Androffan, she waves Chaance over.
What Zzvkgrogk can see is the southern walls are covered in fungus, but Yambul found a track coming from the eastern door and this included a few spores.
Rūha approaches the desk. The machinery there merely flashes and blinks in random patterns. Occasionally, garbled lines of scrambled Androffan text and images of strange creatures flash briefly on one of the windowed boxes on the desk: a kasatha four-hands digging in a dune, a hairless blue lion with twin tentacular tails and dozens more thick tentacles quivering and twitching where its mane should be, strange, vibrant plants slowly whipping about a trio of tendrils with spiked heads, a misshapen ovoid trailing with thin tendrils and a gray orb that resembles a bulging, lidless eye on its underside. Texts in Androffan follow each image but flash too fast to read, except for the last one that remains in the flashy window for longer before the loop resumes: ບັນທຶກຂອງພະເຈົ້າແນະນໍາວ່າສິ່ງມີຊີວິດໃຊ້ພວກມັນເພື່ອດູດຊຶມສານອາຫານຜ່ານທາງ, ແຕ່ນີ້ແມ່ນບໍ່ຖືກຕ້ອງ. ແລ່ນ ແລະດິນຊອດຮັກສາຮູບແບບຮ່າງກາຍຂອງເຂົາເຈົ້າ ແລະຮັກສາຊີວິດອັນຍາວນານຂອງເຂົາເຈົ້າໂດຍການໃຫ້ອາຫານອອກຈາກຄວາມຄິດ ແລະຄວາມຢ້ານກົວຂອງສັດທີ່ມີຄວາມຮູ້ສຶກ. ທຸກໆຄວາມຮູ້ສຶກມີລົດຊາດທີ່ແຕກຕ່າງກັນກັບສັດເຫຼົ່ານີ້,
"Divinity records suggest that the creatures use their tendrils to absorb nutrients through osmosis, but this is incorrect. Rhu-chaliks maintain their bodily form and sustain their lengthy lifespans by feeding off the thoughts and fears of sentient beings. Every emotion has a different flavor to these creatures, " the text ends abruptly.
A customary search of the three doors show none of them are trapped.
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Know (Nature) - lion
Know (Nature) - switch
Know (Nature) - war-orb
Rhoreen examines the images, but doubts she has any real insight into any of them.
”That’s strange. A lion, a switch, and a war-orb, all blue,” Rhoreen hopes Chaance’s translation helps, but doesn’t really.
”Sounds like these are threats that we might face soon? Maybe?” Rhoreen looks around to see if others have any other ideas or thoughts.
Yambul waits politely by the north door while the others examine the console windows learning what can be learned.
Rhoreen does not know what these creatures are, but she knows the switch is a plant by sure. And attending its features in comparison with similar plants she has studied or heard about, she can guess it has a very long reach with those tendrils which look pretty poisonous as well.
Chaance looks over Yambul's shoulders at the blood marks. "Several days since they were laid to floor, don't you think?" The elf keeps her head up, looking for more signs of struggle in the room.
When the others piece together a plan to see the undead laid to rest, Chaance only hesitates to activate anything in this dead spacecraft. When it's done, she stops holding her breath, and sees to the sunlight exposure of the corpses, gaining her own peace of mind.
...
When the kasatha waves the elf over, she obeys, looking over the Androffan, and translating aloud. When the creatures are displayed within the windowed box, Chaance does her best to identify what she sees, given what she's read in the recent past about alien monsters.
"Sooooo... we saw kasathas before, albeit altered from their curse... You may be right to ready for the other forms of life, Rhoreen."
"After you, Yambul." Chaance smiles too politely.
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"Does anyone know what this mold is?"
Zzvkgrogk stares at the images flashing on the console and withholds the urge to smack it with his longspear to make it stop flashing, but only mostly because of the mold.
At least none of them are b– WAIT He gasps as the image of the war-orb. ”Was that a b-b-b-bug?!” He scratches nervously at his ear.
He snags back all the cards and hurries to the blood spattered northern door to open it when everyone is ready.
Ruha briefly looks over the strange creatures shown on the display, but she hasn't read anything that covered them. Perhaps not surprising if they're something that went extinct since the age that this ship arrived. After Chaance translates the message, she comments "So they may have been studying these creatures here as well."
"As for the bloodstains, old but not too old means our recent expeditions. And since they did not come back, it should not surprise." She looks for the mold that Zzvkgrogk is pointing out and says "That, on the other hand, is not good."
She heads for the northern door, ready to open it and find out if the fate of an expedition lies inside.
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Chaance has no idea what the lion is, but she can confirm Rhoreen's appreciations on the plant. The elf can give a name to it, which translated from Elven comes to be something like a Weedwhip.
The sighting of the ovoid war-orb brings a higher worry to the stargazer elf. She can confirm the notes expressing the thing feeds on negative emotions.
These creatures are known to you elves as Rhu-Chalik. The image confirms the worries of Queen Telandia Edasseril, that the Fallen Stars of Numeria might have brought down with them agents of the Black Truth, the Dominion of the Black.
Differently to other lesser ancestries, the memory of the elves dates back millennia and spans through different planets. They know about the malevolent, galaxy-spanning conglomerate of aliens, known for eating memories, stealing thoughts, inhabiting bodies and destroying numerous planets over the aeons. The Dominion of the Black, who in fact are just lower minions of the malignant incomprehensible intelligences that rule the aether of the Dark Tapestry.
If Chaance was to find a Rhu-Chalik or another similar alien from the Dominion of the Black, the elves would be able to confirm its presence in Golarion aside from the ancient hieroglyphs found in ancient Osirion and believed to be related to the rise of the four Pharaohs of Ascension at the dawn of Osirion's Second Age in -1498 AR.
Rhu-Chaliks in particular are able to transmit their location, Golarion, to their masters. If they managed to, the Androffan might have brought a counting down Doom to the planet with their arrival. Of course, that would mean Golarion is no safe refuge for the elves, as it would give credit to the ancient Osiriani countdown clocks that point to a date early in 4718 AR, which the scholars interpret as the date a massive Dominion invasion force will arrive on Golarion.
If it is confirmed, it is clear the impact of this information on the passionate human nations could cause more trouble than help and it should be handled with caution.
Anyway, so far, this is only an image on a screen.
As for the mold, it would require a lab for a complete analysis, but a careful inspection makes you think these are remains of the same fungus that affected Gerrol Sonder.
Bloodstains mar the floor and walls of this hallway, while scorch marks and smears of ash on the walls evidence some sort of altercation having taken place in this area relatively recently. Four tangled mounds of metal and other materials lie further up the hall, surrounded by strangely colored stains.
Smears of blood lead down the hall from where you come from to another door to the east. Yet another door goes south from there, but there is no blood in that one.
If the smart-rat mentions the danger of the mold, Yambul is careful to keep his distance.
Then Yambul picks his way through the bloody hallway to the eastern door. ”Let’s follow the blood trail for now.” he suggests as he waits for the door to be opened - his falchion at the ready!
Chaance's goggled eyes narrow, when studying the war-orb's depiction. "Rhu-Chalik. That's... a Rhu-Chalik..." The elf's hand reaches toward the lighted window, but stops mid-air, as if it were afraid to touch the image.
"This day has gone from blasphemous to utterly dreadful."
Chaance turns to the others, her hand still extended towards the depiction of the war-orb. "We've learned to be vigilant, having come this far. This..." Her hand stabs the air. "This is something that should trigger our animal fear." She pulls her hand back, giving it a once over for having been so close to the image.
"If we find one of these, we kill it first, of course. But try not to mangle it beyond recognition." The elf starts to look in every corner of the room, her bow and arrow now in hand.
"Rhu-Chalik. That's... a Rhu-Chalik..."
"That sounds dreadful," Rhor confirms, hoping the creature had long since died of neglect or something else. "Chaance, how do you know this threat? It seems so alien."
When others are ready, she will following them down the bloody hall with her Light spell renewed.
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”Be careful of the mold, do not come into contact with it. I don’t want to find out if it’s still viable and the stuff that got that Sonder boy.”
"This is something that should trigger our animal fear.""That sounds dreadful,"
Zzvkgrogk grunts in agreement. His beady eyes narrow further, and he almost growls. ”It’s not a bug, is it?” he draws the device and starts looking around the room, in the air… everywhere.
Zzvkgrogk opens the door when everyone is ready.
”OOH! Look! These metal mounds! These are er, were like the robots we already encountered, but specialized in medicine! Though, from the looks of it they were not able to do much before they were destroyed…” he trails off…
”Let’s continue following the blood trail for now?” He tries to make it sound like a leadership statement, but it really sounds more like a question. You understand this inflection to be unintended.
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"Medical drones? You say, <*sound*>" Rhoreen makes a sound like dogmole's mating call. "It might be helpful to see if we could get any of these working again. Do you think you could?"
Rhoreen examines the parts and mounds to see if there is anything to be salvaged.
Ruha follows the others, listening to their insights into the creatures in the database and the machines up ahead. "If these Rhu-Chaliks are as dangerous as you say Chaance, then most likely the Androffans were not keeping one to study. If they were an exceptional threat, then it would make sense to have a database-" She clears her throat "Archive storing information on them. If only to share with others."
She glances around, following Chaance's gaze "In the hopefully unlikely case we see one, why do you say we shouldn't mangle it, exactly? Do they do something unpleasant when they're too badly injured? I've heard of beasts that burst upon grievous injury, and oozes that split."
Surveying the hallway, she follows up Rhoreen's comment with "If they were medical robots, either they were already destroyed by the time these injured people moved through here, or they were astoundingly bad at their purpose." She examines the robots briefly to see if they could be salvaged.
She continues carefully down the hall, avoiding stepping into anything.
"So you would think we'd find the bodies together with the largest pools of blood. If only because losing this much and dragging yourself anywhere seems... unlikely." She heads to the two doors at the end and listens to both of them, trying to see if there's anything dangerous beyond.
You inspect the remains of the drones but they are utterly destroyed. The parts could be used to repair or construct new devices but they have no sell value by themselves.
Rūha does not listen anything particular aside from the buzzing sounds of a few machines perhaps. The consensus seems to follow the blood trace to the east, and passing a hand in front of the panel to the right of the door immediately makes the metal surface slide offering you passage beyond.
A long table with various unusual stones and dirt samples heaped on it sits along the southern wall of this room, while to the north a line of metal desks with glowing panels and buttons are placed next to a large humming device. The heart of this device seems to be some sort of flickering sphere of reddish-brown mud or dirt. Dust covers much of this room, save for a strangely clean swath between the doors, which leads to the strange humming device.
To your surprise, you note the blood trace abruptly ends in this door. The “clean stripe” seems to indicate that something came out to clean up all trace of blood on the floor at this point.
As you enter the room, you hear a voice in your heads Where am I? Who are you? What is this place? the tone is that one of an inquisitive child, ravenous for information, that exposes new questions even before you have had time to answer the previous ones.
A small metal box under the easternmost table contains three timeworn flare guns.
Rhoreen moves up behind the party, trying to use her light to keep herself useful.
”What kind of room is this, Ruha? It’s full of rocks,” Rhor asks as she moves up behind the large woman(?).
As Rhoreen hasn’t entered the room yet, she has heard nothing.
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"Chaance, how do you know this threat? It seems so alien."
Chaance nods. "It's very alien. In Iadara, there are weavings in an old tapestry collection I like very much, except for the doomsayings. One of them depicted the Rhu-Chaliks as black raindrops..." The elf fades off in her recollection.
"In the hopefully unlikely case we see one, why do you say we shouldn't mangle it, exactly? Do they do something unpleasant when they're too badly injured? I've heard of beasts that burst upon grievous injury, and oozes that split."
Chaance hesitates to answer, but only briefly. "It's tangible evidence. The Rhu-Chaliks are beacons, you see. They are dangerous in and of themselves, no doubt, but they represent something much, much bigger. They call out to their masters. Something called the Dominion of the Black. Some call it the Black Truth, but that sounds self-righteous. Dominion is the better word. Those masters inhabit the darkness between the stars..." The elf realizes she's not speaking directly on the possibility of discovering a caged war-orb, so she veers back on topic. "I would feel responsible for showing proof that Rhu-Chalik found their way to Golarion, to my superiors in Kyonin. It would be revelatory."
Chaance loathes to see the blood smears, but she is unwilling to enter the next room at the end of the hallway, for fear of bodies dragged through it and beyond. She furrows her brows when the floor appears clean. She respectfully declines to be the first through the doorway.
Yambul hears voices in his head as he steps into the room looking for trouble.
"I can't say exactly where you are 'cuase I can't see you. My name is Yambul. Er, I'm not sure I could really tell you what this place is either for I'm not sure I completely understand it myself." he chuckles as he looks around for the voice.
Ruha isn't particularly unsettled by a telepath speaking to the group - she's spoken to many in the past. But the lack of blood suggests something hungry and possibly dangerous. She carefully looks around the room for anything that might end up animate, as she does she avoids responding to or agitating the 'voice'.
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You inspect the remains of the drones but they are utterly destroyed. The parts could be used to repair or construct new devices but they have no sell value by themselves.
Zzvkgrogk makes off with a small tube containing some filament, stuffing it into his pocket. It may not be worth much, but it is unique in its shiny tubiness.
He listens to Chaance and Rūha discuss star born war-orbs and their terrifying overlords, and shakes his body as if to dry off so furiously both his feet leave the bloody floor for a split second. ”Please, oh, it’s just – if these things feed on negative feelings, and they are around, can we not speak further of them until we are clear of this place?” He forces himself to focus on what’s ahead instead of what’s beneath his feet and enters the room after Rūha the Cook Boy, glad for the apparent cleanliness of the floor.
Immediately drawn to the small metal box, he hears the voice in his head, but figures it is his own imagination trying to play upon his anxiety over war-orbs. OH, shut it already. They’re mere insects… he tells himself.
”I can't say exactly where you are 'cuase I can't see you.”
Realizing that Yambul has heard the voice too, he freezes in place. ”Chef boy, whatever that is, don’t encourage it…” He arms himself with the device.
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"I would feel responsible for showing proof that Rhu-Chalik found their way to Golarion, to my superiors in Kyonin. It would be revelatory."
Rhoreen nods at the answer and the new additional quest that has been offered. She would help with this. It was important to Chaance, so it would be important to her as well.
She waits to see what happens with Yambul’s responses.
No longer the first through the doorway, Chaance catches up, as it brings comfort in both distancing herself from the windowed box of Rhu-Chalik, and staying close to her companions.
"I don't like the voice. It's uncomfortable, being spoken to like this." She looks for a scrying sensor, for at least she knows about magics capable of spying on others.
The voice does ring again in your heads, even the ones not coming inside the room this time Yambul, you and the others with you are new here. Why are you here? Why you do not know what is this place? You seem like the others. What are you?
You look around but there are no apparent magical sensors or living creatures around. Also, as it is in your heads, it is just not possible to tell where the voice is coming from.
What you can tell about the things stored here, is they are rock and soil samples probably taken from various worlds for study. Some workstations to the north seem devoted to catalog the materials but time and the crash landing have scrambled the contents of these records. Some time would be needed to sort them out and learn more.
Closer examination of the humming sphere makes you think it is mud or earth, but encrusted on it, you see some kind of bulb.
Unused to being the talker, Yambul sort of looks at the others uneasily.
"We're looking for the others to save them. That's our goal in being here."
"What is your name? And what do you know of the others? C'mon, fairs fair - I answered your questions after all."
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"It's that. The bulb is talking to us. Why is there so much fungus down here?"
Chaance stays right where she is.
"It is known to eat meat, so take care. I can't tell if it's already eaten, and only has questions for us." The elf is not at all interested in talking directly with the fungus.
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”The same we could ask of you, you disembodied voice.” This is rude, even by Ratfolk standards. ”Why do you not get out of our heads and show yourself? Do you eat cake?” He tries to lighten everyone’s mood in the event this is one of those war-orb things. Negative feelings need not apply.
”Oh, flare guns!” he exclaims. ”Would anyone like to carry one? Take care, though. They’re quite dusty – haven’t been used in awhile. “
Content to carry on as if there was no voice in his head, he tries to distract himself with the business at hand and inspects the sphere without getting too close.
At Chaance's words, he slowly begins to understand and starts to feel sorry for the poor bulb, stuck on a starship probably far far from its home planet with no kin nearby.
”The bulb is the voice? Hrm, is this where you are supposed to be? This is a containment field… but currently its energy is being diverted. Is this – a world?” He tries to figure out how to re-establish full power to the containment field.
My name? Do I have such a thing? the voice sounds again in your heads The other creatures like you were pulled through this room some time ago by metallic creatures not like you.
They left delicious red food on the floor as they were dragged from the west door to the east. The tone of the voice becomes charming, even lovely I licked up the red food.
You can attach a battery to restore the containment field. At least for a few days or a week. Perhaps enough time to find how to restore the original energy source.
There is a moment of pause, then the voice sounds again innocently Can you feed me more red food?
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"We might, but we'll have to go get it... all I have is peanut brittle, and I am guessing your are not a cannibal."
Zzvkgrogk retrieves one of the spare fully charged batteries and attaches it to the relevant slot to reactivate the containment field.
When it is done, he turns to his companions. "Looks like the flare guns are a one shot deal... Let's go find Baine -- assuming we uh, haven't already," he gestures to the bloody floor, "and maybe the source of whatever is draining this containment field! With any luck, maybe we can find something to recharge the batteries we have also. Which way next? Back to the previous corridor's south door, or this one?
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”More blood huh? I dunno what we’re going to find down here, but we’ll do what we can I suppose.” Yambul says uncertainly.
When it is done, he turns to his companions. "...Which way next? Back to the previous corridor's south door, or this one?
”We know they came this way, so let’s press on.” Yambul lines up at the door, falchion raised high and ready. He waits for someone to open the door.
"Wait. You have peanut brittle?" he lowers his falchion a moment in thought. Tasty...
Can you feed me more red food?
Red food? Rhoreen wonders if this would have been another solution to the recurring zombie and skeleton problem, let alone this creature's hunger. Two birds, one 'bone'.
Rhoreen moves in to inspect the sphere.
Know (nature)
Rhor's eyes widen and she steps back from the sphere, then back a bit more.
"Uh guys? And <*sound*>?," Rhor makes a sound like a atomie being sucked through a blowgun trying to include Zzvkgrogk. "I think that mold is a bit smarter than the average. We should be careful. Maybe we should get it more red food. Find out what it knows."
"Good going Zzvkgrogk." Rūha nods "I think if we can find a good source of red food for it, we should come back and help it. Its voice sounds a little like a child, doesn't it? As long as it gets a taste for the right kinds of food, it might even be a relatively civilized one." She shrugs "At least it does not seem actively malicious."
Rūha heads over to the southern door, takes a quick listen for any obvious dangers on the other side, then opens it up.
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With analogy to similar plants and telepathist monsters she knows from Golarion, Rohreen can infer most of what is needed to know about cerebric fungus and how to defeat it.
You are to search for more red food? Do you not have inside as the others? the voice sounds with impatience, but fortunately Zzvkgrogk attaches a battery to the machine and circumvents the natural flow of energy suddenly restoring a confinement force sphere around the mud and bulb No! What have you done?! Why have you trapped me again?! You do not want me to find if you have more red food inside?
With cunning and some luck the rat man defeats the plant telepathist without having to shed a single drop of red food.
That leaves you free way to continue your exploration, but also to check more deeply the room without having to face the hungry impatience of the bulb.
Reading the notes and records left in Androffan, you are able to determine the samples here were from the kasatha homeworld. A few minutes of work can confirm this room was a geology lab, and that the bulk of the most recent samples came from a planet referred to both as “CX-335” (the expedition's original code for the planet) and as “Kasath” (the name used by the kasathas, the planet’s most advanced race). The planet itself is described as an arid world with little water, violent weather patterns, and savage inhabitants of a predominantly hexapodous nature. Perhaps the most interesting bit of information to be learned here is simple confirmation that the habitat dome area was built specifically to mimic life on the surface of Kasath.
This is breakthrough information for anyone interested in alien life.
Following the direction the fungus says the others were pulled, Rūha opens the southern doors. They lead to a corridor with multiple doors. Most prominently, there is a trace of "red food" that leads to the eastern doors.
The ceiling panels still shed light, which makes it easy to move around this area of the metal ruins.