"Fine." Tenpot says, annoyed by his failure. "But we may need to come back."
Tenpot follows Augis across the hall.
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Across the hall is the infirmary. Hospital beds and an operating table occupy most of this room. Glass jars, most of them empty, glint in low, windowed cabinets. A maroon curtain lies across one of the beds as a makeshift blanket.
Injury—whether physical, mental, or spiritual—was always a possibility on a Dark Archive field mission, making an infirmary a necessity. Subtle alignments of objects around the room promote healing and wellness.
A sample in a glass dish contains a psychically sensitive fungus that can relay impressions and stimuli.
The cupboard of medical supplies also contains small vials of blood from each stationed archivist, used to verify identities against doppelgangers, reflections, shapeshifters, and the like.
While many of the medical supplies have been exhausted (and loss of contact with the greater Dark Archive means they haven’t been replenished in some time), two panaceas and two greater healing potions can be easily found in the back of a cupboard.
Vesperscale investigates and tries to focus.
Tenpot joins Aegis and Vesperscale in trying to commune with the sample.
Uhh you gotta stabilize it before you commune with it.
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Aegis leads the wy up tthe catwalks. These slightly too small corridors are scuffed and scratched, with dents in the walls that have been plastered over in more than a few places. Each opens onto the upper level of the warehouse on one side, connecting to metal catwalks that cross the warehouse floor and connect to the hallway at the opposite wall.
Using the catwalk Aegis is able to access the Overseer's office. Spotless glass on three sides of this office provides a clear view of the warehouse and research and development rooms. A complex apparatus of dials, levers, and buttons bristles from a control panel in the room’s center.
This office is used to coordinate activities between the warehouse and research laboratory, as well as activate some of the Annex’s emergency systems.
Peering through the viewport into the warehouse you watch as a pair of horrific aberrations skitter around the area. Each is a slavering nightmare of teeth, eyes, and hairy spiderlike legs, and its appearance is invariably seared into the minds of any who witness it.
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Aegis recognizes these creatures as Gogiteths. Denizens of the Underdark. Gogiteths make a clacking sound as they move about. The joints in their many legs pop and crack with each movement, though they can suppress this sound voluntarily so that they can hunt without giving away their presence. The odd creatures can also make a high-pitched whistling sound that echoes throughout the caverns where they live. Some Darklands natives report that groups of gogiteths sometimes join together in eerie, discordant songs. Quite resistant to poison.
(haunts, curses, and creatures of any type)
Just in case Toad exploits vulnerabilities on the Gogiteths. DO we gotta go in there?
Vesperscale responds "I think we can stun them with the buttons, but I'm not sure that helps us."
"Long enough for us to get the drop on them, I'd hope. If we clear them out, we could take our time poking around the warehouse."
Vesperscale will cast StoneSkin(4) on them solves and nod.
"Lets do it then."
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You unlock the doors to the warehouse as you prepare for a fight with these strange creatures.
Heading back you quickly try to stun them from the control panel before rushing the warehouse.
Stunnning the room causes the Gogiteth's to shriek in displeasure as they hiss upwards towards the sound. You quickly scramble down the ladder to try and get the drop on the aberrations as quickly as possible.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Tenpot
Red Gogiteth
Purple Gogiteth
Toadclobber
Aegis
Vesperscale
Now that he has a closer look, Tenpot tries to figure out the best way to kill these things as he hops behind cover. He fires off a quick shot at the nearer creature, then just as quickly reloads.
Your implement sings out abruptly, disrupting your foe. The piece played depends on whether the trigger was a Strike or Spell, and it applies to the triggering Strike or Spell, except where noted otherwise.
[ooc]Pistol Status: Loaded
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Tenpots recalls quite a bit of information about Gogiteths. They are quite resistant against poisons.
Tenpots shot blasts off a good potion of one of the many skittering legs holding the stunned Gogiteth upright. The Gogiteths struggle to get around the pile to you as they begin to shake off the ringing in their ears.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Tenpot
Red Gogiteth
Purple Gogiteth
➤ Toadclobber
➤ Aegis
➤ Vesperscale
Tenpot takes a quick step back at the quickly-approaching monstrosities. He takes careful aim and fires again before just as quickly reloading, glaring at it as he does.
Your implement sings out abruptly, disrupting your foe. The piece played depends on whether the trigger was a Strike or Spell, and it applies to the triggering Strike or Spell, except where noted otherwise.
Vesperscale steps up to purple and sends a gouging claw through their sword.
Quick Humps twice, hoping to set up a flank next round
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Toadclobber slices into the creature as the holy weapon sears into the Gogiteth's body.
Aegis' force cage slams down right next to the other Gogiteth as it leaps out of the way. Vesperscales spellblade does significant damage as it splits through the bottmside of the stunned aberration. Tenpots bullet hits deep as it bursts out the backside of the creature killing it.
The second Gogiteth reaches out to grab ahold of Aegis.
+ Improved Grab
The Gogiteth bites into Aegis' shoulder and begins dragiing him towrds the incinrator to the north.
──────────
BOLD IS UP!:
──────────
➤ Tenpot
Red Gogiteth
➤ Toadclobber
➤ Aegis
➤ Vesperscale
Seeing Aegis grabbed by the remaining monstrosity, Tenpot fires off a pair of shots, glaring at the creature as he reloads in between.
Your implement sings out abruptly, disrupting your foe. The piece played depends on whether the trigger was a Strike or Spell, and it applies to the triggering Strike or Spell, except where noted otherwise.
Toad double moves to block the creature's retreat!
Vesperscale moves into flank with Toad and tries to connect with a gouging spellstrike.
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Toadclobber doubles down on the creatures retreat as it heaves Aegis back several feet. Toadslicer cuts dee but Vesperscale's blade goes even deeper as it shreds the creature from the inside out.
Aegis spins around in its clutches blasting it's spirit at point blank range as Tenpots puts two clean shots into the creatures many heads, killing it before it is able to drag Aegis into the incinerator.
While the warehouse is full of magical artifacts, relics, and more, the artifacts are kept sealed here under layers of wards for a reason: each is cursed, haunted, or worse. (Each item is clearly labeled.) The warehouse also bonds each cursed item to the shelves, similar to how cursed items typically bond to the hapless fools who pick them up.
A few of the less-dangerous artifacts here can be used to glimpse recent events in the room.
Toad looks at the junk. He likes junk.
Hey those're extra good sealing chests and firestarter pellets!
Time for arcanast stuff. Toad cross-references his coloring book.
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Taking look through the artifacts here in the warehouse you begin to catch a gleam of the past as you find a passage written on a sheet of old parchment.
“This Weaver in Dreams infects a host, wearing away at them over many years until he twists them into his puppet. I’m his host. I see it now. My childhood fascination with my father’s silkworms. The moths and worms I seem to always notice when I’m on a case. The way I tend toward insects. He’s inside me, and I feel him rising to the surface a little more each day. The safeguards of this Annex should protect me for a bit longer than I would last otherwise, hopefully long enough to conclude my research into this creature and how it might be stopped.”
Just then you feel a malevolent force stir from within the complex as a loud crash is heard from near the entrance.
"I don't like the sound of that. Let's go back toward the entrance and see what it was, then check out the rest of the building."
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Returning to the large statue at the front of the building you are unable to locate the recent disturbance. Deciding to look around you head into the Director's Office.
Two ornate desks of carved wood face each other, each backed by a plush chair. An oil painting of Cheliax’s Arch of Aroden hangs behind one desk, and an ink-wash landscape of Goka’s Xu Hong Bay rests behind the other. A low meeting table divides the room.
This room was originally meant for higher-ups in the Archive’s hierarchy, even briefly serving as an auxiliary office for Dark Archive faction leader Zarta Dralneen, who donated the painting of the Arch of Aroden from her personal collection. However, frequent shuffles within the Archive’s hierarchy and the assignment of high-importance missions to other regional offices meant that the Annex branch was increasingly relegated to the sidelines and left without a formal director. By the time of the Dark Archive’s dissolution, the Annex branch had adapted to a mostly ad‑hoc leadership structure, leaving this office unused, though archivists would sometimes borrow the room for private meetings or counseling sessions.
A clockwork sparrow on one of the desks contains a minor spirit to serve as a personal assistant and answer simple historical questions.
Vesperscale tries to grab the birb.
Tenpot's feathers ruffle as he moves close to where Vesperscale and Aegis hold the bird. He crouches low, his beak in parallel so as to look the bird eye to eye. "Talk. Now."
I can clobber pigeons too! They taste good. So, uhhh, do sparrows.
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Intimidating and squeezing the clockwork sparrow you come close to gleaning new information.
The same unnatural fury you felt before passes therough the complex. One by one all in unison every light in the place breaks apart in a small pop and every fire extinguishes placing the complex in utter darkness.