[001] The Obelisk

[waysoftheearth]

"Contamkination, indeed!" swears Izsak, strangely infuriated by the label. He lunges again for the spider-contraption with his steely blade.

[EdOWar]

Tas roars in triumph, turns and charges the hobbled spiderbot.

[Deleted]

Nodu swings at a joint in one of the spider-thing's legs, hoping to crush it with her mace.

[tombowings]

Surrounded on all now sides now and with only three legs remaining, the spider-like artifice once again bends its legs to spring [1d6=1]. The blade, mace, flail, morning star, and poniard of Enmerkar [1d6=5], Emerald Blade [1d6=4], Izsak [1d6=2], Tas [1d6=4], and Nodu [1d6=5] surround the machine. The P. Ecstasy remained cautious in the back of the ground, readying his axe [1d6=6].

With a mighty heave the P. Ecstasy launches his hand axe at the spider-like artifice [1d20=3], but the thrown weapon clatters to the ground before reaching its intended victim. Amidst the melee, Enmerkar is the first to strike [1d20=6], but in the flurry of blows, fails to connect with the metal body. With her mace [1d20=18], Nodu comes down hard on the construct's plated body [1d10=7; 1d10=10!] and drives her weapon through the steely shell and into the sparking wire beneath. Emerald Blade scrambles out of the way as the machine falls where he stood just a second before.

All is now quiet.

[cadriel]

Enmerkar takes special precaution of the green slime unleashed by the man-shaped construct; if possible he will make sure that none of the others are near it. He looks to Izsak and asks:

"You seem the ... inquisitive ... sort. Do you have any idea what that stuff might be? Can you collect a sample of it?"

[crusssdaddy]

P. Ecstasy collects his thrown axe and then tends to his wounded foot. He picks up one of the severed spider legs and examines it.

[Deleted]

Nodu warily kicks at the broken shell of the spider-thing, looking for lingering signs of life. Satisfied that it is dead, she mutters a word of prayer and touches her wrist to her forehead and lips in a brief ritual gesture.

She holds her torch up high, scanning the chamber for anything of interest aside from the two demolished automata.

[tombowings]

Examining the steely legs, P. Ecstasy notices that each is fit with a razor sharp blade on the end of it, but is unable to understand the interworking of the contraption. Moving on to the broken body, amidst the sparking wires and flashing lights, there is a small, glowing-blue gem--just larger than his thumb nail is diameter. Reaching in to grab, P. Ecstasy barely manages to avoid spark burns as he removes the jewel. After being removed, the glow fades and the sparks cease to fly. The jewel, P. Ecstasy notices is carved in the shape of a perfect cube.


Nodu wanders down the metal plated hallway in search of anything of interest. While the hallway itself is barren, there seems--now that she is now closer--that the chamber to left is filled with several large metal crates. Maybe its a storage area of some kind.

[EdOWar]

Tas will keep a wary eye out until the group is ready to move on.

[waysoftheearth]

"Apparently our presence is undwelcomet here," Iszak observes curtly as he sheathes his poniard with a humph, and then takes his lantern closer to the mess of greenish slime which spewed from the automaton and, putting on his long rubbery gloves again, examines the material closely without touching it.

"Verrry interestink, verrry interestink indeed," he muses to himself as he experimentally prods at the stuff with various materials from his surgeon's bag.

If the stuff appears to have any noteworthy properties, Izsak will endeavour to carefully fill another of his glass sample jars.

[murquhart72]

Emerald Blade will pry a few pieces apart on both death-dealers to make sure they're no longer a threat, then start looking into the crates for anything interesting.

[crusssdaddy]

P. Ecstasy searches the treaded nightmare for a similar jewel, careful to avoid the smoking hot bits...

[Deleted]

Nodu examines the crates for a way to open them, in hopes of finding something valuable inside.

[tombowings]

Tas stands, flail and shield in hand, at the far end of the hallway watching and listening for anything of suspicion. [1d6 roll] All is quiet, besides his companions.


Bending down Iszak takes a small vial of powder out of his medical bag and sprinkles it on the sticky substance. Where the sprinkled the power, the substance turns blue and beings to fizz rapidly, indicating a very strong acid.


The Emerald Blade and P. Ecstasy begin prying at the treaded artifice. Using Emerald Blade's two-handed sword and P. Ecstasy's hand axe, they begin prying off the metal plated to expose the wires and underneath. In the constructs head, there is a glowing green, hexagonal gem. P. Ecstasy reaches with his hand to pull it out. When the gem is removed all power to the beast is shorted and the sparking stops. In the chest cavity, there are three more round metal spheres, likely filled the strong green acid that is splatter over the walls behind you. Inside each arm, there is a short steel blade and sort of device that when powered can be used as a launcher for the acid grenades. Both Emerald Blade's and P. Ecstasy are quite proud of their findings.


Nodu, carefully avoiding the green sticky acid that now covers the walls and floor of the metal plated tunnel, heads with her torch into the chamber to the left. There are two hatches, one straight ahead and the other to the right. After locating and unfastening the clamp on one of the metal crates, a his of cold, putrid air success out as the crate opens up to revel a living man.

Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree, your adventure starts here. Make of it what you will.

OOC: I'm going to allow mushgnome is describe his character himself.

[murquhart72]

Unless there are objections, Emerald Blade will take one blade and launcher from the 'bot (assuming it looks like he can use them) and 2 of the spheres, leaving the other blade, launcher and sphere for someone else.
He also likes the look of the green gem and will ask The Penultimate Ecstasy if he may have it, but wont press as P. Ecstasy was the one to risk grabbing it.

[Mushgnome]

A severe Orange Woman lies within, shrouded in a heavy black cloak, limbs folded in the classic "mummy" pose. The hieroglyphs tattooed on her cheeks and neck identify her as the Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree (though whether this is her name or her title is unclear). Her most striking features are her long fingernails, like claws, and the mane of rusty dreadlocks that cascade from her head.

Her eyes whip open and she begins yelling in a strange breathless language of clicking and scraping sounds. After a few seconds of this, she draws a deep, rattling breath and begins to cough. Her eyes change focus and she looks straight at Nodu. It appears she cannot yet move her limbs. In the common tongue, she gasps:

"Help me... Sister... Must... Void... Bladder..."

[Deleted]

After a moment of alarm at uncovering a being of such exotic and macabre appearance, Nodu's mind grasps the meaning of the Orange woman's request and throws her skull back to let out a full-throated laugh.

Her fear dispelled, Nodu reaches into the crate, lifting under the arms of the Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree to ease her egress from the container.

She calls out to the others that she has found a woman in one of the crates.

[tombowings]

Aug 21, 2010 13:12:55 GMT -6 murquhart72 said:

Unless there are objections, Emerald Blade will take one blade and launcher from the 'bot (assuming it looks like he can use them) and 2 of the spheres, leaving the other blade, launcher and sphere for someone else.
He also likes the look of the green gem and will ask The Penultimate Ecstasy if he may have it, but wont press as P. Ecstasy was the one to risk grabbing it.

There is only a single blade and a single launcher. As of now the launchers is unusable because requires a power source to be mounted to it (such as one of the crystals).

[murquhart72]

Emerald Blade: "I have no need of this smaller blade, but I like the thing that launches balls of green. I wonder of The Penultimate Ecstasy if I might have the green gem to power it?"

[Mushgnome]

The Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree hangs limp in Nodu's arms. As she is lifted free of the container, feeling returns to her fingers and toes, and she is once again able to breathe freely.

Delectable clearly has no idea where she is or what is going on. For the moment, she is completely helpless.

"I feel... Old..."

Her body shudders as she contemplates her current predicament.

[waysoftheearth]

Iszak takes the third green sphere muttering "Zis could prove useful indeed," and puts it in his bag.

Then he notices Delectable and carefully counts out the party members. "I see we are one more. Verrry interestink, in fact."

"Could it be zere are other such bodies stored in zese other crates? And how could zey live in zere, hmmm?" Iszak examines the crate from which Delectable has just emerged with a medical interest...

[crusssdaddy]

P. Ecstasy casually flicks the green gem to Emerald Blade: "Matches your name. I didn't want it anyway..."

[murquhart72]

Emerald Blade to P. Ecstasy: "My thanks." (for the green gem)
*locked and loaded* XD

[cadriel]

Enmerkar goes to help Nodu and Delectable Shade. He carefully takes note of the crate she was in, and once she is to her feet he will examine the remaining crates, only touching their clasps with the utmost of care.

[Mushgnome]

The Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree tries to massage some feeling back into her limbs. She feels cold and empty inside.

She addresses Nodu respectfully: "Bone Woman: My companions... Nine Fighting Men of my people... These wretched metal sarcophagi--who--or what--lies within?"

"Also, if you find a leather backpack, with the marking of a tree, bring it here... perhaps a draught of wine will restore my strength."

[tombowings]

Iszak examines the crate from which the tattered orange woman has risen. The outside is composed to thin metal plates riveted together, similar to the hull of the chamber. On the side of the crate there is a navy blue glass pad--no idea what that's for. The inside of the create is glowing a faint light blue. Sticking his hand inside the metal to investigate, Iszak's hand begins to tingle and reflexively pull is back out again.



Enmerkar begins to open the second of the six crates. Inside is a jale man in the same state The Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree. The only difference is that he that shows absolutely no sign of life and remnants dried blood running down her ear. There is no expression of pain upon her face--she wears no expression at all. The other four boxes contain a bone man, ulfire man, black woman, and blue man--all lifeless corpses. Enmerkar, opening the final crate finds a mess of gear--including a leather backpack with the marking of a tree burnt into it. This must be what The Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree was talk about.

OOC: The contents of the sixth crate can be found on The Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree's character sheet. Hint. Hint.

[EdOWar]

"Perhaps we should move on," Tas says quietly.

[tombowings]

There are unmarked hatches to your left and right or your can continue back through the passage from which you came to explore further down the tunnel. There is also the hatch marked "WARNING: CONTAMINATION" in ancient space alien.

[Mushgnome]

Delectable crawls behind a crate for privacy to answer nature's call.

[Deleted]

Aug 22, 2010 12:47:35 GMT -6 tombowings said:

Enmerkar begins to open the second of the six crates. Inside is a jale man in the same state The Delectable Shade of the Cosmic Tree. The only difference is that he that shows absolutely no sign of life and remnants dried blood running down her ear. There is no expression of pain upon her face--she wears no expression at all.

Nodu leans over beside Enmerkar to examine the lifeless jale man (woman?) for any signs of infection or mutation that may have caused death.