The sudden assault takes the modified modron by surprise. With the onslaught of damage it does the only thing it can think of before they can kill it. The modron creature seems to go limp, just for a moment, and then a sudden burst of psionic energy flies out in all directions. Both Shanolia and Woe are stopped dead in their tracks, unable to make their minds act. Both Dapple and Koll are shaken by the sudden burst of psionic energy, but are able to maintain their motor functions. It doesn't matter though, as the modron creation begins to disentigrate before their eyes.
There's a quiet in the air, a calm...
The chwinga in the area all look around, stretching their limbs as if waking up after a long sleep.
Meanwhile...
The earth begins to tremble... Grasalfan yells out, "What in the hells is this!" His hand is pointed towards the cockpit of the flying machine. Out the window, a massive mechanical elephant is charging the machine.
Perrin feeling the rumbling of the ground. Gets up and makes his way to the other side of the aircraft and upon seeing the elephant charging the machine breaks out Frank and his shield and charges to intercept the elephant before it makes contact with the machine.
//Perrin Athletics: 1d20+4=8 versus elephants Athletics: 1d20+7=20//
Woe looks around. The beast had stunned her, but then crumpled to the floor. Her friends look unharmed - or better, not more harmed than before. Woe realises that this was a close call. She goes close to Shano, who seems shaken by the events. "I am sorry, Shanolia, I didn't see earlier how hurt you were at the ship collapse. Please let me heal you." Woe places her hands on Shanolia's shoulders and warm energy is flowing through her hands into the elf's body, slowly healing the cuts and bruises she received earlier. Shanolia lets out a sigh as her wounds begin to close. "Thank you..." She practically whispers. Woe squeezes Shano's shoulder in reply. "my pleasure."
Woe then lies down on the ground again. Looking at the creatures. Again trying both languages, common and gnomish. "You're free now, I guess. At least for now. Is this your island? Is there a place where you're safe?"
As she does, Koll interrupts. "That creature's dying psychic wave means there could be more coming for us, and at the same time it could have somehow put the others in danger. I suggest we make haste."
"You're right. I just wanted to make sure we didn't endanger these little creatures with our deed. Let's head out. Dapple, please lead us as quickly as possible to where the others went!" Woe waves goodbye to the little creatures.
Dapple moves among the newly freed creatures, watching for signs of another modron, but senses that for now at least, they are safe here. At Woe's call, he looks over. "Yes, we need to get moving and find the others. I... may have been a bit hasty. I hope they are safe. Let's go!" He rejoins the trail and moves off at a brisk pace, the others following.
"Everyone out!" Grasalfan yells. Lera grabs a startled Polly and heads out the rear hatch, followed by Grasalfan. Perrin's charge doesn't seem to effect the mechanical creature as it barrels right past him. He braces his shield and slams it against one of the creature's legs, but it does nothing more than jar the halfling.
The flying machine lurches as the construct elephant slams into it. It then rises up, stomping it with its massive foot (69 points of damage). There's a moment of hustling as the group gets surrounded by the hundreds of modrons and constructs in the clearing. Then they all begin to speak up, talking rapidly, as if angry.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Zamar, Grasalfan, Perrin, Singe, and Lera, carrying Polly, are all forcibly marched towards the building in the clearing. Sprinkled about the small modrons are the larger starfish type of modrons. Even though there are only six of them, they seem to control their own little horde of the monodrones. The gorilla-type constructs follow dutifully, occasionally mimicing the actions of a real gorilla, even though half the flesh from their predecessors hang in tatters. The elephant remains where it stands, one large foot pinning the flying machine to the ground.
As the group gets closer to the entrance of the building, they feel their minds being probed. Something is leaping from one person to another, browsing surface thoughts as if they were an open book. Perrin's sword raises up in anger at the presence, blocking it from observing the halfling's inner voice. As a result, there's an ear-piercing siren-like noise, similar to the ear-screeching chords of Woe's bagpipes that rises up from the weapon itself.
Zamar clutches his new Lyre and begins to hum a familiar song over and over in his head. He thinks about the power of his music and how he hopes it can help them in the trials ahead. e notes the starfish modrons and inks to himself that the party needs to be wary of them and respect their power.
As the group approaches Perrin sees his sword raise up as if to defend Perrin. Suddenly he hears the familiar voice of Frank
“Let me in...we can win this. Let me in.”
It feels as through the sword is being assaulted and is attempting to find refuge in his mind.
Perrin is going to tell Frank “Lets not Attack the modrons right away. Let’s save our friends and then destroy the source. From the inside”
Perrin is scared to let someone completely in his mind: that’s scary but ,he feels bad if it’s looking for a safe place within their while this thing is trying to assault us mentally. He doesn’t know what to do. Perrin’s mind goes back to the conversation with Lera.
Perrin decides, shamefully, to not grant him access to his mind. “I...I can’t let go of control. Not yet. I’m not strong enough to.”
Ok - The sword's shrill scream of pain ends as suddenly as it began, then there's nothing. A silence. Suddenly you feel the revitalized hatred towards the thing inside.
The small group is led into the building after the sword's outburst. Two of the large modrons do the escorting once inside. The modron up ahead walks slowly, as if to give time for the great entity within the building to read the mortal's thoughts. They pass two doors made of iron, much like the front door closing behind them, and continue forward to a "T" intersection with a massive door at the intersect. The door stands tall and proud, as if signifying its importance. Once there, the lead modron turns right to block the passage and gestures for the group to continue down the hall. At the end of the left hall is a simple circular hatch the size of one of those small modrons. The hatch opens to reveal a chute that disappears into the darkness.
“Let’s go before me and Frank start cutting” Perrin says
*There's only two of them... we can take them!* The sword whispers back into Perrin mind.
*More will come. Let’s get this thing from the inside* Is Perrins response.
Once inside the mine shaft, Polly begins to grasp at Lera. "I'm slipping! You're gonna drop me!"
"I'm trying not to," Lera hisses back and tries to adjust again.
The tank is strapped to Polly's back, which might be causing Lera the problems she's having.
"Polly, can you walk?" Singe asks
"I don't think so," Polly said, quietly. "My legs are all tingly and feel funny." Then, even quieter, she said, "I... I could try."
“Grasalfan, can you rig up a sling or some contraption so I can carry Polly on my back?” Zamar asks
"Aye, of course." Grasalfan accepts your pack and empties it out, then pulls his tinker tools from his own pack. "Someone wanna grab all that?" He asks. He then starts making a rig for Polly to sit in that will be comfortable, small holes on the bottom for her feet to dangle. He even adds extra back-space for Mr. Drippy's canister. Once it's done he hands it back to Zamar, "I added buttons to the leg flaps so you can close it and use it as a backpack later. Just don't put anything too small in there or it'll come out." (Tinker Tools to make sling: 1d20+5=10)
Working together, Singe and Lera can easily get her into the harness. She wiggles around, getting comfortable, before settling down.
Singe and Lera then grab what was taken out of Zamars back and puts it in their own for safe keeping.
As you start out, it's a nice smooth slide. Then suddenly, the slide angles down sharply, and you begin to slide even faster. (Athletics: 15). As you fall faster and faster, your body naturally lays back, until you're laying flat against the slide, and you're able to keep yourself from falling off. Down and down you go, for what seems forever. Then, the ride starts getting rough. Looking, you notice that the metal surface you are riding on, which was at the beginning nice and shiny, is now rusted out. Suddenly, the world drops out from under you. And Perrin yells out "It gets dangerously steep and then drops!” (Athletics: 11) Perrin goes flying off at high speed and hit the ground really hard. (Perrin take 13 damage.) Getting up he uses Lay on Hands (10 Points) to heal himself. And looks around.
You land hard about thirty feet from the wall of the cave. The cave itself is pretty massive with an extremely high ceiling. Jutting out of the ceiling seems to be an obelisk of some sort, over 100 feet above cave-ground level. A pulsing blue light radiates from it, bathing the cavern in the light. All about you lies debris... what appears to be the corpses of countless constructs, rusted to the core. They're scattered everywhere. Perrin looks at the monolith to see if its the same as the building. It's a safe assumption you're looking at something powerful. Frank doesn't like it.
Those of you still above, you watched as Perrin disappeared down the chute, and waited. You waited some more and continued to wait. You never hear anything more from him. Lera attempts to Message Perrin but cannot reach him.
Singe goes down the chute next, and the slide is nice and smooth, then it suddenly drops out as the angle goes steeply. (Athletics: 17). As the angle of the slide goes steep, you lay back into it, and are able to maintain yourself. Faster and faster, deeper and deeper you go. You notice that the slide goes from a shiny metal to a rusted metal. It suddenly drops out from below you.(Acrobatics: 10). Singe falls to the ground hard and slide, taking 13 points of damage. He casts shield as he falls. (Regains 2 points of Arcane Ward).
As you lay dazed, you see Perrin looking down at you. “I warned you about the fall; here let me help a little.” Perrin then picks you up and casts Cure Wounds as he does. (4 HP restored). "We couldn't hear you. It's quite a ways away." Singe says. Perrin, you know you feel for a really long time (Insight: 8) Singe, you estimate you're about a mile underground by now. (Insight: 15).
Up top Zamar uses his new Lyre to cast Fly on Lera to fly safely down. On the way down Lera attempts a cool flip (Nat 1) but ends up landing on her face into a tentacle of a Flumph.
Perrin says "I think you need to work on that flip. But get down here and look at this monolith. It's pulsating and Frank doesn't like it."
Back up top, Graslfan goes down next counting as he goes. "1... 2... 3...ooof.... 4.... ... ... ..." (Athletics: 9) (Acrobatics: 20). Landing with a cool flip at the end. Perrin claps and says to Lera "That's how you do a flip."
"Come on," whines Polly. "Everyone went down the slide! I wanna go too!"
"Ready, little one?" Zamar says.
"Yeah!" Polly holds you tightly around Zamar's neck.
Zamar jumps in and casts Levitate about a minute in. Okay, you descend and everything goes rather smooth. About 100 ft in, you notice the slide makes a sharp drop, but you continue to follow down. You continue down for what feels like forever, but you know in actuality, it's been minutes. As you continue, you begin to worry. You know it's been close to 10 minutes. And sure enough, your spell ends, and you fall to the slide, where you and Polly begin to pick up speed, Polly squealing with delight. (Acrobatics: 15) As you fall you come to a very rusted area. Fearing the worst, you prepare yourself, and manage to brace your feet against the rusted spots, and slow yourself enough that you are able to land, without a scratch. Singe applauds.
Lera as you fail your "cool" flip, you fall face first into something... squishy. Opening your eyes, you see... tentacles. Looking up, you see a creature looking back at you. In your mind, you hear a single word. "Hello." Singe also notices the tentacle and the creature able to recognize it. (Arcana: 13) Singe has read of these little creatures before, and know it's called a Flumph. You know they are typically good creaturs but tend to make their homes near evil creatures, which can corrupt them.
“Hello, friend!” Lera thinks back. “What’s your name?”
Lera in your head, you hear a single word. "Flumph."
“That’s a cool name, Flumph. Do you know what that big spooky, pointy rock is?” Lera asks.
Singe is too busy looking at the flumph to notice anything around him. Everyone else can hear quick skittering sounds. Zamar, on top of the sounds, you see movement, as what appears to be large insects come rushing out of the shadows toward your group.
Zamar shouts "Incoming!" As six of these insects come out particularly interested in Perrin.
As you cast your spell, the sound is nearly unbearable. Everyone holds their ringing ears and recoils. Zamar as you are regretting this decision, you hear a voice in your head. "No. Wait. Friend." Opening your eyes, you watch as the Flumph moves between you and the 6 insect-like creatures. If floats around, from insect to insect, almost like it's herding them.
“Hey, Flumph, thank you for your help? Lera says.
One at a time, each of you, including Polly and Grasalfan, hear a voice. "No. Friend."
"Why not?" Singe thinks.
"Protection." It replies.
"Protect what?" Singe says back.
"Flumph" it responds.
"Why do you need protection?" Singe asks
"From the morons!' Zamar says as if he figures it all out.
A few more moments and the insect-like creatures move back further into the cave. The flumph returns to face you, once again. Singe hears in his head, "Machine."
"Do they like you?" Singe asks the flumph.
"No" it replies.
"What is that?" Singe points to the monolith.
In your mind, this time, you get an image of the largest modron, the one you discovered to be the portal.
To you, Singe it's the image of a massive mechanical entity with multiple arms, the body of this thing goes nearly a mile into the ground. Right now... you're staring at its ass.
"Could you share that with everyone?" Singe asks.
One by one, everyone sees the image of the portal modron in their heads. Polly, confused as to what is happening, says, "What is that? Why am I seeing things in my head?"
"The little tentacle guy is saying things into our minds." Zamar answers, "I think that is how he communicates."
"You know when Lera talks to you and you hear her voice in your head? It's like that. The flumph is trying to help us make sense of where we are and what we're seeing." Singe further explains.
"But... we're supposed to..." Polly said, trailing off, looking at the flumph. "But he's so friendly. I... I don't wanna help the evil machines!"
"Nor do any of us. We will figure something out." Zamar says
Singe, in your head you hear, "Come."
Singe thinks "Alone?"
"No. All. Come." The flumph begins to float further into the cave. "Come. Come."
"We're moving!" Singe and the rest of the gang follow the flumph.
As you follow, you pass the group of 6 insect-like creatures. They make a movement toward Perrin as he passes, but the flumph motions toward them, and they back off. Once you pass, they follow behind. The flumph leads you into a cavern, where there is silence for a moment. Then you begin to hear more skittering sounds and from the shadows, more insect creatures and flumphs surround you. "Friends," Singe hears again.
Dapple leads Koll, Woe and Shanolia through the lush, but eerily lifeless jungle, all of them moving as quickly, yet as quietly as possible. They regain the trail several times, breaking the path occasionally, until they come upon a clearing. The flying machine is there, the rear hatch open. One side of it is completely bashed and a massive mechanical elephant creature stands next to it, its ribcage section open as an army of modrons crawl in. The clearing itself ise crawling with modrons, and they appear to be grouping up as if preparing for something. They are armed as well. Some have bows, others are outfitted with swords or spears. All of the weapons look to be made of glass, just like the armory the ship-building modron had scavenged. Each group also has one of those gorilla constructs that Perrin talked about.
Dapple darts back as soon as he sees this (Stealth 16+5=21), motioning at the others to get out of sight. "Something happened here too. I don't see anyone do you? Let's see what they do - that's a lot of angry looking creatures."
Seeing this massive army, the destruction of the airship and their friends' unknown fate, Koll knows that they must remain hidden at all costs. Drawing on his ki, he radiates an aura of silence and shadows, hiding himself and the others around him. (Stealth: Koll 16+15=31, Woe 18+14+32, Shanolia 9+17=26). As they all watch from hiding, the modrons to be deploying squads into the jungle. One squad gets surprising close to the group, but they march on by. The gorilla creature swings through the trees atop of them, climbing a tree rapidly.
Koll whispers to the others, "Seems like they're sending out hunting parties - for us? Or the others? They must have escaped. But where did they go? If we can get close to the ship, maybe Dapple can figure out where they went by their tracks."
Waiting a few more minutes, nearly all of the modrons and constructs remove themselves from the clearing. They head into the jungle, primarily the Southern Jungle, towards to the beach. There's still around 40 of them, all huddled in small squads of eight, scattered around the clearing. One elephant construct and two gorillas remain, as well as one of the larger modrons. They stand eerily still and silent. Shanolia turns to the others as the late morning sun hangs in the sky, whispering quietly.
"This is not good. Surely the death of their friend has them searching for us, perhaps we should stay out of sight?"
"We could distract them somehow,"Koll suggests, keeping his voice as low as possible. "Then get to the flying machine and try to figure out what's going on."
"Perhaps, though I believe scouting about is our best course of action before we make any sort of plan." She looks from face to face, and her companions nod in agreement. Silently, the group begins to scout the area, the shadows emanating from Koll keeping them hidden from view as they move together, remaining within 30ft of Koll.
"Can you show me what happened on this island? Did the modrons take over can you show me that?" Perrin asks.
Images begin to flood Perrin's mind. Images of machines and gnomes, working in harmony, the giant portal looming over them. There's an incredible sense of peace associated to these images. Then the images get destructive, machine killing gnome, and a darkness settling over everything. Slowly the images show the machines destroying and enslaving the wildlife, twisting it to their whims. Not even the elements themselves are safe from the machines will. With the living destroyed, the machines create more machines. Just when Perrin feels as if his heart is going to break, the flumph shows him an image of a single cog. It's absolutely beautiful, gleaming with an inner warmth. Then the image changes, the cog broken and tarnished. With that, the images stop, and the flumph hovers before Perrin, watching his reaction.
"Do you know where this cog is?" Perrin says with a single tear streaming down his face.
Singe pipes up, seeing Perrin's expression, "May I see?"
In Perrin's mind, a single image of the portal modron. Then the flumph turns to Singe, and shows him everything it just showed Perrin.
"What cog?" Grasalfan says, his curiosity piqued. "Lemme see, lemme see!" He's practically bouncing. A second flumph comes forward, and shows Grasalfan everything.
Singe frowns, "There's cog that kept everything here running smoothly, the modrons and the gnomes worked together. When it broke, the modrons killed everything and took the island as their own. Would repairing the cog would fix this?"
"By the gods!" Grasalfan cries. "That's it! It's true! This here is a cog from Primus itself! It explains everything... how the portal was maintained, how modrons were able to come 'n go." His excitement gets the best of him and he stumbles into Singe. Grasalfan hugs Singe tightly. "The whole reason we're here! Can you imagine... a Cog of Primus."
Singe pats the gnome on his back and pries him off, "To get it?"
“I think we need to fix it but...I don’t know anything about fixing cogs.”
"I don't wanna see," Polly stated loudly. "No more stuff in my head!"
Singe nods, "To keep everyone else on the same page however, please share with Zamar and Lera," Singe gestures to father and daughter.
"And do ye know who does, boyo??" Grasalfan grins, looking at Perrin.
“Dwarves” Perrin says with a smug grin.
"The High House of Wonders! We need ta get that cog." Grasalfan gives Perrin a look of disgust.
The first flumph moves over to Lera and begins to gently caress her face, showing her the images. Another floats up to Zamar and does the same, while Polly cringes away.
"Their telepathy is targeted," Singe informs Polly, "You don't need to be scared of it."
"I don't wanna see stuff in my head anymore!" Polly scrunches up her nose. "I don't like things in my head!"
Singe nods, "If you tell them not to, they won't."
Polly points at one. "No!" Then she points at another and repeats, "No!" She continues doing this for each of the flumphs.
“Here I’ll explain what I saw.” Perrin then explains what the Flumphs showed him.
Grasalfan continues muttering about how dwarves can't distinguish function and fashion if it knocked them on the forehead. All panache and no grit... amateurs.
"So the machines are bad?" Polly frowned at the flumphs. "How are we supposed to stop them? There were a lot of them up there." One of the flumphs floated toward her, as if it were going to speak to her, then paused. It looked at a few other flumphs, as if trying to come to a decision.
Singe thinks, She isn't a fan of the whole telepathy. If you would like to tell her something, you can tell one of us.
The flumph regards Polly again, then floats to Singe. "Hurt," he hears in his mind.
Are they hurt? Or should we hurt them? Singe thinks.
"Child. Hurt."
"Look at my golden inlay'd hammer... eeew so pretty. Then they never use it on a nail for fear of chipping off the gold!" Grasalfan spits.
A couple more flumphs move toward Polly. Singe says out loud, stepping in between Polly and the Flumphs, "Yes, The child is hurt. Can you help?"
"Help. Yes. Help." It floats before Singe, as if awaiting reply.
Singe turns to Polly, "You are looking pretty terrible, would you like their help?"
Polly leans over and looks around Singe. "They can help?"
“It was a joke Grasalfan. Calm down.” Perrin tell him.
Singe nods, "They're peaceful."
"Okay," Polly said, hesitantly. "As long as they don't put images in my head!" Singe turns to the flumphs and steps aside.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
After scouting the clearing, Shanolia, Koll, Dapple and Woe devise a plan. Dapple and Woe will sit on the northern edge of the clearing, ready to produce a distraction, while Shanolia under Koll's shadows will investigate the airship to find where the other group went. If something goes terribly wrong, they agree to flee - and try to run south, to hopefully find the beach again, where they can re-group.
When Woe and Dapple are sitting in great cover, looking out onto the clearing, Woe casts disguise self and turns herself into a shipwrecked woman, seemingly having lived in the wild for over 2 months. She has dirty knotted hair, ripped clothes, looking gaunt. She makes herself smaller and hunches her back a little. On her way here, she also collected about 5 fist sized rocks and 5 pebbles and put them in her pocket, keeping one fist sized rock in her hand.
Then they wait to be ready to cause a diversion if needed.
Shano prays to Lolth for the protection of the shadows before going in.
"May the Dark Mother guide me from the shadows." Shanolia recites the simple prayer from memory before quickly and quietly darting across the twenty feet of open ground to the open hatch of the flying machine. There's no one inside, and the whole front of the machine appears to have been crushed by something massive. Polly's papers lie strewn about, and almost subconsciously Shanolia picks them all up, easily avoiding the broken glass that littered the floor. One of the pages appears to have Singe's handwriting, but the Elf just brushes this off as she folds the pages and tucks them into a small pocket sewn into the inside of her inner, non-magical cloak.
With the pages collected and no sign of any other belongings or hints to the others' whereabouts, Shanolia sneaks into the cockpit and takes a peek out of what remains of the windshield and sees a large door. The door is odd; No lock, pretty sturdy iron. It'd be impossible to break down, and since it doesn't work on a lock it must work on a mechanism of some sort. She also notes a lever labelled "forward" and "back" on the wall next to her. On the ground outside are a mess of footprints showing that, very recently, the others seem to have been escorted in the direction of the massive double-doors. There doesn't appear to have been a struggle, but it seems they did rush out of the flying machine when it got smashed up. After another look around, she darts back across the clearing to Koll and together they return to Woe and Dapple.
"Obviously, they aren't there. They left in a hurry when something smashed it up, and it looks like they've gone inside that large building - likely as prisoners,"She glares at Dapple for a second before continuing."No struggle, so I'd wager they're still alive, but before anyone has any bright ideas," Glares at Dapple again."That door's strong, and it doesn't have an external lock. We're not getting in without permission."
"Let's retreat a bit and find a safe place - if we can - while we come up with a plan. If the others are in the building, then those armed squads are obviously out looking for us." Koll suggests once Shanolia finishes
"Agreed, but let's keep our eyes peeled."
/r 2d20kh1+17 #Stealth Broken Glass = (10+11)+17=28 - Avoids broken glass /r 1d20+1 #Door Perception = (8)+1=9 - No lock, impossible to break, works on mechanism. Control lever in the cockpit. /r 1d20+1 #Survival for Signs of Struggle = (13)+1=14 - No struggle, led to double doors willingly, recent, rushed out of flying machine /r 2d20kh1+17 #Stealth Exiting Ship = (15+3)+17=32 - Like a Shadow
With Dapple's guidance, you begin to leave the building and the clearing. There's a few moments where Dapple stops and puts his finger to his lips, ears tucked down for silence. The last time he does this, everyone thinks they may hear something. Pausing, Dapple concentrates on the jungle around them. Just as before when he thought he heard something, he hears it again. A woosh. Dapple looks up, to the left, then behind... far in the distance, past the trees, he sees a small black hole. The door to the building... is open! The modrons are rushing in to it.
"Look, back at the clearing." Dapple points this out to everyone. "If the others are in there, that's not a good sign is it?" Woe asks, "Are they running away from something? you heard something wooshing?" "It was the door I think. The modrons are all running now." "Should we check it out?,"wonders Shanolia. "I really wanna be as far away from that building as possible. but there seems to have been a problem inside. maybe our friends are fighting. we need to go check it out." "If Shanolia says they were taken in there, then we need to go try to help."
Looking from face to face, there is grim agreement. If their friends are in dangers, then it's TO the building they must go. As a group, they turn and run for the door, and the unknown beyond.
At once, all the flumphs, by your count 12, converge on Polly, caressing her with their tentacles. She looks unsure of the situation but remains still. The cavern goes quiet, only the sounds of 'flumph' coming from the floating creatures. Then, a sudden rush of raw energy swirls around Polly. Zamar, being the closest to her, feels it as a gust of wind on the back of his neck. "It tickles," Polly giggles. As suddenly as it began, the energy disappears, and all is quiet again.
"Do you feel better?" Singe asks.
Polly thinks for a moment. "I don't feel so tired. I think I feel better." She absently begins to swing her legs in the harness.
"Do you want to get out of the backpack?" Singe asks.
"Yeah! My legs don't feel funny anymore!" Polly replies
Between Lera and Singe, they easily remove Polly and put her on the ground. She bounces happily, then grabs a flumph into a hug. The flumph looks between Singe and Lera, as if unsure of what was happening to it.
"Do we talk to the machine?" Singe asks. A flashback to the intense pain you felt pops to your mind, Singe.
"I don't think they'd let us inside of them. Also, remember what they want us to do here. I really don't want to do that." Perrin responds.
Singe gloves his left hand and twists his wrist. With a puff of flame, a hawk with brilliant plumage appears on his arm. He pops back with a flourish, raising his wings in glory and pronouncing, "Raaaaaaaawrk!"
Singe smiles, Good to have you back buddy.
While everyone is debating on their next move, Polly, still hugging a flumph, skips around the cavern, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Flumple!" None of them have changed color.
Singe thinks in the direction of the newly dubbed Mr. Flumple "Are you ok?"
Singe gets back a single word. "Help."
Lera looks for any corridors. (Perception: 18) You see a second chute on the other side of the cavern. But if you continue further, you see another massive system of caves. They sort of loom ahead, as they can lead anywhere.
"Polly! I don't think Mr. Flumple enjoys that! Also, I don't think that Mr. Flumple is a mister..." Singe says.
Zamar will ask the Flumphs, "What else is down here beside you and your protectors?"
Polly stops her skipping to release the flumph. It hovers in front of Polly and glows a soft pink. She gives it a pat, saying again, "Thank you!" Then she skips over to Singe and takes his hand. "I like them. They're squishy!"
Singe sends Barry to get a closer look at the portal modron. Looking closer at the obelisk, it's made of billions of small bits of clockwork. The glow seems to be internal. A bit of black substance drips from the tip occasionally.
Zamar as you stand there, a flumph floats up to you and you begin to see images of caves. Endless caves. Non-stop images of caves. More caves. Endless. Caves.
“Hey guys, I found a ladder,” Lera says. "It's part of another chute."
Zamar tries to fill my mind with images of creatures that I have seen above and then think about caves again. See if it gets the idea that I want to know what might be down here. I smile and nod. "Is anyone hurt?" Zamar says.
"Like a chute that goes up to the surface," Perrin responds to Lera.
Zamar asks the Flumphs if they can help heal his friends like they did for Polly or if he needs to use his magic.
The flumphs surround all your friends, caressing them gently, before backing away. Zamar hears in his head, "No."
"Okay," Zamar says before he casts Cure Wounds on Singe (10 HP recovered)
Lera casts Mold Earth to create footholds that reach the ladder.
On the other side of the cavern is another chute. As the last chute was like a slide meant for monodrones, this one is lined with a long built-in ladder. The first 10 feet of the ladder is completely rusted and destroyed, but looking further up they go as far as you can see.
"If this leads to the surface do we just lie and tell them we did what they wanted and think very hard about it or are we going to try and sneakily find the other and get them down here?" Perrin says.
You hear the chitter of a cute baby bug next to you, Perrin. "Ahhh, back. Away. Flumphs shoo this thing away. I told you I think they want to eat me." Perrin says.
A flumph floats over and herds the insect away. Perrin hears in his head, "Metal."
Perrin thinks back to him "Yes. My Metal Protects Me."
"Food," it thinks back.
"No. Protects. Me. Food. On the Surface." Perrin thinks back
"Metal. Food." It responds.
"Not. My. Metal." Perrin says back punctuating each word.
The flumph doesn't respond, just continues to herd the baby away from you.
"Let's go before they eat my armor. We can discuss this on the way up." Perrin begins to climb trying to get away from the insects while he still has his armor intact.
Every single one of the insect creatures watches as you climb out of their reach.
Polly tugs at Singe's hand. "Are we climbing up now?" She seems excited to be able to do things once again.
The sudden assault takes the modified modron by surprise. With the onslaught of damage it does the only thing it can think of before they can kill it. The modron creature seems to go limp, just for a moment, and then a sudden burst of psionic energy flies out in all directions. Both Shanolia and Woe are stopped dead in their tracks, unable to make their minds act. Both Dapple and Koll are shaken by the sudden burst of psionic energy, but are able to maintain their motor functions. It doesn't matter though, as the modron creation begins to disentigrate before their eyes.
There's a quiet in the air, a calm...
The chwinga in the area all look around, stretching their limbs as if waking up after a long sleep.
Meanwhile...
The earth begins to tremble... Grasalfan yells out, "What in the hells is this!" His hand is pointed towards the cockpit of the flying machine. Out the window, a massive mechanical elephant is charging the machine.
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Perrin feeling the rumbling of the ground. Gets up and makes his way to the other side of the aircraft and upon seeing the elephant charging the machine breaks out Frank and his shield and charges to intercept the elephant before it makes contact with the machine.
//Perrin Athletics: 1d20+4=8 versus elephants Athletics: 1d20+7=20//
Woe looks around. The beast had stunned her, but then crumpled to the floor. Her friends look unharmed - or better, not more harmed than before. Woe realises that this was a close call. She goes close to Shano, who seems shaken by the events. "I am sorry, Shanolia, I didn't see earlier how hurt you were at the ship collapse. Please let me heal you." Woe places her hands on Shanolia's shoulders and warm energy is flowing through her hands into the elf's body, slowly healing the cuts and bruises she received earlier. Shanolia lets out a sigh as her wounds begin to close. "Thank you..." She practically whispers. Woe squeezes Shano's shoulder in reply. "my pleasure."
Woe then lies down on the ground again. Looking at the creatures. Again trying both languages, common and gnomish. "You're free now, I guess. At least for now. Is this your island? Is there a place where you're safe?"
As she does, Koll interrupts. "That creature's dying psychic wave means there could be more coming for us, and at the same time it could have somehow put the others in danger. I suggest we make haste."
"You're right. I just wanted to make sure we didn't endanger these little creatures with our deed. Let's head out. Dapple, please lead us as quickly as possible to where the others went!" Woe waves goodbye to the little creatures.
Dapple moves among the newly freed creatures, watching for signs of another modron, but senses that for now at least, they are safe here. At Woe's call, he looks over. "Yes, we need to get moving and find the others. I... may have been a bit hasty. I hope they are safe. Let's go!" He rejoins the trail and moves off at a brisk pace, the others following.
"Everyone out!" Grasalfan yells. Lera grabs a startled Polly and heads out the rear hatch, followed by Grasalfan. Perrin's charge doesn't seem to effect the mechanical creature as it barrels right past him. He braces his shield and slams it against one of the creature's legs, but it does nothing more than jar the halfling.
The flying machine lurches as the construct elephant slams into it. It then rises up, stomping it with its massive foot (69 points of damage). There's a moment of hustling as the group gets surrounded by the hundreds of modrons and constructs in the clearing. Then they all begin to speak up, talking rapidly, as if angry.
"Your"
"Friends"
"Lives"
"Are"
"Forfeit."
The modrons raise their spears angrily.
"If"
"You"
"Wish"
"To"
"Save"
"Them,"
"Clear"
"The"
"Mines"
"Now."
A pulse runs through the modrons, the massive gorilla constructs lurching forward and battering the ground.
"We"
"Will"
"Stop"
"Our"
"Hunt"
"For"
"Them"
"When"
"This"
"Is"
"Finished."
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"Fine! Yes, we'll do it!" Singe cries in desperation. "But if our friends come, you must allow them access to the mines!"
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
"Request"
"Denied."
The sounds of the door opening is heard above the sounds of shuffling feet from the modrons. Their glass spears prod the group forward.
"Until"
"You"
"Are"
"Done,"
"They"
"Will"
"Be"
"Hunted."
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Singe spits "Fine!" He turns to the group, "In! Come along! Everyone goes! Yes, even Polly."
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Zamar, Grasalfan, Perrin, Singe, and Lera, carrying Polly, are all forcibly marched towards the building in the clearing. Sprinkled about the small modrons are the larger starfish type of modrons. Even though there are only six of them, they seem to control their own little horde of the monodrones. The gorilla-type constructs follow dutifully, occasionally mimicing the actions of a real gorilla, even though half the flesh from their predecessors hang in tatters. The elephant remains where it stands, one large foot pinning the flying machine to the ground.
As the group gets closer to the entrance of the building, they feel their minds being probed. Something is leaping from one person to another, browsing surface thoughts as if they were an open book. Perrin's sword raises up in anger at the presence, blocking it from observing the halfling's inner voice. As a result, there's an ear-piercing siren-like noise, similar to the ear-screeching chords of Woe's bagpipes that rises up from the weapon itself.
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Zamar clutches his new Lyre and begins to hum a familiar song over and over in his head. He thinks about the power of his music and how he hopes it can help them in the trials ahead. e notes the starfish modrons and inks to himself that the party needs to be wary of them and respect their power.
Zamar Zahuv - Level 4 Aasimar Bard in Whispers of Dissent
Golos - Level 1 Halfling Barbarian in Night's Dark Terror
Jerrok Flametongue - Level 6 Human Barbarian in Zendikar - Whispers of the Aeons
R'thr Ka'ri - Level 5 Paladin in The Adventures of Bubbles (every other Wednesday)
Johnathan Moonspeaker - Level 6 Druid in Web of Lies (every other Friday)
DM of Something Wicked This Way Comes - D&D Modernverse (every other Tuesday)
As the group approaches Perrin sees his sword raise up as if to defend Perrin. Suddenly he hears the familiar voice of Frank
“Let me in...we can win this. Let me in.”
It feels as through the sword is being assaulted and is attempting to find refuge in his mind.
Perrin is going to tell Frank “Lets not Attack the modrons right away. Let’s save our friends and then destroy the source. From the inside”
Perrin is scared to let someone completely in his mind: that’s scary but ,he feels bad if it’s looking for a safe place within their while this thing is trying to assault us mentally. He doesn’t know what to do. Perrin’s mind goes back to the conversation with Lera.
Perrin decides, shamefully, to not grant him access to his mind. “I...I can’t let go of control. Not yet. I’m not strong enough to.”
Ok - The sword's shrill scream of pain ends as suddenly as it began, then there's nothing. A silence. Suddenly you feel the revitalized hatred towards the thing inside.
“Yes. Let’s go finish this.” Perrin says aloud
(Wis ST: 1d20+3=13+3=16)
The small group is led into the building after the sword's outburst. Two of the large modrons do the escorting once inside. The modron up ahead walks slowly, as if to give time for the great entity within the building to read the mortal's thoughts. They pass two doors made of iron, much like the front door closing behind them, and continue forward to a "T" intersection with a massive door at the intersect. The door stands tall and proud, as if signifying its importance. Once there, the lead modron turns right to block the passage and gestures for the group to continue down the hall. At the end of the left hall is a simple circular hatch the size of one of those small modrons. The hatch opens to reveal a chute that disappears into the darkness.
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“Let’s go before me and Frank start cutting” Perrin says
*There's only two of them... we can take them!* The sword whispers back into Perrin mind.
*More will come. Let’s get this thing from the inside* Is Perrins response.
Once inside the mine shaft, Polly begins to grasp at Lera. "I'm slipping! You're gonna drop me!"
"I'm trying not to," Lera hisses back and tries to adjust again.
The tank is strapped to Polly's back, which might be causing Lera the problems she's having.
"Polly, can you walk?" Singe asks
"I don't think so," Polly said, quietly. "My legs are all tingly and feel funny." Then, even quieter, she said, "I... I could try."
“Grasalfan, can you rig up a sling or some contraption so I can carry Polly on my back?” Zamar asks
"Aye, of course." Grasalfan accepts your pack and empties it out, then pulls his tinker tools from his own pack. "Someone wanna grab all that?" He asks. He then starts making a rig for Polly to sit in that will be comfortable, small holes on the bottom for her feet to dangle. He even adds extra back-space for Mr. Drippy's canister. Once it's done he hands it back to Zamar, "I added buttons to the leg flaps so you can close it and use it as a backpack later. Just don't put anything too small in there or it'll come out." (Tinker Tools to make sling: 1d20+5=10)
Working together, Singe and Lera can easily get her into the harness. She wiggles around, getting comfortable, before settling down.
Singe and Lera then grab what was taken out of Zamars back and puts it in their own for safe keeping.
Perrin is the first to go down the hatch.
As you start out, it's a nice smooth slide. Then suddenly, the slide angles down sharply, and you begin to slide even faster. (Athletics: 15). As you fall faster and faster, your body naturally lays back, until you're laying flat against the slide, and you're able to keep yourself from falling off. Down and down you go, for what seems forever. Then, the ride starts getting rough. Looking, you notice that the metal surface you are riding on, which was at the beginning nice and shiny, is now rusted out. Suddenly, the world drops out from under you. And Perrin yells out "It gets dangerously steep and then drops!” (Athletics: 11) Perrin goes flying off at high speed and hit the ground really hard. (Perrin take 13 damage.) Getting up he uses Lay on Hands (10 Points) to heal himself. And looks around.
You land hard about thirty feet from the wall of the cave. The cave itself is pretty massive with an extremely high ceiling. Jutting out of the ceiling seems to be an obelisk of some sort, over 100 feet above cave-ground level. A pulsing blue light radiates from it, bathing the cavern in the light. All about you lies debris... what appears to be the corpses of countless constructs, rusted to the core. They're scattered everywhere. Perrin looks at the monolith to see if its the same as the building. It's a safe assumption you're looking at something powerful. Frank doesn't like it.
Those of you still above, you watched as Perrin disappeared down the chute, and waited. You waited some more and continued to wait. You never hear anything more from him. Lera attempts to Message Perrin but cannot reach him.
Singe goes down the chute next, and the slide is nice and smooth, then it suddenly drops out as the angle goes steeply. (Athletics: 17). As the angle of the slide goes steep, you lay back into it, and are able to maintain yourself. Faster and faster, deeper and deeper you go. You notice that the slide goes from a shiny metal to a rusted metal. It suddenly drops out from below you.(Acrobatics: 10). Singe falls to the ground hard and slide, taking 13 points of damage. He casts shield as he falls. (Regains 2 points of Arcane Ward).
As you lay dazed, you see Perrin looking down at you. “I warned you about the fall; here let me help a little.” Perrin then picks you up and casts Cure Wounds as he does. (4 HP restored). "We couldn't hear you. It's quite a ways away." Singe says. Perrin, you know you feel for a really long time (Insight: 8) Singe, you estimate you're about a mile underground by now. (Insight: 15).
Up top Zamar uses his new Lyre to cast Fly on Lera to fly safely down. On the way down Lera attempts a cool flip (Nat 1) but ends up landing on her face into a tentacle of a Flumph.
Perrin says "I think you need to work on that flip. But get down here and look at this monolith. It's pulsating and Frank doesn't like it."
Back up top, Graslfan goes down next counting as he goes. "1... 2... 3...ooof.... 4.... ... ... ..." (Athletics: 9) (Acrobatics: 20). Landing with a cool flip at the end. Perrin claps and says to Lera "That's how you do a flip."
"Come on," whines Polly. "Everyone went down the slide! I wanna go too!"
"Ready, little one?" Zamar says.
"Yeah!" Polly holds you tightly around Zamar's neck.
Zamar jumps in and casts Levitate about a minute in. Okay, you descend and everything goes rather smooth. About 100 ft in, you notice the slide makes a sharp drop, but you continue to follow down. You continue down for what feels like forever, but you know in actuality, it's been minutes. As you continue, you begin to worry. You know it's been close to 10 minutes. And sure enough, your spell ends, and you fall to the slide, where you and Polly begin to pick up speed, Polly squealing with delight. (Acrobatics: 15) As you fall you come to a very rusted area. Fearing the worst, you prepare yourself, and manage to brace your feet against the rusted spots, and slow yourself enough that you are able to land, without a scratch. Singe applauds.
Lera as you fail your "cool" flip, you fall face first into something... squishy. Opening your eyes, you see... tentacles. Looking up, you see a creature looking back at you. In your mind, you hear a single word. "Hello." Singe also notices the tentacle and the creature able to recognize it. (Arcana: 13) Singe has read of these little creatures before, and know it's called a Flumph. You know they are typically good creaturs but tend to make their homes near evil creatures, which can corrupt them.
“Hello, friend!” Lera thinks back. “What’s your name?”
Lera in your head, you hear a single word. "Flumph."
“That’s a cool name, Flumph. Do you know what that big spooky, pointy rock is?” Lera asks.
(Perception all around: Zamar 22, Lera 16, Perrin 10, Singe 9)
Singe is too busy looking at the flumph to notice anything around him. Everyone else can hear quick skittering sounds. Zamar, on top of the sounds, you see movement, as what appears to be large insects come rushing out of the shadows toward your group.
Zamar shouts "Incoming!" As six of these insects come out particularly interested in Perrin.
When they get within 60 feet Zamar casts Shatter.
As you cast your spell, the sound is nearly unbearable. Everyone holds their ringing ears and recoils. Zamar as you are regretting this decision, you hear a voice in your head. "No. Wait. Friend." Opening your eyes, you watch as the Flumph moves between you and the 6 insect-like creatures. If floats around, from insect to insect, almost like it's herding them.
“Hey, Flumph, thank you for your help? Lera says.
One at a time, each of you, including Polly and Grasalfan, hear a voice. "No. Friend."
"Why not?" Singe thinks.
"Protection." It replies.
"Protect what?" Singe says back.
"Flumph" it responds.
"Why do you need protection?" Singe asks
"From the morons!' Zamar says as if he figures it all out.
A few more moments and the insect-like creatures move back further into the cave. The flumph returns to face you, once again. Singe hears in his head, "Machine."
"Do they like you?" Singe asks the flumph.
"No" it replies.
"What is that?" Singe points to the monolith.
In your mind, this time, you get an image of the largest modron, the one you discovered to be the portal.
To you, Singe it's the image of a massive mechanical entity with multiple arms, the body of this thing goes nearly a mile into the ground. Right now... you're staring at its ass.
"Could you share that with everyone?" Singe asks.
One by one, everyone sees the image of the portal modron in their heads. Polly, confused as to what is happening, says, "What is that? Why am I seeing things in my head?"
"The little tentacle guy is saying things into our minds." Zamar answers, "I think that is how he communicates."
"You know when Lera talks to you and you hear her voice in your head? It's like that. The flumph is trying to help us make sense of where we are and what we're seeing." Singe further explains.
"But... we're supposed to..." Polly said, trailing off, looking at the flumph. "But he's so friendly. I... I don't wanna help the evil machines!"
"Nor do any of us. We will figure something out." Zamar says
Singe, in your head you hear, "Come."
Singe thinks "Alone?"
"No. All. Come." The flumph begins to float further into the cave. "Come. Come."
"We're moving!" Singe and the rest of the gang follow the flumph.
As you follow, you pass the group of 6 insect-like creatures. They make a movement toward Perrin as he passes, but the flumph motions toward them, and they back off. Once you pass, they follow behind. The flumph leads you into a cavern, where there is silence for a moment. Then you begin to hear more skittering sounds and from the shadows, more insect creatures and flumphs surround you. "Friends," Singe hears again.
Dapple leads Koll, Woe and Shanolia through the lush, but eerily lifeless jungle, all of them moving as quickly, yet as quietly as possible. They regain the trail several times, breaking the path occasionally, until they come upon a clearing. The flying machine is there, the rear hatch open. One side of it is completely bashed and a massive mechanical elephant creature stands next to it, its ribcage section open as an army of modrons crawl in. The clearing itself ise crawling with modrons, and they appear to be grouping up as if preparing for something. They are armed as well. Some have bows, others are outfitted with swords or spears. All of the weapons look to be made of glass, just like the armory the ship-building modron had scavenged. Each group also has one of those gorilla constructs that Perrin talked about.
Dapple darts back as soon as he sees this (Stealth 16+5=21), motioning at the others to get out of sight. "Something happened here too. I don't see anyone do you? Let's see what they do - that's a lot of angry looking creatures."
Seeing this massive army, the destruction of the airship and their friends' unknown fate, Koll knows that they must remain hidden at all costs. Drawing on his ki, he radiates an aura of silence and shadows, hiding himself and the others around him. (Stealth: Koll 16+15=31, Woe 18+14+32, Shanolia 9+17=26). As they all watch from hiding, the modrons to be deploying squads into the jungle. One squad gets surprising close to the group, but they march on by. The gorilla creature swings through the trees atop of them, climbing a tree rapidly.
Koll whispers to the others, "Seems like they're sending out hunting parties - for us? Or the others? They must have escaped. But where did they go? If we can get close to the ship, maybe Dapple can figure out where they went by their tracks."
Waiting a few more minutes, nearly all of the modrons and constructs remove themselves from the clearing. They head into the jungle, primarily the Southern Jungle, towards to the beach. There's still around 40 of them, all huddled in small squads of eight, scattered around the clearing. One elephant construct and two gorillas remain, as well as one of the larger modrons. They stand eerily still and silent. Shanolia turns to the others as the late morning sun hangs in the sky, whispering quietly.
"This is not good. Surely the death of their friend has them searching for us, perhaps we should stay out of sight?"
"We could distract them somehow," Koll suggests, keeping his voice as low as possible. "Then get to the flying machine and try to figure out what's going on."
"Perhaps, though I believe scouting about is our best course of action before we make any sort of plan." She looks from face to face, and her companions nod in agreement. Silently, the group begins to scout the area, the shadows emanating from Koll keeping them hidden from view as they move together, remaining within 30ft of Koll.
Dungeon Master - LSoL
Kaori - Battlemaster Fighter 5 / Paladin 2 (Kenku) - TSR
Cherna Godhari - Grave Cleric 4 (Human) - TW
Breena Mahi'ai - Divination Wizard 8 (Halfling) - WoE
Sharyn Savonath - Open Sea Paladin 4 (Triton) - PoPI
Zephyr - Four Elements (Revised) Monk 4 (Air Genasi) - IO
Takeshi - Mercy Monk 6 (Protector Aasimar) - TBW
Avrui Sirsash - Genie Warlock 2 (Wildhunt Shifter) - WotBS
"Can you show me what happened on this island? Did the modrons take over can you show me that?" Perrin asks.
Images begin to flood Perrin's mind. Images of machines and gnomes, working in harmony, the giant portal looming over them. There's an incredible sense of peace associated to these images. Then the images get destructive, machine killing gnome, and a darkness settling over everything. Slowly the images show the machines destroying and enslaving the wildlife, twisting it to their whims. Not even the elements themselves are safe from the machines will. With the living destroyed, the machines create more machines. Just when Perrin feels as if his heart is going to break, the flumph shows him an image of a single cog. It's absolutely beautiful, gleaming with an inner warmth. Then the image changes, the cog broken and tarnished. With that, the images stop, and the flumph hovers before Perrin, watching his reaction.
"Do you know where this cog is?" Perrin says with a single tear streaming down his face.
Singe pipes up, seeing Perrin's expression, "May I see?"
In Perrin's mind, a single image of the portal modron. Then the flumph turns to Singe, and shows him everything it just showed Perrin.
"What cog?" Grasalfan says, his curiosity piqued. "Lemme see, lemme see!" He's practically bouncing. A second flumph comes forward, and shows Grasalfan everything.
Singe frowns, "There's cog that kept everything here running smoothly, the modrons and the gnomes worked together. When it broke, the modrons killed everything and took the island as their own. Would repairing the cog would fix this?"
"By the gods!" Grasalfan cries. "That's it! It's true! This here is a cog from Primus itself! It explains everything... how the portal was maintained, how modrons were able to come 'n go." His excitement gets the best of him and he stumbles into Singe. Grasalfan hugs Singe tightly. "The whole reason we're here! Can you imagine... a Cog of Primus."
Singe pats the gnome on his back and pries him off, "To get it?"
“I think we need to fix it but...I don’t know anything about fixing cogs.”
"I don't wanna see," Polly stated loudly. "No more stuff in my head!"
Singe nods, "To keep everyone else on the same page however, please share with Zamar and Lera," Singe gestures to father and daughter.
"And do ye know who does, boyo??" Grasalfan grins, looking at Perrin.
“Dwarves” Perrin says with a smug grin.
"The High House of Wonders! We need ta get that cog." Grasalfan gives Perrin a look of disgust.
The first flumph moves over to Lera and begins to gently caress her face, showing her the images. Another floats up to Zamar and does the same, while Polly cringes away.
"Their telepathy is targeted," Singe informs Polly, "You don't need to be scared of it."
"I don't wanna see stuff in my head anymore!" Polly scrunches up her nose. "I don't like things in my head!"
Singe nods, "If you tell them not to, they won't."
Polly points at one. "No!" Then she points at another and repeats, "No!" She continues doing this for each of the flumphs.
“Here I’ll explain what I saw.” Perrin then explains what the Flumphs showed him.
Grasalfan continues muttering about how dwarves can't distinguish function and fashion if it knocked them on the forehead. All panache and no grit... amateurs.
"So the machines are bad?" Polly frowned at the flumphs. "How are we supposed to stop them? There were a lot of them up there." One of the flumphs floated toward her, as if it were going to speak to her, then paused. It looked at a few other flumphs, as if trying to come to a decision.
Singe thinks, She isn't a fan of the whole telepathy. If you would like to tell her something, you can tell one of us.
The flumph regards Polly again, then floats to Singe. "Hurt," he hears in his mind.
Are they hurt? Or should we hurt them? Singe thinks.
"Child. Hurt."
"Look at my golden inlay'd hammer... eeew so pretty. Then they never use it on a nail for fear of chipping off the gold!" Grasalfan spits.
A couple more flumphs move toward Polly. Singe says out loud, stepping in between Polly and the Flumphs, "Yes, The child is hurt. Can you help?"
"Help. Yes. Help." It floats before Singe, as if awaiting reply.
Singe turns to Polly, "You are looking pretty terrible, would you like their help?"
Polly leans over and looks around Singe. "They can help?"
“It was a joke Grasalfan. Calm down.” Perrin tell him.
Singe nods, "They're peaceful."
"Okay," Polly said, hesitantly. "As long as they don't put images in my head!" Singe turns to the flumphs and steps aside.
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Team "we have no idea what we're doing"
After scouting the clearing, Shanolia, Koll, Dapple and Woe devise a plan. Dapple and Woe will sit on the northern edge of the clearing, ready to produce a distraction, while Shanolia under Koll's shadows will investigate the airship to find where the other group went. If something goes terribly wrong, they agree to flee - and try to run south, to hopefully find the beach again, where they can re-group.
When Woe and Dapple are sitting in great cover, looking out onto the clearing, Woe casts disguise self and turns herself into a shipwrecked woman, seemingly having lived in the wild for over 2 months. She has dirty knotted hair, ripped clothes, looking gaunt. She makes herself smaller and hunches her back a little. On her way here, she also collected about 5 fist sized rocks and 5 pebbles and put them in her pocket, keeping one fist sized rock in her hand.
Then they wait to be ready to cause a diversion if needed.
Shano prays to Lolth for the protection of the shadows before going in.
//locations Shanolia H25, Koll H24, Dapple D3, Woe D4
"May the Dark Mother guide me from the shadows." Shanolia recites the simple prayer from memory before quickly and quietly darting across the twenty feet of open ground to the open hatch of the flying machine. There's no one inside, and the whole front of the machine appears to have been crushed by something massive. Polly's papers lie strewn about, and almost subconsciously Shanolia picks them all up, easily avoiding the broken glass that littered the floor. One of the pages appears to have Singe's handwriting, but the Elf just brushes this off as she folds the pages and tucks them into a small pocket sewn into the inside of her inner, non-magical cloak.
With the pages collected and no sign of any other belongings or hints to the others' whereabouts, Shanolia sneaks into the cockpit and takes a peek out of what remains of the windshield and sees a large door. The door is odd; No lock, pretty sturdy iron. It'd be impossible to break down, and since it doesn't work on a lock it must work on a mechanism of some sort. She also notes a lever labelled "forward" and "back" on the wall next to her. On the ground outside are a mess of footprints showing that, very recently, the others seem to have been escorted in the direction of the massive double-doors. There doesn't appear to have been a struggle, but it seems they did rush out of the flying machine when it got smashed up. After another look around, she darts back across the clearing to Koll and together they return to Woe and Dapple.
"Obviously, they aren't there. They left in a hurry when something smashed it up, and it looks like they've gone inside that large building - likely as prisoners," She glares at Dapple for a second before continuing. "No struggle, so I'd wager they're still alive, but before anyone has any bright ideas," Glares at Dapple again. "That door's strong, and it doesn't have an external lock. We're not getting in without permission."
"Let's retreat a bit and find a safe place - if we can - while we come up with a plan. If the others are in the building, then those armed squads are obviously out looking for us." Koll suggests once Shanolia finishes
"Agreed, but let's keep our eyes peeled."
/r 2d20kh1+17 #Stealth Broken Glass = (
10+11)+17=28 - Avoids broken glass/r 1d20+1 #Door Perception = (8)+1=9 - No lock, impossible to break, works on mechanism. Control lever in the cockpit.
/r 1d20+1 #Survival for Signs of Struggle = (13)+1=14 - No struggle, led to double doors willingly, recent, rushed out of flying machine
/r 2d20kh1+17 #Stealth Exiting Ship = (15
+3)+17=32 - Like a ShadowDungeon Master - LSoL
Kaori - Battlemaster Fighter 5 / Paladin 2 (Kenku) - TSR
Cherna Godhari - Grave Cleric 4 (Human) - TW
Breena Mahi'ai - Divination Wizard 8 (Halfling) - WoE
Sharyn Savonath - Open Sea Paladin 4 (Triton) - PoPI
Zephyr - Four Elements (Revised) Monk 4 (Air Genasi) - IO
Takeshi - Mercy Monk 6 (Protector Aasimar) - TBW
Avrui Sirsash - Genie Warlock 2 (Wildhunt Shifter) - WotBS
With Dapple's guidance, you begin to leave the building and the clearing. There's a few moments where Dapple stops and puts his finger to his lips, ears tucked down for silence. The last time he does this, everyone thinks they may hear something. Pausing, Dapple concentrates on the jungle around them. Just as before when he thought he heard something, he hears it again. A woosh. Dapple looks up, to the left, then behind... far in the distance, past the trees, he sees a small black hole. The door to the building... is open! The modrons are rushing in to it.
"Look, back at the clearing." Dapple points this out to everyone. "If the others are in there, that's not a good sign is it?" Woe asks, "Are they running away from something? you heard something wooshing?" "It was the door I think. The modrons are all running now." "Should we check it out?," wonders Shanolia. "I really wanna be as far away from that building as possible. but there seems to have been a problem inside. maybe our friends are fighting. we need to go check it out." "If Shanolia says they were taken in there, then we need to go try to help."
Looking from face to face, there is grim agreement. If their friends are in dangers, then it's TO the building they must go. As a group, they turn and run for the door, and the unknown beyond.
At once, all the flumphs, by your count 12, converge on Polly, caressing her with their tentacles. She looks unsure of the situation but remains still. The cavern goes quiet, only the sounds of 'flumph' coming from the floating creatures. Then, a sudden rush of raw energy swirls around Polly. Zamar, being the closest to her, feels it as a gust of wind on the back of his neck. "It tickles," Polly giggles. As suddenly as it began, the energy disappears, and all is quiet again.
"Do you feel better?" Singe asks.
Polly thinks for a moment. "I don't feel so tired. I think I feel better." She absently begins to swing her legs in the harness.
"Do you want to get out of the backpack?" Singe asks.
"Yeah! My legs don't feel funny anymore!" Polly replies
Between Lera and Singe, they easily remove Polly and put her on the ground. She bounces happily, then grabs a flumph into a hug. The flumph looks between Singe and Lera, as if unsure of what was happening to it.
"Do we talk to the machine?" Singe asks. A flashback to the intense pain you felt pops to your mind, Singe.
"I don't think they'd let us inside of them. Also, remember what they want us to do here. I really don't want to do that." Perrin responds.
Singe gloves his left hand and twists his wrist. With a puff of flame, a hawk with brilliant plumage appears on his arm. He pops back with a flourish, raising his wings in glory and pronouncing, "Raaaaaaaawrk!"
Singe smiles, Good to have you back buddy.
While everyone is debating on their next move, Polly, still hugging a flumph, skips around the cavern, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Flumple!" None of them have changed color.
Singe thinks in the direction of the newly dubbed Mr. Flumple "Are you ok?"
Singe gets back a single word. "Help."
Lera looks for any corridors. (Perception: 18) You see a second chute on the other side of the cavern. But if you continue further, you see another massive system of caves. They sort of loom ahead, as they can lead anywhere.
"Polly! I don't think Mr. Flumple enjoys that! Also, I don't think that Mr. Flumple is a mister..." Singe says.
Zamar will ask the Flumphs, "What else is down here beside you and your protectors?"
Polly stops her skipping to release the flumph. It hovers in front of Polly and glows a soft pink. She gives it a pat, saying again, "Thank you!" Then she skips over to Singe and takes his hand. "I like them. They're squishy!"
Singe sends Barry to get a closer look at the portal modron. Looking closer at the obelisk, it's made of billions of small bits of clockwork. The glow seems to be internal. A bit of black substance drips from the tip occasionally.
Zamar as you stand there, a flumph floats up to you and you begin to see images of caves. Endless caves. Non-stop images of caves. More caves. Endless. Caves.
“Hey guys, I found a ladder,” Lera says. "It's part of another chute."
Zamar tries to fill my mind with images of creatures that I have seen above and then think about caves again. See if it gets the idea that I want to know what might be down here. I smile and nod. "Is anyone hurt?" Zamar says.
"Like a chute that goes up to the surface," Perrin responds to Lera.
Zamar asks the Flumphs if they can help heal his friends like they did for Polly or if he needs to use his magic.
The flumphs surround all your friends, caressing them gently, before backing away. Zamar hears in his head, "No."
"Okay," Zamar says before he casts Cure Wounds on Singe (10 HP recovered)
Lera casts Mold Earth to create footholds that reach the ladder.
On the other side of the cavern is another chute. As the last chute was like a slide meant for monodrones, this one is lined with a long built-in ladder. The first 10 feet of the ladder is completely rusted and destroyed, but looking further up they go as far as you can see.
"If this leads to the surface do we just lie and tell them we did what they wanted and think very hard about it or are we going to try and sneakily find the other and get them down here?" Perrin says.
You hear the chitter of a cute baby bug next to you, Perrin. "Ahhh, back. Away. Flumphs shoo this thing away. I told you I think they want to eat me." Perrin says.
A flumph floats over and herds the insect away. Perrin hears in his head, "Metal."
Perrin thinks back to him "Yes. My Metal Protects Me."
"Food," it thinks back.
"No. Protects. Me. Food. On the Surface." Perrin thinks back
"Metal. Food." It responds.
"Not. My. Metal." Perrin says back punctuating each word.
The flumph doesn't respond, just continues to herd the baby away from you.
"Let's go before they eat my armor. We can discuss this on the way up." Perrin begins to climb trying to get away from the insects while he still has his armor intact.
Every single one of the insect creatures watches as you climb out of their reach.
Polly tugs at Singe's hand. "Are we climbing up now?" She seems excited to be able to do things once again.
"I'll take up the rear," Zamar says.