Perhaps it is a matter of habit, and once you slip back into the old routines, they're hard to shake off, but Bleach continues to wear his plain old clothes instead of the fancy necromancer garb they got him for that art party sometime back. The man's exposed limbs and digits remain brutally scarred, and for the whole world to see, but unlike before, Bleach seems more at ease with it now.
"Hrm, I ought to find myself a minion of Urgathoa that can pick a lock ..." The possible double entendre completely flies over his clean-shaven head.
"I'll do it..." Eva says as Lora seems uninclined to dirt her pretty hands on grease. For a moment she imagines herself covered in oil and someone... Gods, we need to finish this s$@& now.
You unlock the door and head into the side entrance of the Hydroforge. You find yourselves in a open space that serves as a viewing platform for the power generators. The deafening sounds of crashing water and whirring machinery fill the area to the north. Eight enormous turbines perch on the edge of a waterfall in the back of the building. Streams of water rush through them and then down the waterfall to the rocks below. The walls of the facility extend out into the air past the waterfall and downward to another level below.
Stairs in this room lead up to the roof, and a door is set in the south wall.
"You mean going back to my old job before we were forced to work for the law?" Royken grouses back before the sound of the waterfall drowns out his continued grumbling.
Gun in hand, he leads the group to the door.
City maps and engineering schematics hang on the walls of this room. A large table stands in the center of the area. Atop the table is a miniature model of the city of Alkenstar. Small red flags and lines of red thread crisscross the tiny city, all leading back to a central flag above a replica of the Tinwound Hydroforge.
Of more immediate concern, however, is a horde of zombies milling about! The rotting corpses have strange clockwork parts augmenting their bodies. Several of them wear the blue-gray uniforms of Hyrdoforge workers, while the rest appear to be regular people. Disturbingly, about two dozen of the engineers’ bodies have all had their heads removed
The zombies groan as they begin to form into a troop!
"I think..." Lora leans against the dwarf "Smuggling and Secrets could go hand in Rather well." she offers job alliance, at least the budding potential of one, once they have a chance.
"ZOMBIES!" she laughs. "Bly'gha, you expertise awaits."
"Don't get stuck in with them. Keep moving, and they'll struggle to catch you." But perhaps these clockwork ones aren't exactly your normal kind of zombie. Best not to mention that bit out loud, for now.
Bleach then weaves a spell that, if effective, will surely gross Lora out in a way that she'll most likely want to forget.
Trying to take advantage of the still animating undead and hopping that all the gears would serve as a conductor, Eva dashes forward and punches the ground releasing a massive burst of electricity around her.
Bleach causes the lead zombie to grow a blister, which promptly pops, splattering the horde with acid. Eva's electric explosion is effective at damaging many of the zombies.
The horde surges forward, moving around and about you all as they lash, grabbing and pummeling you!
HP 123/136
AC 27
Fort +19 (juggernaut), Ref +17, Will +15 (bravery)
Hero points: 2
Ammo: 46 rounds
Effects:
"Grrr! Get off me!" Royken growls as he moves out of the mob before turning and unloading a blast from his gun.
Bleach is accustomed to the groping habits of zombies and that experience helps him quite a bit! Skillfully, he dodges their hands and sharp teeth, and then attempts to get out.
"I think I'll just stay away from them all together." Lora says in response to their necromancer's suggestions. She lets her magic inspire while she draws her pistol and fires in one easy motion.
Eva dodges some of the zombies, overdrives her arm and then begins to pound them.
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Lora's bullet pierces the heads of several zombies, dropping them. Royken fires into the horde, further wounding them. As Bleach falls back and raises a shield, Eva overdrives her arm and lays into the zombies.
The smaller horde swarms around Royken and Eva.
Bleach and Lora can see the doors across the way to the west burst open as a second horde of clockwork zombies emerges! They begin to shuffle towards the wizard and bard, though the narrow bridge slows their progress.
Eva keeps swinging no matter what, dodging and smashing! She can be quite scary when angered...
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Lora's eyes go big as multiple heads explode with her one shot, pausing only a moment before she starts to reload. "One two three four. Zombies heads popping to the floor." the bard rhymes so her magic can inspire.
Bleach focuses his attention on the second horde and conjures a magical layer of grease to slow them down.
HP 115/136
AC 27
Fort +19 (juggernaut), Ref +17, Will +15 (bravery)
Hero points: 2
Ammo: 44 rounds
Effects:
Royken manages to avoid the worst of the zombies, but spots the next group coming. He unloads a blast from his gun, reloads, and fires again!
Eva demolishes the remaining zombies in the first horde, bodies piled up around her. Royken fires at the second horde as it draws near but doesn't harm them.
Bleach's grease proves quite effective, causing the zombie horde to slip and fall! Several zombies fall off of the bridge over the waterway and are swept away into the gears of the Hydroforge, where they suffer a swift and brutal demise.
The remaining zombies get back to their feet and continue across the bridge, making it to the platform where you all stand. They are unable to attack yet.
Lora twirls her loaded pistol around her finger, catches its hilt then fires. She cries out in delight at heads pop "Like fish, in one of those barrels." seems like she is an expert shot when there are so many targets there is no possibility of missing.
Her fish comment is magically enhanced to inspire.
HP 115/136
AC 27
Fort +19 (juggernaut), Ref +17, Will +15 (bravery)
Hero points: 2
Ammo: 43 rounds
Effects:
Royken reloads his scattergun and blasts it right into the center mass of the zombies and quickly reloads again.
Bleach visibly relaxes when one horde goes down and his grease spell noticeably hinders the other. He falls back and assists his friends by launching one ray of frost after another at the remaining horde.
Bleach blasts the zombies with ice, then both Lora and Royken both score critical hits with their gunshots! Blood, gears, and body parts fly every which way as the horde is quickly decimated! Within moments, the zombies lie dead at your feet.
Royken grunts. "Lots of f%~$ing dead people," he growls, wondering if any of them were the kidnapping victims.
"Let's see what they were stuck in here with," he says, going to take a look around the room.
It only hits Bleach that these were real people before some wicked necromancer abused their earthly remains to create this. Quickly, perhaps too quickly thanks to decades of experience and training, the wizard banishes that path of thought to the nether realms. "Best not ponder on it for now, that's what those who use undead want you to do. If you want, Hadi can scout ahead. I can recall him if necessary, and weave protecting enchantments before we get stuck in another fight."
The dead people being forced to walk doesn't bother Lora. Dead is Dead, and once you are you are. She does seem very interested in the maps and miniature city. "Nothing makes life easier when the crazies leave out their plans. What do you think all the red lines means leading to the Hydroforge?"
She does nod to the suggestion to scouting and gives Hadi a scratch on their bones.
Between all the corpses of the zombies, you are able to recover 130 gp in spare coin.
Searching the room the zombies in which the first zombie horde was confined, you can see that the maps plot out the city's (currently limited) electricity grid. A forgotten shock rune lies discarded on the table next to the model city.
Eva is eager to leave the room with the zombies, but sees the wisdom in Bleach's offer. "I believe we should indeed have Hadi scout for us... let's avoid the main entrance and be as objective as possible. We already know they have left surprises for us so the few of them we find, the better."
Royken picks up the rune and considers it.
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As Royken fiddles with runes, Lora busies herself with clearing away zombie bruises "Do you think you will turn?" she asks Eva "You know, into a zombie, since one bit you." she points to a bit mark, barely breaking the skin on her shoulder. "Oh wait, no that was from me." she chop chops playfully.
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The wizard's cheeks turn a crimson red when he overhears their conversation. For a moment there, he was ready to interject and bring Lora up to speed that no, a zombie bite won't turn you, but that there are deadlier versions out there that could do it. Hadi chuckles at his master's discomfort, purring a deep happy sound.
But perhaps Lora ought to know there are such zombies out there. Who knows, maybe this Gebite necromancer brought along a sample of it to unleash on the city once its vital infrastructure has collapsed. Surely that won't happen. Right? The voices in his head do not answer the question.
"There's such a thing as zombie rot, Lora, but it tends to generate zombie hordes that will break free from its master's control rather sooner than later, so even the vilest of necromancers try to contain it, if not eradicate it."
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Lora blinks at the revlation, her nut brown eyes widen in horror "Wait, that really is a possibility?" she understands, logically, their necromancer's thought process of it being Highly Unlikely, but still it chills "I thought it was a tavern tale." she looks at the pile of corpses, her mind cataloging the information away, even as she kind of wished she hadn't known.
Making your way across the viewing platform, you head into the room the other zombies emerged from. This large, open office is subdivided into five smaller alcoves. Each alcove features a drafting table covered in schematics and drawing tools. Complex mechanical blueprints cover the walls. Additional schematics, clearly penned by a different hand, lie scattered on the desks.
The older blueprints show the floor plan for the Hydroforge. The newer, rougher schematics show designs that include the clockwork zombies and other forms of undead that combine necromancy and technology. Though clearly intended for villainous uses, these designs are undeniably brilliant and innovative. If copied or taken, these schematics are worth 400 gp to the scientists and scholars of Alkenstar. Additionally, a shock rune lies on one of the desks here.
The door to the east is labeled with signs that read “Maintenance” and “Danger: High Voltage.” It’s locked with an average lock.
Royken grumbles as he moves wordlessly toward the locked door. It's likely dangerous, but whatever they find in there could be useful.
Eva trembles a bit as she touches the bite mark on her shoulder. "For Calistria's dick, we need to get done with this so we can properly relax... over and over again."
As they explore, she lets the eager dwarf to deal with the lock while she towers behind him to point anything that could help. She resists the urge to rest her breasts on his head.
The sight of so much electricity unsettles Bleach. Many a student of the Ebon Mausoleum proposed a way to harness lightning to help animate the dead, but save the few idiots who thought it could actually be done, for most of these students it is but a mental exercise. Has this blasted necromancer figured out how to do it?! Or is Bleach simply seeing ghosts? Whatever the truth might be, there's a certain determination to Bleach's steps now. The evil of Geb musn't spread any further.
"You got anything that might protect you against electricity? If so, I suggest you put it to use right about now."
Unlocking the door reveals a maintenance shaft. Energy crackles and hums throughout this ten-foot-wide shaft, which runs up to a metal hatch in the roof and down to a lower level of the complex. Thick metal cables line the walls, and a metal ladder near the door allows for access to the upper and lower levels.
Peering down the shaft, you can see a half-elf woman huddled at the bottom. She appears dirty and disheveled, but when she looks up, her eyes light up. "Thank Brigh! Living faces! Please, come down here before more of those horrible undead show up! It's safe, I promise, just stick to the ladder!"
Royken grunts. The only thing he has to protect against electricity is his toughness. That will have to be enough. It has been his entire life, after all.
He glances at the woman. "The f!%%ing undead should go down there if they want to be safe from us," he growls in return. "Who are you and how long have you been down there?"
"My name is Glorianna Button," the woman says. "I’m an engineer here at the Hydroforge. I’ve been hiding in this maintenance room since the building was attacked a week ago. I think I’m the only one left.
"It was horrible! I didn’t see how it started, but I heard the screams. Next thing, I know, people are running and zombies chasing them, killing everyone. I grabbed my bag and scurried into this area quick, but once I got in, I discovered there were already zombies on the upper floors. I was totally trapped—until you came along! You did destroy the zombies, right?"
"The dead are back to being dead." the red head calls down from the lip of the ladder "So come up and you can get out safely."
The bard is a little unsure about climbing down the ladder, her eyes look over it as best she can without getting on it. Hopefully the half-elf woman listens and comes up.
Glorianna clambers up the ladder, grinning with joy. "Thank you! I... I feel like I should hug you. Would that be inappropriate?"
The grin in infectious, so Lora says "Excesive bodily contact IS almost required with our group." she says as she opens her arms.
"Droskar's dick!" Royken grumbles.
"Do you know anything else about what the zombies were doing here? Why would anyone care about the Hydroforge?"
Eva is momentarily lost by Royken's curse, imagining the size and girth of the thing.
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Glorianna gives Lora a big hug!
She then turns to Royken. "Well, several days ago I tried to sneak out, but I almost got caught. I hid behind some barrels and, while I was hiding, a pale wizard walked through the room followed by some... thing. It was partly mechanical and spider-like, but the top of its back was covered with jars and inside the jars were heads. I recognized some of the faces. It was horrible...
"The creature called the figure ‘necromancer’ and the two, they were talking, and the necromancer said, ‘Loveless and Ibrium will be arriving any day now with the shipment.’ I don’t know who Loveless and Ibrium are, but the necromancer made it clear they were planning to kill them."
The engineer takes a moment to clean her glasses before continuing. "Anyway, I know just about everything there is to know about the Hydroforge. I’m one of the best engineers in this place! I can give you advice on where to head next, if you need. I heard the pumps running earlier this week, which probably means the necromancer has flooded the lower levels. If you want to get down there, you’ll need to get to the control room and reverse the pumps. I can do it—if you protect me, of course."
"Sure, we can protect you, but why don't we just let them all kill each other," Royken suggests.
"Is it too complicated? If you tell me how, I'm confident I can work these pumps and you'd be safer and out of here sooner than later." Eva asks.
"We can't leave them to each other because we can't be sure either will do the job properly." all that has been around her for long know what she means is that they can't be sure Loveless will be dead at the end.