Good luck fighting Hellion, guys. I think you're gonna need it.
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Wow. You guys have been pretty busy since I dropped off the face of the Earth. Glad to see my little disappearance didn't derail anything.
Once again, Tybalt's alertness made him well-prepped for a fight... but looking at Garmen, he immediately took notice of a different problem. "...He's been bewitched." Tybalt observed. "Emotions and actions genuine, but amplified through magical means."
It was nice, being in such a leisurely environment with his new comrades. He'd never really been much for social activity, but this was certainly much better then all times he and his allies had found themselves fighting for their lives. As the night wore on, something became more apparent to him: the number of rowdy-looking individuals was significantly higher then there was when he and his fellow 'heroes' first arrived in Silverdisk Hall. Maybe it meant nothing noteworthy. Maybe it was just Mendevian paranoia nagging at him some more... but his gut instincts and sharp mind had saved him and his comrades countless times in the caves below town. And better to be prepared for a fight and not have one, then be caught completely offguard. Standing up from his game, he started making his way to the bar,passing Jeremiah as he did. "Wonderful place, isn't it?" the half-elf asked, clapping his shoulder. "And with people like this... reminds me of all the great times was had in Chesed..." He added, putting emphasis on Jeremiah's hometown to try and prepare him for danger without gaining notice.
"I would like your input. I have been thinking about our invite to the gambling hall. Do you think we should go while Khonnir is recovering and we make preparations? I can cause bad luck but I think it would be detected pretty easily so I, er, am not looking to cheat." "I have no objections." the half-elf replied. "We'll have to use those vouchers somehow and a day of simply trying to enjoy ourselves sounds... pleasent."
He did start asking questions, "That last robot we fought, the flying one. You notice its metal shell was very resistant to our weapons. Is there some sort of sky metal that will cut it down? If so, can we make a weapon out of this skymetal? "The metals are a bit out realm, there are others in our group that know more also Sanvil Trett seems to know more. I keep hearing him asking probing questions, he seems to know a surprising amount of things." "Heard of him before. Has virtual monopoly on the town's technology trade. His knowledge on the subject is admirable." Tybalt puts a hand on his chin and seems to stroke some invisible beard. "Questions about us... not unexpected. People crave knowledge during times of uncertainty. Motives... harder to dissect. Curiosity? Greed? Both?" "Adamantine is good for cutting through other metals, it is strong, heavy and sharp." "Indeed. If there's anything that can successfully withstand any adamantine weapon's physical might, I'd love to see it myself. A reliable investment, if a bit costly."
"The silverdisks are a guaranteed sell..." Tybalt pondered. "But I'm a bit interested in keeping this armor and the medical equipment, if you all don't mind."
So who wants to play doctor with the new tech healing items? I wouldn't mind, seeing as I've been grooming Tybalt into the medic. Next investigator talent I plan on getting is the infusion alchemist discovery, but I figure it's better get Expanded Inspiration for now.
The battle raged for what felt like hours, but the dust settled and the robots lay inactive at their feet. "Tybalt, at some point, can we talk. You... you know things we don't." Tybalt's eyes seemed to light up at the thought of educating someone."Am always open to talking. Need not ask to do so." he responded. "I agree with Dilana, we need to know more about these things. I plan to learn with Springy as my assistant." "We can arrange some sort of study session at our HQ when the time comes..." That was when the tube opened and the man plopped onto the floor. Amazed, Tybalt moved in to take a closer look. "That's Khonnir!" he exclaims, rising to his feet and walking over to the collapsed form on the floor. "What's happened to you?" he asks, but the old wizard is barely conscious. "He needs healing, but I've drained all my magic. JJ, have you found anything like a healer's kit?" "I may be good at looking for loot, but if I knew what every single piece of tech could do, Tybs would only be here to look smart. JJ said as he looked at Khonnir. "There's got to be someone in town that could help. I'd rather not stick the poor guy with any random thing we find in here unless we know precisely what it does."
"Not sure if compliment or insult..." Tybalt mused as he looked over Khonnir. "But statement true regardless. His safe return is now our top priority." Upon reaching the man's legs, his eyes narrowed in disgust. "....those bastards..." he muttered under his breath
Not bad. Taking the Technologist feat. Also, will try to post tonight.
Now up-close and personal with this new model of robot, he found himself intrigued by its appearance. "How is it staying aloft?" he asked no one in particular as it swiped at him. The first blow was a glancing one, but the second... well, he was thankful to have made his Shield extract today, as it rose up to meet the other attack. That left it open to get skewering.
Another miss for the investigator. With so few bolts in his quiver, he felt he'd end up throwing his crossbow at the robots before long. Nevertheless, he had to do something. Dropping his crossbow, he reached into his pouch, pulled out one of the infusions he'd made that morning, pooped its stopper, and swallowed it down. As he did, an invisible shield of force energy formed in front of him. "Roga, step into room where you can. Will cover you!" he called out, moving past his allies and drawing his rapier as he did.
Still alive, life just being hectic. Job hunting at the moment.
"I would like to look at them, I think in Time Tybalt and myself could figure out most of the weapons in this place." Figgy looks at the flare gun "I agree," Tybalt said, watching Figgy look over their newly-acquired loot. "I hesitate to say so, but there may not be a secret Numeria can keep with us around." Roga grasped his newly loaded gun with one hand and the warhammer with the other, "The blood leads this way. Everyone get ready..." "Sorry everyone, that scream was really something." "Didn't suffer alone, friend. Nothing to forgive." the half-elf empathized. "You can make up for it by being prepared for the next fight." He quipped, smirking as he raised his buckler to whatever threat they faced next. "Wait," he says holding up a hand. "Given the increase in the dangers we've encountered, might be in our best interest to favor a more subtle approach..." he pauses. "If you all don't mind of course." ---------------------------
With the contents of his stomach fully evacuated, Tybalt looked up to see the lifeform blown full of holes and smashed to bits. "First real alien life I've ever met, and it proved to be hostile..." he says, his voice a mix of pity for the creature and tired from vomiting. "Telepathy, what a great ability to have. I wonder if it is a common creature to find down here? Blood eating gobs." "Cerebric Fungus, for future reference. the half-elf clarified. "Resistant to colder temperatures, but quite vulnerable to sound-based magics and attacks." "Interesting plant like thing, Only one way to go I guess. We need to come back here so I can have a look around later." "The trail leads this way. Hopefully, we can find the wizard soon. C'mon." Tybalt makes his way to the door and starts inspecting it.
This strange new creature was unlike anything Tybalt had ever seen before. To find it among a blood-splattered area of nightmares was a delight... until it started showing hostile intent. It acted like a young child, eager to ask and explore... which is why its scream caught him off-guard and made his stomach churn and dance.
With the creature dead and everyone patching their wounds, Tybalt followed close along in his silent awe of everything around him. "Probably wouldn't be a bad place if it wasn't for it looking like a wreck... and the bloodstains..." "What kind of place have we found? It feels so unnatural doesn't it?" "Unnatural, but interesting. Even stories from Worldwound can't compare." the scavenger smiles. "And I've heard plenty of those." "If there are worshipers of Zyphus around here we should be careful - they like to set up traps to sacrifice the unwary to their debased lord." "Might explain previous trap." Tybalt puts a hand to his chin. Presence of evil god's writings troubling. Reminds me of rumor in town I heard... "Ugh, blood. Tybalt, do you think this could be a sign of Khonnir?" "I hope that blood isn't Khonnir's," he says in response to Dilana, "but something has clearly happened in here."
"It's certainly a sign of some form of life..." He walks over, kneels down close, and swipes a finger through the blood.
Tybalt reaches for another bolt, seeing as there's no room to get in close... and curses under his breath when he realizes he's running low. 'Should've bought more...' he thinks before trying to fire it again.
Forgive me for not posting. Work and other commitments have me burning the candle at both ends for the moment.
Roga's admiration grew, "So you understand what it's saying?" "More or less." he replied, adding a shrug. He quickly added, "What do you mean by unsettling? What did the message say exactly?" "It was some kind of warning. Said 'environment controls were damaged' and 'habitat lifeforms deceased'. Tells me this machine has some means of monitoring living things without their knowledge... and I worry about people with such capabilities." He added before joining the others.
"Who's speaking and what is he saying?" "What's that language?" "To answer your questions Mr. Roga, "Tybalt starts. "...I'm not sure. If some invisible being, we'd have surely noticed by now, whether through plain examination or magical means of detection... To answer your question Raktar, the language is called Androffan. Picked up a bit of it in Chesed. He clears his throat before repeating the message verbatim in Common. After a moment, he coughs before continuing his explanation. "Message's implications extraordinary... if a bit unsettling."
"Remarkable." Tybalt says as the door creaks open to reveal the dirty tech inside. It broke his heart to see such fine machinery in terrible shape, but it gave him hope that more laid within. "Revolutionary style of security. Still, seems like the 'keys' would be too easy to lose..." "That pillar looks dangerous. Hold on a moment," "Well, that at least looks dangerous. Any ideas what is going on in here?" "Well, what is it Ty? Dilana, any ideas?" "Unsure."he began, staring at the violet tendrils with equal parts trepidation and curiousity. "Dust build-up would normally indicate area has been abandoned for a while... Without proper maintenance, this tech could be seriously unstable. Unfortunately, lack means or ability to fix it if it is. Best to leave alone for now..." With that, he started his own search of the room, maybe finding hidden treasure, usable tech, or find some indication of what this room was used for.
While not unexpected, seeing conventional methods prove fruitless somewhat drained Tybalt's enthusiasm.
Said depression turned into panic as he tried holding Roga back. "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! Can't risk it! Might damage yourself or machinery." "What about those cards? Could the fit in there?" Tybalt blinked before fishing out one of the cards. "One way to find out..." he says before trying to fit the card in.
"What's happening Tybalt?" "Knowing him... probably getting his hands on as much tech as he can." JJ quipped as he entered the room behind them. "Either that or learning how this place works. He's had a knack of being lucky with things like that. If I try it, something usually ends up broken." "Averting disaster. Power surge building up in machines..." Tybalt stopped and wiped sweat from his brow when his work was finished. "Would've been both a literal and metaphorical shock." "Good work Tybalt. You are an half-elf of many talents it seems! I was going to blithely get my hand blown off it seems. Lancelot you are suppose to give me a heads up on these things you wicket beast." The investigator once again tried to hide a blush in the face of a compliment. "Praise unnecessary... but appreciated." he responded before joining Raktar, Figgy, and Roga by the locked door. "Let's check out this door," Raktar says to Tybalt and Figgy. He pulls off his backpack and reaches in for his tool kit. "There must be some kind of lock or something," he mutters, taking a closer look at the door and it's frame. Figgy will move up to the locked door with Raktar, "I will help you with that too, more minds make better work!"
"Hard to say... three mentally-focused individuals will hardly let a door stop them. But just in case, there's a reason you hold group's most powerful lockpick." he jokes as he pulled out his own tools and got to work with the others.
The half-elf suddenly realizes the danger right before them: a dangerous amount of energy is building up... and they were all standing in the center of it. With a rush of adrenaline, he starts muttering "Move!" repeatedly and runs between both machines, pressing whatever buttons he can to prevent catastrophe.
Tybalt kept silent through their journey to the desert, still in awe at its presence below-ground. The glowing wall and room with the tubes, however, cause this silence to break. "Mystic light. Imaginary walls. This place is full of strange stuff." "Strange, but incredible." he told the oracle before taking a look around himself. "Feels like stepping into whole other world."
The flask did its job, coating the skeleton in blessed water that quickly reduced it to ruin. His friend didn't seem to like that or the small splash that landed on it and managed to land a solid blow on the half-elf, who let out a grunt of pain in response. Raktar noticed the trouble and stepped up behind it after plowing through another one, giving Tybalt the opening he needed to pull out his own weapon and swing for the metaphorical fences.
'Either more skeletons then anticipated or they reformed overnight.' Tybalt wondered. Regardless, they were once again a threat to him and his associates. This time though, he was much better prepared. In the chaos of combat, Tybalt hurriedly reached for a flask of holy water and tossed it at the middle one so it would catch the brunt and the rest would splash its fellows.
Tybalt will spend 48g to buy himself a single bottle of liquid ice and two flasks of acid and 50g(Tybalt won't try to use the voucher/cheat a church out of money. He's an atheist, not an @$$hole.) to buy himself two bottles of holy water. I'm also thinking he'd want to explore the actual site of the Torch to see if there's anything there worth discovering.
"Tybalt, are you not at all interested in them? I am curious as to how they work and they look fun to shoot don' they?" "They are interesting, but Jeremiah explained everything to me before... Multiple times." the half-elf replied. "Have little interest in reliving it."
He then added, "And I know what a tavern is but what's a card room?" "My guess is it's just a place to play games of chance for monetary rewards. Never saw much point to it, myself... but the offer seems too good to refuse."
Once we have a whole coinage count, we can figure out who to evenly divide it from there. FTFY
Tybalt sighed as he followed the others out. "Great... Got him talking about guns... Won't stop for hours..." he says to himself aloud as he shakes his head.
Seeing the group divided on the issue of returning divided Tybalt as well. On the one hand, his allies (and him) needed to be at their best for this and it was the majority's decision. On the other hand, if Khonnir was close and they quit now he'd never forgive himself... "The town has a way to bring Khonnir back from beyond death's threshold..." he started. "And if going back now means all of us coming back later... I'll do it."
Tybalt pants as the skeletons crumble beneath the attacks of his allies. "Must be the undead we were warned about." He spoke up. "Hope there aren't more..." Seeing some of comrades were injured, the half-elf put the rapier away and began inspecting their injuries.
As fascinating as the four-armed skeletons looked, Tybalt thought it better to study them after they were no longer moving. With that in mind, he took a step away from JJ to give him room and toward Roga, pulled out his rapier, and tried aiding Roga's defense...
...to no avail.
As the creature met its end, Tybalt's mind had a surge of inspiration. It was a terrible time to take notes to paper, so he prayed that he didn't forget his new idea for a formula until he had time to write it down. Until then, he felt he had enough in him to prep a new extract. "One moment, please." he alerted the others before kneeling down, pulling out a bottle, his formula book, some reagents, and spending a minute to mix them with his own innate magic.
Guess I'm taking average.
Figgy's warning proved most useful. It let Tybalt break free of his daze and bring his crossbow up to fire.
Tybalt prepped another bolt for firing, but before he could the robot was taken down. Setting aside his weapon he did his part in getting Dilana out. "Thank you for the help there. I guess he didn't like me touching his stuff. Maybe some sort of guard?" "Repair unit, actually. It thought you were breaking things." he told her before retrieving the crossbow and continuing on. He pokes at the nozzles and even sticks his dagger up one of them to figure out what they did. "Any ideas what these are?" Taking a moment to inspect the tubes himself, all Tybalt can say about them is "Unclear." Even when he thought he could no longer be surprised, a vast sand-filled cavern opens up in front of him. "Wow. I'm guessing no one knew about this place? Did the wizard's notes mention anything like this?" "I don't remember reading anything about this," he replies to Roga. "How can this have been here for so long unnoticed? I've lived in Torch all my life, and never heard of metal caverns under the hill." The half-elf's jaw dropped upon seeing the the sandy terrain before them. "...Remarkable."
Tybalt takes some time to reload and aim, but finds himself too concerned about hitting Raktar, Roga, or JJ and ends up missing completely.
Once again, Tybalt seemed lost in amazement as the group journeyed through the corridor. It wasn't until Jeremiah's exclamation that he realized that trouble was afoot once again. Looked like a robot similar to the one they'd fought before. As such, raised his crossbow and fired.
"Then onward we go." After taking a moment, Tybalt reloads his crossbow and starts following the group to the opened door.
"May I look at one of those cards?" Tybalt nodded and surrendered one of the cards to Ratkar. "It's nothing like any metal, or anything else for that matter, that I've ever seen." "Indeed. Still, may not be worthless. Be sure to collect any more we find." "So how do we get through the door, where did Khonnor go?" "First guess would be through the opened door near the skulk's camp. From there... Your guess as good as mine." "Perhaps someone in town will be able to tell us about it. While it would make us take a trip back to town, exploring the rest of these caverns to find whatever's left of the other parties would at least make it worth while. If we're at a dead end anyways, might as well make it a safe one." "Certainly worth debating. If the rest of us are willing to push on, will continue to assist. If not, returning to town would let us rest, prepare for future struggles... like four-armed undead Luepel described."
Tybalt's eyes lit up further upon seeing the skulks reward of more silverdisks. The thin cards also intrigued him. He took one and started inspecting it; twirling it between his fingers and and slightly bending it in multiple directions with both hands. "Strange," he thought aloud. "Different from playing cards or harrow cards. Must serve some purpose, though." He brings it close to his mouth and gives it a small taste before gagging and wiping it off on his shirt. "Definitely inedible..."
I could use a set of Mwk Thieves Tools myself as well.
It seemed that this gremlin was the leader, as the assault seemed to cow other hidden gremlins into retreating. Satisfied with the results, Tybalt felt it safe enough to stow away his crossbow and sheathe his rapier. "Slightly underprepared, but overall... near-flawless teamwork and execution. Liking this group more and more." "Hey, Tybs... Fig... Someone smarter than me about this stuff... What do you make of this thing?"
The half-elf climbs up the rubble and starts inspecting the door. A few moments of silence follow before he speaks up again. "Dead end. From this side, at least. No visible method to access tumblers or pins or whatever keeps this door sealed. Other side might offer alternatives... if other side even exists."
A one-liner from Jeremiah and a move from Dilana were all Tybalt needed to know that it was once again time to fight. Seeing as this gremlin was too far to hit with his rapier he dropped it, pulled out his crossbow, and took a shot at it.
The investigator continued staying close to Roga, but his eyes lit up in amazement at the sight of the metal door.
Glad to see the little devils gone but cautious about more traps, Tybalt keeps his rapier out and stays close to Roga.
With careful hands and practiced ease, the white-haired half-elf carefully took the crude apparatus apart. Tossing the jagged metal crucial to the trap aside, he wiped his hands against each other and turned to announce his success... when he suddenly saw Roga rush past and close the gap between him and what he recognized as a gremlin. And then he heard the bang from Jeremiah's gun. Realizing how cramped their surroundings made them, Tybalt felt that there was no choice now but to fight in close quarters. "Roga, sidestep to right! Will cover you!" Tybalt said, his hand gripping the hilt of the rapier on his belt. The lack of cold iron meant he wouldn't be able to damage it, but at the very least he could make it harder for the fey to hit the barbarian.
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