"I have a machine that will detect the radiation, but we already know it's there. Let's check out the other door first." Vedia steps to the side and nods at James to open the door.
More study and you work out that a spell like neutralize poison could be used but it would need to happen on each canister making that eight castings. Vadia comes up with another unique idea, and air elemental over the course of several hours would do the trick but dispersing the gas rapidly and thinly. You are sure there are other methods as well.
James neither hears, sees or smells anything at the door and so opens it.
The walls of this large room are lined with dark panels of glass, tiny buttons, and other mechanical devices. A set of metal tanks sit to the west, while a chair mounted on a swivel on a short platform sits to the northeast. To the northwest, a section of flooring has been ripped away to expose a tangle of metallic plates and coils of brightly colored cables. Two round tables sit in the room’s center.
Leaning against the wall is the android you had been following. It would appear that the cause of death is blunt force trauma and not self inflicted.
Someone asks in a deep voice, “Have you word from my master?” No form can be detected, yet a sense a hulking presence.
You recognize the voice from the recording at the start of this ship. It was the off screen, unseen voice.
An image appears on the glass screen—an image of the same room, as viewed from above the southern door. A man leans in over the screen on the desk in the image, then straightens up and nods his head eagerly before speaking to the apparently empty room.
“As I thought. While this terminal accepted my spell’s magical charge, it’s unlinked to any sort of central archive. We’ll not be able to extract any significant information from here.”
A second, much deeper voice from an unknown source replies, “But what you seek still lies within the ruins of this ship, does it not, Master Xoud?”
The man nods again. “I believe so. We will need to explore further. There may be additional defenses though. This is why I called upon you, Sahasho— you will lead the way.”
At this point, the man walks away, a swirling of dust and wind following him before both are eclipsed by the screen’s edge. The screen flickers and goes dark.
[u] Chapter: 3 [/u]
The Well[u] Stat Tracker [/u]
Global Condition: None |James HP: 55/56 - AC: 18/14/14 Status:
Vedia HP: 45/45 - AC: 14 (17 Iron Skin)/14/11 Status:
Ivar HP: 44/87 - AC: 25/12/21 Status: AC+1 vs Robits | DR/3 |
Xander HP: 56/56 - AC: 15/12/13 Status:
Augar HP: 52/52 - AC: 23/11/22 Status:
-------------------Something:
James watches the scene play out, takes some notes, and then goes over to see if the android can be saved, being sure to disarm him first.
Augar can tell at a glance that a head with two swooshed areas means dead for sure.
"Xoud? Are you Sahasho?"
James casually reloads both pistols, and puts them away, but keeps his hand on them.
"Hello. Of course. He said to give us the information that you gathered." She looks in the direction of the voice.
Xandar looks around the room trying to determine which direction the voice comes from before adressing it. "Indeed Master Xoud tasked us with figuring out what happened to you and recover whatever infomation you have gather from this ship. I fail to see you have you been the victim of one of the defenses of the ship? The master would be quitr interrested in how the defenses worked here." Xandar says.
The party still sees no movement but the same over deep voice speaks.
"Your words sound good but are clearly a lie." an invisible sigh takes place "If you were sent you would know that I was not hear to gather information, I am here to guard. Not that it matters really. Maybe guard forever if I have been abandoned."
He pauses for a moment and you get the idea that he may have been contemplating this for quite some time indeed. He seems calmly resigned to letting things play out.
"You may not enter, I will have to stop you as it is my charge. If you can think of a better option, undo my servitude and send me home, that might be away around the command. I am not sure what you need in this room I am to guard, it was once a laboratory I was told."
Xandar is taken aback that he was so careless he didn't remember the information giving from the illusion correctly, but quickly composes himself. "What is it that binds you to guard this place? We'd like to help undo your servitude if we can, is it a spell or something of the ships design?"
Fascinating. We would be more than happy to undo your binding to this place. What was the information you were asked to gather? Perhaps that will help us free you. We came here looking for Casandalee."
It would be hard for a voice to sound more resigned then the voice that continues to speak with you.
"I was called from the plane of air and have been here a very long time. I am sure it has been years so I was likely summoned with a scroll but I do not know how to be un-summoned."
He sighs.
"Xoud holds me under sway so I must complete the job I was assigned, protect this room. Clearly he has forgotten me and I have little love for him so I will tell you what I can. Xoud thought this room was astounding and left me to guard when he took the slain android to his tower. He thought he could create many technology items if he could get power to this room. I am suprised he is not back." he pauses for a moment before the rumbling voice continues "Naybe he is dead but as I do not know I am still bound it seems."
"Sounds like we might have need for a dismissal spell to send this poor fellow back to his plane, like we did with the Xill. Augar are you capable of praying for such a spell from Torag yet?" Xandar asks the dwarven cleric. "I don't really want to fight someone bound to servitude here, and I don't see a way to get past him without doing either."
There is, clearly, no visible activity in the room but the voice does speak.
"I cannot [u] say [/u] I would be glad to be rid of this charge. I cannot say that at all."
"Of course not. You can't say that. However, since we are talking, and we are respecting your need to prevent us from proceeding, maybe we can discuss hypotheticals. For instance, let's say that a being, such as yourself, was tied to a task that they didn't want to be subjected to? How might someone help this being?"
There is a deep chuckle from the room.
"I have been to this plane several times but never this long. If any of you are inclined I suggest you do not call my kind, we do as we must but are not loyal. If the one commanding me had come back I could find a way out." a short pause "It is possible a dispelling magic could free me from my bonds. Failing that get the summoner to release me or... well if he was confirmed dead maybe."
Augar calls forth the power of Torag but does not feel the familiar power flow well from him. Still Augar continues and feels a surge as further power is drawn out of him. This draw continues after a moment all in the room hear the reverberation of hammer on steel echo though the room. It is not over loud but still rattles the teeth of those in the party. There is a deep wry chuckle from inside the room and then silence.
Searching about the room you do not find any items of note but the room itself may be intresting.
Succeeding at a DC 20 Knowledge (engineering) check while examining the exposed flooring in the northwest corner of the room reveals that the plates and cables are an immense power conduit capable of accepting electrical charges, whether via a battery, a generator,or other.
The chair to the northeast was this lab’s operator station. From this seat, a single person could utilize the lab to craft nanotech devices by shunting nanites and raw materials into one of the construction nodes—the four square pillars to the southwest. While the lab remains nonfunctional even if the power is restored, if the PCs restore power, a character who can read Androffan can use the operator station to neutralize the toxic gas in the canisters in area A13. Doing this requires a DC30 Disable Device and 5d6 rounds of work.
Finally this area could be used as a fully functional Nanoech Lab if power is restored.
"Very, very interesting. I have played with a variety of strange technology, but this may just take the cake. I think I might be able to get some of this stuff working again."
"Yes, there is some very interesting stuff here. I might be able to help you a bit with it."
"Interesting. We could get the lab up and running again I think. Just think of what we could create." Vedia is fascinated with getting the nanotech lab up and running just to see what it will do.
"The bigger question is do we have the understanding of these things to safely get it up and running without loosing control of it? I'm all for taking a risk in the name of researching these things, but we would have to make sure some of the other parties around here doesn't just move in when we get it up and running and either take it all or destroy it." Xandar says walking closer to James. "Let me help you disable that one James." he says beginning to hum a quite melody to inspire him.
[ooc] Just going to give you what there is to know about the lab and restoring power.
RESTORING POWER
Until someone imbues the power conduit in area A14 with
at least 20 charges of power, the ruins of the Aurora remain
dark and inert. Once the ruins gain power, the following
conditions change in the ruins. The Aurora consumes 20
charges per month to power the following.
• The few still-functional lights in the ceiling flicker to life,
raising ambient light levels to dim light.
• All doors can be opened with a touch as a swift action.
• At the GM’s discretion, the production lab (area A5)
and nanotech lab (area A14) can be utilized to craft
technological items.
• The android foundry (area A3 and A10) reactivates and
generates one new deformed android per week.
• The nanotech lab (area A14) can be used to neutralize
the toxic gas stored in the canisters in area A13.
Xandars fears are well founded but given the local populations mistrust of technology it is doubtful that anyone local will come down to the buried ship. It is more likely that the one who called the Invisible Stalker to this plane could return though it seems to have been many years since he was last here.
You do manage to activate one further recording shows the same man as in the first. Again he is talking to the Invisible Stalker and calls himself Furkas Xoud. He speaks of taking Casandalee’s body back to his tower in the Smokewood.
"I guess we now have our next destination, now we just need to decide if we go there or try and get this lab up and running again." Xandar says kinda wanting to do both.
"As much as I would like to tinker here, I suspect this would become a rather mundane life. Maybe getting this back up and running should be my retirement plan, eh? But I ain't quite ready to hang up my guns just yet. Let's see what we can do to lock this place down, and get on to our next adventure, shall we? Maybe Val can look over the place for us while we are gone."
"I think you might have a point there James. As much as I would love to stay here longer, I feel the time I need to study this place with require years. I wouæd be happy to comeback after pur current adventure to work on what ever is inside this laboratory." Xandar says looking around determined to see this place again some day.
"Indeed. We have bigger fish to fry at the moment, but we should definitely return and examine this place when we have more time."
James efforts are enough to neutralize the gas that has been causing mutation in the area. Traveling back to Iadenveigh is uneventful as you would expect and it is easy to find Redfang. How much you tell him is up to you but he understands that a threat has been ended at least.
Knowing that Furakas Xoud took Casandelee's body to Smokewood you have time to make whatever preparations are needed for the journey.
Vedia looks sad they have to leave all that lovely technology, but is happy with the suggestion to come back later and get the systems up and running. "I wonder where the Smokewood is? Sounds like a forest, but I'm not sure there is such a thing here."
"Smokewood, it could be a place that used to be a forest or perhaps an area of volcanic activity with constant smoke." Xandar adds to Vedia suggestion and starts to ask a few of the locals if they know anything about such a place.
Between Vedia and Xandar they are able to come by quite a bit of information. Mostly from some discrete inquires and a little from a traveling merchant who has come near the Smokewood area.
Furkas Xoud was a powerful wizard who built a strange home called the Choking Tower in the depths of Smokewood in the [u] Numerian Plains.[/u] On clear days, you can see the smoke rising from his tower above Smokewood’s boughs.
Smokewood was known as Dreamwood before Xoud built his Choking Tower. Soon after the tower’s construction, local tribes began telling stories of strange dreams experienced by those who slept within the woods or near its borders. No one’s heard from Xoud in 7 years, and common belief is that he passed away in his tower, but an increase in the number of hill giants dwelling in the wood has prevented further investigations of the tangled interior.
Furkas Xoud was once a member of the Technic League, but he was either exiled from the group or fled persecution; he certainly chose Smokewood as the location for his new home due to its inaccessibility and remote location. The tower itself is located near the heart of the woods.
A trip to Smokewood will take a week and once there there will be little opportunity to buy or sell items so you need to go with what you need.
"Looks like we need to get any shopping done now before we head to the Smokewood. We should be prepared for wizards and strange dreams it sounds like."
"We can sell off some of this tech we found if you need extra cash, although I hate to see it go."
Loot sheet is fairly up to date but I need to put in some prices. Depending on what you want to keep and sell you have between 15 and 30k gold.
The trip to Smokewood is not particularly eventful. You are even given horses for your journey as a reward for helping out Iadenveigh. They also give you a crude map of where the Smoking Tower is. Also as you journey you find that you are all feeling a bit more powerful then you had been.
Welcome to level 8.
Smokewood is a dense, temperate forest with thick undergrowth and a tangled canopy. Its western edge lies about 50 miles from Iadenveigh, but no direct roads lead to this uncivilized woodland.
Overall the forest seems to have no paths to navigate but you do come accorss what appears to be a recently smashed pathway though the trees. Having some experience at this point most of you can guess that there is a hill giant camp up ahead.
"I admit, I am not much of a tracker, but it seems like our way is clear. I'm loaded for maximum stopping power. Ready to hunt some bigguns with my big guns!"
James leads the way, looking for traps or signs of guards along the way.
"I must admit in the past I've always hired skilled trackers to do that sort of work for me. If there are hill giants up ahead should we sneak up or just assault their camp since I don't think we are all equally sneaky and would probably stand a better chance in a fight we started. Unless you want me to use my illusions to make it appear there is a wall of trees between us and the giants hopefully getting past them without and bloodshed?" Xandar says.
1d20+12
Vedia carefully look around the forest. She looks at the smashed trees and such and tries to see what she might know about hill giants. [b]"We're quite a bit smaller than they are. Maybe they won't notice us until we have a chance to get closer to them.
As you move through the woods Vedia recalls that small tribes of hill giants can be found throughout numaria. While quite strong they are also quite dumb and generally prone to angry outbursts. Standing around ten feet tall
they generally wield large branches or chunks of metal as a great club.
It does not take long to find three hill giants that have set up a camp in the woods. They look to have superficial wounds and appear to be speaking to each other though you would need to get closer to hear. There spirits appear to be quite low.
The giant’s crude camp consists of three enormous leantos made of logs and sheets of canvas. Among the simple tents is a fire pit and a charred boar stuck on a spit. A metal wheel is jammed onto one end of the spit. To the north, a square of tree branches wedged into the ground form a makeshift pen. At the west end of the camp, a few twisted metal plates stick out from between several large rocks.