Rhor nods at Zzkgrogk, happy for the ratling's efforts. "Good work."
Rhoreen sorts through the information, at least what she can make sense of, and makes mental notes to think about things later.
"Ruha? This...this is what your people like?" Rhoreen asks, wondering about the one kasathan who she had met long ago. "Do you also prefer hot deserts?"
The Ratfolk's ears blush a little bit as the others praise him, and he packs the flare guns. "Thank you. We should dismantle whatever is sucking away the energy for its containment field so we can have our battery back. It won't last forever."
Zzvkgrogk digests the information gleaned from the workstations slowly, not quite knowing what to make of it all. It doesn’t sound to him as though the Kasath planet was particularly friendly or inhabitable bugs have six legs too… but he doesn’t want to potentially hurt the feelings of the one and only Kasatha present, so he says nothing. Additionally he finds himself in a quandary with an almost broken heart about the bulb, a matter on which for the moment he also remains silent.
"Wait. You have peanut brittle?" he lowers his falchion a moment in thought. Tasty...
"Not now, Cook boy," he says, trying to push Yambul through the door. "Baine first!"
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
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?
”We do have more red food inside, but we need to keep it there or we’ll die you see. And we don’t want that. But there are other creatures that we can bring you. A pig maybe. We all gotta eat after all.” Yambul says grinning - but happy the creature is bound. No need to kill everything they meet if they can avoid it.
"Not now, Cook boy," he says, trying to push Yambul through the door. "Baine first!"
He nods and moves off to the eastern door, where the blood trail leads. ”Shall we?” he inquires before readying his falchion and waiting for someone to open the door.
The group follows the red food and opens the door to the east.
Metal desks sit to the north and south of this long room, yet the most distinctive features are a pair of odd, bedlike tables flanked by curving panels of blinking, pulsing lights. Moving armatures of metal extend out over the beds, each outfitted with glowing panes of glass and strangely glowing tools. The chamber reeks of blood, with great crimson stains splashed across the device, beds, and floor.
The beds have arms with blades, needles and other more rare tools.
Guarding the room is another of those four legged drones, but this one has cylinders loaded with a strange substance on its back and fingers that resemble needles. On sight it says "ກວດພົບອາການຂອງການຕິດເຊື້ອທີ່ຕາຍແລ້ວ. ສົ່ງສໍາລັບການສະແກນເຕັມ."
This is a medical drone, an alien technological version of a clockwork servant, a construct. As such, it is immune to mind-affecting stuff and stunning, but as other technological clockwork this ones are vulnerable to critical hits and electricity.
They have a small fast healing and the liquid in their backs they can inject with ease on attack. The effects vary, but the purpose is usually to weaken the patient to render them unconscious (on a long dose).
There is no trace of whomever left the blood in the ground.
The drone comes over and attempts to stab the needles on its hands in Yambul.
And catching off-guard the cook, the thing puts its needles on the upper part of his right leg. Immediately the liquid on its back starts to go down as it is injected on Yambul's leg.
As it injects the liquid the drone tells Yambul in an emotionless tone "ກະລຸນາຮັກສາຄວາມສະຫງົບ; ເຈົ້າຕ້ອງຜ່ານຂັ້ນຕອນທາງການແພດ."
"Please remain calm; you are to undergo a medical procedure."
"Although they remind me of some pleasant nights in my childhood, I prefer the comfort of the indoors, personally. I worked in a rather large... city, before I came here." She waves a hand toward the way the group had came "One of my friends back in the day was particularly partial to jungle biomes. Something about biodiversity. Painting kasatha in too broad a brush works about as well as you might expect of anyone else."
-----
Ruha heads on after Yambul, slowing as she spots the medical drone. Ordinally not something to be afraid of, this one seems to be malfunctioning. Either that, or the Androffans had a very malevolent idea of medicine. She calls out "If anyone has electrical discharges at their disposal, this would a fine time for one. Otherwise, this medical drone will need to be disabled the more old-fashioned way."
Round 1, Init 8
Rhoreen moves up to support the party, pushing the omen of her skymetal wand at the agitated construct.
HP: 14/14
AC: 12/12/10
Lay on Cats: 0/1 used
Rod of Regret: 0/3 used
Open spell slots:
Left Hand: nothing
Right Hand: nothing
Sage Advice: (0/10 used)
:
[ dice]1d20+2[/dice] ranged to hit;
[ dice]1d4-1[/dice] blunt damage
She casts a very simple spell at Arturo.
”I can do it myself!!”
[ dice]1d8+1[/dice] CLW
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: (medic) (move/immediate; +1 att, dam, bluff, knowledge, perception, sense motive, survival)
Prestidigitation (1/1)
vs DC 11 for -2 Str Dam
Yambul takes the hit and comes to the conclusion he does not like needles! He studies the medic a moment as he hollers, ”Ow! Quit that!” He brings his falchion down on the healer.
(studied, advice)
(studied, advice)
(studied, advice)
(studied, advice)
"Oh, flare guns! Would anyone like to carry one? Take care, though. They’re quite dusty – haven’t been used in awhile."
The elf nods, extending a hand to accept one of the flare guns. "I'm game. I'll only blame myself, should the gun misfire, dusty or no."
Chaance watches as Zzvkgrogk inserts the battery, curious. Her mind eases considerably when the cerebric fungus declares its offense and admitted curiosity as to what exactly lies inside themselves as food source.
You wait here, Fungus. You have yet to demonstrate any empathy, so you're a threat to us, hence our need to keep you contained for now.
...
Reading the notes and records left in Androffan...
Chaance only occasionally looks over at the fungus among us, while she enjoys the exploration of the notes and records. Every tidbit she reveals is read aloud, until it's clear that she's speaking of Kasath, so she reads aloud to Rūha, primarily.
...
AC = 15
HP = 16/16
Weapon Equipped = MW Longbow
Condition(s) = Water Breathing
"Ah, another TickTock. This one wants to scan you for contagious infection, Yambul." Chaance wonders if the TickTock knows something they do not about their resident cook.
"Yea. Like, maybe they said to it – ‘Calm down stupid TicToc, conserve your energy’, You know – in TicToc language.”
Chaance looks from Yambul's lanced arm to the ratfolk, back to the TickTock.
"ສະຫງົບ TickTock ທີ່ໂງ່, ຮັກສາພະລັງງານຂອງທ່ານ."
"Calm down stupid TickTock, conserve your energy."
Chaance keeps her eyes on the TickTock, while addressing Zzvkgrogk. "You really think this will work?"
Rūha recognizes what kind of machine the group has in front and gives good advice accordingly.
Rhoreen points her wand towards the metal thing but nothing seems to happen.
As Yambul adjust his position to fight, the injection gets out and it seems it did not hurt him, the needle went through the waterskin but found only armor behind, the red liquid was wine perhaps? He follows up with a falchion strike that breaks part of the arm and one of the liquid tubes behind.
Chaance attempts to use some kind of voice programing interface on the machine, but after the tremendous hit, the medical drone does not respond as she might expect.
Zzvkgrogk does something heroic!
"ບໍ່ມີເຫດຜົນທີ່ຈະຕໍ່ສູ້, ເຈົ້າຢູ່ໃນມືທີ່ປອດໄພ," the medical drone keeps trying to inject the anesthetic on Yambul.
And this time manages to inject the liquid in one arm, but Yambul's strong build responds good against the anesthetic.
“There is no reason to struggle, you are in safe hands,”
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
AC = 15
HP = 16/16
Weapon Equipped = MW Longbow
Condition(s) = Water Breathing
"Well, that doesn't seem to have discouraged it. Yambul, it's uninterested in you struggling. Safe hands, and all. So, let's just start with what we have. What did it do to you? Tell me, Yambul. And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. How do you feel?"
Chaance waits a short while, respectfully, while Zzvkgrogk decides that aggression is the better option here.
Round 2, Init 1
Rhoreen stubbornly tries again to ignore the fact that her powers seemingly have no effect, even though she knows it should.
It's almost like the gods have cursed me, rather than my omen doing the work.
HP: 14/14
AC: 12/12/10
Lay on Cats: 0/1 used
Rod of Regret: 0/3 used
Open spell slots:
Left Hand: nothing
Right Hand: nothing
Sage Advice: (0/10 used)
:
[ dice]1d20+2[/dice] ranged to hit;
[ dice]1d4-1[/dice] blunt damage
She casts a very simple spell at Arturo.
”I can do it myself!!”
[ dice]1d8+1[/dice] CLW
Maintaining her advice, Rūha slips around the medical drone, then delivers a jab to the back of its chassis.
Her movements are far from subtle. "This one is more fragile than it looks."
Zzvkgrogk moves and draws his longspear. He stabs at what he believes is the visual acquiring unit of the drone.
For
”Aawrg! STOP STABBING THE COOK!”
Delay.
He stabs again if a clearer opening presents itself.
For
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): 1 / 3
Batteries 1 (used to charge Bulb Containment Field hopefully temporarily)
Batteries (Uncharged): 1
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: (medic) (move/immediate; +1 att, dam, bluff, knowledge, perception, sense motive, survival)
Prestidigitation (1/1)
”Ow you little tin man, stop doing that!” He looks over his shoulder at Chaance briefly, ”It hurts! Needles hurt!”
He continues to press his attack, but he five foot steps into the room as well (so Rūha will need to move slightly further for her flank). He wants to open up for the others without his big fat head in the way.
(studied, advice)
(studied, advice)
"Ah, we're going to attack it then." Chaance nods to Zzvkgrogk, who is currently in the act of stabbing at the TickTock.
"Needles hurt!"
"This one looks like it should, but some needles are effective for lessening pain, not exacerbating it. I was hoping this alien technology would be kind to the recipients of its ministrations."
Zzvkgrogk tries to poke the drone, but with Yambul in the way it is hard to do.
You see how some of the damage fast heals.
Rhoreen insists on pointing at the metal thing with her wand bringing to it a bad curse.
And as they say, those who keep trying get the win!
The medical drone attacks Rūha as she maneuvers around it, but it very unluckily bangs the door instead of her. The Kasatha follows up with a punch that breaks one of the cylinders in the back spoiling liquid.
While Zzvkgrogk waits for an opening, Yambul dances with the drone and Rūha, striking with his falchion and destroying a whole section, leaving wires and black liquid to be seen.
The movement is profited by the rat man to pierce through the shell opening yet another hole!
Chaance puts an arrow through the door and into the core of the tictoc, where she knows the last vital point is left.
The thing collapses to the ground done a complete wreckage.
Your throughout search brings nothing of use here. Although those beds with saws and needles seem interesting if you want to try them out. There is nothing of interest in here. Definitely no trace of whomever left the blood in the ground. If it left the room alive, it was not bleeding anymore.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Yeah, its ministrations consisted of jabbing me painfully. Not much bedside manner either." he chuckles reaching for the healing wand.
He watches the others search as he keeps an eye on the tin box that was jabbing people. Just in case it gets up again.
"Oh I *knew* it. I knew it would work," Rhors smugs happily as he wand finally does what it was supposed to do (and a bit too late at that).
Perception
Rhoreen is so busy smugging about her wand working that she fails to see anything else.
If there is nothing else, she will move to help Yambul with the next door and room.
"Yay!" Zzvkgrogk III cheers, glad for the make of the longspear's materials having prevented him from further shock.
He looks over the room.
"Would anyone like to try out these beds with saws and needles? I wouldn't think so. I do not see much else of use here."
He checks over Yambul.
"What'd it give you?"
He tears off the back panel of the drone looking for a blueprint or a manual, then rips out and pockets a particularly sparkly piece from the inside.
When everyone is ready, he follows to the next door.
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: 40/50
Batteries (Charged): 1 / 3
Batteries 1 (used to charge Bulb Containment Field hopefully temporarily)
Batteries (Uncharged): 1
"To be fair Yambul, whatever it was saying could have been reassuring to the Androffans." The edges of Ruha's eyes crinkle as she smiles. "At least we dealt with it quickly. It certainly seems as though some of the other explorers were not so lucky."
Ruha glances around the room. "Isn't it odd that despite the blood trail here, there are no bodies to be found? That suggests the medical drone was functional rather than aggressive. Or at the very least functional enough to stop an unknown patient's bleeding. I find that hard to reconcile with the state we found it in." She narrows her eyes at the bed, looking under it briefly. "But the alternative, that the body simply vanished from here, is even more outlandish."
Without any further leads, Rūha distractedly follows to the next door in this house of horrors.
Opening the door north of Yambul finds what seems a place to relax.
Two circular metal tables and several chairs fill the bulk of this room. Metal cabinets sit against the walls, while to the north stands a large machine with glowing panels on its surface. The air in this room feels unusually warm.
The machine on the north wall has glowing panels on its surface that are red-hot and are the source of the warmth in the chamber.
You think this machine was for food preparation and you know how to use it to cook some food here. You place the meat on the panels and it will grill like in a griddle.
Anyone foolish enough to touch one of these burners takes 1d3 points of fire damage (Ref lex DC 11 negates).
A search of the cabinets finds a large collection of 120 goo tubes , pressing them reveals a strange but good smelling pastry, each tube with a different flavor. Unfortunately, roughly half of these tubes are spoiled.
Know (Engineeering)
Apparently, Rhoreen likes to dabble in the kitchen because she instantly recognizes this room for what it is, ”Ah! A kitchen! Very interesting,” she says as she moves in to inspect the area. ”Yambul, come see!”
Rhoreen will open and sniff at a goo tube, but decide it’s not for her. She does take a few to sell or trade if she can find a market for them, even spoilt.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
vs DC 12
Yambul heads over to look at the so-called stove. He doesn’t understand what it is right away until Rhoreen explains it to him slowly.
Then he gets it as he puts his hand over the heat (but not touching). ”Oh! That’s even heating that is. You know how hard that is to achieve on a grill with charcoal or wood? You’ve got to constantly stoke the coals, spread ‘em around right, add new fuel - but not too much, or too little! It’s such a pain. This is great.”
Yambul looks to see if it can be removed somehow and brought back with them. He imagines not but, briefly, he dreams… Or, if I can breathe water all the time, I could live down here!
He looks around the room, shudders a little, and waits for the others to search. He’ll casually walk through the room to the NW door. When everyone is ready, he raises his falchion and waits for the door to be opened.
”That suggests the medical drone was functional rather than aggressive.”
"Maybe not so good, this drone seemed to regard mortality or life as an infectious disease. The effects of this injection vary, but the main goal seems to have been to sedate. Perhaps the body was vaporized. We seem to be coming full circle here on the blood trail... wasn't there rust-mold spores leading from the eastern door by the security desk? Could that be what is behind this door?" Zzvkgrogk points to the western door in the breakroom.
Zzvkgrogk turns to Chaance.
"Sorry, I got excited back there. I meant to say 'thanks' for trying to talk to the TicTok. Also, should it not be too cold and you have the energy, you can try talking to it while shooting at it too. I guess. I mean, if you must. I mean..."
He sighs in resignation.
"... I just wish we could haul one out intact, like Baine did. Still, maybe we'll find more neat pieces!" he opens the west door in the break room for everyone.
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: 40/50
Batteries (Charged): 1 / 3
Batteries 1 (used to charge Bulb Containment Field hopefully temporarily)
Batteries (Uncharged): 1
After others are done cooing over the cool cooking cooktops, Rhor will follow the others to the next door.
This has been good so far. So good. Dangerous, but nothing I can’t handle.
With the others assistance, Yambul finds out the griddle could be effectively relocated with a bit of effort. The only problem would be the source of power, as it does not work with coal but some type of sparks like tempest bolts.
Passing the hand just in front of the western door automatically opens it into a new corridor.
Rhoreen moves up to the next door in the next hallway, following Yambul.
”I wonder how big this place is. It’s amazing that we’re underground.”
As Rhoreen and Yambul move next to the western door in the corridor, the door opens easily by itself just by proximity.
This sprawling chamber contains many desks, tables, and chairs arrayed before a number of broken pieces of equipment and machinery. The dried residue of liquids spilled from smashed containers creates a heavy stench in the air, and pieces of glass litter the floor.
A line of metal boxes sized for small animals and lab specimens takes up much of the eastern hallway; all of them now lie open.
The rest of the room contains multiple workstations, cabinets, and lab equipment designed to support biochemical research and the analysis of alien environments and ecosystems. Most of these devices—as well as several vials, flasks, and beakers—lie broken and scattered on the floor, either tossed aside during the crash or damaged due to violence enacted by the room’s more recent occupants.
A mixture of strange chemicals and protolife samples that had been held in stasis for thousands of years and recently released, have formed here nonsentient but hungry globs of ravenous protoplasms. These three tiny globs of mobile ooze stop their aimless slither around the room to instinctively lurch toward the living creatures opening the door.
Those perceptive among you note the broken glass as a hazard, like some kind of little caltrops.
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: (red ooze) (move/immediate; +1 att, dam, bluff, knowledge, perception, sense motive, survival)
Prestidigitation (1/1)
”With all the crap on this floor, let them come to us!” Yambul suggests as he eyes the red one (study)
He’ll then ready an attack should the ooze close. His preference is red of course, but he’ll attack whatever he can reach.
+1 attack and damage if it’s the red one.
+1 attack and damage (stacks) if Rūha gives advice.
- - -
Round 1, Init 17
Rhoreen activates her omen'd wand at red, and then moves back out of the way of people who might be more useful, like those wielding bows.
HP: 14/14
AC: 12/12/10
Lay on Cats: 0/1 used
Rod of Regret: 0/3 used
Open spell slots:
Left Hand: nothing
Right Hand: nothing
Sage Advice: (0/10 used)
:
[ dice]1d20+2[/dice] ranged to hit;
[ dice]1d4-1[/dice] blunt damage
She casts a very simple spell at Arturo.
”I can do it myself!!”
[ dice]1d8+1[/dice] CLW
Rūha advances, getting a look at the room and its chaotic mess of chemicals and bodily (???) fluids. "Why not just close the doors? For all we know, there's worse hazards than just some animate globs of blood currently wafting out of the room." She quickly takes a second glance through the room. "And I don't see any sign of survivors."
"And these boilborn, they'll just explode if we strike them. Getting showered in acidic blood and contracting leprosy is not high on my list of preferences."
The red boilborn is cursed by Rhoreen's skymetal omen power while Yambul and Rūha take position in front of the doors.
The oozes slowly crawl through the ground until one of them reaches the door, moment Yambul profits to attack, almost cutting half the red ooze despite his not perfect swing. The boilborn survives though.
Unless prevented pushing the panel on the side of the door the door closes automatically after Chaance's actions. It can also be locked in an open position with a tap on the panel using one of the cards.
"Well, I suppose we can skip this room then." suggests Yambul, also not wanting to get leprosy. Dropping flesh in food isn't a good way to cook.
He waits to see if Zzvkgrogk will close the doors before acting.
"Can we lock 'em?" he asks though it doesn't seem like the blobs could open the doors without aid.
Rūha nods "Possibly, depending on how their security is set." She thinks back to how the doors have worked thus far to try to tell if they can be locked again.
Rhoreen pauses, seeking consensus on leaving these oozes behind the party. If it were up to her, she'd fight.
This sprawling chamber contains…
”OH BRIGH! A Lab! A real lab with… a really ruined –” his stops as his eyes catch a glimmer of sparkley gelatanous red.
”And these boilborn, they'll just explode if we strike them. Getting showered in acidic blood and contracting leprosy is not high on my list of preferences.”
No! I could clean it up!
”No!.oor…” he stutters.Do you know what I could do with a real lab!!??
”Dddo…” he continues to stutter.
Why, I could prove my Transmogrification Theory!
”Why I – I-I-I…” he shakes his head in horror as he realises how closely boilborn resemble war-orbs.
”I mean, ‘Nor do I’ -- want acid burns or leprosy… Let’s just leave it behind. Let the doors close, and we'll go another way.”
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: 40/50
Batteries (Charged): .8 / 3
Batteries 1 (used to charge Bulb Containment Field hopefully temporarily)
Batteries (Uncharged): 1
"Sorry, I got excited back there. I meant to say 'thanks' for trying to talk to the TicTok. Also, should it not be too cold and you have the energy, you can try talking to it while shooting at it too. I guess. I mean, if you must. I mean... I just wish we could haul one out intact, like Baine did. Still, maybe we'll find more neat pieces!"
Chaance keeps watching forward, as each door snicks back to reveal a different kind of quarters in the ship, listening to the ratfolk's excitement. "You're the one with an knack for batteries. Maybe we need to find a way to strip the batteries out of the TickTocks, so they can be explored without needle flailing." Chaance raises an eyebrow at the furry fellow. "Don't worry, I'll keep trying. Maybe one of these times, I'll say something that resonates with the strange contraptions."
AC = 15
HP = 16/16
Weapon Equipped = MW Longbow
Condition(s) = Water Breathing
"Roo's right. Those are absolutely disgusting bags of bile."
Chaance readies an arrow, should one of the creatures try and attack one of her own. If the door closes before any threat crosses the threshold, she declines to loose the projectile, for fear of bathing the frontliners in acidic bile...
Once the doors close, the elf debates. "They're slow, so we could lead them out of that room, Zzvkgrogk, so we might investigate it without fear of disease splatter." She points back they way they came, and indicates the circular path they could run, while attacking the boils from a healthy distance.
The party discusses what needs to be done, in a matter of seconds Chaance raises her bow and nocks an arrow ready to destroy the ooze, but as they wait the door effectively closes itself.
If they know how to, the oozes do not open the door again. The single other direction in this corridor is the southern door which you can open without problems.
This unlit circular room is empty save for a panel of controls on the wall to the northwest. A coil of tubes dangling from the left side of the panel periodically flashes with sparks, while a single square window on the panel blinks with several lines of strange writing.
The words translate to the following:
Deck 4: Engineering
Deck 3: Science <-
Deck 2: Crew
Deck 1: Docking
The last line titled “WARNING” is f lashing in red, while the line titled “Deck 3” is bright blue; the other three lines are faint blue.
You note that while the floor seems quite solid, the ceiling here appears to be hollow.
The repairs needed here are relatively simple tasks that require no real knowledge of technology, although knowledge of metalworking is required. An examination of the sparking tube reveals that a coupling link that once attached the device to the panel has torn free—even a cursory examination of the sparking tip of the broken cord reveals that such a repair could easily be made at a forge. If the circular metal coupling can be repaired, it’s a simple matter of reattaching the power cord to the panel to reactivate this machine.
The coupling is made of glaucite. Without Torch's flame, this metal can only be worked and repaired with a hot forge fire in a full forge, but it is still a possible task unlike with adamantine. The forge at the Foundry Tavern works perfectly for this task. A successful DC 15 Disable Device or Strength check is needed to remove the broken element from the power cable, but the sparks here are dangerous . Once the coupling is detached, the repair process takes 8 hours and requires a successful DC 25 Craft (metalworking) or similar check (like armor or weapon). Failure doesn’t ruin the coupling, and a new attempt to repair it can be made after another day of work. Characters without the Technologist feat can still make this fix with a –5 penalty on the check.
Chaance lowers her weapon as the doors close, glad for the peace and quiet, however fleeting. "Well, I'm all for clearing out those dangers, we just need to be competent in avoiding their bursts."
When a blinking panel presents itself, the elf steps up and starts translating the words of Androffa. "Ooooo, like decks on a ship! Engineering here... Science here... I think this is where we are, since the blue glows most strongly, while we stand here... Crew on this one, and Docking at the fourth position. Well, it's numbered '1', so maybe these are levels of the decks? Yes, that seems reasonable."
When the blinking red demands her attention, Chaance gives it. "'Elevator off-line'. Hrm. Suppose we're standing in a cylinder that can rise or fall at our command." An angry spark rebuts her, so the elf nods begrudgingly. "Zzvkgrogk, I don't suppose you know how to fix that sparky thing, so we might travel to the other decks?"
The elf has her ideas, but she respectfully waits for the more enthusiastic member of their search team to have a look himself.
Know (Engineering)
Know (Engineering)
Rhoreen will explain what she sees upon examining the room.
"Elevator? That thing goes up and down? Neat."
Still thinking back to the lab room, Rūha comments "Bringing them down from a distance would work fine. Since they don't seem to know how to operate the doors, we could even time opening and closing the doors to pick them off one by one." She nods "And I agree that we should come back eventually."
At the elevator, Rūha looks over the room for a few moments without really seeing it, then says "Of course." as Rhor starts explaining "Good to know that it can be repaired using the technology of Golarion, rather than having to find some part somewhere within this seemingly quite significant ship." She reaches up and taps the roof. "I wonder if there's another way up by just opening an emergency hatch or something similar."
She probes the ceiling for something that could be opened.
Yambul joins the others in the circular room. When things are explained to him, he shrugs, "Broken, yeah? Takes days to fix? Well, at least we know Baine didn't go this way. Let's keep going Rūha." Though he is interested in secret passages too.
When folks are done investigating, he suggests the western double doors, which seem to link up to the entry room. If so, he suggests they check the closet (in C1), just by way of completeness before returning to the circular room (C9) and going south.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"OH, the boilborn... yes, I like the idea of opening the door, letting them get so far, and blasting them just before the door shuts on their exploding show."
Zzvgrogk shrugs at Chaance's translation. "Elevator? As in, some sort of levitation device? Soooo, we could go up to different floors!"
He gets more excited at the tubes. "So this works it?! Be careful of the sparks -- they'll make your fur stand on end!"
"I think I see how this comes off..."
He has to jump and do the splits in the midair (more or less) to avoid the sparks, but manages to successfully dislodge the broken piece safely.
"That was lucky. I do hope to have progeny someday. A Zzvgrogk IV. Calliope, you look like a crafts-person. Maybe you can reforge this piece at the Foundry, and we can get this levitation machine going?"
He hands the piece to Rhoreen so she can assess what needs to be done to fix it.
"Rūha! Look at what you found!" If she manages to lift a ceiling tile, he'll repeatedly jump for it attempting to get a paw hold to peek inside.
"Awwg!! Why are there no portable steps here?!"
"Beware of spores," he cautions Yambul as he heads for the western door. He follows and when everyone is ready, opens the door if no one else has already.
Before you can even register what he is talking about, the lively ratfolk has his hands on the tangle of wires and tubes. There a many sparks and a metallic sound, but Zzvgrogk raises triumphant the broken piece without a single burn on his fury paws!
Rhoreen receives the piece and examines it. She can proudly state she is able to craft a substitution for this.
Your examination of the ceiling confirms Rhoreen's observation that it is hollow, but you find no hatch of any type. If you want to check that are up, you will have to open your way through true glaucite skymetal. Which would be hard even with appropriate adamantine tools.
Yambul opens the western doors that indeed lead back to the entrance desktop, although there are some extra doors in the southern wall of the corridor.
Back in the entrance, you check the closet, which will refuse to open with one of the brown cards you have been using, but the black one will see the door unlocked.
The closet contains several upright lockers, most of which contain only strange pieces of junk and rubble. Still, a search of all five lockers uncovers some items of use, including 3 fully charged batteries, 26 silverdisks and an strange cylinder with a lens in one side but not in the other, which makes it very ineffective as a spyglass.
This is in fact a flashlight, some kind of torch even more technologically advanced than an oil lantern. It is at full capacity, with its 10 charges intact.
One of the lockers contains a small locked security bin. This bin has a white-labeled panel on its surface, but you have no white access card.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Rūha withdraws the cylinder points it lens-end toward the southern end of the room. She flicks the switch on the side without hesitation, producing a wide beam that illuminates that side of the room in pale light "Just a flashlight." She shines it toward the group briefly "Certainly more portable and practical than a lantern, don't you think?"
She passes the remaining batteries and silverdisks to Zzvkgrogk. His 'device' was probably going to need them soon, unless she had wildly misunderstood its nature.
As for the security bin, she checks it its portable. If it isn't she just mentally logs its location. A well secured stash likely meant something worth protecting was inside. Most likely, it was the personal belongings of some Androffan, and probably useless in today's world. But it could be something that might help handle the increasingly sophisticated dangers ahead.
She follows Yambul back to the elevator and readies to head through the southern doors.
Yambul is impressed by the haul, and smiles as Rūha shows how the device works. He too wonders what is inside the security bin, but shrugs away his disappointment.
Is everyone ready?" he asks as he lines up by the door ready for action.
"Certainly more portable and practical than a lantern, don't you think?"
"Oh neat," Rhor notes the light with awe. "That's very good for when you don't have easily castable magics around. Could be useful."
Rhor will stand appropriately back behind Yambul when the doors are ready to be opened.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Zzvkgrogk looks at the chest hopelessly. ” This is beyond my skill at the moment… but maybe we’ll find a white card nearby or above.”
He eagerly accepts the batteries and silver disks from Rūha, but his greed overrides his sense and he staggers under the weight. He trudges over to Yambul and offers the stash. Well, some of the stash. He keeps a battery in his pocket. ”Would you?”
"Just a flashlight." She shines it toward the group briefly "Certainly more portable and practical than a lantern, don't you think?"
Zzvkgrogk shades his eyes from the glare as Rūha points the light at the group.
He nods in agreement. ”It is also safer and less stinky than other forms of light, if one must have light.”He opens the southern door to the south in the elevator when everyone is ready.
You go back to the elevator and open the last door there. What you find is another corridor, this one with doors to many different places.
Yambul lines up at the single door next - though again he waits for others to be ready.