Lulu stretches as she comes out of cloud form, bones popping as they realign. Though she lets Horkas and Malvyn take the lead with the strange-looking creatures, she has her spell of Tongues at the ready in case they don't speak any of the languages in their repertoire.
Khessa stands by the noble drow, smiling and friendly, despite finding all those constructs a bit... disturbing.
But behind the friendly smile, the blonde arcane warrior is ready to intervene in a less friendly way, in case this encounter also risks leading to a clash.
The robotic creature doesn't seem to understand Traydark, until Lulu (I assume it was Tongues) assists. The creature then responds: "Broken...dangerous..." It's head swivels and spins erratically. "Reorder...reality...broken...stay away..." More sputtering and haphazard jerks of it's robotic frame. "Mission too important..."
"Are you saying the Maze Engine is broken and that we should stay away?"The noble drow says, now gifted with the ability to communicate with the apparently dysfunctional mechanical creature. If all modrons were like this it was hard to imagine they could keep any order at all in Mechanus. "If you told us where to find it perhaps we can repair it somehow, my friend here is an artficier and as far as I know there is nothing he can't build or repair."Traydark continues, motioning to Horkas and his magnificent automatons.
The robotic creature keeps repeating it's danger warning sporadically. While it does not appear to be beaten down like the one you found earlier, it seems nonetheless to have lost a lot of its...mental acuity. However, after a few moments, it relays exact coordinates to the Maze Engine, before sparking on about danger.
Right now the noble drow doubts there is any mental acuity at all among the modrons. He relays the coordinates to his companions, even though he is not quite sure how to navigate by coordinates, maybe the artificer does. Unless there are other questions to futilely be put to the deranged pyramid he stands aside to let the march continue, ready to return to wind form and continue the journey through the maze.
Khessa, who was initially skeptical about the possibility of extracting useful information from the compromised constructs, suddenly lights up when she hears them provide the 'exact coordinates to the Maze Engine'!
[[ OOC: @DM: With this information are we able to reach the Maze Engine? Or is it information that is not clear to us? ]]
"Well done, Traydark!" the blonde arcane warrior pats him on the shoulder "With these coordinates and our magic, perhaps we can manage to reach the Maze Engine!"
"We should try to reach it!" the tall adventurer now addresses all her fellow adventurers, looking at each with enthusiasm in her blue eyes "Not only could its power help us achieve our goals more easily (not to mention how interesting that eldritch device must be to study). We should also try to go there because if such an artifact is malfunctioning... or worse yet compromised in some way by the Demon Lords Madness... it would be best to try to do something about it! Can you imagine what such an object could do, if left under the indirect (or worse yet direct) influence of a Demon Lord?"
The modron's repeated warning of danger tempers the cleric's shared enthusiasm. She's not certain any of them--even their master artificer--are equipped to repair a machine capable of reordering reality, but she does not share her reservations just yet so as not to stamp on Khessa's hope.
"At the wee least, we could try to bury the thing. Make it harder for anyone else to find." She watches as the modrons march past, wishing they could ask them more about what they are and where they come from, but ultimately prepared to start their search using the hour of wind walking they have left.
"Way to go, Lulu!" Khessa pats the gentle firbolg on the shoulder as well "That's the spirit! We'll see what's wisest to do with this 'Maze Engine' - and if the best thing is to secure it, we'll try securing it. Better than just ignoring it and letting it malfunction, right?"
Much more excited and much more hopeful than Lunaria, the blonde arcane warrior begins to assume cloud form again to go for this wonderful artifact!
Katryl still remains skeptical. "Assuming that thing even knew where the Maze Engine is actually located, how do we know it gave us the right location." She glances at Lulu, "Burying it, I suppose, would be a service to others who might come across it unaware. But really, what are we going to do with something that reorders reality." After a pause she adds. "And what did it mean 'Mission too important'. Did it know about our mission?"
Lulu, whose legs are beginning to turn to wisps, runs her hand up through her fringe in thought. "Perhaps they have their own mission. They seemed quite a wee army, marching like they were. I do hope we can help restore the one we found. Might be it could tell us more about them too."
Her last words barely pass her lips before they're, quite literally, lost to the wind. Following Katryl's lead once more, she flies along with the others towards the dangerous device.
"Katryl... 'what are we going to do with something that reorders reality'?" Khessa wonders, as she continues her transformation into cloud form "First of all, if the Engine was powerful enough, maybe we could use it to banish the Demon Lords... But even if this legendary artifact wasn't legendary enough, we could at least cheat a little! For example, maybe make a Goristro footprint appear near us and make mushrooms grow..."
"That component" the blonde arcane warrior reasons "is so random to find... Our best bet until now seemed to be wandering randomly either in this area, which Goristro should also frequent, or in Neverlight Grove, which is infested with mushrooms, and hoping to stumble upon the lucky combo we need... But it could take days, weeks, or maybe months... But what if the Engine could rig the odds in our favor? We could get that component right away!"
"And that's just an example" the tall adventurer concludes. "Of course, the mention of 'malfunctions' portends danger and trouble - but in my opinion it's worth a shot".
The noble drow is still about as skeptical to everything about the Maze Engine as the fiery genasi, but the human had one point at least, they had currently no real lead on either a goristro demon or that very particular mushroom. Without having anything to add he follows along in windform, finding himself at least a bit curious over this Maze Engine now.
As you all turn back into clouds and leave the strange procession behind you, after only a few minutes of traveling and seeking around, you begin to hear echoes of howling. It's faint at first, sporadic in timing, seeming to echo around various tunnels and caves. The howls persist though, until near the end of your time using the spell, when the path you are on leads you into a smaller tunnel, where you start to hear more than just howls, but yips, roaring...and fighting.
Khessa is so used to considering herself as stealthy as the village bell when it rings for celebration, that even now, in cloud form, seeing Traydark stealth ahead, she instinctively stops so as not to give him away.
Considering that the noises seem to be those of an ongoing battle, the blonde arcane warrior, as curious as she is to know more, is more interested in not being discovered... so that the two factions continue to fight and weaken each other.
Yips and roars make the tall adventurer seriously hypothesize a clash between the forces of Yeenoghu and Baphomet, perhaps for the control of the Maze Engine! If this were the case, it would be crucial to ensure that, in the end, neither of the two contenders gains control of the precious and powerful artifact!
As you move forward, the sounds of furious battle grow louder. The tunnel ends at a ledge twenty feet above the floor of a large cavern, giving you a perfect view of the conflict below.
On the shores of an underground lake, a pack of frenzied gnolls and hyenas surrounds a demon standing nearly twenty feet tall, with massive arms, clawed hands, cloven hooves, and the head of a bull. This is a goristro, whose heart Vizeran DeVir has instructed you to claim.
Leading the gnolls is a figure of fearful countenance, twelve feet tall with the head of a snarling, amber-eyed hyena. He wields a massive triple flail, whose whirling heads smash into the larger goristro. The gnolls howl their master’s name as he strikes swiftly, again and again: “Yeenoghu! Yeenoghu!”
The larger demon roars, slashing with its bull’s horns and flailing with its claws, but to no avail. Yeenoghu evades or shrugs off its attacks, even as gnoll archers pepper it with arrows. Then the gnolls swarm the goristro as it begins to falter, bringing it crashing to the ground.
In less than a minute, the battle is won. The demon lord Yeenoghu pulls back the goristro’s head by the horns and rips out its throat with his teeth. He throws back his head and his howl of triumph echoes through the chamber, shaking the stones themselves. Several hyenas nipping at Yeenoghu’s heels leap onto the goristro’s corpse and begin feasting on its flesh. As you watch, these hyenas transform into gnolls.
Horkas watches with mixed awe and disgust, happy to now have a dead goristro demon, but wondering how they would get the demon lord to go away with his minions without killing the small party or damaging the component they needed...
Katryl follows along, thinking it good to check out the sounds but still wondering just how close to this Maze Engine they ought to get. The sight they finally arrive at gives her much the same question as Horkas had, 'How do we get the heart with all those creatures trying to devour the demon. Or rip it apart at least.' With the time running out on the cloud form, that is probably not going to help them much. She looks to the others to see what they might decide to do.
Lulu stretches as she comes out of cloud form, bones popping as they realign. Though she lets Horkas and Malvyn take the lead with the strange-looking creatures, she has her spell of Tongues at the ready in case they don't speak any of the languages in their repertoire.
Khessa stands by the noble drow, smiling and friendly, despite finding all those constructs a bit... disturbing.
But behind the friendly smile, the blonde arcane warrior is ready to intervene in a less friendly way, in case this encounter also risks leading to a clash.
The robotic creature doesn't seem to understand Traydark, until Lulu (I assume it was Tongues) assists. The creature then responds: "Broken...dangerous..." It's head swivels and spins erratically. "Reorder...reality...broken...stay away..." More sputtering and haphazard jerks of it's robotic frame. "Mission too important..."
"Are you saying the Maze Engine is broken and that we should stay away?" The noble drow says, now gifted with the ability to communicate with the apparently dysfunctional mechanical creature. If all modrons were like this it was hard to imagine they could keep any order at all in Mechanus. "If you told us where to find it perhaps we can repair it somehow, my friend here is an artficier and as far as I know there is nothing he can't build or repair." Traydark continues, motioning to Horkas and his magnificent automatons.
The robotic creature keeps repeating it's danger warning sporadically. While it does not appear to be beaten down like the one you found earlier, it seems nonetheless to have lost a lot of its...mental acuity. However, after a few moments, it relays exact coordinates to the Maze Engine, before sparking on about danger.
Right now the noble drow doubts there is any mental acuity at all among the modrons. He relays the coordinates to his companions, even though he is not quite sure how to navigate by coordinates, maybe the artificer does. Unless there are other questions to futilely be put to the deranged pyramid he stands aside to let the march continue, ready to return to wind form and continue the journey through the maze.
Khessa, who was initially skeptical about the possibility of extracting useful information from the compromised constructs, suddenly lights up when she hears them provide the 'exact coordinates to the Maze Engine'!
[[ OOC: @DM: With this information are we able to reach the Maze Engine? Or is it information that is not clear to us? ]]
"Well done, Traydark!" the blonde arcane warrior pats him on the shoulder "With these coordinates and our magic, perhaps we can manage to reach the Maze Engine!"
"We should try to reach it!" the tall adventurer now addresses all her fellow adventurers, looking at each with enthusiasm in her blue eyes "Not only could its power help us achieve our goals more easily (not to mention how interesting that eldritch device must be to study). We should also try to go there because if such an artifact is malfunctioning... or worse yet compromised in some way by the Demon Lords Madness... it would be best to try to do something about it! Can you imagine what such an object could do, if left under the indirect (or worse yet direct) influence of a Demon Lord?"
.
(You can find it certainly without issue.)
The modron's repeated warning of danger tempers the cleric's shared enthusiasm. She's not certain any of them--even their master artificer--are equipped to repair a machine capable of reordering reality, but she does not share her reservations just yet so as not to stamp on Khessa's hope.
"At the wee least, we could try to bury the thing. Make it harder for anyone else to find." She watches as the modrons march past, wishing they could ask them more about what they are and where they come from, but ultimately prepared to start their search using the hour of wind walking they have left.
"Way to go, Lulu!" Khessa pats the gentle firbolg on the shoulder as well "That's the spirit! We'll see what's wisest to do with this 'Maze Engine' - and if the best thing is to secure it, we'll try securing it. Better than just ignoring it and letting it malfunction, right?"
Much more excited and much more hopeful than Lunaria, the blonde arcane warrior begins to assume cloud form again to go for this wonderful artifact!
Katryl still remains skeptical. "Assuming that thing even knew where the Maze Engine is actually located, how do we know it gave us the right location." She glances at Lulu, "Burying it, I suppose, would be a service to others who might come across it unaware. But really, what are we going to do with something that reorders reality." After a pause she adds. "And what did it mean 'Mission too important'. Did it know about our mission?"
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Lulu, whose legs are beginning to turn to wisps, runs her hand up through her fringe in thought. "Perhaps they have their own mission. They seemed quite a wee army, marching like they were. I do hope we can help restore the one we found. Might be it could tell us more about them too."
Her last words barely pass her lips before they're, quite literally, lost to the wind. Following Katryl's lead once more, she flies along with the others towards the dangerous device.
"Katryl... 'what are we going to do with something that reorders reality'?" Khessa wonders, as she continues her transformation into cloud form "First of all, if the Engine was powerful enough, maybe we could use it to banish the Demon Lords... But even if this legendary artifact wasn't legendary enough, we could at least cheat a little! For example, maybe make a Goristro footprint appear near us and make mushrooms grow..."
"That component" the blonde arcane warrior reasons "is so random to find... Our best bet until now seemed to be wandering randomly either in this area, which Goristro should also frequent, or in Neverlight Grove, which is infested with mushrooms, and hoping to stumble upon the lucky combo we need... But it could take days, weeks, or maybe months... But what if the Engine could rig the odds in our favor? We could get that component right away!"
"And that's just an example" the tall adventurer concludes. "Of course, the mention of 'malfunctions' portends danger and trouble - but in my opinion it's worth a shot".
The noble drow is still about as skeptical to everything about the Maze Engine as the fiery genasi, but the human had one point at least, they had currently no real lead on either a goristro demon or that very particular mushroom. Without having anything to add he follows along in windform, finding himself at least a bit curious over this Maze Engine now.
As you all turn back into clouds and leave the strange procession behind you, after only a few minutes of traveling and seeking around, you begin to hear echoes of howling. It's faint at first, sporadic in timing, seeming to echo around various tunnels and caves. The howls persist though, until near the end of your time using the spell, when the path you are on leads you into a smaller tunnel, where you start to hear more than just howls, but yips, roaring...and fighting.
The wind formy noble drow motions for the others to drift closer to take a peek.
Stealth: 26
Perception: 10
Khessa is so used to considering herself as stealthy as the village bell when it rings for celebration, that even now, in cloud form, seeing Traydark stealth ahead, she instinctively stops so as not to give him away.
Considering that the noises seem to be those of an ongoing battle, the blonde arcane warrior, as curious as she is to know more, is more interested in not being discovered... so that the two factions continue to fight and weaken each other.
Yips and roars make the tall adventurer seriously hypothesize a clash between the forces of Yeenoghu and Baphomet, perhaps for the control of the Maze Engine! If this were the case, it would be crucial to ensure that, in the end, neither of the two contenders gains control of the precious and powerful artifact!
As you move forward, the sounds of furious battle grow louder. The tunnel ends at a ledge twenty feet above the floor of a large cavern, giving you a perfect view of the conflict below.
On the shores of an underground lake, a pack of frenzied gnolls and hyenas surrounds a demon standing nearly twenty feet tall, with massive arms, clawed hands, cloven hooves, and the head of a bull. This is a goristro, whose heart Vizeran DeVir has instructed you to claim.
Leading the gnolls is a figure of fearful countenance, twelve feet tall with the head of a snarling, amber-eyed hyena. He wields a massive triple flail, whose whirling heads smash into the larger goristro. The gnolls howl their master’s name as he strikes swiftly, again and again: “Yeenoghu! Yeenoghu!”
The larger demon roars, slashing with its bull’s horns and flailing with its claws, but to no avail. Yeenoghu evades or shrugs off its attacks, even as gnoll archers pepper it with arrows. Then the gnolls swarm the goristro as it begins to falter, bringing it crashing to the ground.
In less than a minute, the battle is won. The demon lord Yeenoghu pulls back the goristro’s head by the horns and rips out its throat with his teeth. He throws back his head and his howl of triumph echoes through the chamber, shaking the stones themselves. Several hyenas nipping at Yeenoghu’s heels leap onto the goristro’s corpse and begin feasting on its flesh. As you watch, these hyenas transform into gnolls.
Horkas watches with mixed awe and disgust, happy to now have a dead goristro demon, but wondering how they would get the demon lord to go away with his minions without killing the small party or damaging the component they needed...
Love God. Love Others. Any Questions?
Katryl follows along, thinking it good to check out the sounds but still wondering just how close to this Maze Engine they ought to get. The sight they finally arrive at gives her much the same question as Horkas had, 'How do we get the heart with all those creatures trying to devour the demon. Or rip it apart at least.' With the time running out on the cloud form, that is probably not going to help them much. She looks to the others to see what they might decide to do.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer