I think there have been so many delays that people gave up.
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"How did so many creatures survive in here for so long with no food?" wonders Nalket incredulously.
Nalket clearly finds the whole business unsettling. Artificial people? Created and stored away like smoked meat kept over winter? Though she shares her survival skills, she always seems a bit nervous around the androids, looking somewhat askance at them and not exactly "friendly." "We are making a tribe of our own," she says to her companions, "but these lands are very dry and barren. We might not survive if we scavenge forever. We need ways to make food and tools."
Sooo dead game?
Nalket seems to be processing this whole experience. A series of thoughts cross her face, and she frowns frequently while hanging back and watching the mass awakening.
I will be camping this weekend and may not have internet. Bot if needed!
Nalket looks briefly shocked, then curious, then she rests one hand on her abdomen and says, "I suppose about once per month I would not mind if my womb were mechanical instead of a cramped knot."
Nalket's brow furrows, and then she haltingly said, "These people speak as if... as if they were... made for some purpose, each of them?"
Nalket says, "Where we shall find clothing for all of these... people... I do not know."
Nalket shakes off her paralysis with a shiver and moves cautiously to join the group. She peers over the cylinders full of androids with a combination of curiosity and distaste.
No, and it's fine, I'm just making a funny check-in out of it!
*silently paralyzed*
... provoking an attack of Opportunity from Nalket... Nalket refrains from taking the attack of opportunity and remains motionless.
Nalket suddenly goes completely rigid.
Nalket continues to flail helplessly at the ghoul, alternating between swatting at it with her gauntleted fist and trying to keep it from wrenching her spear away.
Nalket shakes off the ghoul's paralytic bite and desperately slams at it with her spiked gauntlet.
...to no avail.
Having returned with Geirmur, Nalket folds her arms at the sight of the singularity and says, "Hrm. Seems hungry."
"Hmm. Mostly I know how to trap rabbits. I will see what I can come up with."
After returning to the Silver Turret, Nalket says to the team, "If we have a few days it may be worthwhile for a foraging party to range further afield. There were no signs of game nearby, but perhaps if we strike out some distance we can find something to eat and bring it back."
Nalket says, "I was on a vision quest with a small hunting party of my tribe - along with my sister, Ila. We were ambushed by a League slaver group. My companions fought valiantly but we were overwhelmed - they used some kind of metal egg that released a white smoke of sleep. I do not know what happened to the others, only that when I awakened I had the metal collar and I was pressed into their scavenging parties. Often I have meditated and asked the ancestors how this can happen, but they are mysterious and the power of the Technic League is likewise great." She looks off to the horizon (as they are hunting together) and says, "Now it seems we will be free... and I yearn to find my sister and free her, too, but I know that even though fortune has turned, the Technic League is too powerful for us to fight. Perhaps we should go to one of the towns... Torch, or Scrapwall... and find allies? Or else we will wander the wastes as my people have done for years, seeking more relics of the sky to aid our cause." She sighs and looks down, her face saddened, then back to Geimur. "I am sorry that you have lost your companions. It seems that you sought to do right by the people of your home. I pray that the time will come when you will find justice for what was done."
"The land around this place is barren. We have some food from the caravan, but when it is gone, we will find nothing else," says Nalket after she returns from her failed hunting attempt. "I can create all the water that we need, but we must leave if we wish to eat. Perhaps we can seal off the entrance in case you wish to return later."
While hunting, Nalket asks Geirmur, "How did you come to be captured by the Technic League?"
"Rest and food - I am at the last of my food supplies. Is it safe to go outside and hunt?" asks Nalket.
Nalket watches in wonder as the screen shows the incredible devastation of the Silver Turret. Finally, she turns to Gnaarrg and says, "That is incredible! I do not know how anyone could stand against such heavenly fire." She nods slowly and says, "We have been through adversity together, and though at first I was cautious because our situation was a grave one, we are now bound by that same adversity. We have been freed from the Technic League, though doubless more of them will come here some day to discover what happened and find more strange things in this ruin. So we have all of Numeria before us; what shall we do next?" When Zal mentions that the robot can remove the neckpieces, she rubs hers ruefully and says, "That will be a welcome relief."
Nalket wobbles on her feet, disoriented, then finally has the presence of mind to activate the wand that she's holding.
"Thank you... Zed," she says as she comes to her senses.
Nalket posts her spear to her left hand, draws the recently-discovered healing wand, follows Zed, and taps him on the back.
Nalket moves up behind Zed, leveling her spear to assist him when he makes his attack.
The thrush says to Zal, "I am Bronzewing! My name is a reflection of my magnificent color." The bird fluffs its tiny feathers and stretches to show off its yellowish plumage. Nalket absently examines the wand, then says, "Yes... I see. It is filled with healing power. I wonder if it was made by the same people who made this place, or if it came from somewhere else?"
Nalkets eyes harden as the buzzing mechanical insect flies over to her, but she is too weak to shoo it away. Finally, after it "stings" her, she sits up. She rubs her shoulder and then her arms as invigoration floods through her body, still watching Clinger suspiciously. Finally, the tiny thrush on her shoulder says to Lady Zal in perfect Common, "Thank you. Nalket is suspicious of such devices, but clearly she needed the help." Nalket fixes the thrush with her gaze and says, "Oh, quit talking."
Nalket remains on the ground, eyes nearly closed, practically panting with weakness.
Nalket falls to her knees, no longer able to support the weight of her gear.
With the two shadows next to each other, Nalket tries to maneuver to a location from which she can unleash a wave of fire from her outstretched hands. (halved vs. incorporeal)
Nalket waits for an opportune moment to strike...
"Shadows?" says Nalket dubiously. "Where?"
"I can conjure water, by the grace of the spirits," says Nalket.
Nalket follows cautiously. "Can... can they see us or hear us?" she says upon spotting their captors.
I'll be out of town this weekend, back Monday! Please bot as needed!
Nalket accepts the ring from Zal-Azra and turns it over in her hands several times. Finally she says, "Thank you. I am... grateful for your concern." She fidgets a bit before bed, clearly uncomfortable in this chamber of artifice, and once or twice she starts at some unknown sound in the distance, grabbing at her spear. Finally, though, she nods off to sleep. On the morrow, she withdraws from her bags some dried strips of meat and flat cakes made of some kind of nut flour. "I have a little more food," she says. "Does anyone need to eat?"
Nalket steps back suddenly, startled, at the powerful blast from the weapon.
"I doubt we will find food down here. Everything that was once alive has turned to dust or into those plant and mold creatures," says Nalket dubiously. "But at least we are away from the technologists for now."
"Then we need to go deeper and find a place that we can use as a safe campsite," says Nalket. "Also, we may need to find food of some kind."
"Should we exit this place sooner rather than later? More dangerous things may awaken as the sun sets and the air cools. Unless we plan to go deeper in and evade our captors," says Nalket cautiously.
Nalket posts her longspear briefly and with a murmured prayer to her ancestors, she lays a hand firmly on Gnaarrg.
Nalket stabs out with her longspear past the forward line. (includes -4 for attacking past soft cover)
Nalket hurries to lower her own longspear toward the recently-revealed enemies, but is careful to stay in the second rank of the group.
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