Thanks for running, Violant! It was enjoyable playing with you, and I hope to see you around in other things.
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I leveled up Zelvin with another level of wizard. He mostly just gets spells. :) We're heading back to town to rest up and check on Khonnir Baine once we have all the loot from this floor, right? Anyone have any purchases they want to make or anything else they want to do?
Zelvin conveys Khoran's question to the vegepygmies, indicating that they should tap once for yes and twice for no. "Do you have one of these special cards?" he asks. "We can show you how to get out of here, but it involves a lot of swimming. Plus, the people above ground aren't real kind to strangers. Can you sustain yourselves here? The lights are back on in the big area with the sand. If this is your home, I reckon maybe we don't have to make you leave if we can agree not to hurt each other."
Zelvin tries all the languages that he knows . "Do you understand me? Drop your hammer and we will stop attacking."
Zelvin moves closer and shoots again, aiming for one of the vegepygmies who is not engaged in melee.
Zelvin fires his arcane revolver at one of the vegepygmies.
"Vegepygmies," Zelvin says sagely. "I'll try to pick 'em off, if they'll be so kind as to charge at us." He takes up a position near Uwe and the door, his magical revolver ready.
Zelvin also steps in, keeping his distance from the goo. He listens to the shuffling sounds and tries to make an educated guess about what is in there.
Zelvin fires a magical bolt of force through his revolver at the oozing creature.
"I reckon one of us will need to open the door," Zelvin says, squinting, "but it'd be smart to jump back afterward, as based on what we know about it likely it's slow and not very nimble. I'll do it if no one else wants to? See if we can take it down quick."
Also: Thanks, Khoran! Much appreciated!
Zelvin has a couple of those spells in his spellbook (heightened awareness and sure casting), and of course Hekau can copy them at no charge. Also, Zelvin is a level behind Hekau (because of his magus dip), but I plan for him to gain the following spells when he levels up. Wizard 3: (2nd) acid arrow, scorching ray
If Hekau has already learned these spells, I will probably have Zelvin learn something else so we can share our spellbooks. Generally speaking, Zelvin needs rays, cones, lines, and ranged touch spells to work with his arcane gun, so those are typically the ones he takes. (Even better if they are on the magus spell list, because then he can use them with ranged spell combat.) Necromancy is one of his opposition schools, but I plan for him to make an Arcane Discovery around level 11 that would let him remove that restriction (mostly so he can cast enervation).
Zelvin waits for Grezzag to tie off and throw down his rope.
Hey, if Khoran can craft wondrous items, can he make a cloak for Zelvin too? :)
Zelvin looks hopefully at Grezzag.
I'm going out of town for a long weekend, and my internet access will be spotty on just my phone. I should be back to full posting strength on Sunday evening.
@Party, as a strategic question - there was plenty of map unexplored on our last visit - do we want to clear that before we go down? Generally, it seems smart to me to search everywhere. We are looking for a way to re-light the torch, and we don't want to miss any clues, right? Unless the GM is encouraging us to skip those areas and press ahead... ;)
I've divided the platinum reward (and added Uwe) on the loot sheet. We don't seem to have many items to sell, unfortunately. We've got two masterwork short swords and a cloak of resistance +1. Does anyone want them at sell price? I assume we'd all like to keep the cloak-- maybe we should roll for who gets it? Otherwise we basically have 1000 gp each.
Zelvin has to craft some more bullets (those suckers are expensive!) and I don't think he'll be buying anything else just yet.
How frustrating for you, Violant. Thanks for the update!
"Val, is it okay for Uwe to stay with us here?" Zelvin asks, blinking his eyes. "I am so tired, but I'd like to make sure Mr. Khonnir is okay and settled before we do anything else. Can we go see the mayor tomorrow?"
Zelvin blinks. "Oh, that black market guy? Yeah, he's always selling strange stuff. I guess maybe he'd be interested in some of those artifacts we found down there. I bet he knows more about them than he lets on, though. You think he's already heard we found Mister Khonnir and came by to find out what he saw?"
Zelvin looks wide-eyed and confused, but does his best to put on a brave face for Val. "He's had something done to him, that's for sure, but Mister Khoran thinks he can be treated with magic. Don't you worry, Val, us and the good folks of Torch will get him fixed up right, as soon as can be." He seems to be saying this as much for himself as for Val. Ever since they found him, he has tried his best to stay close to him, so that he knows his adopted father has something recognizable to latch on to. "Penka got called back to her shop, something about an emergency at home. I'm sure she's okay. This is Uwe. Uwe, this is Mister Khonnir's daughter Val."
Hope you feel better Violant! Good luck!
"Mr. Khonnir!" Zelvin cries, overjoyed to see his adopted father is still alive, though in a sorry state. "Lean on me, sir," he suggests, taking his arm and putting it around his own shoulders. As anxious as he is to talk to the man, he can see that he is in no condition to question. "I'm guessin' we don't want to go back the way we came, since that blob creature is still feastin' that way. I think I remember east-facin' doors from that first chamber, which if I'm not mistaken would be due west from the last room we explored. Maybe a couple of us could peek down that corridor and see if the way is clear?"
Zelvin fires again.
Zelvin fires another normal shot at the robot, trying to add to the nickel and diming.
Zelvin draws desperately upon his faith when he feels his finger slip on the trigger, praying in an attempt to regain control of the gun.
Zelvin seems unable to reach Khonnir Baine, and frustrated he turns and impulsively fires his last remaining enchanted platinum piece at the collector robot.
Zelvin hesitates, unwilling to waste his final platinum coin shot, but also certain that his normal bullets are unlikely to penetrate its heavy armor casing. He squeezes past Grezzag to move beside the strange casket with Khonnir Baine inside and looks it over quickly for any kind of obvious opening mechanism.
Zelvin thinks quickly. "I haven't got but one more shot that can punch through that thing's shell, and if'n I miss we're for sure up a creek without a paddle. Maybe we can focus our efforts on bringin' down the other one, and meantime some of the stronger of us can wrangle that collector contraption into submission? If we put our weight on it an' tied it up, I could easily put a platinum coin through its metal head and that would be that. What do y'all think?" Buying time while the others think over his proposal, Zelvin fires a regular bullet at the medical drone.
"We're comin' Mister Khonnir!" Zelvin shouts to the man struggling in the box. "Hold on! We'll get you out of there!" He levels his revolver and fires a platinum coin at the robot that Khoran just recently grounded.
Hey Uwe, since you're using alchemical cartridges, isn't that second shot a misfire? I thought that the paper rounds reduce the reload time by one step and increase the misfire value by one.
Recognizing their opponent as another robot, Zelvin tosses one of his enchanted coins into the air and fires it at the metal construct.
Zelvin chuckles wryly and closes the door. "That's a good idea, Mister Khoran. Sounds like more whirring ahead. You folks reckon that's another robot contraption?" To prepare, he casts coin shot on three platinum pieces and nods to Hekau to signal he's ready to proceed.
Zelvin frowns with slight worry. "If those weird machines are doing something awful to Mr. Khonnir, I don't think even he would blame us for blowing them all to kingdom come. I think that's a good plan, Hekau, and Uwe too."
Zelvin is wary of the talkative plant, but tries not to show it. He decides to tell it the truth, but in such a way that it conveys a different message. "You must have been here a long time," he says. "For we are very different from the other two-legs you have seen. I don't reckon the red food, as you call it, that is inside us would be good for you to try and eat. But there is plenty non-poisonous red food back there in the corridor, and in the rooms before that. In fact, way back outside of the doors there's a big creature that's leaking lots of red food all over. If you're hungry, that's the best source in this area."
I'm back at my computer today and busy catching up. I'll post something in a little while. :)
That sucks! Hope you feel better Violant! I'm going on a week-long vacation starting Friday, and I might not be around much tomorrow. I will have my laptop with me and internet access for most of it, so I will probably check my email and respond during that time, but just a heads-up that I might be slower than usual.
Zelvin gawks at the mess. "Looks like whoever or whatever was bleeding all over this corridor made their way along it to that door. I'm gonna choose to believe that means they were victorious against whoever was attacking them." He is careful not to voice his hope (and fear) that the blood belonged to Khonnir Baine, since it really looks like a lot of it.
Zelvin looks worried. "Damnation! There's blood all over this passage over here. If that was Mr. Khonnir's, maybe after some kind of fire-fight in this room, he must have gone through-- or else there'd be gory signs he went another way. I reckon it's a good thing his body isn't here, but anyone taking wounds this bad can't have made it much further..." His expression conveys his unspoken fear that the object of their search is lying in a heap on the other side of the door.
Concerned about the area with the blood on the floor, Zelvin carefully creeps over to take a look. He tries to determine how long ago it was spilled, and if it came from a humanoid.
He scowls. "I am not even sure this stuff is blood, let alone when and from where it came to be here. Any of you folks know better?"
Zelvin looks at Hekau. "Hekau, you seem to know the most of all of us about these mechanical contraptions. Do you have any idea how we can crack this door open?"
Zelvin is startled by the aasimar's appearance below. He looks at the others, and then joins the group as they proceed to meet him at the door. "Howdy, neighbor. You look a mite familiar to me, haven't I seen you working at the forge? Before the torch went out, I mean? I'm Zelvin B-- uh, just Zelvin is enough, I guess. Glad to have you along! Any news from town?"
Or heck, you could even have Penka have been Uwe all along and we don't need to even remark on it, just straight switch them. ;)
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