Talltree starts with a cantrip (detect magic) and scans for mystical auras before using another cantrip (psychokinetic hand) to drop various small objects near and in one of the depressions.
While there is no magic as such detected, when Talltree drops a large stone into the depression it rapidly snaps shut. Now you think about it, there are a number of bulges in the area that look quite a bit like the new one that stands in front of you.
Oh yes, there is one real near the base. If someone had fallen off the tower while it was being constructed, or while they were doing the calibration... it looks like they may have landed in it... Lucky you.
Well, who knows what you might find inside one of those mounds if you could cut it open somehow... Of course, who knows what cutting it open might do...
| SP 18/18 | HP 22/22 | RP 5/5 | EAC 19 KAC 19 | Fort +1 Ref +7 Will +3; Evasion; +2 vs. disease, mind-affecting, poison, sleep (unless specifically targets constructs) | Init +9 Perception +9; Darkvision, low-light vision | Speed 40 | Active effects: none | Female Companion Android Sensate Operative (Spy) 3
Tania makes sure nobody else is close, then tries shooting into one of the mounds to see if anything is inside and dangerous. If there is no hostile reaction, she'll risk getting a little closer to check it out.
You can blast open one of the mounds. Inside you find the a horrid grey goo. Looking through it you find the mostly "digested" remains of one of those birds that attached you at the previous tower.
Also you find what looks like a pearl.. its not a pearl, but something that is created in a similar manner.
life science DC 18:
These "traps" all appear to be connected to one organism—much like some large root structure—and that the viscous fluid is a calcium-rich substance that serves as some form of blood.
| SP 18/18 | HP 22/22 | RP 5/5 | EAC 19 KAC 19 | Fort +1 Ref +7 Will +3; Evasion; +2 vs. disease, mind-affecting, poison, sleep (unless specifically targets constructs) | Init +9 Perception +9; Darkvision, low-light vision | Speed 40 | Active effects: none | Female Companion Android Sensate Operative (Spy) 3
Tania sighs, making sure she turns on her environmental protections before examining too closely, muttering something about only remember high school biology...
”Norbert” | Male NG Halfling Operative 1 | SP 6/6 HP 8/8 |RP 5/5 | EAC 16 KAC 17 Resist Acid 5 | F +2 R +6 W +2 | Perc +7 | Init +5 | Speed 30ft | Active Conditions:-1 CON
female CG stellifera enhanced envoy 7 | SP 0/42 HP 58/60 | RP 9/9 | EAC 24; KAC 25 | Fort +6; Ref +10; Will +7 (+2 vs. MA) | Init: +7 | Perc: +6 (darkvision 60 ft.), SM: +6+1d6+1 | Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft. | free Clever Feint 1/1 | 0 Reroll | Active conditions: None.
Khubelu heads the bike toward the last site, pouring on some extra speed so that they can hopefully complete the task and be back to base before nightfall.
”Norbert” | Male NG Halfling Operative 1 | SP 6/6 HP 8/8 |RP 5/5 | EAC 16 KAC 17 Resist Acid 5 | F +2 R +6 W +2 | Perc +7 | Init +5 | Speed 30ft | Active Conditions:-1 CON
Norbert puts the buggy into gear and the tires spin as he guns the accelerator.
Norbert gives his passengers a bit of a worry as he slams on the buggy breaks and narrowly avoids a wash-out in the route, but apart from that the team make it to the final location provided without any major incident... just as the sun is approaching the horizon.
A long, shallow depression winds across the plateau in this area. Like the rest of the region, it is entirely covered in a gray, shelllike substance. The research team has labeled this region as a dry riverbed, though in fact no one is entirely sure if there was ever water here. The small crater walls rise to a height of about 4 feet, enough to hide someone lying down.
You arrive at the top of the ridge, which descends steeply.
Athletics check to descend, or if you are feeling brave, you could drive of the edge.
Further down the gully, towards the site indicated for the tower, you spot a large, green-skinned quadruped with a flame-colored crest and massive bony projections.
life science DC 16:
This is a cresteater, a predator native to Kasath and sometimes raised as pets by kasathas.
If you hit 21 then open the next spoiler as well.
Spoiler:
Crest-eaters spit a bone-dissolving acid.
If you hit 26 open the final one too!
Spoiler:
Crest-eaters can track anyone who has been struck by this acid.
Expedition status: at tower three
Time elapsed 9 hours - plus change for the fight and "trap" investigation.
Time til dusk 1 hours.
buggy damage: 7
cycle damage: 1
"Odd...that looks just like a crest eater, a kasathan predator. If it is, I don't know how it got here. Kasathans supposedly raise them as pets, though, so it might have escaped from some."
Female Quorlu Icon Battleflower Vanguard 7 | SP 91/91 | HP 55/55 | RP 8/9 | EP 1| EAC 26 KAC 28; +1 when EP>0; unflankable, evasion, uncanny agility; +4 vs. bull rush, reposition, or trip | Fort +11 Ref +8 Will +3; resist cold 7, elec 5, fire 5; +2 vs. bleed, disease, poison effects; vuln to cold (fatigued) | Init +3; Perception +11; Darkvision, low-light vision | Speed 45 | Reroll | Campaign Coin | Active effects: none
Chrysanthemum waves up at Dirk from the ground. "Just fine. I meant to do that." She pushes herself upright, using her third hand to brush off a few clinging pieces of "gravel."
She will say this even if she's injured, because she obviously meant to do that. No one would do something that silly otherwise.
”Norbert” | Male NG Halfling Operative 1 | SP 6/6 HP 8/8 |RP 5/5 | EAC 16 KAC 17 Resist Acid 5 | F +2 R +6 W +2 | Perc +7 | Init +5 | Speed 30ft | Active Conditions:-1 CON
